This year’s Vermont Fest will feature Keynote and Featured speakers from both near and far. The changes brought about by COVID-19 and the necessity to be an online conference has created an opportunity to more easily bring voices to Vermont Fest that otherwise may not have been possible due to time and expense. We are excited to share with the Vita-Learn membership the following group of experts:

Vermont’s Secretary of Education, Daniel French will share his thoughts in his opening Keynote address on Wednesday, October 28, 2:30 PM, “Making Revisions To The Grammar Of Schooling: Reflections On The Final Report Of The Continuity Of Learning Task Force.” In response to the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vermont Agency of Education’s Continuity of Learning Task Force examined the opportunities brought about by the emergency. Secretary French will share details from the published report along with his thoughts on the future of learning in Vermont. 

As we look to the future, we often look to higher education. For many students, that’s the culmination of their K-12 experience. How have the increases in computing power and the improved access to technology and broadband affected the college academic environment? What can we learn from these changes, and what else should we be thinking and preparing for? While K-12 schools have increasingly been adopting 1:1 programs, what about higher ed? Join Sherri Braxton, Senior Director of Instructional Technology at University of Maryland, Baltimore County  and Michael Cato, Senior Vice President And Chief Information Officer, at Bowdoin College for a primetime evening keynote address, Thursday, October 29, 7 PM!

Joining us from New Jersey, Robert “Bob” Goodman, the Executive Director for the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning will share his thoughts on teaching and learning online and remotely. His address, “Asynchronous Virtual Constructivism: A Key to Remote Teaching in a COVID World” will explore how the NJCTL’s Social Constructivist pedagogy empowered teaching and learning in an online world through the development of Asynchronous Virtual Constructivism. He will follow up his address with a deep dive workshop session. Catch him on Friday, October 28, starting at 2:30 PM.

Our closing Keynote Speaker, Mia Shaw is a Ph.D Candidate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She will share her research and interests examining the affordances of designing STEAM+CS-rich-making learning environments for Black and Brown youth, particularly in the spheres of student voice, identity, restorying dominant narratives, and critical making. She will also provide a follow up workshop session after her closing keynote address on Saturday, October 31, at 9:30 am.

Accompanying these fabulous keynote speakers, we will be joined by many other featured speakers and panelists. Learn more about them and register to attend Vermont Fest 2020!