VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VSTE Partners

Don’t Miss This: Third Annual Roanoke Mini Maker Faire

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The Call for Proposals is open now for the Roanoke Mini Maker Faire, being held February 22, 2020, 12 - 4 PM, at The Science Museum of Western Virginia, in Roanoke, Virginia. The Museum and the Virginia Society for Technology in Education are partnering for the third year to feature student makers.

What are we looking for? Students in the southwest region of Virginia* who MAKE things in all sorts of ways! If you like to automate, build, change, code, collaborate, compose, connect, construct, cook, create, crochet, deconstruct, design, draw, dream, dream up, experiment, fabricate, film, fix, fold, hack, innovate, inquire, invent, knit, learn, make, model, mold, observe, paint, participate, photograph, play, print, program, recycle, sew, share, teach, test, tinker, upcycle, write, or make things in any other way, we want you!

If you know or teach students like this or you ARE a student like this, please consider submitting your proposal: the Call for Proposals closes soon.*

The event is free but registration is encouraged. Learn more at the website.

Maker Faire originated in 2006 in the San Francisco Bay Area as a project of the editors of Make: magazine.  It has since grown into a significant worldwide network of both flagship and independently-produced events.  Read more on Maker Faire history, the Maker Movement, as well as how to start a Maker Faire or a School Maker Faire where you live.

 

Data-Informed Equity Workshop, September 26, 2019

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You are invited to join American Institutes for Research, BrightBytes, ISTE and your local peers and colleagues for lunch and discussion on taking a data-informed approach to equity and student success initiatives. The day will feature presentations, panel conversations and interactive sessions focused on equity in early warning systems, approaches to digital initiatives, and understanding the data necessary to support educators and district leaders in this work.

Thursday, September 26
10:00am - 2:00pm
American Institutes for Research Offices in Crystal City
1400 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor
Arlington, Virginia 22202

Register now at: http://pages.brightbytes.net/2019-09-26AIRLunchandLearn_01RegistrationPage.html

*This event is free to attend and lunch will be provided.

Implementing a Robotics Competition in Your Classroom

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Robotics competitions are currently at the forefront of our ever-changing technological world. In the modern day, it is important to learn skills that will help your students navigate the shift from traditional, old-school technology to newer and more advanced tech.

Robotics competitions can wake up the leader that each student has inside and can strengthen various abilities and skills - both hard and soft - that are needed in the 21st century like computational thinking, self-directed learning, creative problem solving, time management, teamwork and more.

We have no doubt. Robotics competitions can have an extraordinary positive impact on students.

two students working at a computerIt doesn’t have to be expensive: Robotics should promote inclusivity!

Today, implementing a robotics competition in your own classroom doesn’t have to be complicated, nor expensive. The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition (CRCC) is an online robotics tournament that engages students in coding without the need of any hardware, making their preparation even more inclusive. Because, robotics should be for everyone, right?

The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition, organized by the ISCEF foundation, has been held in many states around the US, and in a number of different countries both in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. In each one of these instances, every single student got to practice and work with their very own virtual robot. Expensive hardware? No need!

In Virginia, last year’s finals were held at Virginia Commonwealth University. At the finals, $136,000 worth of scholarships to VCU were awarded to the top 3 teams. 

5 steps to have your own robotics competition in your classroom:crcc award

  1. Join our mailing list! The newsletter will ensure you have the latest information. Additionally, the CRCC team is reachable and accessible, just like the competition itself. You can get in touch with the team if you have additional questions about how to implement a robotics competition in your own classroom. The CRCC team will be there for you during the entire time, ensuring an exclusive, comprehensive, extraordinary learning experience both for you and your students.
  1. Register for CRCC, and let the fun begin! Get your students excited about STEM. Show them how STEM will be present in our everyday lives in the future, and how its different applications will rule the way the workforce of the future structures itself. In order to engage them with this matter, you can talk about the importance of makerspaces, gamified learning environments, or even about the most amazing programming languages for kids. The registration for your classroom/club is $250 or for all teachers and students in your school, only $550. You only need a computer with internet, no robots!
  1. Prepare yourself and your students! Join the teacher professional development webinars hosted in the first weeks of October. Details will be in the newsletter. Learn to program yourself, and your students will see that anyone can do it! Set up your student accounts, and have them complete the Bootcamp missions. Bootcamp can be done in teams or individually. It is important for your students to know that anyone can program their very own virtual robot. These gamified missions and challenges will prepare them for the Qualifier Round. Encourage them to find different ways for them to make their robot complete missions and emphasize that there are a number of different paths to success. The Cyber Robotics Coding Competition platform (CoderZ) uses a friendly and colorful visual editor that enables your students to become programmers without even noticing. Students will even be exposed to how blocks translate into textual language - Java.two girls working at a laptop
  2. Create student teams for the Qualifying Round. Although each student works on an individual account, we recommend to start practicing working in teams of 2. This is how the finals are run. It is important that your students learn how to work in teams, when to lead, and when to be guided. Also, dividing them in teams will encourage collaboration while contributing to the “competition atmosphere” you want to create in the class. Encourage them to name their teams, to divide tasks, and to work together in solving the different challenges. The CRCC includes a leaderboard that students follow, and it motivates them to see their team on the top of the list.
  3. Delve into the Qualifying Round and have fun! Once the qualifying round begins, teams can complete challenges from any Internet-connected computer at anytime.

Join the next Cyber Robotics Coding Competition (CRCC) starting October 14th 2019

Click here for more details

May the code be with you

Written by Trevor Pope. Trevor is the CRCC Competition Master. He has been involved in education technology for two decades. He has been a robotics competitions mentor and has managed both physical and virtual competitions with students across the United States. You can connect with CRCC on Twitter and Instagram.

Back to School with the 6Cs

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As you think about getting this school year off the ground, take a moment to think about the resources you have that reinforce an instructional framework that you use.  One framework that I like is Michael Fullan’s Deep Learning or the 6 Cs. With the goal of enabling educated people to be able to solve problems and “deal with life”, these six skills are crucial to education. Research tells us that when technology is used to facilitate Deep Learning (or the 6Cs), the result transforms teaching and learning.  

Character Education includes the ideas of building resilience, empathy, confidence, and well being. Rather than making “character ed” another subject to teach, there are several ways that these concepts can be included in everyday processes and procedures in the classroom.  One way is to use circles as a classroom routine to build relationships. Another suggestion is that we use the concept of legacy as a catalyst for character discussions. An Edutopia article that I read recently suggests that students write their end-of-year legacy at the beginning of the year to help them with character goals.

Citizenship in this framework involves the notions of global knowledge, cultural respect, and environmental awareness. A teacher could approach this by helping students understand the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are many ideas and resources for teaching the SDGs at the TeachSDGs website. I think one of the easiest strategies is to look at the curated book list and integrate a book or two into a lesson where appropriate.

edtech wave logo

Communication skills defined as “getting students to apply their oral work, listening, writing, and reading in varied contexts” are easy to encourage.  Lesson ideas in this area are plentiful including, “Teaching your students to have a conversation” and “Teaching communication skills”.  A wonderful tool for students to use to create projects that allow them to practice their communication skills is Microsoft Sway, which is device agnostic and free.  If you are not familiar with Sway, take a look at the archive for our Sway Cool Student Projects workshop, in which we shared how to create project ideas that help students practice communicating.

Designing and managing projects which address specific problems and arrive at solutions using appropriate and diverse tools is the essence of Critical-Thinking. This idea is not new to you if you are familiar with design thinking. TeachersFirst has a curated list of tech tools and websites that would be helpful as you plan lessons that include this type of critical-thinking in them. 

Collaboration or working in teams so students can learn with/from others is a strategy that most can agree is necessary for our students.  One of my favorite tools for quick collaboration is Twiddla (reviewed here).  Along with the Google Docs Suite and Microsoft's Office Online, here is a list of additional free tools that can be used to practice collaborative work strategies. Be sure to try the tools out with a friend before you use them with students.  Many times you’ll learn tips about the tool that your students might need to know in advance like - you shouldn't “undo” when working collaboratively in a Google Doc as it reverses what was last saved...which could be some other student's work.  

Developing qualities like enterprise, leadership, and innovation are part of Creativity and Imagination. One strategy to promote these skills is including maker activities in your instruction. You might also help your students learn about young inventors, as suggested in this blog post. 

At TeachersFirst, we offer a series of free services for educator professional learning and development. One of our goals is to give teachers strategies to address the 6Cs and facilitate deep learning.  Click here for more information about our free services.

Written by Ruth Okoye. Ruth is the Director of K12 Initiatives at The Source for Learning, the parent company of the TeachersFirst community. Okoye has over 20 years of experience using technology in the classroom and served as the Technology Resource Teacher for Elementary Language Arts in Portsmouth, VA. She is a member of the ISTE Board of Directors and part of the leadership team for the ISTE Edtech Coaches PLN.

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.

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