VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Blog

Common Sense Education Resource Share – August 24, 2023

by

An image of students working on laptops in a classroom. A Common Sense Education text overlay appears in the top right of the graphic."Common Sense is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all kids thrive in a world of media and technology. They support pre-K–12 schools with lesson plans, edtech reviews, family resources, and everything else students need to thrive in a connected world." Below is a custom set of resources pulled from this month's newest updates! Check them out via the links and explore even more at www.commonsense.org/education. VSTE is proud to partner with Common Sense Education.

For Teachers:

For Parents & Caregivers:

 

All Resources via Common Sense Education

All VSTE Posts of Common Sense Education Resources

Using BookCreator to organize for Your Classes and Parents

by

Written by UnisonEDU member, Denyse Phelps. Connect with her at @LavenderOwl24 on Twitter.

I came across BookCreator at a conference for librarians during a workshop.  Once I attended, my mind just went on overload because there are so many things you can do with this program. Create original books, student created books, presentations, and projects, but I really believe this would be a great way to organize for your students and your parents.  BookCreator allows you to make each book you need with a cover to match. It even has templates if you prefer.  So, you could do lesson books, enrichment books, study guides, reference guides for certain concepts like in math, organize your class schedule, important paperwork, field trip paperwork, collection of student work and the list goes on and on. These are books that will be on your class virtual bookshelf and easily accessible.

Here are three ways you can use BookCreator.  One will be for your classes, the other will be for your parents and the third one will be for you.  

  1. Use BookCreator to organize your lessons that you want students to have choices with, add enrichment activities, and extend learning. Students can also make books that show skills they learned and share with all students in your class to study for upcoming quizzes and tests. Everyone gets to learn, create and share in order to prepare! 
  2. Use BookCreator for your parents as a guide to keep them informed about lessons, information for upcoming tests, how your classroom works, expectations for students and parents, it is a great way for your parents to learn about you, classroom special events and so much more.  It is a great place to organize and house all your school or class newsletters too. It could be a place where all important information is housed like a classroom manual.  Parents could also see the books their children have made as well. These books can even be printed out as keepsakes! 
  3. Finally– you can use the program to keep important dates together in one book, take notes at faculty meetings, or just have fun and create books for your classes to read.

Don’t wait, go check out BookCreator.  Make a free account or pay for one that has even more bells and whistles.  Start learning how to make interactive books to extend learning and understanding in your classrooms.  Plus, it is FUN!

Common Sense Education Resource Share – July 19, 2023

by

An image of students working on laptops in a classroom. A Common Sense Education text overlay appears in the top right of the graphic."Common Sense is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all kids thrive in a world of media and technology. They support pre-K–12 schools with lesson plans, edtech reviews, family resources, and everything else students need to thrive in a connected world." Below is a custom set of resources pulled from this month's newest updates! Check them out via the links and explore even more at www.commonsense.org/education. VSTE is proud to partner with Common Sense Education.

For Teachers:

For Parents & Caregivers:

 

All Resources via Common Sense Education

All VSTE Posts of Common Sense Education Resources

Leading ED Forum

by

Registration has closed for this event.

Leading Ed Forum - Leading Education Forward

Leading Ed Forum 2023 Leading Education Forward Logo

Thursday, October 19, 2023
ACCA Shriner’s Center
1712 Bellevue Ave, Richmond, VA 23227

The Consortium for School Networking reports that over the past 10 years, the top challenge for EdTech leaders remains the same. Budget constraints and lack of resources were ranked the number one challenge in 2013, it still ranks as the number one challenge in 2023. However, some of the other top priorities have changed. The top three in 2013 were mobile learning, BYOD, and online assessment readiness. In 2023, cybersecurity tops the list, followed by network infrastructure, student data privacy, and security.

With budgets stretched thin and expectations at an all-time high, the return on investment looms large for school technology leaders. VSTE’s 2023 Leading Ed Forum will bring together all those with common concerns and needs so that we can focus on the future, finding ways to deliver ideas and strategies to set the stage for progress for the next decade one school year at a time.

Technology Directors from all regions of Virginia have identified their own greatest areas of concern:

  • Lack of qualified IT staff to support 1:1 computing programs and the division's IT infrastructure
  • Maintaining 1:1 with the financial cost of damaged/lost/missing devices
  • Cybersecurity and the need for division-wide education, training, and staff to support preparedness
  • Keeping pace with modern technology acceleration and the challenges related to emerging technologies including technical support staff and instructional implications for the use
  • Sustaining infrastructure after COVID
  • Standards of Quality funded positions for ITRT's and technicians, given the acceleration of technology, are not currently sufficient
  • Student data privacy!
  • Available and affordable internet at home for students and staff

This year’s Leading Ed Forum will draw together experienced leaders and current industry experts on these topics to assist school divisions in finding the best possible solutions and designing a path forward that honors the desire for educational opportunity with the stark realities of the challenges faced by those leading in education.

The Opening Session will start at 8:30 AM. The full schedule will be released at a later date. The attendee cost is $100.

Registration has closed for this event.

Big Deal Book, June 15th, 2023

by

 

 

VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you carefully curated resources designed for K-12 educators. Grants, competitions, web-based and mobile resources and more. We select our favorites from each newsletter but be sure to scroll down and view the whole newsletter. And, since not all the Big Deal Book resources are time sensitive, we provide an archive for you to browse.

This newsletter will help you with Defining Equity, Building Chatbots, Developing AI Literacy & More...

 

Civics Inquiry Lessons Integrating Storytelling, Digital Media, and Literacy

Civic Life Project partners with educators to teach civics through a unique digital storytelling curriculum. In collaboration, Civic Life Project and National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) have launched Compelling Interviews for Civic Engagement, a civics inquiry unit to help students develop informed, diverse perspectives on social issues they care about.

 

FAA Airport Design Challenge

The Airport Design Challenge is an interactive learning collaboration opportunity for K–12 students. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Aviation & Space Education (STEM AVSED) Program organizes and sponsors this challenge.

 

AI-Powered Tools to Streamline Teachers’ Work

Harnessing the power of AI can assist in simplifying and speeding up certain administrative tasks, allowing teachers to concentrate on delivering exceptional educational experiences. TeachMateAi is a collection of AI-powered tools designed to create custom teaching resources and streamline various aspects of a teacher’s work.

 

Coalition of Organizations Addressing the Policy, Pedagogy, Pitfalls of AI

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) programs such as ChatGPT has led a coalition of organizations to form the TeachAI initiative. The group intends to create guidelines around K–12 AI policies, pedagogy, and ethics, as well as a framework for computer science instruction, which steer clear of AI’s potential pitfalls and address students’ privacy and online safety.

 

 

View the whole Big Book Deal Newsletter for June 15, 2023

The Archives