Category Archives: Conference

Vermont Fest Recordings Available Now!

Conference, Latest News

Recordings of Vermont Fest workshops and presentations are now available to all conference registrants and paid annual members of Vita-Learn. If you have not paid your annual membership dues, you can do so here.

In order to view the recordings of sessions, you will need to be logged into the Vita-Learn website. An account has been created for you using the same email address that you used to register for the conference.

  1. Visit http://vita-learn.org/login/?action=reset_pass
  2. Enter your email address
  3. Click the Get New Password button
  4. Check your email for a message with a link for you to reset your password
  5. Click the link and enter a new password, then click Reset Password

Once you are logged in, you can visit the online schedule to find the session that you wish to view. We are still working on a more permanent navigation path to the videos, but each session has its own blog post on the website blog, and those URLs will not change.

If you need password assistance, please contact Jeff Mao.

Teaching & Learning

Instructional Videos with Purpose

Vermont Fest 2020

Learn how to use Screencastify to create instructional videos that capture student attention and improve learning.

Nef Dukes

Presenter Bio: Nef is a former educator who now serves on the Educator Growth team at Screencastify. She’s taught English and Social Studies to students in middle and high school. Now, she helps educators learn how to utilize video to engage all of their learners.

School Leadership & Management, IT Leadership & Management

Cybersecurity threats and what we can do about them

Vermont Fest 2020

THIS SESSION WAS NOT RECORDED.

We will explore the common types of security risks and cover preventative measures that keep your data safe.

Presenter Bio: Danny Cohn is a Solution Strategy Director with PowerSchool that focuses on technical infrastructure systems and security. He brings more than 20 years of experience working with clients in the government and K-12 sectors with a proven record of achievement for designing and implementing complex solutions to meet mission-critical business processes. Prior to joining PowerSchool, Danny has held numerous positions with Pearson including Technical Developer, Senior Systems Engineer, and Technical Solutions Manager. Danny currently holds industry standard IT certifications from CompTIA, Microsoft, VMware, and Dell EMC for various systems and security technologies. Danny lives in New Rochelle, NY but enjoys spending time hiking and fishing at his family’s lake house in Ludlow, VT. 

Teaching & Learning

Using WeVideo with Students

Vermont Fest 2020

Learn how to set up your classes and student rosters, create and assign projects, upload media and other key features for working with your students successfully. This session helps district leaders, admins, principals, and teachers with using WeVideo for the maximum potential with their schools. Have a question about using WeVideo for the first time? Want to know advanced features available in your account? Join our resident expert to help guide you to making outstanding instructional videos and ways to maximize the utilization of your WeVideo licenses.

Presenter Bio: Ricky Mak is with Customer Success at WeVideo. He helps district leaders, admins, principals, and teachers with using WeVideo for the maximum potential with their schools. Have a question about using WeVideo for the first time? Want to know advanced features available in your account? Ricky is one of our resident experts to help guide you to making outstanding instructional videos and ways to maximize the utilization of your WeVideo licenses.

Teaching & Learning, School Leadership & Management, IT Leadership & Management

Adapting and Managing a Hybrid Learning Environment

Vermont Fest 2020,

Dean Leclerc, Director of Engineering from Whalley Computer Associates will host a session focused on new Hybrid Classroom technologies, and solutions to managed them.  WCA was founded by John Whalley, a high school math teacher and IT administrator and the company continues to play a significant role in helping schools of all sizes implement and support technology.  This session will cover wired and wireless infrastructure concerns as well as tools and techniques to monitor your remote students and faculty.  Dean will also talk about Internet connectivity and bandwidth management and testing.

Speaker Bio: Dean is currently the Director of Engineering at WCA and has been with the company since 1985 when he joined the technical team.  Dean brings over 35 years of experience working with all WCA clients across all vertical markets.  Dean has held many technical certifications throughout his various roles at WCA.  Today Dean works with the account teams and the TAM Team to provide both business and technical design and deployment consulting services.  Dean also works directly with our manufactures to determine that our portfolio of products and services continues to be on the cutting edge while meeting all our client’s needs.

Teaching & Learning, School Leadership & Management

An Introduction to the Lexile & Quantile Hub

Vermont Fest 2020

Unfortunately, we experienced technical difficulties with the recording of this session. We apologize that it is not available for viewing.

This presentation offers both a quick “tour” and some “hands on time” to explore the new Lexile & Quantile Hub, a “one stop shop” for Lexile and Quantile tools for students, parents, and educators. 

This session addresses the following topics:

  • Accessing the Hub
  • Creating and managing your account
  • Support, Quick Start Guides, and video tutorials
  • An overview of the individual Lexile and Quantile tools

Jane Scott

Speaker Bio: Jane Scott joined MetaMetrics, an educational research firm in Durham, North Carolina in 2008 and is responsible for designing and conducting professional development for educators at the school, regional and state levels around the country. She has 25 years experience as a classroom teacher and prior to retirement from public education, Jane spent 7 years as a Curriculum Facilitator for a school district in North Carolina. She has also served as a consultant to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in the area of teacher retention, license renewal and also served as a trainer for various state math initiatives. 

Teaching & Learning

Building Teacher Capacity with Apple Teacher

Vermont Fest 2020

THIS SESSION WAS NOT RECORDED.

Learn about Apple Teacher, a free self-paced professional learning program for educators. You’ll explore the Apple Teacher Learning Center, where you can build skills with iPad and Mac that directly apply to teaching. You can also earn badges and recognition for the things you learn and be rewarded for great work.

Speaker bio: Matt Brooks is an Education Development Executive at Apple Inc.