VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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Annual Board of Director Elections 2018

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Board nominations for 2018 are now closed.

VSTE members may nominate themselves or a colleague to be considered for election to the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Board of Directors for a three-year term.  This is an opportunity to become involved in the key decision-making group for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education.

Learn More About the VSTE Board of Directors

You can preview the nomination form but must submit the final form online.

Remember, you must be a VSTE member to nominate, to be nominated, and to participate in the online election.  Details for a complimentary membership can always be found at VSTE’s website.  Please let us know, via email to boardelections@vste.org, if you have any questions or need further information about the election process.

In order to vote, you must be a member for at least ten days prior to the opening of the Board elections in April.

Member Login Information

It will be necessary for you to login to the system to participate in the nomination and election process.  You can find the login page here. Unless you have changed it, you should use your email address at which you receive VSTE mailings for your login.  If you do not remember your password, you may click the link on the login screen for those forgetting their password.  Your password will be emailed to you.  Once you login, you can update your membership information, change your login and/or password (as necessary) and submit a nomination.  Please write to karen_richardson@vste.org if you have problems accessing the member only section of our website.

Thank you for your interest,

VSTE Election Committee, 2018

Janet Copenhaver
Josh Long
Tim Taylor

Big Deal Book, January 4, 2018

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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 January 4, 2018, newsletter offers resources thatIntegrate STEM into Sports, Dive into the Past, Design a Robot & More.

Here are a few of our favorites. Be sure to check out the complete newsletter using the link below. The archives have some great stuff, too! Bookmark the page for your next snow day.

First-Person Accounts of Slavery Experiences

In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) sponsored a Federal Writers’ Project dedicated to chronicling the experience of slavery as remembered by former slaves. African American men and women born into slavery were interviewed, and their stories were recorded and transcribed.

Grants for Increasing Technology Integration and Student Achievement

Educators of America delivers new, sustainable, and useful educational technology to K–12 schools and classrooms. Through its microgrant program, the organization outfits classrooms with technology resources, including web-connected devices, electronic whiteboards, and tablets.

Instructional Models and Digital Tools for STEM Learning

WGBH Educational Foundation has launched the first set of interactive K–12 digital resources produced as part of “Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms.” These resources are being distributed free of charge through PBS LearningMedia to more than 1.9 million registered educators and their students across the country.

Big Deal Book, January 4, 2018

Archives

Come Build With Us: Minecraft Monday, January 8, 2018, 8 PM

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Our challenge on Monday, January 8, 2018, 8 PM, is to build a blizzard proof house! Fourth graders in Virginia study weather and our students have a PBL, which some are doing in Minecraft, to research and then build a storm proof house. Most of them concentrated on tornadoes or hurricanes. We are going to do blizzards. So start researching NOW and bring your ideas for a 45 minute challenge. Build and be ready to defend your ideas!

VSTE Virtual Environments PLN hosts a Minecraft server used for these meetings. In order to participate, you need to download and install the Minecraft software and create a regular Mojang account. The one time license for the software costs $26.95. Start here to create your account and access the software.

Send Kim Harrison (k4sons@gmail.com) your Minecraft user name, and she will whitelist you so you can access the server. Please don't want until the last minute.

Once you have been approved and have the software up and running, join our multiuser server at 69.175.17.26:25565. Log into Minecraft, select Multiplayer from the main menu, click the Add Server button, and enter the IP or web address. The server is running the latest version of Minecraft.

We use voice on Discord. It is safe and you can create an account with your Minecraft ID if you prefer. Discord is a download for your computer or an app on your mobile device. Our Discord channel is https://discord.gg/6GGYn5Y

New to Minecraft? The VE PLN has created a beginner's guide just for you.

VSTE Releases Refreshed Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel

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The Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) has drafted new Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP). These standards update the original 1998 standards and represent foundational skills that every educator must meet in order to be considered proficient in the use of technology for teaching and learning.

IMPORTANT NOTE: These standards have been drafted by VSTE and, while we think they SHOULD be adopted by the Virginia Department of Education, they have not been adopted YET. Licensed teachers in Virginia are still covered by the 1998 standards that can be found here.

In the meantime, we encourage school divisions and individuals to adopt the new standards as part of their forward thinking teaching and professional development as we believe they better reflect our contemporary, digital classrooms.

Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel

Lifelong Learner: Teachers engage in ongoing professional learning related to content, pedagogy, technology and leadership.

  • Engage in ongoing professional growth related to the use of innovative instructional strategies that integrate digital technologies
  • Use technology to obtain feedback that allows for reflection and improvement in the learning process
  • Use local and global professional learning networks to collaborate and learn in both physical and digital environments

Digital Leadership: Teachers positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world.

  • Cultivate and manage their digital identities and reputations and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world
  • Promote and model safe, legal and ethical behaviors with students by embedding digital citizenship skills in online lessons and activities
  • Select and correctly attribute appropriate digital content, tools and resources that meet local, state and/or federal policies
  • Understand the rights and obligations of student privacy and security when collecting and using student data, communicating with stakeholders, reviewing user agreements, and selecting digital content, tools, and resources

Learning Facilitator: Teachers facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement.

  • Incorporate learning strategies that use technology to accommodate learner variability, personalize learning, and allow student choice, self-direction and goal-setting
  • Model the appropriate use of technology to communicate, create, collaborate, and solve problems
  • Assist students in selecting and using appropriate and available digital tools to communicate, create, collaborate and solve problems
  • Acquire, access, and analyze a variety of formative and summative assessments that leverage the power of technology to provide immediate and specific feedback and offer alternative learning paths to students

Skilled Technology User: Teachers understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations and troubleshooting as well as basic uses of technology in instruction.

  • Choose and use digital technologies including both hardware, software and web-based resources to support classroom instruction
  • Troubleshoot typical classroom technologies
  • Perform basic computing operations such as accessing accounts, managing files, navigating the Internet, and selecting appropriate applications to perform tasks

A PDF version of the standards can be found TSIP.

NOTE:  In response to requests from Virginia school divisions, VSTE has created a new version of the Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP). This new version is supported by research and peer feedback. The new version is not an official VDOE document, as the official VDOE TSIP are still those dated 1998 (seehttp://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+reg+8VAC20-25-30).

New and renewing teachers must meet the VDOE TSIP through a process each division develops and implements. Divisions may use the VSTE TSIP, which encompass currently needed technology skills for all educators.  The VSTE TSIP encompass the VDOE TSIP, so meeting the VSTE TSIP also satisfies the requirements of the VDOE TSIP, and meets the legal requirement for licensure.

However, there is no obligation to use the VSTE TSIPs at this time.

VSTE Supports Net Neutrality

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt4eO5wuMlc&feature=youtu.be

At the annual conference, VSTE Board Chair Keith Reeves voiced VSTE's strong support for Net Neutrality, the concept behind what is often called the open Internet. This concept means that all lawful content and providers should be afforded the same level of access. Governments, internet service providers and others would not be allowed to discriminate by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication by providing more robust access to particular companies or applications. Many people consider net neutrality to be a fundamental piece of the Internet architecture.

On Thursday, December 14, 2017, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) will vote to roll back rules related to Net Neutrality.  In 2014, VSTE issued a statement related to these rules when they were under consideration. You can read that statement here.

Now, Net Neutrality is back in the news, and the vote on Thursday will likely undermine those rules, allowing Internet Service Providers to provide preferential treatment to content providers. VSTE is adding its voice to organizations from the American Library Association to CoSN asking the FCC to vote no on these rules. There is no public comment available but VSTE members and friends are encouraged to contact their federal legislators to ask them to pressure the FCC to delay or cancel the vote. Use the Who's My Legislator site to determine your Congressional representatives.

Your Voice Matters!