VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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Board Welcomes Five Board Members Following Recent Election

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Five members were elected by the VSTE membership for the 2018 - 2021 term. Three of those elected are incumbents and will begin their second terms. Two of those elected are new members and can serve up to two terms.

Learn more about each Board member by clicking below:

Smiling Man in Blue ShirtRod Carnill, Incumbent
Supervisor of Instructional Technology Coaches
Frederick County Public Schools

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Lynmara Colón
Principal
Prince William County Public Schools

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Woman Smiling

Nicci Dowd
Special Education Teacher
Prince William County Public Schools

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Smiling man with glasses

Tim Stahmer, Incumbent
Freelance Educator
Fairfax County Public Schools (Retired)

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Smiling woman with glasses

Meg Swecker, Incumbent
Coordinator of Technology Integration/ITRT
Roanoke County Public Schools

 

2018 Awards Open Now: Recognize Excellence with VSTE

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The Virginia Society for Technology in Education honors excellence in educational technology through four awards given at the annual conference in December. For 2018, the VSTE Awards committee has updated the awards program by creating a new award and changing the process to include more input from the nominees. Awards Committee chair, Terry Lowry, described the process in a recent blog post.

Nominations are being accepted for Outstanding Teacher, Leader and Coach of the Year and Innovative Educator of the Year.

The Outstanding Teacher, Leader and Coach of the Year awards recognize and honor one leader and one teacher who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in implementing technology to improve education.

The Innovative Educator of the Year award recognizes innovative teaching practices.  Award recipients are selected from a pool of nominations submitted by VSTE members from around Virginia.

Nominations will remain open through early September. Nominees will have until early October to provide supporting evidence to the awards committee and decisions will be made by October 15, 2018. Award winners will be recognized during the opening general session at the annual conference. They are also provided with a complimentary conference registration and hotel accommodations for the annual conference. This year's conference will be held December 2 - 4, 2018, in Virginia Beach.

Big Deal Book, May 15, 2018

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Blue rectangle with words Maximizing Technology in the the 21st Century Classroom bright graphic on left side of rectangle displays words Big Deal Media

 

 

 

 

 

VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you the "best of the best" of web-based resources, classroom competitions and teacher grant programs. The May 1, 2018, newsletter offers resources that Promote Economic Literacy, Use the Power of Art, Honor Teachers & More.

Here are a few of our favorites...be sure to check out the whole newsletter!

Comic Books Teaching Basic Economic Principles

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has developed a series of Educational Comic Books that teach students about basic economic principles and the Federal Reserve’s role in the economic system.

Tool That Answers Questions Using Experimental AI

Imagine if students could gather thousands of writers in a circle to discuss one question. For example: What is fun about computer programming? Would you advise young people to pursue a career as a musician? How can I stop thinking and fall asleep? Google has a way to convene that kind of forum—in half a second.

Multifaceted Online Maker Program

The Library Journal’s Maker Workshop is a two-week online course designed for librarians and educators interested in overseeing or developing maker-oriented programming for the library. The course content will be relevant to librarians in schools or public libraries who serve various age groups and demographics.

Big Deal Book, May 15, 2018

Archives

Turning Big Data Into Big Benefits For Students

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Ten Questions BrightBytes Can Help You Answer as You Turn Big Data into Big Benefits for Students

  1. How can we be sure that we offer the specific professional development teachers need?

“With BrightBytes data, we discovered that most of our districts needed to focus on digital citizenship skills. We created online modules to teach those skills, and made them available for free to every teacher.” —Teela Watson, Director of Instructional Services & Digital Learning, Texas Education Service Center Region 11 (ESC 11)

 

  1. Is our organization’s data and direction clear to all stakeholder groups?

“Our districts use BrightBytes data to show their school boards where they are with integration. It’s been critical to provide clear, communicable data to identify challenges.” Teela Watson, Director of Instructional Services & Digital Learning, Texas Education Service Center Region 11 (ESC 11)

  1. How can we take complex data and use it to make an immediate difference in a student’s life?

“With the Student Success module, we can identify a student at risk of dropping out and the specific issues immediately. This information helps determine the right interventions.” —Jeffrey Luks, Manager, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)

  1. What can data show us in terms of interventions for each student?

“The Intervention module helps schools look at inputs and outputs to determine which interventions have the most impact on students.”

—Jeffrey Luks, Manager, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)

  1. How can we identify students in need early and get them the necessary support?

“By analyzing data from multiple sources, the Student Success module provides easy-to-understand visualizations to help target specific students for support.”—Bryan Fairbrother, Educational Data Services Leader, Mohawk (NY) Regional Information Center

  1. Is there a way to understand student trajectory earlier?

“The data is meaningful, impactful, and clear, so we can see the big picture, identify students who need help, and take immediate action.” —Bryan Fairbrother, Educational Data Services Leader, Mohawk (NY) Regional Information Center

  1.  How can data help teachers learn to integrate technology in a way that meets students’ expectations?

“Teachers report using technology frequently, but students say otherwise. We have to provide the mindset and training to support a big shift. We started a book series and as a result, one teacher spent the summer rethinking lesson plans.” —Charlotte M. Golden, Director of Curriculum & Instruction/Educational Technologies, Carbon Lehigh (PA) Intermediate Unit #21

  1. Can data provide insight on the big picture of our initiatives?  

“Often, districts make decisions based on intuition. With the Technology & Learning module, we’ve been able to connect the dots to see how to achieve smaller initiatives. The data helps us learn how each initiative works together toward a common goal.” —Lisa Cala Ruud, Managing Coordinator - Instructional Services, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)

  1. How can we better determine and validate new initiatives?

“The data puts assumptions in check. There was a lot of resistance about blended learning from educators who assumed students didn’t have devices or Internet at home. After the BrightBytes survey, they discovered only a small percentage lacked access.”

—Lisa Cala Ruud, Managing Coordinator - Instructional Services, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)

  1. How can we better understand our district’s digital equity?

“The data serves as a jumping-off point for conversations. We found most students have devices at home, but many of them are shared. That data impacts the consistency for instruction at home. A teacher needs to be intentional about using digital assets at home.” —Doug Renfro, Executive Director of Learning Technology and Library Services, Metro Nashville (TN) Public Schools

Learn More about using data to support students at the Bright Bytes website: http://www.brightbytes.net/

Building In Second Life: An Introduction to Rokuro

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While many people experience Second Life as a consumer, one of the powers of virtual environments is the ability to learn to build in three dimensions. On Monday, May 21, at 8 PM, the VE PLN will host Norma Underwood who will teach participants how to create sculpted prims, or complex shapes that are difficult to produce with the standard building tools in Second Life. Creating these prims is easier than it might seem, even for beginning builders. Norma will introduce participants to the open source program Rokuro. You can download it here:  https://kanae.net/secondlife/rokuro.html
Don't want to download the software? You can still participate in the making of sculpted prims even if you don't download the program. There will be plenty of pre-made sculpt textures for you to use. If you can create a cube, Norma will help with the rest. Did I mention it is very simple? Oh, and fun!

Second Life is free to access. You need an account and software to access the virtual world.

We recommend setting up an account at the Rockcliffe University Consortium's Gateway here: https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ Download and install the software. While your Second Life viewer (software) is open click this link http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/61/104/22 and voila! Look for an avatar on VSTE Island and say, "Hey, I'm new!" We will take care of the rest.

The VE PLN shares news, events, and resources at their Google Plus Community. Click here to join.