Voices of Readiness Podcast

Certification programs have the power to change lives and create new opportunities for deserving people who need them most. In this week's episode, we hear about the impact of certification from long-time educator, Brian Foutty.

Brian Foutty brings 28 years of classroom teaching experience to his current job as a secondary math, app development and coding, and special education teacher at Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Warren, Ohio. He has also worked for the past seven years as a Mac and iPad systems administrator and a classroom technology integrator for the students and staff at Turnbull. Brian has been an active iOS app developer since 2011, and he worked for three years as an Apple Professional Learning Specialist. Brian firmly believes that all students can benefit and become better thinkers through formal coding learning experiences.

Learn how Brian has used Swift App Development certifications to transform student outcomes in an economically challenged area. Brian talks about the value of app development skills, and how he helps students successfully transition to their next step after high school. Brian also discusses the curriculum he uses in his classroom (it's available at no charge!), and how this program has transformed the lives of his students.

Check out Brian's blog for app and project ideas for your students: www.swiftteacher.org.

Connect with Brian on social: https://bio.site/swiftteacher.

Learn about Brian's program here: https://www.tctchome.com/.

Access free App Development in Swift curriculum here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Apple/App-Dev-With-Swift/Learn.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Brian, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Back to school season is here. Whether you're a seasoned Certiport veteran, or brand new to certification, we know this episode will help you have a successful year. We were lucky enough to sit down with two members of our Certiport team: Caitlin O'Brien and Jason Majors.

Caitlin O'Brien has been with Certiport for nearly 12 years with the entirety of her career spent in customer service and client support roles, most recently taking over management of the Candidate Services and Customer Support teams. She always tries to maintain a 'customer first' mindset and is a passionate advocate for the candidates and teachers her teams support. When not working Caitlin loves to spend time in her ceramics studio making pottery and enjoys the outdoors by hiking, climbing, and skiing.

Jason Majors is the Director of Global Deployment for Certiport. He comes from the classroom where he prepared students for Adobe Certified Professional and Microsoft Office Specialist certifications during his five years of leading the Digital Design Academy at Escambia High School in Pensacola, FL. While teaching, he was also the lead trainer for the Microsoft Imagine Academy and traveled around the United States training teachers on best practices for preparing students to successfully earn industry certifications. He now leads the Certiport Deployment team, working with large accounts to ensure teacher and student success with certification programs.

In this episode, we'll learn from Caitlin and Jason about how to launch and run a thriving certification program this year. We cover everything from teaching resources to IT set-up, and how to celebrate student success. You'll certainly walk away with ideas for how to streamline your certification classroom this year.

Caitlin and Jason mentioned a library full of resources to help you in your classroom. Find them all here:

• Learning Materials and Practice Tests: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Learning-products.

• Objective Domains: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Exam-details/Objective-domains.aspx.

• Certiport's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/certiportcomms.

• CATC Newsletter: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/CATCs/Newsletter

• CERTIFIED Educator LinkedIn Community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

• CATC Training Sessions: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/CATCs/Training-sessions

• Compass User Guides: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Support/Quick-reference-guides.

• My Pathway: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/My-Pathway.

• Badging: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Badging.

• Resume Library: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/resumelibrary.

• ACE College Credit: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/College-Credit.

Need additional support? Contact our fabulous Customer Service team: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Support.aspx.

Find your Certiport Territory Manager for one-on-one support: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Buy/School/Sales.

Get other fun ideas for your classroom on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/blog.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Are you looking for fresh, innovative ideas for using certifications to help your students and improve your school? Karen Coulombe is here to help.

Karen Coulombe is a career and technical education (CTE) teacher at Lake Stevens High School in Washington state. Karen teaches both computer applications and computer science to first-year high school students in Lake Stevens. She is also a robotics advisor for the largest VRC Robotics team in Washington. Before becoming a teacher, Karen worked for more than a decade as a licensed avionics technician and airframe and powerplant mechanic for the U.S. Air Force, DynCorp Aerospace, and the Boeing Company. She was also selected for special assignments involving Air Force One and the B2 stealth bomber.

Throughout her career, Karen has been a passionate believer in continuing education and giving back to her community. She has participated in the U.S. Naval Academy's SET SAIL, Certiport's National CERTIFIED Conference, STEM Guitars, Space Camp for Educators, the Washington Alliance for Better Schools STEM Externship, and multiple nanotechnology conferences. Karen also serves on the teacher advisory board for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, and as a member of two technical advisory committees.

During this episode, we chatted with Karen about how to maximize the value of your certification investment. Karen discusses how she celebrates student success and maximizes engagement. Plus, how she gets them to leverage their certification in the workforce. Karen's a networking expert and knows how to help your students stay plugged into opportunities in your community. Get the most bang for your buck with Karen's advice.

Learn more about Karen on the blog (https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/June/Karen-Coulombe-2023-CERTIFIED-Educator-of-the-Year) and on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC1m9kLUgug).

You can also connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-coulombe/.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Karen, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Between now and 2031, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting high growth in the accounting field, with about 136,400 openings each year. Growth like this is a fabulous sign for students looking for a stable and fulfilling career. In this week's episode, we're talking about all things accounting with passionate accounting educator, Lenice DeLuca!

Lenice currently works as an instructor at Immokalee Technical College in Southwest Florida, where she teaches courses in accounting operations and global logistics and supply chain technology. Previously, she spent nine years as a middle school teacher at Collier County Public Schools. Throughout her career, Lenice has developed a passion for career and technical education, and she is committed to helping her students gain the skills they need to succeed and thrive in our technology-driven world. Lenice has a bachelor's degree in accounting and an MBA and MA in international business.

In our episode, we talked with Lenice about her accounting teaching experience. We talk about the growth in the accounting field, and the skills accountants need to succeed. Lenice also gives advice for how to get students engaged in accounting (who knew Al Capone would come into play here), and the tools she uses to teach her students. Lenice is our expert for how to make accounting fun and interesting.

Learn more from Lenice on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt3lJZXBack&t=4s).

You can also connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenice-deluca-73526a7a/.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Lenice, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Welcome back! We're so excited to be back to school, back in the classroom, back to recording with all our educators!

Do you have students interested in video games? The global video game market is currently valued at $188.7 billion, with more growth projected in the coming years. In short, students interested in video game design have massive potential to land a fantastic and fulfilling job. Help prepare them for their future gaming careers with Unity skills.

Unity is the world's leading platform for creating and operating interactive, real-time 3D (RT3D) content, empowering creators around the world. In today's episode, we chatted all things Unity with David Manning. David is former educator with over a decade of classroom experience. He was the Game & Simulation Academy Director for Volusia County Schools for over eight years. In that role he created a curriculum that is used with students in ninth through twelfth grades to prepare them for future careers in the game industry and related fields.

David talks us through how he launched his gaming and simulation program, even giving details about computer specs and how to work with your IT department to get up and running. David also shares which free and paid resources he used in his classroom to prepare his students for their Unity certification. And last, but certainly not least, David walks you through how to help students learn coding without getting burned out, and how to keep them motivated to tackle difficult topics.

Learn more from David on the blog (https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/June/Practical-Advice-for-Teaching-Gaming-Design) and on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxCQta29VMI&t=2121s).

You can also connect with him via email: [email protected].

Connect with your fellow educators, like David, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Each year, we are so excited to recognize one of our customers as our CERTIFIED Educator of the Year as part of our annual CERTIFIED Educator Conference. We work with so many incredible educators, all of whom deserve recognition for their dedication and efforts. We're pleased to announce that Karen Coulombe is our 2023 CERTIFIED Educator of the Year!

Karen Coulombe is a career and technical education (CTE) teacher at Lake Stevens High School in Washington state. Karen teaches both computer applications and computer science to first-year high school students in Lake Stevens. She is also a robotics advisor for the largest VRC Robotics team in Washington. Before becoming a teacher, Karen worked for more than a decade as a licensed avionics technician and airframe and powerplant mechanic for the U.S. Air Force, DynCorp Aerospace, and the Boeing Company. She was also selected for special assignments involving Air Force One and the B2 stealth bomber.

Throughout her career, Karen has been a passionate believer in continuing education and giving back to her community. She has participated in the U.S. Naval Academy's SET SAIL, Certiport's National CERTIFIED Conference, STEM Guitars, Space Camp for Educators, the Washington Alliance for Better Schools STEM Externship, and multiple nanotechnology conferences. Karen also serves on the teacher advisory board for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, and as a member of two technical advisory committees.

In this episode, we talked with Karen about CERTIFIED, being named CERTIFIED Educator of the Year, and her experience both in and out of the classroom. She discusses her passion for teaching, and how she overcomes the challenges she faces in education. Plus, Karen shares her advice for creating a network of professionals to enrich your classroom and curriculum.

Learn more about Karen on the blog (https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/June/Karen-Coulombe-2023-CERTIFIED-Educator-of-the-Year) and on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC1m9kLUgug). You can also connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-coulombe/.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Karen, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Creativity is a crucial skill for any design career. But learners and professionals must be able to apply their creativity to their chosen field. Design thinking can help students use creativity to solve problems in the workplace and beyond.

This episode includes audio from our latest CERTIFIED Academy: Design webinar, where we interviewed two of our CERTIFIED Ambassadors, Greg King and Katie Watchorn. Greg King is a Computer Assisted Design Instructor at McCann Technical School in North Adams, MA. Prior to leaping into a teaching career, Greg was a Senior Mechanical Designer/Project Manager for HVAC projects in both the design build and plan-spec marketplace. Greg has been an Autodesk student & user since 1997 with a primary focus on AutoCAD and Revit. Outside of the classroom, Greg enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family and on rainy days, blissfully trying to find ways to thank his wife for allowing him to commandeer the dining room table with 3D printers, CNC machines, and laser engravers.

Katie is a Digital Business Education Career & Technical Education Instructor at the Sault Area High School's Career Center. She discovered her passion for teaching while living in Italy, where she taught General/Business English, proofread scientific articles, edited CVs, advised on business presentations, designed email templates, and offered marketing services. She joined her Alma Mater in 2019 with the intention of helping students to discover what they really enjoy and what they want to do in their life. Throughout her professional career, Katie has worked within the marketing and sales sectors in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Milan, Italy for 7 years. Her objective is to inspire students, by bringing her industry experience into the classroom.

Together we discussed the world of design thinking, specifically Intuit's Design for Delight framework and certification, plus how your learners (and educators) can use this framework to apply their creative skills.

Learn more about Intuit's Design for Delight Innovator certification here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Intuit/Certifications/Certify/Design-for-Delight.

You can also dive deeper into creativity and design thinking here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/February/Unleash-Your-Students-Creativity.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Greg and Katie, in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

This podcast is managed and edited by Haili Murch LLC.

If you are interested in starting a podcast or you are currently a podcaster needing help managing or relaunching your podcast, you may email Haili Murch at [email protected] or you can click here to book a call: https://calendly.com/hailimurch/podcast-discovery-call

This episode is a replay from an episode aired in November 2021. We wanted to replay this in honor of Mental Health Awareness month.

Career and Technical Education is all about helping students find a meaningful and fulfilling career pathway that aligns with their skills and passions. But before students can discover what they want to do with their lives, they need to discover who they are. That is where social-emotional learning comes into play.

Dr. Damien Sweeney is a social-emotional learning expert and currently serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Kentucky Department of Education. Sweeney is also an adjunct professor at the University of the Cumberlands and Spalding University. With a passion for change agency and social justice, Dr. Sweeney has served as a special education teacher, English teacher and high school counselor in Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY). Sweeney holds a Master's in Teaching Special Education and Secondary English from Bellarmine University along with a Master's in Education for School Counseling and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Louisville. In short, he's been in your shoes and knows the burdens you educators carry.

In this episode, we sat down with Damien to learn about what social-emotional learning is, why it matters, and why CTE classrooms are perfectly poised to help students find a place to belong and discover who they are. Damien also helped us discover how, as adults and educators, we can dive into our own journeys of social-emotional learning, and why educators need to fill up their cup before they can give to their students. If you or your students are feeling lost, overwhelmed, underappreciated, or misunderstood, this episode will bring insight and direction to help you pave a path forward.

Looking for the resources that Damien mentioned during this episode? Check out the list below.

• CASEL Framework: https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/

• Kentucky's Individual Learning Plans: https://education.ky.gov/educational/compschcouns/ILP/Pages/default.aspx

• Permission to Feel with Dr. Marc Brackett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUhfLKzDEkA

We can't wait to see you all at CERTIFIED this year! Get more information here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

This podcast is managed and edited by Haili Murch LLC.

If you are interested in starting a podcast or you are currently a podcaster needing help managing or relaunching your podcast, you may email Haili Murch at [email protected] or you can click here to book a call: https://calendly.com/hailimurch/podcast-discovery-call

Summer is quickly approaching, which means that we're in full CERTIFIED mode at the Certiport office. We are weeks away from our annual CERTIFIED Educator Conference.

Taking place in Orlando, FL, June 26-28, CERTIFIED is the only education conference dedicated exclusively to exploring the full promise of certification in the classroom—by providing administrators, teachers, and industry experts with an engaging, energized forum for professional development, sharing their ideas, and experiences.

In this episode, we chatted with our Corporate Events Manager, Dominique Delbar. She gave us an inside view of CERTIFIED 2023, including an overview of the keynotes and breakouts, what parties are happening, and how to get involved in the student competitions. We talked about the total costs to attend, so you can budget with your districts and administrators ahead of time. Finally, we took a stroll down memory lane to talk about how CERTIFIED has changed over the years, and what new resources are available to help teachers year-round.

We can't wait to see you all at CERTIFIED this year! Get more information here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

You can learn more about CERTIFIED Academy here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/January/Announcing-CERTIFIED-Academy.

Our CERTIFIED Ambassadors are your guides to help you connect with your community throughout the year. Learn more about our Ambassadors here: https://certified.certiport.com/#ambassadors.

Don't miss out on a chance to connect with your fellow educators before arriving at CERTIFIED. Join our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

This podcast is managed and edited by Haili Murch LLC.

If you are interested in starting a podcast or you are currently a podcaster needing help managing or relaunching your podcast, you may email Haili Murch at [email protected] or you can click here to book a call: https://calendly.com/hailimurch/podcast-discovery-call

You've likely heard the buzz about our newest certification program: the Cisco Certified Support Technician. You can see the full announcement, launching the new program at https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/January/Meet-Cisco-Certified-Support-Technician. We are offering these certifications in collaboration with Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking technology with one of the most respected certification programs in the IT industry.

Cisco is dedicated to empowering all people with career possibilities, and offers incredible resources to educators teaching networking, cybersecurity, and IT skills in the classroom. These resources are available through the Cisco Networking Academy program. We wanted to get an inside look into Cisco Networking Academy, and we were so excited to learn from Networking Academy expert, Rebecca Chisholm. Rebecca is the Regional Manager of Cisco Networking Academy North America. In this role, she leads the Networking Academy team for North America where her team works with colleges, K12 school systems, universities, nonprofits, and state agencies to provide Cisco sponsored workforce development education and courses to a broad spectrum of students. The Cisco Networking Academy has been delivering IT focused workforce development education for 25 years and focuses on the latest networking, security, data science and programming technologies, while promoting business and entrepreneurial skills. Their courses and workshops provide foundational skills as well as job readiness skills for students of all levels, particularly those wanting to pursue a career in this growing and essential industry. Rebecca and her team are dedicated to closing the IT Skills gap by providing equal access to digital skills and job preparation.

In this episode, Rebecca showed us the history of the Cisco Networking Academy program. We talked more about Cisco's mission and vision for a skilled future, plus what resources they're offering (for free!) to educators to teach needed skills in the classroom. Plus, Rebecca talks about the simple steps to becoming a Cisco Networking Academy! If you're interested in free IT curriculum, resources, and lesson plans, this one is for you.

Learn more about Cisco Networking Academy at http://netacad.com/. You can also dive into resources through Cisco's Skills for All initiative at https://skillsforall.com/.

Dive into the new Cisco Certified Support Technician program at https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Cisco/Certified-Support-Technician/Overview.

Ready to connect with your fellow educators for new ideas for teaching Cisco in your classroom? Join educators in the CERTIFIED Educator Community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

You can also find new ideas for your class on the Certiport blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/blog.

And of course, don't miss your chance to network with new teachers at our CERTIFIED Educator Conference this June! Get all the details here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

This podcast is managed and edited by Haili Murch LLC.

If you are interested in starting a podcast or you are currently a podcaster needing help managing or relaunching your podcast, you may email Haili Murch at [email protected] or you can click here to book a call: https://calendly.com/hailimurch/podcast-discovery-call