VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Education

Minecraft Monday: Connect & Learn, February 3, 2020, 8 PM

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Logo for EventJoin members of the VSTE Virtual Environments PLN on Monday, February 3, at 8 PM EST, when participants in the EVOMOOC (Electronic Village Online Massively Open Online Course) will visit VSTE Place, and Dakotah Redstone will provide them with a tour.

Electronic Village Online sponsors the MOOC, and this week, the participants are exploring the multi-player game Minecraft as a virtual world for learning. Many of participants are teachers, particularly language teachers, but some enjoy online gaming as a way of improving their English as a second language.  This MOOC is run by Vance Stevens, who is a member of the VSTE VE PLN.

Basic directions to join VSTE Place, VSTE’s Minecraft world:

You must have a Minecraft account from https://minecraft.net/en/ to join. There is a one time fee of $26.95 to download and install the software. You will need to be whitelisted to enter the VSTE server. Email Kim Harrison at K4sons@gmail.com from an educational email address with your real name and Minecraft account name.

Start the software and choose multiplayer and add a server: Name VSTE Place IP 69.175.17.26:25565

We use Discord to share voices in Minecraft. This is a voice and screen sharing application that will run on your computer or mobile device. Download and install it for free. Create an account. Many of us use the same name for our Discord account as our Minecraft account to keep things simple. Our channel is https://discord.gg/nDX4mZv It helps us to be able to play Minecraft in one screen and listen via Discord with earbuds or headphones.

Resources You Can Use From Common Sense Education

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VSTE is pleased to partner with Common Sense Education to connect our members and friends with high quality resources. Here are a few featured items for May 2019:

Digital Resources for School Makerspaces

There's no doubt that making something from scratch is a core component of learning, requiring confidence, imagination, and ingenuity while building conceptual understanding. Maker and DIY-focused apps and websites can be a huge help, providing students with scaffolding and schematics for their next project or serving as tools to use for design and creation.

Amplify Your ELLs' Voices With Digital Storytelling

Here you'll find practical tips on using digital-creation and storytelling activities to empower authentic communication, both in the classroom and beyond. What's more, these types of activities can be just as engaging and productive for any student, regardless of their literacy level or language-learner status.

4 Free Tools to Teach About Climate Change

Demystify the data on climate change and create authentic learning experiences for your students.

Want to check our more? Click here to visit the website.

Keith Reeves to Keynote LearnerPalooza 2019

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Join us for the 6th annual gathering on June 10, 2019, at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Virginia. Rod Carnill, VSTE Board Vice Chair, is the lead planner for this annual event.

A palooza is defined as an exaggerated event, and LearnerPalooza 2019 is exactly that and maybe a little more although I could be exaggerating. Honestly, though, in the past six year, LearnerPalooza has become a VSTE co-sponsored edtech event of educators, by educators and for educators.

When we first started out, we wanted to provide a local and low key environment for educators from across the region to come together and share best practices, formative experiences, edtech tools and applications, and have some fun doing so. This year proves to perhaps be one of the best ever. I know I said that last year but this time I am not exaggerating when I tell you that edtech leaders will be at the forefront of the offerings this year.

Our keynote speaker, Keith David Reeves, is the VSTE Board chair. He is also the author of Insurrection: A Teacher Revolution in Defense of Children, a work on educational philosophy and pedagogy, and of Paperless Research Writing: Effective Digital Scaffolding for Academic Writing. He currently serves as Senior Instructional Technology Coordinator at Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, the largest Zero Energy elementary school ever constructed in the United States. He is a Certified Educational Technology Leader (CETL).

Jean Weller, a Teaching and Learning Technology Integration Specialist with the Virginia Department of Education, will provide updates from Richmond on current VDOE initiatives, especially #GoOpen. We will have an opportunity to explore the Virginia OER Commons website.

Karen Richardson, VSTE Executive Director and ISTE Certified Educator as well as Patrick Hausammann, VSTE Technology Coach of the Year and Google Certified Innovator will share their knowledge and expertise. Many other local teachers, ITRTs and technology coaches and Google Certified Trainers will provide experiences and insights on topics like classroom productivity, enhanced instruction, student content creation and, of course, with the usual throwbacks to the event's ‘GooglePalooza’ roots, the latest and greatest GSuite apps and extensions. This is ALL to help you place ‘Students First’ and engage in ‘Learning Forever’.

I hope to see you there! Remember to bring your own device and invite a friend to join you because we are always better together.

Register Now

 

Programs that Work: STEM Awards for Exemplary Projects and Programs

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Programs that Work

STEM awards for exemplary projects and programs in K-16 STEM Education

The Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition (VMSC) invite you to nominate effective student and teacher education projects and programs for its annual “Programs That Work” Awards. The VMSC recognizes exemplary mathematics, science, integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs for which there is evidence of a positive impact on student or teacher learning.  Proposals will be evaluated on the extent that applicants are able to:

  • Represent innovative, exemplary programs that have proven effective with all students or teachers
  • Demonstrate the important mathematics, science, and STEM concepts, skills or processes students and teachers learned as a result of the programs
  • Document impact on teaching and learning

Virginia’s public and private elementary and secondary schools, public school divisions, institutions of higher education, state agencies, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are invited to apply.

It is entirely appropriate to nominate your own project or program as long as the following criteria are met:

  • The project or program is a specific STEM project with goals and objectives
  • Science, mathematics concepts, technology, skills, and or processes are the main focal point of the project or program
  • The STEM project or program has a documented impact on STEM learning which has been documented with an assessment
  • The project or program has been implemented for a minimum of at least 2 years within the past 5 years                                                           

 

Applications are due on December 10, 2018, and will be evaluated on a competitive basis for programs that have been conducted within the past five years and have demonstrated positive results.  Awardees will be recognized at a conference and awards ceremony on January, 15, 2019, at the State Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.  Through a generous grant from Dominion Energy, the VMSC will support the travel and lodging of award recipients for each program that is recognized.

Applications can be found at http://www.vamsc.org/index.php/application/

For additional information, contact the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition by e-mail at ptw@vamsc.org.

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/