VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Board of Directors

Nominations for Board of Directors Open

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VSTE members may nominate themselves or a colleague who belongs to VSTE to be considered for election to the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Board of Directors for a three-year term.  This is an opportunity to become involved in the key decision-making group for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education.

Nominations for the 2020-2023 Board term will be open from Monday, January 27, 2020, through Friday, February 28, 2020. Nominees and those who nominate them must be members of VSTE.

The slate of nominees will be announced in March and the election will be held in April.

The nomination form will be available in the Members' Only area of the website. When you are ready to nominate either yourself or someone else, you can start here.

Learn More About the VSTE Board of Directors

You can preview the nomination form but must submit the final form online.

Remember, you must be a VSTE member to nominate, to be nominated, and to participate in the online election.  Details for a complimentary membership can always be found at VSTE’s website.  Please let us know, via email to boardelections@vste.org, if you have any questions or need further information about the election process.

In order to vote in the elections, you must be a member for at least ten days prior to the opening of the Board elections in April.

Member Login Information

It will be necessary for you to login to the system to participate in the nomination and election process. You can find the login page here. Unless you have changed it, you should use your email address at which you receive VSTE mailings for your login.  If you do not remember your password, you may click the link on the login screen for those forgetting their password. Your password will be emailed to you.  Once you login, you can update your membership information, change your login and/or password (as necessary) and submit a nomination.  Please write to karen_richardson@vste.org if you have problems accessing the member only section of our website.

Thank you for your interest,

VSTE Election Committee, 2020

Janet Copenhaver, Chair

Board Welcomes Five Board Members Following Recent Election

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Five members were elected by the VSTE membership for the 2018 - 2021 term. Three of those elected are incumbents and will begin their second terms. Two of those elected are new members and can serve up to two terms.

Learn more about each Board member by clicking below:

Smiling Man in Blue ShirtRod Carnill, Incumbent
Supervisor of Instructional Technology Coaches
Frederick County Public Schools

Learn More

 

 

Lynmara Colón
Principal
Prince William County Public Schools

Learn More

 

 

Woman Smiling

Nicci Dowd
Special Education Teacher
Prince William County Public Schools

Learn More

 

 

Smiling man with glasses

Tim Stahmer, Incumbent
Freelance Educator
Fairfax County Public Schools (Retired)

Learn More

 

 

Smiling woman with glasses

Meg Swecker, Incumbent
Coordinator of Technology Integration/ITRT
Roanoke County Public Schools

 

Transforming Learning is All About Mindset

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Smiling man with red tie and beard
David French
Principal, Glenwood Elementary School, Virginia Beach
Director

This blog post is part of the VSTE Voice series. VSTE directors, members, and friends share ideas and insights of interest to the VSTE community. 

Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset, describes mindset as either fixed or growth. The fixed mindset is one that is carved in stone, with no chance of change, while the growth mindset is one that is based on the belief that your basic qualities are ones that you can cultivate through your efforts. Everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

Schools haven’t changed a lot over the last century. In that time, teachers have passed down ideas and observed practices from other teachers, creating an academic culture similar to what our parents and grandparents experienced.

Attitude and mindset are huge determining factors in our success and the success of our students. A few changes can mean the difference between a hostile, cold classroom atmosphere and a warm, welcoming one. If educators would open their minds to new approaches to how we are teaching our students, big changes in schools could drastically accelerate. Those educators could also learn to love teaching even more.

But this doesn’t come easy to our teachers. It is easier to learn new habits than to let go of the old ones. Most of the time people agree that change is needed, but still hesitate to step up and make the changes. Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses." Teachers need support and encouragement, along with guidance as they begin transforming their classrooms from the traditional paper-and-pencil learning environments to the more student centered classroom.

Dave Burgess in Teach Like a Pirate writes, “If you provide your students with an uncommon learning experience they will reward you with an uncommon effort." Today’s kids are born digital--born into a media rich, networked world of infinite possibilities. But their digital lifestyle is about more than just cool gadgets; it’s about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity and empowerment. This is challenging to most of our teachers, but with the right attitude and mindset, teachers will find how rewarding it will be to meet their students where they are.

I often ask my teachers to reflect on their classrooms. Would you want your own child to be in your classroom? Are you willing to do what it takes to meet the needs of your students? If they didn’t have to be there, would they show up anyway? Technology will never replace teachers. However, those teachers that embrace the use of innovative teaching tools will be make those connections with their students, and provide engaging and relevant learning experiences.

The right mindset and the willingness to grow and learn new ways, will transform your classroom into a learning environment based on student agency.

Annual Board of Director Elections 2018

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Board nominations for 2018 are now closed.

VSTE members may nominate themselves or a colleague to be considered for election to the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Board of Directors for a three-year term.  This is an opportunity to become involved in the key decision-making group for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education.

Learn More About the VSTE Board of Directors

You can preview the nomination form but must submit the final form online.

Remember, you must be a VSTE member to nominate, to be nominated, and to participate in the online election.  Details for a complimentary membership can always be found at VSTE’s website.  Please let us know, via email to boardelections@vste.org, if you have any questions or need further information about the election process.

In order to vote, you must be a member for at least ten days prior to the opening of the Board elections in April.

Member Login Information

It will be necessary for you to login to the system to participate in the nomination and election process.  You can find the login page here. Unless you have changed it, you should use your email address at which you receive VSTE mailings for your login.  If you do not remember your password, you may click the link on the login screen for those forgetting their password.  Your password will be emailed to you.  Once you login, you can update your membership information, change your login and/or password (as necessary) and submit a nomination.  Please write to karen_richardson@vste.org if you have problems accessing the member only section of our website.

Thank you for your interest,

VSTE Election Committee, 2018

Janet Copenhaver
Josh Long
Tim Taylor

It (Technology) Can Make a Difference, but You (Teacher) are the Difference!

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By William Warby
CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Here we are at the end of another school year.  For me, it marks the end of my 37th year in education, and I still feel the excitement of the end (and of a beginning) of a school year.   My first seventeen years, I was an elementary and middle school teacher.  The last twenty years I have been working with instructional technology needs from our school board office.  So, I have seen a lot of changes in technology use in our schools through the years.

I remember my first use of computers in my classroom.  Back in the early 1980’s I found an Apple IIE computer sitting in the back of a library storage room.  I was told it had been in there a couple of weeks and the librarian was not sure what it was for. I asked if I could roll it into my classroom and my journey of technology integration began! I found a PrintShop application on a 5 ¼ inch disk that I used along with an ImageWriter II color printer to make a banner to hang outside my classroom.  Fellow colleagues saw the banner and they thought I was a computer genius!  

A year later, I transferred to a middle school and guess what I found in their library storage room! Yep, but instead of one, I found three Apple IIE computers.  No one was using them so I rolled them down to my room to use with my math classes.  I had some students that were struggling with multiplications facts. I had tried several strategies to motivate them, but we were not successful.  I found a piece of software where students would use a fire breathing dragon to answer multiplication questions by “breathing fire” on the correct math answers. Students learned their multiplication facts and I saw my first glimpse of how technology can make a difference with student learning!

Fast forward to today and the technology tools our students have access to have a come a long way from our Apple IIes and fire breathing dragons.  We now access the cloud with devices that are becoming more powerful and some cases, less expensive everyday.  We have augmented reality, virtual reality and the reality that everyone needs to be connected!  Technology can be seen everywhere in our world and within our schools.  Just because technology is there does not mean our students are better off now than they were thirty years ago when a few Apple computers were finding their ways into schools.  

The technology can make a difference in our students’ learning, but it is not enough.  The teacher is still the difference maker.  The instructional design provided by the teacher determines how the students will be using the technology.  Will instruction be student-centered?  Will students be able to collaborate, problem-solve, think critically, be creative and demonstrate the potential technology provides them?  When one looks in the classroom, is engaged learning taking place or is it just students sitting in front of devices?  Technology can make a difference, but the teacher is the difference! All of you that are blessed to work with students in our classrooms, take the time to learn ways to integrate technology so it can really make a difference in our students’ learning.  

I have seen the positive impact technology can have when the teacher facilitates instruction that taps into the potential of the students and the technology.  We have access to so many great resources and tools to help our students learn.  What a great time to be an educator!  I hope everyone has a great summer!  Thanks for all you do and I am off to go explore the Oregon Trail on an Apple IIe!

Tim Taylor is a member of the VSTE Board of Directors and  Instructional Technology Supervisor for Shenandoah County Public Schools.