VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VSTE News

VSTE Partners with Wonder Workshop to Bring Dash and Cue Robots to Virginia Teachers

by

banner for Teach Wonder Program

VSTE is pleased to bring the TEACH WONDER 

Professional Learning Program to Virginia Schools

Virginia's recent adoption of K-12 Computer Science Standards has made computational thinking and coding part of every educator's vocabulary throughout K-12. Robots offer an engaging way to integrate these skills across content areas and grade levels. VSTE, in partnership with Wonder Workshop, is pleased to be able to offer the Teach Wonder program to educators in Virginia.

We’re excited to partner with Wonder Workshop to bring the Teach Wonder Professional Learning Program to VSTE members at a deep discount. Save $325-$350 when you register for the Teach Wonder program using the discount code provided through our organization.

ACCESS YOUR DISCOUNT CODE  NOW!

http://www.teachwonder.com/partner-forms.html

Learn  More

 

We've chosen to partner with Wonder Workshop because they are uniquely positioned to provide this resource to educators. Their team of experienced educators and instructional design specialists have also developed a K-5 Learn to Code Curriculum and an Applied Robotics Curriculum for more advanced students.  In addition, they provide an extensive library of cross-curricular lesson plans that address topics from science to storytelling.

 

Speak Up Webinar, Tuesday, November 13, 2018

by

The Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning – the free research tool districts use to learn what students, educators, parents and the community have to say about education issues – is open for participation now through the end of January 2019. This year, Speak Up is offering a number of new options including a Mobile Learning Impact Snapshot tool and a Teacher Professional Learning Snapshot tool.

Project Tomorrow is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, November 13th at 3:30pmET/12:30pmPT to introduce districts to these new Snapshot tools covering how they can be used and what to expect. And, they will save time to answer your questions during the webinar. Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/6791b89b877f94037510d14dfea9e911

The Mobile Learning Impact Snapshot - While there has been huge growth in technology investments in schools, relatively few schools or districts have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of all of these mobile devices in the classroom. Building on more than a decade of evaluation studies and insights from Speak Up, this new Snapshot is a research-based tool designed to help school leaders get beyond just “student engagement” as a level of success (or failure) of their mobile learning initiatives to better explain the ROI of their investments. This tool offers every school and district an easy and cost effective (free!) way to assess the impact of their mobile learning projects.

The Teacher Professional Learning Impact Snapshot - The top issue facing school principals today – relative to the use of technology within learning – is how to motivate and train their teachers to change their instructional practices to more seamlessly integrate technology into instruction. While teachers are using more digital content than ever before and have greater access to digital tools including mobile devices in their classroom than ever before, there still is a gap between usage and effectiveness. And, teachers tell us they need and want more professional learning experiences to be able to use technology more effectively. This new Snapshot tool allows administrators to learn more from their teachers about their preferences and interests in professional learning experiences to support more effective use of technology.

This year, schools and districts can choose to 1) participate in Speak Up by selecting one of our annual question decks (current or longitudinal) as needed to collect feedback from their students, staff, parents and/or community, 2) use one or both of these new Snapshots as stand-alone tools or 3) use all the Speak Up tools: annual Speak Up questions, Mobile Learning Impact Snapshot and Professional Learning Impact Snapshot.

Learn more about Speak Up and get started today!

VSTE Announces 2018 CoSN Council Award Winners

by

The Virginia Society for Technology in Education is pleased to announce the winners of their inaugural VSTE CoSN Council awards. These awards, modeled on those awarded at the national level by CoSN, recognize excellence in educational technology leadership at the division level.

Photograph of Jan Streich

 

Dr. Janis Streich, Executive Director of Learning and Organizational Development, Stafford County Public Schools, received the VSTE CoSN Council CTO Award, recognizing her career leading innovation in instruction and technology in Virginia. Dr. Streich's work around the Instructional Technology Resource Teacher model has contributed to innovation through the state.

Dr. Oskar Scheikl, Superintendent, Rockingham County Public Schools, received the VSTE CoSN Council Empowered Superintendent Award, given in recognition of his work leading Rockingham County's Digital Conversion Initiative. He was the key architect of the initiative, a highly collaborative project with the goal of optimizing teaching and learning through access to and integration of technology, accompanied by the provision of a one-to-one digital device for every student in grades 1-12.  

Dr. Scheikl's work took place in the context of a strong team. Rockingham County received the VSTE CoSN Council Team Award, also given in recognition of the five-year Digital Conversion that focused on enhancing student learning by providing access to digital tools and resources whenever and wherever they are needed.  The Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents are currently leading an effort to transition from the original plan to a 5-year plan focusing on creating a culture of instructional innovation. 

State award winners will be nominated for the national awards. VSTE is the state chapter for CoSN.

VSTE2018: Pre-Conference Workshops Announced

by

The Annual Technology in Education Conference will be held December 2 - 4, 2018, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Whether you are a first-time attendee or a seasoned veteran you will find the conference full of information ready to take back to your school or workplace.

This year, VSTE will be adding a pre-conference day on Saturday, December 1, 2018, from 9 AM to 3 PM. This pre-conference will include a variety of longer, hands-on workshops led by certified and seasoned instructors. Check out the schedule here and registration will open on Monday, September 17, 2018. The pre-conference will be held at W.T. Cooke Elementary School in Virginia Beach.

Check out the conference website for more information.

VSTE Partners With JoyLabz to Provide Makey Makey Training

by

VSTE is pleased, as part of its partnership with Joylabz, to offer professional development for the Makey Makey. Not sure what that is? This video should clear up any confusion:


Taught by a certified Makey Makey Training Partner, the Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop for Educators is a fun hands-on learning experience where you’ll learn how to teach Invention Literacy, Making, and Design Thinking using the award winning Makey Makey invention kit. We’ll explore how to teach circuits and conductivity using Makey Makeys and then put our skills to use designing your own inventions! Participants learn best practices and gain access to a multimedia training website that can be used later when working with your students or training others. Participants receive a Makey Makey (offered at the reduced price of $20) to take home along with a certificate of participation.

VSTE has certified trainers located in almost every region of the state. Contact mikescott@vste.org to get more information about participating in or hosting a training.

Current Scheduled Training

VSTE is offering this session on December 1st in Virginia Beach during its all day pre conference workshops.

Invention Literacy Workshop
Higher Education Center, Abingdon, Virginia
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
9 AM – 3 PM
Trainer: Karen Richardson
Cost: $25 includes Makey Makey
Taught by a certified Makey Makey Training Partner, the Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop for Educators is a fun hands-on learning experience where you’ll learn how to teach Invention Literacy, Making, and Design Thinking using the award winning Makey Makey invention kit. We’ll explore how to teach circuits and conductivity using Makey Makeys and then put our skills to use designing your own inventions! Participants learn best practices and gain access to a multimedia training website that can be used later when working with your students or training others. Participants receive a Makey Makey to take home along with a certificate of participation.