VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VSTE Partners

#GoOpenVA and Sharing In The Time of Crisis

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#GoOpenVA launched in late January, which turned out to be just in time. As Virginia educators move into several months of building closures due to COVID-19, we at least have a place to share and connect with other educators.

Although #GoOpenVA is designed as a repository of educational materials that teachers can edit and share, it is most importantly a community where teachers can rely on each other for help. That’s especially important now that we are all struggling to figure out a new way to help our students learn. The burden is so much lighter when we can share our ideas, rather than having to develop them all on our own.

So, now is the time for you to participate in #GoOpenVA. It is an open site, so if you are just looking for ideas, you can browse and download without any other action. However, to be a part of the community of sharing, you need to become as a registered user. For security reasons, Administration determined it was best if educators signed on through their school division, using a single-sign-on software.

Each school division has made their own determination about how to get to #GoOpenVA from their system, so check with your local tech support to find out the way you can get access. If your division does not have any sort of single-sign-on software, please contact us (info@goopenva.org) to request an account.

Once you are able to login as a registered user, you can do lots of things—add resources you’ve created, take someone else’s resource and tweak it to fit your students, participate in discussion groups about topics near and dear to your heart, and collaborate with your fellow educators to create something that’s bigger than just one person could do.

#GoOpenVA has a new User’s Hub, which will provide you with helpful tips and screencasts on how to do specific things on #GoOpenVA. This is a new space, so expect it to continue to grow over time. You are invited to add to this community, using the various Group message boards to share your own tips and insights.

We also have a 4-hour online self-paced course that you can take if that suits your learning style (sign up at Virtual Virginia; it may take a day or two to get your account set up). We also have our VSTE-supported Workshop in a Box materials for those who want to conduct a professional learning session for other educators. The latter will be expanding soon to incorporate new modules.

It’s a natural thing for educators to be sharers. After all, that’s what education boils down to – sharing our expertise and knowledge with students to help them grow (in all ways). It’s good thing that Virginia now has a place to support that sharing when we can’t get together physically!

Written by Jean Weller. Jean is an Educational Technology Specialist in the Virginia Department of Education's Office of STEM and Innovation. She also serves as the Department's representative on the VSTE Board of Directors.

Help All Students Access The Internet

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With nearly all schools in the U.S. closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, many districts are transitioning to distance learning. This shift to technology-mediated teaching and learning puts a spotlight on the homework gap -- the divide between students who have home broadband access and those who do not.

Getting all students online will take some elbow grease. Fortunately, a number of organizations offer resources to help with this challenge. Here are five things you can do to ensure your students get the access they need:common sense education logo

1. Get students, and their families, online.

Effective distance learning starts with connectivity. Students in households that don't have Wi-Fi won't be able to download work, view online materials, or attend virtual classes. For a list of free and low-cost internet offers, check out the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. Families can also find out about service offerings in their areas with the ZIP code search tool from EveryoneOn.

2. Secure devices for every student.

Most households have mobile devices, but it’s hard to get work done on a phone. PCs for People and Human IT are programs that can link students up with free or low-cost computers, tablets, and laptops. These programs also provide resources on how to navigate new digital tools.

3. Leverage educational TV.

Ninety-six percent of homes in the U.S. have televisions. To support student learning at home, PBS and other local public television stations and some larger broadcasters are airing educational programming throughout the day. Check your local PBS schedule for standards-aligned programs such as Nova and History Detectives. In addition, Amazon pulled down its paywall for educational content on Prime Video, making it free for families with a device and an Amazon account. Amazon Prime Video includes educational programming from various outlets including PBS, plus Amazon originals like Creative Galaxy and Tumble Leaf.

4. Check your local library.

Libraries across the nation are leaving their Wi-Fi open to the public for use from the library parking lots. If students already have access to a device, this option allows them to download materials and access free broadband when they're within range of the signal.

5. Demand action now.

Common Sense is calling on Congress to fund devices and broadband service so all students can connect to distance learning this school year. Are your students connected? Share your story to #ConnectAllStudents and we'll make sure lawmakers hear your call. Send us a video or tweet at us @CommonSenseEd on Twitter and Instagram.

Written by Amina Fazlulla. Amina is Equity Counsel in Common Sense's D.C. office, with a focus on expanding access to technology and digital well-being advocacy.

Serving All Students in an Online Environment

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Addressing the needs of students with disabilities in an online environment can seem like a daunting task for educators, especially in the midst of an emergency, overnight transition to online learning. With the right tools and some small adjustments in practice however, keeping each of your students engaged and progressing is within reach.

Disabilities come in many different forms (mobility, hearing, vision, and cognition) and aren’t always visible or diagnosed. Even if you don’t have a student in your class with an identified disability, following these practices can provide benefits for your students and any parents or guardians who may have a disability.

1. Ensure your web-based tools and resources are accessible for students with disabilities
Any platforms or websites you share with your students must comply with state and federal rules for accessibility. Tools that conform with international accessibility standards, such as the WCAG 2.1, provide a base level of access for all users. Companies that may be providing you with a platform or other tool should have readily available check lists for conformance with standards.

Some of the most common barriers to access for students that you should check for with any tools and content used for instruction, are screen reader incompatibility, keyboard navigation problems, and lack of video captioning. Free web accessibility checkers, like WAVE, are a great way to quickly check a web-based resource for accessibility with just its URL.

2. Avoid PDFs and Images to convey information
PDFs and images often do not carry the proper attributes to ensure the accessibility of the information contained within them for students or parents utilizing screen readers. Information relevant to learning or classroom activities should always be conveyed in word documents or within the HTML of a web page.

When you are creating a document in a word processing program or adding text to a webpage with an HTML editor, be sure to add headings to give your documents a logical structure to allow keyboard and audio navigating students to move freely around the document.

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3. Watch your colors and color contrast
Creating fun and flashy content and webpages using different colors can be a great way to make learning fun and engaging for students. For students with visual disabilities however, it can make learning challenging when colors are used to convey meaning. About 1 in 12 boys have a form of color blindness that can make it difficult to determine colors, the difference between shades of colors, or even the brightness of a color. Web accessibility checkers can help to identify color contrast issues that may be a barrier to students, but generally it is best to avoid multi-colored documents or assignments that rely on students to be able to identify colors to complete.

4. All videos should have closed captioning
Any videos, including live-streamed videos, provided to students should have captioning or a transcript available. While captioning and transcription can be difficult for live-video instruction, it is critical to ensure equitable access to learning. Students with both hearing and cognitive disabilities will benefit from the ability to follow along.

Any streaming or video recording tool you use should be able to auto-caption your recordings either during the live-stream or afterwards to post with the recording.

5. Differentiate Instruction
In addition to ensuring your technology and content are accessible, serving students with disabilities requires addressing the learning differences between students as well. A video lecture can hit a lot of the curriculum standards, but it may be incongruent with the IEP needs of a student and generally a more difficult method of online learning for all students. Leverage your online tools to create multiple pathways for students to receive instruction or to show evidence for learning they can do on their own.

In the Brightspace LMS, teachers are using Release Conditions to set criteria around the availability of content. For example, setting up checklists in a course to automatically deliver course material in a different format (e.g.a link to a video content page for visual learners or a link to an excerpt from literature for linguistic learners), access to an extra help discussion forum, additional reading material, and alternative formats for multimedia material. This helps ensure that students who need more support have it without hassle and while maintaining student privacy.

Written by Brendan Desetti. Brendan is the Director of Government & Stakeholder Relations for D2L – makers of the Brightspace LMS.

#GoOpenVA Professional Development Resources

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Go Open VA headerThe Virginia Society for Technology in Education has been working closely with the Department of Education to support the #GoOpenVA initiative, a collaborative initiative that enables educational entities throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources).

As part of the opening of the #GoOpenVA platform, where educators across the Commonwealth can create, share and remix openly licensed resources, VSTE has begun development of a Workshop In a Box to help technology coaches and other trainers introduce the platform to their faculty. The first module, which provides an overview of the platform, is available now. Subsequent modu les focusing on more detailed use of the platform are in development and will be available this spring.

While the Workshop is designed to be used directly by divisions, VSTE may be able to provide support for face to face and online trainings. Please contact Karen Richardson (karen_richardson@vste.org) with requests or questions.

Booz Allen Foundation Educators STEM Open House

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Registration is open now for the Educators STEM Open House, sponsored by The Booz Allen Foundation, and being held Saturday, February 29, 2020, 8:15 AM - 1:30 PM, at Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia.

This free open house will provide a unique opportunity for NOVA educators to interact with STEM professionals as they share their educational pathways and the skills they needed to succeed. Participants will learn about ground-breaking resources and programs available to NOVA educators.

Learn more about the schedule and register here.