VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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Brainstorm 2020: Limitless Learning

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The FREE virtual Brainstorm 2020: Limitless Learning Conference is full of over 25 different presenters and sessions. The sessions focus on a tool, concept, or project as well as resources to aid each session in yielding a takeaway that you can implement right away.

Sessions will begin going live the week of April 27, 2020 with new videos each day of the week culminating on May 1, 2020! Spotlight sessions will launch as well featuring Chey Cheney, Katie Fielding, James Lane, Jake Miller, Phil Strunk, & Pav Wander!

Don’t miss the premier FREE professional learning event of spring 2020 all launched from this page.

Be sure to watch as many of the videos as you can. You don’t want to miss the hidden words and your chance to win the grand prize by solving the scavenger hunt anagram! Don’t forget to use the #vstebrainstorm20 hashtag in all your tweets to be eligible for the most conference tweets prize!

A welcome message from Dr. James Lane, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Monday, April 27

Spotlight

6ft Apart, Lessons from Sick at School (14:50)
For years disabled students have been asking for accessibility accommodations and improvements in homebound learning. Let's take lessons learned in doing remote learning during the corona crisis to inform our practice moving forward in working with chronically-ill students in the homebound setting to provide limitless learning.
Presenter: Katherine Fielding, Woodbridge Senior High School, Prince William County Schools

ABC's and 123's of Google Classroom (38:55)
Transform your elementary classroom to a paperless oasis with the use of Google Classroom and G Suite functions. During this introduction, we will examine the basics of the operating the learning management system and how to personalize it for your use in the classroom. This class will allow hand on experience to investigate and mange Google classroom, as a teacher and a student.
Presenter: Heather Lupton, Technology Integration Coach, Warren County

Google Expeditions: From Consumer to Creator (13:37)
This session will walk you through how to cost effectively use Google Expeditions in the classroom and then will show you how to create your own expedition using Google Tour Creator.
Presenter: Scott Lewis, Instructional Technology Coach, Frederick County Public Schools

Purposeful Planning for iPads in the Classroom (16:11)
How are your PK-5 students using the iPads in your classroom? Are iPads a toy or a tool? Join us as we explore ways to plan for student iPad usage in the classroom. BONUS: Tips and tricks to keep students on task with the iPad.
Presenter: Karen Griffin and Tiffany Cobbs, Instructional Technology Coaches, Newport News Public Schools

Remaining Aloft in the Twitterverse (20:13)
You’ve taken flight and your Professional Learning Network has grown with Twitter. Now you’re ready to take the next steps! In this session, we’ll look at how to become an advanced user by learning about Twitter's filters and analytics, scheduling tweets with third-party apps such as Buffer and TweetDeck, and get the 411 on Twitter Chats!
Presenter: Darcie Priester, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, Manassas Park City Schools

The Magic Beneath the Surface of EdTech (27:40)
Stop, collaborate, and listen! Do not move away from a technology just because there is a new one and/or without fully exploring the tool. Many times the magic of edtech tools lies beneath the surface and is only discovered after users have explored, failed, and grown. Digging deeper alongside concepts such as “app smashing” creates all new worlds of possibilities! Come learn all about some of the magic beneath the surface of many popular EdTech tools, especially in the land of G Suite!!
Presenter: Patrick Hausammann, Supervisor of Instructional Technology, Clarke County/UnisonEDU/VSTE

Tuesday, April 28

Spotlight

Two Ways to Get Into a Swimming Pool (17:46)
Through story, I encourage people to be more daring and I invite people to reflect on their past and the past I share with them to recall moments of daring and how to recapture those feelings and transfer them to new situations—ones that require daring and creativity. There are two ways to get into a pool- to dip our toes in the water or to leap...
Presenter: Evan Robb, principal, Johnson-Williams Middle School, Berryville

Google Tips and Tricks (27:38)
Google's GSuite is used in many schools and is used well in most cases. This presentation shows you little tips and tricks in order to better use Google at work and at school with your students. Most, if not all of these tricks may help you keep things a little better organized in your classrooms or at least give you new ideas on how to plan lessons.
Presenter: Chad Fisher, Instructional Technology Coach, James Wood High School, Frederick County Public Schools

Awesome Annotations and Note-taking for Digital Natives (36:43)
Learning how to read, take notes and annotate text is an important skill all our students need to truly understand stories, articles, and website. Digital annotation is a skill which our students need to be taught and learned over time to master. Come learn with us all the ways to annotate and take notes on any digital medium such as pdfs, websites, and documents with easy to use and free tools available to you. Annotation has never been this FUN!
Presenter: Joe Marquez, Education Strategist, Sons of Technology

Mixing and Remixing With #GoOpenVA: Ten Ideas for Using OER (24:41)
#GoOpenVA, Virginia's repository of Open Education Resources (OER), offers a wide variety of materials for teachers and students from complete textbooks to individual lesson ideas. Because they are "open," users can use them but also, and here's the powerful part, remix them to meet their specific needs. This presentation will show how remixing can open opportunities for student creativity.
Presenters: Karen Richardson, Executive Director, Virginia Society for Technology in Education; Jean Weller, Virginia Department of Education

Authentic Learning! Technology Can Help With This! (22:05)
Authentic learning helps students understand the real-world connections to what they are learning, they are more likely to be engaged and less likely to question the significance of classroom learning. Technology helps to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world by providing access to information in a variety ways and through different perspectives. We will look at examples of authentic learning experiences and the way technology can support these experiences.
Presenter: Tim Taylor, Instructional Technology Supervisor, Shenandoah County Public Schools

#AppsDays (38:18)
There are many ways for a teacher to spend the summer and, as many of us know, it often involves a good amount of work. In the summer of 2018, two educators finalized an idea to start classes off in a very different way. #AppDays would start the school year off with relationship building through using #Hyperdocs to learn and use numerous apps such as Canva, Flipgrid, Powtoon, Screencastify, and a second #Hyperdoc focusing on GSuite aka “GSweet.” Come check it out!
Presenter: Phil Strunk, History Teacher, Clarke County Public Schools; Patrick Hausammann, Supervisor of Instructional Technology, Clarke County/UnisonEDU/VSTE

Wednesday, April 29

Spotlight

Educational Duct Tape: an EdTech Integration Mindset (30:43)
In a multi-session, content-rich, idea-filled conference like this one, educators can fall into the trap of “paradox of choice,” which often keeps educators from integrating *any* of their newly learned skills. In this session, Jake will share about how “Educational Duct Tape” can help educators overcome this paradox. Learn how Jake’s silly metaphor can be used as an #edtech integration mindset in your instruction, tomorrow!
Presenter: Jake Miller, Technology Integration Specialist, Orange City School District

Digging into Google Forms (24:07)
This session will show participants the key features of Google Forms and how they can create a variety of activities such as quizzes, Choose your Own Adventure stories and Digital Breakouts.
Presenter: Darcie Priester, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, Manassas Park City Schools

An introduction to building your own AR Sandbox (11:29)
Have you ever heard of an AR Sandbox? This unique tool provides various opportunities for student learning without the need of special glasses or headsets. The construction of a sandbox also presents an interesting way to promote cross curricular work among various departments as well. Learn how one high school managed to make their own AR Sandbox through cooperation, collaboration, and creativity and how you can make one too.
Presenter: Chad Fisher, Instructional Technology Coach, James Wood High School, Frederick County Public Schools

ThingLink: Making Ideas Pop! (27:57)
Do you have a need to package a presentation for large groups and taught by a wide-variety of trainers? Or do you need to provide a way for students to have independent learning? A ThingLink can be used to create school-wide presentations, an online module, or for a classroom of students. Really -- it's your imagination that will make anything possible!
Presenter: Jennifer Rowan, Director of Technology, Jefferson County Public Schools

Finding Balance and Joy in the Digital Age (29:07)
Join Karen Richardson and Margaret Sisler for a conversation about finding joy and balance in a sometimes overwhelming world. How do we make time for our own well being and deep relationships when we see the work that needs to be done and brings us its own joy? What role does technology play both positively and negatively in finding personal space?
Presenters: Karen Richardson, Executive Director, Virginia Society for Technology in Education; Margaret Sisler, School-Based Technology Specialist, Westfield High School, Fairfax County Public Schools

Leading Your Professional Learning (35:06)
Few tools or software have revolutionized on demand professional learning like Twitter. No teacher, anywhere need feel isolated and unable to seek inspiration, guidance, and collaboration. These powerful components of professional learning are all within the world of Twitter and at the fingertips of any educator.
Presenters: Abby French, History Teacher, Shenandoah County Public Schools; Patrick Hausammann, Supervisor of Instructional Technology, Clarke County/UnisonEDU/VSTE

Thursday, April 30

Spotlight

Rediscover Your Voice! (28:35)
Improving our teaching practices through podcasting! Through this presentation, we'd like educators to come away with the idea that their voices can be heard and rediscovered through so many different mediums, including podcasting, as is the case in our experience.
Presenters: Chey Cheney & Pav Wander, teachers, Beaumonde Heights Junior Middle School, Toronto District School Board

Can I Use This Amazing Resource? (13:57)
Did you find an image from Google images or resource from Pinterest and wonder if you can use it? This session will go over how you can find out if a resource is copyrighted and what you need to do to be able to use it in a Google Slide presentation, newsletter, etc.
Presenter: Rosemary Wagoner, ITRT, Waynesboro Public Schools

Intro to 3D Design with Tinkercad (17:37)
This session will cover the basics of Tinkercad, a 3D modeling software. Come learn how to design a keychain and take home an introductory lesson you can use with your students! All content areas and grade levels welcome - we will briefly discuss how 3D modeling can be used in all classrooms!
Presenter: Megan Hacholski, STEAM Lab Coordinator, Brookfield La Grange Park District 95

Blending in a K-2 Classroom (19:46)
CUE Member and Kindergarten teacher and 2019 CUE BOLD teacher of the year Ben Cogswell is going to share his go-to strategies and awesome mindset of blending amazing pedagogy with easy to access edtech in his #KindRockets classroom. Ben was recently quoted in the NY Times and his SeeSaw lessons have over 100k views. Ben's warm style is inspirational for any grade level.
Presenter: Ben Cogswell, Kindergarten Teacher, Alisal Union School District

Next Level EDU Video with WeVideo and Edpuzzle (Part 1: WeVideo 0:00-18:30; Part 2: Edpuzzle 18:30-42:00)
Learn how to use WeVideo to create teacher-made video content for distance learning. By app-smashing your videos with EdPuzzle, you can assess student understanding and track progress automatically! The skills learned here can be used in all content areas for anyone interested in creating video lessons to push out to students.
Presenters: Jen Leban, Creative Technology Teacher, Elmhurst CUSD 205/Sandburg Middle School; Patrick Hausammann, Supervisor of Instructional Technology, Clarke County/UnisonEDU/VSTE

Is the Sky Even the Limit with the Rubik's Cube? (20:09)
When the Rubik's Cube was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974, it was a wooden prototype with rubber bands for its twisting mechanism. Since then, the Rubik's Cube has caught the attention of many. This puzzle can be integrated in any curriculum to create mosaics, qteach problem-solving skills, encourage teamwork, and spark students' curiosity. Dan Van der Vieren, who spoke about this topic at TEDxBoulder in 2018, will share his successes in the classroom and ideas to take the Cube to the next level.
Presenter: Dan Van der Vieren, Ambassador/Educator, You Can Do The Rubik's Cube

HACKaroni & Cheese: EdTech Hacks & Cheesy Jokes! (29:07)
EdTech Hacks and Cheesy Jokes! This session focuses on little tips and tricks to make your edtech tools (primarily Google for Education tools) do things that you didn’t know they could do! And, yes, along with all of those hacks come plenty of silliness, a.k.a. cheese.
Presenter: Jake Miller, Technology Integration Specialist, Orange City School District

Friday, May 1

Spotlight

What Do You Like? (19:36)
In an unprecedented year we all need words of encouragement and reminders that even in the midst of hard times there are things we do well. Check out this video where Phil Strunk (@MrPStrunk) encourages educators to learn from others, but also recognize that they themselves have talents to bring to the table.
Presenter: Phil Strunk, History Teacher, Clarke County Public Schools

Top 12 Google Extensions (24:44)
Do you use Google Extensions? Want a few more tools for your Google Toolbox? During this session I will share 12 extensions to use with students.
Presenter: Denise Henry-Orndorff, ITRC, Strasburg HS, Signal Knob MS, Sandy Hook ES

Podcasts Are the New Essays (29:25)
In this session you will learn the how-to and whys of bringing podcasting into your classroom. Perfect for all grades and contents.
Presenters: Katie Fielding, Daniel Nemerow, Elizabeth Summers, Billy Watts, Instructional Tech Coaches, Prince William County Schools

Get exSITE-Ed!: Google Sites for Student Portfolios (37:09)
Learn how to leverage the new Google Sites to create an immersive tool for student organization with the creation of an eBinder. The idea behind any binder is organization, primarily collection of work, a place to reflect on their learning process, and finally recollect of what they learned for purposes of sharing or studying. This organizational structure is "Collection,Reflection and Recollection” and will be our guiding principle in our eBinder creation.
Presenter: Joe Marquez, Education Strategist, Sons of Technology

Student Centered Learning: A Conversation with Abby French (44:13)
Few things can have the power to change a classroom for the better like student centered learning. This conversation wit Abby French will give you insight into how to get started, what it looks and sounds like when its working, and examples of the benefits that come with this focus on students leading their learning.
Presenters: Abby French, History Teacher, Shenandoah County Public Schools; Patrick Hausammann, Supervisor of Instructional Technology, Clarke County/UnisonEDU/VSTE

Building Motivation for You and your Students! (17:43)
In today's challenging times it's more important than ever to help students become motivated with their learning. It starts with us! The session will discuss ways to develop a higher level of motivation both in and out of the school environment. While the session isn't grade level specific, it's generally geared more towards a secondary student. All teachers can benefit though.
Presenter: Craig Shapiro, HPE Teacher/Secondary Lead Teacher, William Tennent High School/Centennial School District

Starts Monday, April 27: Brainstorm 2020: Limitless Learning

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Brainstorm: Limitless Learning Online Conference
A joint online conference between UnisonEDU, SVTC, VSTE, and JMU!

The Brainstorm Conference is going virtual this year modeled after amazing online PD like the Ditch Summit, Hive Summit, or Cy Fair Edtech. The sessions will be interview style and/or recorded with a tool, concept, or project featured as well as resources to aid each session yielding a takeaway the attendee can implement right away. Presentations can be tech related or on any other topic people are passionate about that could benefit other educators.

Join in this amazing professional learning opportunity with over 20 different sessions all with dynamic presenters!

Sessions will begin going live the week of April 27, 2020!

Sign up for daily VIP Email Updates.

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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.

computer screens

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.

Recommendations For Moving Your Classroom Online

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cartoon speech bubbles with quotation marksAs schools close for what may be an extended length of time, many of us are entering the new and unfamiliar experience of working with our students in an online environment. While we can’t anticipate every issue you might face, VSTE has some basic recommendations gathered from some experts in this area. We hope these will help you with the adjustment. 

  1. Use the tools you already have.

Many school divisions already have arrangements to use distance learning tools like Google G Suite for Education, Microsoft Office 365, BlackBoard, and Schoology. Not only have these products been vetted by your division for student privacy and data security, you likely have someone assigned to your school, such as your ITRT or other technology coach, who can help you with problems. Familiarity will help both you and your students feel more comfortable as you move into an online environment.

  1. Avoid registering for new and unfamiliar products.

In response to this crisis, many technology companies are offering free or discounted versions of their products to teachers and schools. While these are generous offers, it is likely that these apps will create educational records (essentially any personally identifiable data). Schools must follow FERPA when sharing educational records with a third party, regardless of the age of the student, and regardless of if it is the student or the teacher is the one signing in. These tools  may also have provisions in their terms of service that violate the intellectual property rights of your students. Your school division has already negotiated contracts with many online products. Check with your ITRT or tech coach to confirm which products are available and how to use them with your students. DO NOT create accounts for your students or staff without first checking to see if the product has been approved as you do not want to risk your students' privacy. (The Department of Education has more guidance about FERPA and COVID-19 here.)

  1. Remember that not all of your students may have the same access at home.

Even in the more affluent areas of Virginia, we have students whose parents cannot afford high-speed internet access and who may be relying on public access that could become unavailable. In other areas, connection speeds could be slow or unreliable. If cable is available, check to see of the company is one that is offering free broadband to low income households right now. You may be able to help your students and their families get online during this crucial time. Some phone providers have lifted data caps and overage fees as well. However, keep the varying level of access in mind as you plan for the activities you may want them to complete during this time. For example, some students may not be able to join if you try to have video conferencing sessions. Asynchronous activities or recordings can help ensure access. Students will also be using a variety of devices for online access that will impact their ability to use tools. Best advice: keep it simple. 

  1. Work first on building your students’ online skills.

We all know that kids are great at communicating with each other using their personal devices. Those skills don’t transfer directly into learning in an online environment. As you get started, emphasize extending the community you’ve built in the face-to-face classroom to the new virtual classroom. Think of this as an opportunity for students to improve their digital learning skills.  Start simple with discussion boards, comments, or quick postings. Progress to more advanced online activities.

  1. Practice safe and secure networking.

Don’t share passwords, especially not through email or chat. Your division will provide guidance on how to reset your own and student passwords. Follow their directions even if it takes longer in a completely online environment. Ask your tech support person about division policies regarding sharing student passwords with parents. You should not allow others to use your division-owned device and make every effort to separate your work and personal data, preferably with different profiles. You should not use a VPN for personal Internet access or sync division content to personal cloud storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive. 

  1. Connect with your colleagues.

Although it will be temporary, the time you will be teaching online can be a great learning experience for you as well. Share what you discover with other educators from your division, around Virginia, and beyond, and learn from them. Twitter is a good place to start a discussion (just don't put your students on Twitter). You'll also find many teachers who blog about their work.

VSTE is here to help you get started: you can follow us on Twitter, check our Facebook page, join our Facebook Group and browse the resources at Virginia's #GoOpenVA site. We are also partnering with UnisonEDU to offer free online coaching and support. Learn more here.