VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VSTE Partners

Offer From NetRef: You’ve Got Questions and NetRef Has Answers

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The following information is provided as a service to our membership. It does not constitute an endorsement by VSTE.

NetRef graphic

We understand that these are difficult times for all stakeholders in K-12 education and Virginia Schools Divisions may be experiencing challenges around remote, hybrid or technology use in the classroom.   In our discussions with educators across the country we have heard the following concerns and NetRef can help address all of these:

  • Remote Student Attendance
  • Student Engagement
  • Track Usage of Online Programs
  • Equity

NetRef is a Virginia-based technology company and wants to offer any assistance and help to Virginia School Divisions.  We are offering FREE usage of NetRef beyond the 14 days listed on the flyer for Virginia Divisions.

  • NetRef can be set up either with or without teacher involvement.  We understand that teachers have a lot of their plates right now and don’t want to over burden but provide useful data and also ensure kids are using devices appropriately.
  • With teacher involvement provides all classroom management functionality as well as all data and usage reports for teachers and building and central office admin.
  • Without teacher involvement you would still have usage, attendance and engagement data reports and
  • Set up for either implementation would take about 20 minutes or so.  We provide all services – implementation, SIS integration, technical support and training
  • We can set up very quickly and pull data from your SIS so there is minimal effort on your end.

Short 3 minute video on how NetRef tracks engagement and attendance

14 minute pre-recorded NetRef demo from VSTE Leading Ed Forum

See what educators are saying about how NetRef is helping to keep kids focused and engaged

For more information or to discuss setting up your free trial please contact:

Joe Warden
Education Partnerships Manager
NetRef
Phone: (703) 489-7577
Email:  joe.warden@net-ref.com
Web: net-ref.com

Featured #GoOpenVA Resources, November 9, 2020

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logo for go open vaJean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads the #GoOpenVA initiative in Virginia. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

The database is growing. Jean recently created a collection for resources specifically related to professional learning. Technology coaches from across the state have contributed and you can learn more here.

#GoOpenVA hosts instructional resources from Virginia education institutions as well as individual educators.  During the fall, you might want to focus student attention on the study of their immediate environment, no matter where they live in the state. Here are a few examples of resources you can use to study about Virginia!

The Virginia Geographic Alliance provides a wonderful set of lesson plans for studying various aspects of Virginia Geography in their Virginia GeoInquiry Flipsnack Guide. Geoinquiries are intended to help get new teachers started or to move experienced teachers to grow their curriculum to incorporate deeper learning opportunities for students.  Teachers are guided on how to include local geographies into their students’ lessons, along with personal observations and data collection.

Virginia Public Media partnered with the Virginia Wildlife Center (VWC) to post their Untamed video series, about wildlife in Virginia in the Virginia Wildlife Center Collection. Students can view videos to learn about animals such as bald eagles and black bears. Teachers can connect with the VWC to find background information to guide discussions on the animals and related topics, such as lead poisoning and creating backyard habitats.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is expert at getting students to think and dig deeper. Jamestown and Beyond: The World of 1607 provides artwork for students to explore with the purpose to consider the cultures that influenced Jamestown and its legacy not only in Virginia but in the broader world.  Suggested activities for teachers to pursue with their students lead to a deeper learning experience than just a simple visit to a gallery.

Teach Middle Schoolers About Social Media With Fun Online Sim

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These engaging activities can spark conversations about oversharing, digital footprints, cyberbullying, and more.

As physical distancing becomes a feature of students' everyday lives, social media has emerged as an important outlet for them to stay connected with friends and family. At the same time, not all students have access to the support they need to learn how to use social media in a way that's healthy. And for students from lower-income families, online negative experiences are more likely to spill over into their offline lives. Yet, having a conversation with young people about how they use social media can be a daunting task.

To prepare young people for the real-life digital dilemmas they will face on social media, Common Sense Education, and a group of researchers at the Cornell Social Media Lab co-developed Social Media TestDrive. This online simulation allows middle school students a chance to explore a social media interface without actually having to create a social media account.

For Digital Citizenship Week 2020, we encourage you to try out Social Media TestDrive in your classroom. Each Social Media TestDrive module is aligned to one of the core digital citizenship topics and lessons from Common Sense Education's K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum (for more information, see the educator guide). Each module is organized into four sections: a tutorial, a guided activity, a free-play section, and a reflection page. A module takes 20- 25 minutes to complete.

Here are some ideas for how you can implement TestDrive during Digital Citizenship Week and beyond:

For review: If you taught one of our lessons at the beginning of the year, you can have students complete a TestDrive module as a way to revisit key digital citizenship concepts they might have forgotten or that might have become more relevant since the start of the school year.

For homework or asynchronous activity: TestDrive modules are designed to be self-directed, so you can have students complete them as homework. Ask students to save their answers to the module's reflection questions as PDFs so they can share them with you.

For synchronous class discussion: Have students complete a module and discuss their experiences with the rest of the class. You can use the guiding questions below to make sure students address key topics from the lesson.

Once you decide which approach works best for you and your students, identify which modules align best with the topics or themes you want to emphasize this year.

Media Balance & Well-Being

The Ups and Downs of Social Media: Students reflect on how social media can make them feel and learn how to use social media in a positive and balanced way.

  • Discussion questions: What is oversharing? Give an example. How can oversharing affect the way you or others feel when using social media? What can you do if you experience a red flag feeling when using social media?

Healthy Social Media Habits: Students explore how social media platforms are designed to keep their attention and practice healthy media habits to achieve media balance.

  • Discussion questions: What is the attention-grabbing design? Can you share an example of a feedback loop you have experienced in your life? How can you build healthy media habits?

Privacy & Security

Scams and Phishing: Students understand the consequences of identity theft and learn how to identify and take action against phishing scams on social media.

  • Discussion questions: What are some examples of private information? What are some clues you can use to identify phishing scams? Why do you think it is important to protect yourself from phishing scams?

Social Media Privacy: Students understand how social media sites collect information about users and learn strategies for protecting privacy on social media.

  • Discussion questions: What are the privacy settings? Why is it important to read the privacy policy of a social media app? What can you do in the future to protect your privacy on social media?

Digital Footprint & Identity

Shaping Your Digital Footprint: Students explore how actions on social media create a digital footprint and learn skills to positively shape digital footprints.

  • Discussion questions: What is a digital footprint? What are examples of things that contribute to your digital footprint? What can you do in the future to be mindful of your digital footprint and that of others when you use social media?

Online Identities: Students learn how to manage self-presentation and how online identities can change with different audiences on social media.

  •  Discussion questions: Did you create a post on the TestDrive timeline? If so, did you think about your audience? What are the benefits and drawbacks of having multiple social media accounts?

Relationships, Communication, & Cyberbullying

Is This Private Information?: Students learn what is safe to share with different social media audiences and what kind of information is inappropriate to share on social media.

  • Discussion questions: What are examples of private information? How did you respond when you received a message asking for private information? What can you do in the future to protect your private information and that of others when you are on social media?

How to Be an Upstander: Students identify signs of cyberbullying and practice how to respond when seeing cyberbullying happening to others.

  • Discussion questions: What are the signs of cyberbullying on social media? Did you notice any on the TestDrive timeline? Why is it important for people to act against cyberbullying on social media? What will you do in the future to be an upstander if you see cyberbullying on social media?

News & Media Literacy

News in Social Media: Students learn why fake news exists and how to identify the telltale signs of fake news on social media.

  • Discussion questions: What are the benefits and drawbacks of getting news on social media? Why is it important to evaluate the information you see on social media? What would you do on real social media sites to make sure the information you see is credible?

Responding to Breaking News!: Students learn how to react to breaking news on social media and practice strategies for identifying reliable news online.

  • Discussion questions: Did you read any of the articles on the Social Media TestDrive timeline? Did you notice any signs that an article may be inaccurate? What strategies can help you know whether the information in a news article is accurate? Why is it important to get the full story before reacting to or sharing breaking news on social media?

Using Social Media TestDrive as a family engagement resource.

Social Media TestDrive works best with students who are considering joining social media in the near future or those who are new users. This makes TestDrive a great way to spark conversations with kids about thoughtful and responsible social media use. Here are a few ways to engage families using TestDrive:

  • Assign Social Media TestDrive as a family activity after teaching one of the aligned digital citizenship lessons.
  • Encourage family members to go through the simulation with their students. Each module introduces digital citizenship topics that can help family members better understand the challenges and dilemmas their students might encounter online.
  • Share the above discussion questions or the ones in the educator guide to help family members have a nurturing discussion with their kids.

Written by Daniel Vargas Campos, an Education Content Specialist with Common Sense Education. This post was originally published on their blog.

Featured Resources from #GoOpenVA, October 13, 2020

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Swirl with word Go Open VASince its debut in January 2020, #GoOpenVA has been building its collections with the help of Virginia educators. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

Jean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads this effort. We asked her to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline: This new Collection in #GoOpenVA has just been started, and includes lessons developed in a partnership between Chesapeake and Loudoun. Over time, new lessons will be added to help teachers at all grade levels integrate Computer Science. This is an example of how school divisions can share their burden of developing new resources with each other!

https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/30

Poetic Forms 9-10th Grade English: April Hobson of Giles added a lesson plan in which she shares her love of poetry with her students.  She notes how poetry can help address not just academic goals, but provide social-emotional outlets for students struggling with big emotions.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/2061/overview

Equitable Teaching Resources: this Google Doc, created by Kim Wilkens, is a starting point for teachers who want to know more about equitable teaching, whether they want to address CRT or gender equity (or both!).  Add the resources you have found to be helpful and share your knowledge and experience.  With all of us mentoring each other, the journey will be much more beneficial!

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1320/overview

Featured Resources from #GoOpenVA, October 5, 2020

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Swirl with word Go Open VASince its debut in January 2020, #GoOpenVA has been building its collections with the help of Virginia educators. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

Jean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads this effort. We asked her to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

 

Water Scarcity – Change the Course:  Sandy Chalke of Loudoun

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1575/overview

This lesson emphasizes the importance of renewable resources (like water) and encourages students to be reflective writers. It uses one of Dan Myers 3 Act Math videos as a starting point, plus a variety of other resources to provide students information on which to reflect.

Experimental Design Process Skills:  Jane Brown of Hanover

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1498/overview

This activity is designed to be a self-paced activity to review students on the parts of Experimental Design while at home or in the classroom. There is a simple experiment for the students to complete to generate and collect data and a second example in which they design their own experiment and collect data. They are then led through the process of analyzing their data and writing a conclusion.

Grade 1 & 2 Roll and Sort Difference: Elizabeth Silva of Virginia Beach

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1503/overview

As a teacher, one of your goals is to provide practice using carefully selected strategies. Here are some strategies to develop the basic addition and subtraction facts. By providing experiences to learn these strategies, students will develop number sense and understand how to compose and decompose numbers.  This in turn will help students to develop basic fact fluency and learn while having fun playing a game.