VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

vsteadmin

Is Your Vision 2030?

by

Logo for Speak Up SurveyToday’s Kindergarteners will graduate from high school in the year 2030. That’s right 2030...As we reflect on the changes that have taken place over the last 10 years, what do you think we can expect in the next 12 to 13 years? How might we begin to prepare today’s Kindergarten students for their post public school endeavours?

We need to begin by assessing the current needs and desires of school age children their parents, their teachers and building administrators.  Then we need to make sure elected officials and education leaders at the local, state and federal levels understand the landscape of today’s classrooms in order to begin to shape the outlook of tomorrow’s schools. How might they come by the information needed to take on such a task? Participating in Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up National Research Project is a good first step. The Speak Up survey has had over 5 million participants since it began in 2003. This past year nearly half a million students participated across the United States representing all 50 states, over 2400 districts and 6300 urban, suburban and rural schools.

The vision of Project Tomorrow is to ensure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world.  Project Tomorrow believes that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century. http://www.tomorrow.org/

VSTE’s vision is to be an influence in technological innovation in education and be recognized as an agent of change across the Commonwealth.  In Virginia last year, Albemarle County (8070 students) and Frederick County Public Schools (5379 students) led the way in overall participation. Fairfax County Public Schools was recognized for their level of parent participation.  This is all well and good for those participating school divisions. The problem is that Virginia is incredibly diverse and there are many more voices that need to be heard, schools that need to be represented, stakeholders that need to participate in Speak Up 2017. Everyone can participate but it takes one person from a school division to register participation and have teachers, administrators, students, parents and community members from their locale to be included, recognized, heard.

Be that person for your school division. It doesn’t require a signature or a vote, just a few minutes of your time to create an account, a few hours time to raise awareness and then about four months to get the final results and collect the data you need to inform district technology plans, budgetary decisions and professional development. Be the person that helps your school division prepare for the future and assure that the class of 2030 is future ready.

Register your school division today.
http://www.tomorrow.org/SpeakUp/Virginia.html

 

Rod Carnill is Vice Chair of the VSTE Board of Directors and Chair of the VSTE Advocacy Committee. He serves as the Supervisor of ITRTs for Frederick County Public Schools. 

 

 

 

 

How To Get Started With Robotics in the Classroom

by

This is a cross post from the DexterEd website and features content of potential interest to VSTE members.

Back to school! Back to school! This is a time of new beginnings, fresh starts, and a whole lot of chaos.

by Lisa Rode, 6th Grade Classroom Teacher in Fairfax County, VA

In all this madness, how do you add anything more? If you are not familiar with programming and robotics, adding “just one more thing” can be a bit intimidating, especially at this time of the year. But, it doesn’t need to be difficult.

Just a bit about my story — I had never programmed a robot before and had very little experience with Scratch or any other programming language. I decided to try something new in my classroom and purchased one robot to build and tinker with alongside my students. I asked my class for a few volunteers to join me at lunch to build and learn about the robot. Three students volunteered to come during their lunch period and we learned alongside one another.  More and more students became interested in programming this class robot.

Through the support of my school community, I was awarded a grant through the Farmer’s Thank A Million Teachers grant contest.  We were able to purchase more robots and sensors.  They were initially going to be used during an after school program, however over the past three years I have integrated using them in my core content lessons as well as lunch time student-led programming, and an after school club. The students also figure out ways to integrate them into class lessons on their own.

For example, students were given the task of create a Rube Goldberg machine to show energy transformations.  I showed them a variety of examples and said they could use anything in our class makerspace to build it.  The majority of the materials in our makerspace are recyclables and craft materials.  Students immediately found ways to incorporate the class robots into their machines.  One group even had a robot drive forward to push a button on a keyboard to move a character in Minecraft Pi into a photobooth and take a class selfie.  What?!?! I thought they were going to just use cardboard and tape for their machines. It was awesome.  This has been a great adventure and I can’t wait to see where it leads.

BUT… I Don’t Have Enough TIME for Anything Else!!!

Simply put, it is worth the time.  Time is always at a premium in the classroom.  I have found that the use of hands-on activities and project-based learning engages students and leads to a deeper understanding of the concepts. Integrate the use of robotics into core curriculum when possible.  Writing is one of the simplest ways to do this. Students can do something as simple as journal to record and reflect on their project or assignment.

BUT… I Don’t Know Anything About Robots and Programming!

It is almost impossible to keep up to date with all of the new technology, apps, and software. There always seems be something new and different. We need to be flexible and open to learning new things, sometimes right alongside our students.  This can also empower students to take more responsibility for their learning and increase investment. We are not necessarily going to have everything mastered when it comes to tech since it is always evolving. This can be a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes it is difficult for teachers to admit that they do not have all of the answers.  But, that can actually turn into the best thing as you encourage the students to “figure it out together!”

You don’t have to do it all at once. I started out with a few robots and slowly added as I found more and more ways to use them in my classroom.

BUT… No One Else At My School is Doing Robotics

Every teacher is different. Every student is different. Think about it, “A movement starts with a lone nut.”  Be that lone nut.  Start a movement and followers will find you.  Even if you are the only one at first, others will become interested once they see the students working hands-on and how excited they are. Invite

teachers to see your students engaged in lessons utilizing the robots and encourage them to work with the robots themselves. The beginning of everything starts with someone introducing it to their school and students. Robotics is included in this and the more others see students learning through their robots, the more others will want to participate.

 

 

 Here are some guiding questions to help you get started:

Where Do I Begin?

Determine your objective for the robots

  • What are you going to use them to teach? (Download my Robot Lessons Snapshot Guidebook showing ways I’ve integrated robots into different areas like language arts, math and science)
  • Will they be used in multiple subject areas?
  • Will they be used for multiple grade levels?
  • Will they be used for competition?

Determine the necessary hardware

  • What types of robots and other hardware are needed?
  • What robot/kit best meets your objective?
    • What age group are you planning for?
    • What prior experience do the students have programming and building?
    • What kit best meets your budgetary constraints?
    • How durable do the robots need to be?
    • Will they be used inside or outside?
    • How much time is available? Will the class have time to build the robots or do they need to be preassembled?
  • Are there any logistical considerations?
    • Do you need laptops, wifi, tablets? Do you need to have specific programs or apps installed?
    • Where will they be stored and who will have access to them?
  • What (if any) prerequisite knowledge needed (for the students and/or teachers)?
  • If they are being used for competition, what are the hardware requirements or rules?

Check out the robot comparison chart that the Dexter Industries team started. We’d love your feedback and input about what you think of this comparison. We want to refine it and improve it with input from the community of educators that have used these robots in the classroom, so please share your input and critique of this comparison!

Determine the scope

  • How many robots will be needed?  Groups of 2-4 students per robot work well. The smaller the group, the better.
  • Will they be used in the classroom as well as after school?  Only after school?

Determine the necessary budget and gain funding

Although there is a lot to consider, take the time to think through the questions and pick out a kit that works for you and jump in.  Even if you decide to start small like I did, encourage you to take the chance and try something new this year.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you want to discuss with a fellow teacher!

 

 

Big Deal Book, October 16, 2017

by

From digital learning to mobile learning to professional growth, Big Deal Media offers the best of the best web-based resources for K-12 educators. The October 16, 2017, newsletter offers resources that help students Solve Coding Puzzles, Create Oral Histories, Perform Shakespeare & More.

Here are a few of our favorite resources in this newsletter. Be sure to check out the full newsletter linked below:

Game Applying Constitutional Rights

Developed by Filament Games, That’s Your Right is a single or multiplayer digital card game that teaches students in middle school and high school about the first ten amendments of the US Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights.

Intergenerational Oral Histories

The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national movement that empowers high school students to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder using the free StoryCorps app for iOS and Android.

Adventures Exploring Coding Concepts

SpriteBox Coding by LightBot is an adventure game for iOS and Android that gets students aged 6–8 coding. Students start from scratch by solving coding puzzles using icons.

Big Deal Book, October 16, 2017

Not all the resources are time sensitive, so be sure to check out the archives.

 

Free Webinar: Developing Your PLN In A Virtual World

by

Blue logo for webinarTechnology is evolving as such as fast rate in the 21st Century, that is it difficult attain the skills fast enough to serve our students. VE (Virtual Environments) offer the opportunity to network, collaborate, and learn in ways we never expected as we were in school. On VEs you can work with other educators, technicians, scientists, and students from all over the planet!

Interested in learning more? Join members of VSTE's Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network for a live webinar focused on getting started in virtual worlds. We will gather in VSTE's Adobe Connect room on Monday, October 30, 2017, at 8 PM. Use this link to access the webinar: http://vste.adobeconnect.com/vstelive. Choose guest login and type your name the way you want it to appear in the chat room.

After this kick off event in Adobe Connect the VE PLN is planning a week-long novice training sequence, something new every night, but basic for the true novice.

Applied Digital Skills Curriculum Available From Google

by

New Curriculum From Google...

We have some exciting updates about our digital literacy and job skills program, Applied Digital Skills. The ready-to-use curriculum offers over 90 hours of video and project-based content that teaches digital literacy skills for life and professional scenarios.

The Applied Digital Skills program received ISTE’s Seal of Alignment for Proficiency last month. The following are highlights from ISTE’s curriculum review:

  • All projects are engaging, relevant, and connected to the real-world.
  • Each unit can be adapted as needed for the skill level in which it is implemented, and each promotes problem solving, creative thinking, and meaningful application of technology in substantive tasks.
  • Skills addressed in the projects will serve learners well in school and beyond, and the curriculum is accompanied by ample support for instructors to be able to implement the curriculum effectively.

Read the full report here.

To get started teaching, visit g.co/applieddigitalskills, sign in as an Instructor with a Google account and create your first class. Invite learners to sign in with their own Google accounts as Learners and input your unique class code. This step-by-step guide explains how to set up your first class in less than 5 minutes. The curriculum is flexible and can be taught anywhere. Units include Research and Develop a Topic, If/Then Adventure Stories, Plan and Budget, Plan an Event and more. Applied Digital Skills is a great solution whether you are looking for a semester-long technology curriculum, or to enrich your subject matter content over a few class periods.

The program provides lesson plans and example rubrics, as well as the ability to track learner progress. Here is an example of one way that a school in South Carolina is using the curriculum:

We hope you enjoy the curriculum.