VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Online Events

Webinar: Concurrent Instruction With Dr. Catlin Tucker

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picture of womanVSTE Welcomes Dr. Catlin Tucker

Webinar: Using Blended Learning Models to Design and Facilitate Learning for a Concurrent Classroom
December 8, 2020, 7 - 8:30 PM
Thanks to Zoom and McGraw Hill for their support!
Virginia educators are implementing a variety of virtual learning models from hybrid to hyflex. VSTE, with support from our partners Zoom and McGraw Hill Education, is pleased to offer a webinar with Dr. Catlin Tucker on how to create effective, engaging virtual learning. Catlin is dedicated to helping teachers blend technology and tradition to shift students to the center of learning and find balance in their teaching practice.
Catlin is a Google Certified Innovator, bestselling author, international trainer, and keynote speaker. She is an expert in the fields of blended and online learning and has published a collection of best-selling books on blended learning, including Blended Learning in Grades 4-12, Blended Learning In Action, Power Up Blended learning, and Balance With Blended Learning. She is active on Twitter @Catlin_Tucker and writes an internationally ranked education blog at CatlinTucker.com.
As a thank you to the educators in the state and with the support of Zoom and McGraw Hill, VSTE is able to offer this webinar for free. 
Seats are limited and this session will NOT be streamed outside of Zoom. The recording will be available for registrants for a short amount of time after the event.
Register in advance for this webinar:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Using Blended Learning Models to Design and Facilitate Learning for a Concurrent Classroom
The concurrent classroom presents several challenges. It’s tough to meet the needs of students in class and online simultaneously. Often, there is an inequality of teacher attention, students struggle to stay engaged, and learning experiences do not maximize face-to-face and online learning affordances. When teachers rely exclusively on a whole group, teacher-led model, these challenges are exacerbated. Teachers can combat the challenges associated with the concurrent classroom by using blended learning models to prioritize differentiated small group and personalized 1:1 instruction, give students agency, and shift control over the pace of learning to students. This workshop will explore how teachers can use the station rotation model, flipped learning model, and playlist model to successfully engage students in a concurrent classroom.

Celebrate Fall with VE PLN

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Second Life AvatarThe Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network is hosting several fall activities for fun and learning.

Halloween Social
October 26, 2020, 7 - 8 PM ET, the VSTE crowd will dance and network in costume to “DJ Thunder’s” Halloween tunes at VSTE Space in Second Life. Come chat and laugh with us. Let your hair down and leave the stress at home for an hour. 

Costumes are optional but if you want help with one, come visit Jazmemo and Thunder at VSTE Space during office hours any Saturday morning between 9 and 11 AM ET. We are always there ready to help. You still have time on Saturday, October 24 so don't miss out!

 

Report from the Front Lines

The VE PLN is starting a new segment called Report from the Front Lines. This series will be held at VSTE Place in Second Life once a month. The next meeting will be Monday, November 9 at 7 PM ET. This is an opportunity for teachers from across the state of Virginia and beyond to share data from teaching online, hybrid (AABB model), or fully in class. We will discuss strategies for improving grades of students, problems teachers are having, and new tools for teaching online. We had an organizational meeting on Oct. 12 that went well. Please join us as we continue to learn and grow in this new environment. The conversation will be led by Dr. William Schmactenberg, High School Earth Science Teacher at Franklin County High School, AKA Dae Miami (sl).

Minecraft Mondays

The first Monday of every month the VSTE VE PLN meeting is held in Minecraft on VSTE’s own server. 

Banner making in Minecraft

On Monday, November 2, 2020, at 8 PM ET, we will have a basic lesson in building with redstone, Minecraft’s own “electricity.” Experienced redstone builders are invited to create something ahead of time to show off what they can do to inspire the beginners! The server is online all the time.

How to Connect to the VE PLN via Second Life and Minecraft

Join the Facebook Page to keep up with the VE PLN

Leading Ed Forum 2020: Collaboration in the Cloud

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logo Leading Ed Forum 2020: Collaboration in the Cloud: Innovations with Remote Learning
#explore-learn-innovate

Register Now

Schedule

Join the Virginia Department of Education and VSTE for the 4th annual Leading Ed Forum being held online on Tuesday, October 6, 2020,  from 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration Cost is $50.00.  This annual conference is designed for Virginia school division technology leaders and provides opportunities for technology leaders to learn more about issues related to both information technology and instructional technology. The 2020 Forum focuses on remote learning, digital learning, and network infrastructure. 

Entrepreneur Andrew Ko will provide the opening keynote for the Leading Ed Forum 2020. Andrew has spent the last 25 years of his professional career driving sales, business development, consulting, strategic partnerships and new product offerings for the most prominent  management consulting and technology companies in the world.

His industry experiences include education, auto, banking, defense, counterterrorism, and health and human services where he has received various awards in every company.  Focusing on his passion to improve education with technology. He founded Kovexa in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic to shape and lead the restructuring of education.

During COVID19, he was asked to advise Fairfax County Public Schools, Los Angeles County Unified School District and several universities and realized that the gap between technology, policy, and actual use by frontline educators was too great.  As a father, he realized the importance of equity, special needs, and English language learners have an insurmountable gap with online learning.

As an appointee to the Virginia State Board of Education, he assisted in setting statewide curriculum standards, establishing high school graduation requirements, determining qualifications for classroom teachers, and establishing state testing and assessment programs.

Because of the nature of this event, registration is limited to Virginia public and private school leaders who fall into the audience below. We encourage schools to send a leadership team.

Audience:  Technology Directors, Division Level leaders involved in Instructional Technology or Information Technology, Technology Coordinators, Supervisors of Technology, Directors of Information Technology, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Coordinators of Instructional Technology, and  Directors of Innovation

Register Now

Managing Multi-OS Devices in an Era of Schools Without Walls

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Filewave LogoJoin VSTE and Filewave for a free webinar being held Wednesday, August 5, 2020, 3 PM ET, related to managing devices outside the school.

The need to manage devices outside the schools walls and network has become a necessity. FileWave Officer Stephen Mirante will share how district staff can manage all OS types from the outside to ensure student, admins and all other staff continue to receive the support they need while ensuring they remain secure. 

You will also learn how FileWave has been empowering district IT staff for over 20 years.  FileWave continues to lead the industry providing education institutions around the world with enterprise level, multi-platform device management software to assist IT teams throughout the lifecycle process of imaging, deployment, management, tracking and maintenance. FileWave’s all-inclusive, highly scalable software solves the many challenges of managing a diverse and growing population of users, devices, and content by ensuring IT teams have a comprehensive solution that supports both client (desktop/laptop) and mobile devices across Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, tvOS, Android, and Chrome.

Certificate of Participation

 

Minecraft Monday: Fireworks!

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Monday, July 6, 2020, 8 PM
NEW VSTE Minecraft Server
This week we will learn how to build fireworks in Minecraft, and our teacher will put on a spectacular fireworks show! Visit us on the new
Remember we have changed servers since last Minecraft Monday. Please add our new server but keep the old one, too. Directions below.
VSTE Place, our Minecraft Server has MOVED!
We still have the old Beastnode server so don't delete it, but please rename it. It is currently offline but will be used in the future for special events. Maybe VSTE Special Events server would be a good name! Watch for updates about this. Simply click the server in the list and click to edit it.

Please, add a new server with the new address.
The new VSTE server address, with port, is:
Reclaim Hosting is now hosting the server. There is more memory allocated to it and we should be able to have more participants with less lag.  Joseph Knight did all the required technical things to accomplish the move. Thank you, Joseph!
There is a dynamic map of VSTE Place that is kind of fun to see.
You can even access it conveniently here: