Seesaw is a simple way for teachers and students to record and share what’s happening in the classroom. It includes learning journals, portfolios tools, parent communication tools, and more. Learn more about Seesaw for Schools and Remote Learning.
Vita-Learn believes that every child deserves equitable access to the right tools for learning from school supplies to digital tools to educators who understand how to use learning tools to create transformative learning opportunities.
Vita-Learn recently surveyed schools to learn which tech tools provided solutions during our recent emergency remote learning.
Several digital tools came to the top of the list. We asked…
“How might we support schools who are working towards equitable access to the right tools for engaging our students both in person and remotely.”
Negotiating discounts for Vermont schools with solution partners willing to work with us as a consortium is one way we can help support this equity goal. Seesaw is the latest in the list of agreements we have been able to negotiate for Vermont schools.
During the past few months, our members have demonstrated amazing ability to respond to a Governor Scott’s March 15 directive for the closure of K12 schools in Vermont as part of our Vermont’s response to a public health emergency.
“The orderly dismissal of schools is essential to support both the State’s response to COVID-19 and the needs of children and families across Vermont,” Scott said. “We must ensure children are safe, nourished, and still learning even as the traditional structure of school is disrupted. The work of educators will be essential in this effort.” ~ Governor Scott
Adrenalin and commitment fueled school leaders, educators, librarians, ed tech teams, school staff, and communities to design and implement a plan. Challenges were met head on and plans were adjusted to meet those challenges. Three months later, as we come up for air, and start to think about ‘what next’, we find ourselves reflecting.
Special thanks to board member, Tim O’Leary, and the team from Greater Rutland County Supervisory Union for testing the protocol with us and sharing feedback on the template.
We hope you’ll also let us know how if you find the reflection template useful.
Digital Consortium Partners Offers in Response to Vermont School Closure related to COVID-19 (download)
Voicethread
Free for all Vermont Schools for rest of year via Vita-learn Constorium
Vita-Learn and VoiceThread are offering VoiceThread for all Vermont Schools for the remainder of the school year along with free PD on setting up VoiceThread for distance learning.
Please complete the following form to set up VoiceThread for your school or district for the remainder of the 2019 – 2020 school year.
Does your institution have a disaster readiness plan in the event of unexpected school closures or quarantine scenarios? Many schools and universities around the world are faced with this very situation today, and it’s important to ensure that students don’t fall behind or lose touch with their learning communities. In this workshop, we’ll show you how to include VoiceThread lessons and assessments into your plans.
Book Creator
Free Collaboration Upgrade for 90 days and Free PD
…we’re supporting you in two ways. Firstly, we’d like to offer everyone the ability to collaborate together on books in real-time. This is a premium feature that is usually only available with a paid subscription, but we’re offering 90 days free use of this tool, to help keep students and teachers connected.
Secondly, we’ve pulled together a list of ideas for using Book Creator for remote learning – ideas that you can put in place today to help keep kids engaged whilst unable to attend school.
Free collaboration upgrade
To claim your free collaboration upgrade, you’ll need to:
Daily webinars – join Jon Smith for daily webinars on using Book Creator for home learning, and simple getting started with Book Creator sessions. These are informal – drop in and ask Jon anything.
Free WeVideo EDU accounts for rest of school year for new accounts or for those who have WeVideo with Vita-Learn and need more accounts.
“We recognize that teaching during this crisis is very trying for educators,” WeVideo CEO Krishna Menon said. “Staying connected and keeping students engaged while they’re home isn’t easy but we recognize a collaboration tool like WeVideo can help and we are ready to do what’s possible during these times.”
WeVideo is ready to offer this resource as a way to enable successful distance learning. K-12 districts and schools of any size are eligible for these accounts. If your school or district is interested, please fill out the form below and we will contact you.
Newsela’s entire product suite available to all teachers, free of charge, through the end of the school year, and COVID educational content
During this immensely challenging time, we want to support you and your district partners however we can. In that spirit, we are making Newsela’s entire product suite available to all teachers, free of charge, through the end of the school year.
For free access to Newsela products for Teachers and Administrators:
Free professional learning for remote instruction: We’ve assembled a Remote Teaching Toolkit to make sure teachers are fully prepared to use Newsela to support core instruction remotely.
COVID-19 educational content: We’ll continue publishing content that educators across subjects and grades can use to teach about COVID-19 in a way that’s accurate, responsible and empowering to students.
As our educational community responds to COVID-19, the #VTED community supports each other during a dynamic and quickly changing conversation. We have set up a Special Event that allows our colleagues to share their emerging thinking.
Sharing Emerging Thinking on Educational Continuity in VTED & COVID-19
Two Sessions on Monday, March 16th
Monday, March 16, 2020 7:00 – 8:00 PM – Designing for Remote Learning
Facilitators: Tim O’Leary (7:00 – 8:00 PM) and Patricia Aigner (8:15 – 9:15 PM)
Notetaker: Lucie deLaBruere
Purpose: To conversationally share ideas and resources being developed among districts on these complex and emerging conversations within and beyond our state.
Format: Each one-hour session is designed to hear from 3-4 panelists for 10-15 minutes each. Each will conversationally present some of their district’s current thinking and resources they have either created or curated. Questions can come from text-chat from viewers and panelists will answer a select few.
Connect to the Sessions
Designing For Remote Learning 7:00 – 8:00 PM Facilitator: Tim O’Leary
Supporting Technical Decisions related to Educational Continuity 8:15 – 9:15 PM Facilitator: Patricia Aigner
Good news! Vita-Learn has approved an agreement with NEWSELA that will offer Vermont School’s consortium level pricing for NEWSELA products. Vita-Learn has arranged for NEWSELA to explain the difference between the various products at a special Vermont Schools NEWSELA webinar on February 13 at 1:00 p.m.
You should also register if you can’t make that time and would like a link to the recorded archive or information about consortium level pricing.
Vita-Learn believes that availability to educational resources should not be determined by zip codes and are pleased that your school (no matter the size) will benefit from this negotiated consortium level pricing.
