ActiVAtED Learning

The Future of High School Network is a Carnegie Foundation initiative that embraces a new educational architecture built on a competency-based model that prioritizes meaningful learning over seat time. Two school divisions in Virginia, Henrico and Roanoke Counties, are full participants, and host Tom Landon sat down with Dr. Tinkhani White of the Foundation and two representatives from Roanoke County to learn how theory is becoming practice in Virginia High Schools.

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https://youtu.be/_dYn_h1ZNf0

Virginia Cyber Range is an incredible free resource for Virginia schools who want students to learn how to defend against cyber attacks without putting their school's network in danger from hacking, phishing, and ransomware. Dr. Shannon Beck shares how the program, based at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, offers a secure, web-based space that provides state of the art instruction, lesson plans, and an online community of learners.

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https://youtu.be/iJgZMnH9Mso

Holly Sawyer at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake loves her job teaching English Language Learners, and she works hard to make sure that her students get the chance to learn the language of computer science while also learning English.

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In this episode we meet Dr. Deborah Crawford, the Virginia Department of Education's Computer Science Educator of the Year for 2025. Her work, with many other partners, has brought world class Data Science instruction to both teachers and students in grades K-12.

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https://youtu.be/RHA2-mWKRwI

Host Tom Landon sits down with two stand up comedians and educators who use humor to help teachers improve their practice AND get through the day smiling. Esteban Gast and Devin Siebold were both keynote speakers at the 2025 VSTE Conference and they willingly shared how "keeping it light" can improve classroom connections.

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https://youtu.be/1FsrqGhgV_8

On this episode of ActiVAtED Learning we meet the winners of the 2025 VSTE Awards for Coach of the Year, Leader of the Year, and VSTE Honors. Chad Huff is theInstructional Technology Specialist at Corporate Landing Elementary School, Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Jennifer Thomas is the Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Library Media Services for Portsmouth Public Schools, and is the 2025 VSTE Leader of the Year. Terry Lowry was awarded the VSTE Honors of the Society. She's been a beacon in Virginia’s educational technology landscape for decades. Beginning her career as a teacher and later serving as Director of Technology at Wakefield School, she has consistently demonstrated the vision and courage to transform teaching and learning through technology.

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https://youtu.be/nUYMITsPMA8

Dr. Kim Richardson has had a long career in Hampton Roads, VA as a teacher, coach and administrator, and host Tom Landon caught up with her at the Virginia Society of Technology in Education's annual conference in Virginia Beach where they spoke before a live audience about coaching, continuous learning, and what she's learned about leadership.

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https://youtu.be/mkYmmGWy9JY

It's not always obvious when a student has a learning disability like dyslexia, especially when it's a smart and well-behaved child like Micah Vanover. His dad, Daniel is an ITRT in Wise County, and mom Katie is a reading specialist in nearby Lee County, but neither really noticed that Micah struggled with reading until they witnessed it themselves during the remote learning era at the start of COVID. They came up with an innovative solution by turning to audio books to help Micah follow the printed words as he read and listened. You won't want to miss this inspiring episode!

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https://youtu.be/DaIS_9rWrYY

One highlight of the annual VSTE Conference held each December is a chance to meet students as they model best practices for technology integration. This year we caught up with several girls using coding to learn about habitats, kids studying wind power, and podcast producers to talk to them about what they've learned through technology. Next we traveled to Galax in Southwest Virginia to meet an eSports team that's exceeding expectations as they compete against other teams from around the state.

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https://youtu.be/Y1Kmyh-b4OQ

Patrick Hausammann from Clarke County prides himself on keeping up with leading edge instructional technology, which is what led him to become an expert on best practices when it comes to Artificial Intelligence in the classroom and how to use it to streamline lesson planning and reduce the time and effort it takes to differentiate instruction for all learners. Host Tom Landon sat down with him at the 2025 Tech Splash event in Abingdon to learn more.

For a video version of this podcast, please visit link below.

https://youtu.be/rVE04Yxd8RY