2024VSTE Annual Conference

Explore powerful ways to transform your classrooms into digital learning and creation spaces. First, empower your students' agency using tech tools. Then, learn about Debbie's 3 Cs of Creation- Choice, Collaborative and Clickable. Finally, determine how intentionally integrating technology can prepare your learners for the future that awaits them.

As AI becomes an integral part of our daily lives, teaching students to navigate its complexities responsibly is more crucial than ever. This session will explore the benefits and risks of inviting students to use generative AI as a tool to support their learning. Should students be using generative AI every day? And if so, what guideposts can we put in place to define cheating, ensure ethical use, and protect students? personal information? We'll investigate useful tools and resources that students and teachers can utilize to effectively engage with AI and equip educators with strategies to evaluate their definition of digital literacy and foster critical thinking and responsible AI usage by students.

Session Title: Innovate with Canva: Create Engaging Choice Boards Description: Unlock the power of choice boards to revolutionize your classroom with this hands-on session! In **?Innovate with Canva: Create Engaging Choice Boards,?** we?ll explore how to use Canva to design visually appealing and student-centered choice boards that foster autonomy and engagement. You?ll start by discovering how Canva?s intuitive templates and AI tools can simplify the design process. Learn how to customize choice boards with a variety of activities to cater to different learning styles, and leverage Canva?s AI features like Magic Resize and content generation to streamline your workflow. By the end of this session, you?ll have a ready-to-use choice board template tailored for your classroom and a solid understanding of how Canva?s innovative tools can enhance your teaching practice. Whether you?re new to choice boards or looking to refresh your approach, this session will provide practical strategies to make learning exciting and personalized for your students. Join us and be inspired to bring creativity and efficiency into your teaching with Canva!

In this dynamic session, we will explore innovative strategies for integrating technology into Project-Based Learning (PBL) tailored specifically for gifted learners. Attendees will gain insights into how digital resources can enhance the PBL experience, fostering deeper engagement and advanced critical thinking skills among gifted students.Through hands on demonstrations, attendees will be taught strategies for leveraging technology to create differentiated and personalized learning opportunities that challenge and inspire gifted students. This session will be tailored to meet the needs of K-12 teachers across all subjects and will include cross curricular examples.

What happens when a Technology Coach and a Librarian get reunited after 4 years of being separated? See the fruits of our four years apart as AI happened. Although ChatGpt made all the headlines, there's a Pandora's box of AI tools to navigate and Education doesn?t sail at the speed of AI. Threat or tool, how do we pilot our vessels in a sea of AI tools in a way that avoids overestimating and underestimating AI technology? See how we approached AI tools as learners and then as teachers. Anchor in on one of our five tools to explore. As time permits, we will discuss source reliability, equity algorithms, digital redlining, chatbots and writing instruction. Join us as we share our larger manifest on tools for you to explore and gather your feedback on what works and what doesn?t. Digital AI resources will be made available.; Technology and Global Ethics: Where do we anchor with tech as we navigate environmental, intellectual, and social challenges? What circumstances and solutions require us to sail away from the shores of technology and which ones require more support for a quality anchor? When do we need to dock on topics related to Digital citizenships and innovative technology? How do we sail past distributing a list of moral guidelines to training students how to navigate their own moral decision-making when it comes to technology, its use, and impact? If you have ever pondered any of these questions, this is the session for you. Join us as we share our ideas and experiences on how we helped students harbor around technology and ethics.