VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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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 articles of topics of interest to educators:

 

What Do Students Think About Cyberbullying?

How one teacher helps her students unpack what cyberbullying is, what it isn't, and what they can do about it.

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Teachers' Essential Guide to Teaching with Technology

When and how much should students be using technology in the classroom? What's the best way to set up my classroom for device use? Get answers to these questions and more, and learn how to get the most out of using tech in the classroom.

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Check Out the Privacy Ratings for Hundreds of Popular Classroom Tools

Student-centered learning meets sound privacy practice.

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Empowering Student Voice

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In case you haven’t heard, #FlipgridFever is a real thing! This educational tool has made quite a name for itself in the world of teaching. Amplifying student voice is key if we want our students to take responsibility for their learning and understanding, as well as being proud of sharing what they know. As teachers, we are trying to teach our students that we should respect each other’s rights, feelings, opinions, beliefs, and values. What better way to demonstrate that than using Flipgrid for students to share those things through book reviews amongst their peers.

A few Instructional Technology Coaches from Prince William County Public Schools put our heads together to create a collaborative Book Review project using Flipgrid as the main tool, so students could give personal reviews of books after they’ve finished. Students across multiple schools are able to share their reviews, as well as watch reviews from their peers. The students are being introduced to a larger peer group with differing ideas than they see in their own school buildings, enabling a broader perspective and larger conversation about their books.

Filpgrid allows students to share their thoughts on books with many other students, giving them the power to evaluate texts and empowering them to think actively about the texts, rather than just passively moving from book to book. Keeping students engaged in their learning is a challenging task. Teachers are always looking for student-centered activities that involve students incorporating their interests, while making their own choices. Flipgrid is the perfect platform to take student voice to the next level. We’ve seen students who rarely raise their hand in class review several books since we opened up our book review stations.

Not only are they working on their writing and oral language skills, but they are more confident in sharing their own voice on a forum like Flipgrid. While they may be shy in class, the feeling that they are alone when recording in front of a camera affords them the security they need to share their thoughts without the pressure of speaking in front of a group. They are reading, thinking about reading, and talking about their reading in authentic ways. Flipgrid has given purpose to their reading. This activity provides a win for students and the teachers!

Written by Sara Ross and Kevin Weaver. Sara and Kevin are both Instructional Technology Coaches in Prince William County Schools.

A Journey with Fredericksburg and Their AR Sandbox

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augmented reality platformA year ago we saw a video that showed a sandbox that was able to show a topographic map showing contour lines displayed from a projector, to a computer, to a Kinect camera. I thought I would share a little information on what Fredericksburg did to get that video to become a reality.

This all happened before the AR Sandbox became very popular (now you can purchase them online), so we enlisted help from folks around our school. Our former Director of Technology is a Master Craftsman, and while information was online on how to build it, he did a much sturdier version of the suggested specifications. It took about two months for the build to occur.students working in an augmented reality sandbox

In the meantime, we began to investigate computers and projectors that would support the specifications. In the end we settled with an Epson VS250 projector, and a Trident MS-B920 desktop with a GPU (Nvidia GTX 1060, DDR5 3GB). We would recommend however going with the BenQ short throw projector that they recommend, we thought the above-mentioned projector would be a little better, hindsight we should have stuck with their model.

Setting up the computer was straightforward; you need to only have a bit of knowledge of Linux to utilize the software. Having the online Linux community was very helpful. I will tell you from my experience now setting up 3 desktops with the Linux Mint version 18.3 Sylvia (MATE) was the best version. I know currently they are using 19.1. We had an issue with 19.1 and the graphics card not being recognized, so after many hours of backtracking, I went back to the 18.3 version and had success with the graphics card being recognized.
students working in an augmented reality sandboxSo why do this and what was the benefit and goal of using this AR Sandbox? First, to us it is all about students. This gives students a unique opportunity to explore hands on learning at its finest. Students can manipulate the sand and, in real time, be able to see the landforms change instantly. Students are able to manipulate the landforms to show water running downhill and where it travels based off of the topography, in fact, with the code, students can hold their hands out at cloud level and have it appear as if their hands have water coming down to augmented reality sandboxthe ground (with the addition of an evaporation command and a water command, students can see the water cycle in action). Being able to change the land in real time allows students to experience what would happen during a tsunami, hurricane, flooding, and storm surges. Talking about it is one thing, watching a video of it is another, being able to immerse yourself in it makes the learning so much more meaningful and in the end that is the goal.

Currently, we have our Sandbox at our Grade 3-5 school, and it is being utilized to teach students about watersheds, the water cycle, plate tectonics, and the impact that weather has on our planet. In addition to students coming down for lessons utilizing the sandbox, students are able to visit the library where it is housed and come in and explore it just as they would be able to at a museum. Teachers and students have reflected and have said what an amazing experience this has been. From my standpoint with it being all about students, I feel that this was an amazing addition to the already wonderful teaching we have going on in Fredericksburg. The photos in this post show the progress of our build and the students getting to use the sandbox during lessons.

The site that we used for the building design ideas, software, and hardware installation was from UC Davis. If you are interested in creating your own, use the information on their site. I know that it helped us out a lot. If you have questions or are interested in learning more, feel free to e-mail me and I would be happy to answer your questions.

Written by Josh Long. Josh is the Director of Technology for Fredericksburg City Schools and a member of the VSTE Board of Directors.

AIM Virginia

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AIM-VA was created through a grant from the Virginia Department of Education.  AIM-VA is a free service that provides accessible instructional materials to eligible Virginia K-12 students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and are unable to access traditional print.  AIM-VA converts textbooks, workbooks, reading books and teacher-made materials into accessible formats that meet the needs of the individual student.  AIM-VA also provides technical assistance and training. With over 500,000 materials housed in its library, AIM-VA works to ensure that students with print disabilities have access to accessible instructional materials.

Created by Nicci T. Dowd. Nicci is an Assistive Technology Training and Technical Specialist for AIM-VA and a member of the VSTE Board of Directors.

Tech Spotlight – Robotics

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Christine Richmond is a Robotics teacher at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School. Through a program facilitated by Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Richmond’s eighth-grade students are constructing and programming Lego Mindstorm robots to navigate various courses and perform specific functions. Students work in teams to complete “challenge tasks” and demonstrate an understanding of various robotics engineering concepts. The students will ultimately apply what they have learned from the various tasks to complete a final challenge - programming their robots to act as emergency responders for search and rescue missions.