Voices of Readiness Podcast

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic of discussion in nearly every industry, and education is no exception. In this episode, we're diving into the world of AI with Aimee Torres and Lauren Miller, who will be sharing their AI expertise and experience in a 2024 CERTIFIED Educator Conference breakout session.

Lauren Miller is currently in her fifth year as a full-time lecturer at Auburn University where she teaches Information Analysis to students in the business college. As a part of this course, she certifies her students with the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel and Excel Expert certifications. Prior to teaching at the post-secondary level, she taught middle school and high school business in Alabama and Texas. She holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and Ed.S. degree in business and marketing education from Auburn University. Aimee Torres is currently a lecturer at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. She teaches Microsoft Excel to business students in Information Analysis courses. She also certifies all her students in the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Associate certification and the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Expert certification. She has been a lecturer at Auburn University since 2019. Aimee has her B.S. in business administration from Troy University, her M.Ed. in business & marketing education from Auburn University, her Ed.S. in Business & Marketing Education from Auburn University and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Career and Technical Education. In addition to teaching, Aimee presents workshops at local, regional, and national business and marketing education conferences. She is a member of the National Business Education Association (NBEA) and is currently serving as President of the Alabama Business Education Association (ABEA).

In today's episode, we talk about how Aimee and Lauren have incorporated AI into their Microsoft Excel course. They share what AI tools they use, and how these tools help educators focus on teaching. Plus, we talk about what skills their students are learning from these projects and tools.

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference to learn from Aimee and Lauren. Get all the details at https://certified.certiport.com/.

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

Looking for more AI resources? Get a few ideas here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/December/Tools-for-Teaching-Artificial-Intelligence.

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

Project managers need a full toolbox of skills, including communication, organization, time management, and leadership. Sounds like tools educators use in the classroom every day. In this episode, we learn from project management expert, Carol York.

After a successful business career, Carol York has worked as a business education teacher at Cary High School in Cary, North Carolina for 13 years, including nine years as a project management teacher. Carol has served as a CERTIFIED Ambassador and presented various sessions at the CERTIFIED Educator Conference over the years. She is passionate about the benefits of certification for students. She has served on North Carolina's state curriculum development team for project management courses, and she has earned her Microsoft Office Specialist Expert, PMI Project Management Ready, and National Board Teacher certifications.

Carol gives us a peek into her 2024 CERTIFIED Educator Conference workshop. She shares how educators can use project management skills in the classroom, both with their students and to make their own lives easier. Carol reminds us that no matter what subject you teach, project management can help you!

Don't miss your chance to register for our annual CERTIFIED Educator's Conference to learn from Carol. Get all the details at https://certified.certiport.com/.

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

Looking for more project management resources? Get a few ideas here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2021/March/Why-Teach-Project-Management.

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

We are excited for our 2024 CERTIFIED Educator Conference in June and are dedicating our next few episodes to previews of some of our breakout sessions. We were lucky enough to sit down with Brittany Hochstaetter and Chad McKenzie to discuss what they'll be sharing at our 2024 #CERTIFIEDConf.

Chad is an Associate Professor in the Information Technology division at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh and has 17 years of teaching experience within the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS). Chad's teaching style focuses on fostering relationships with his students and creating learning environments, both virtual and seated, that are engaging, positive, and personalized.

Brittany is an experienced Professor of Communication with over 15 years of experience in higher education. Like Chad, she's currently sharing her gifts and efforts with students at Wake Technical Community College. She's skilled in research, educational leadership, adult education, curriculum development, soft-skills training, administrative processes, and program development.

In today's episode, we talk about teaching Gen Z students, and how the internet has shaped this generation. Chad and Brittany also share valuable classroom strategies to help educators prepare for teaching and engaging Gen Z students and give a peek into the research they'll be sharing at CERTIFIED 2024. Dive into the story of Internet Culture to understand the curious nature of today's students and learn innovative and practical classroom strategies for engaging their hearts and minds.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Chad and Brittany, 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 at https://certified.certiport.com/.

We're back with another week of insights for our creative educators. By popular demand, we're sharing more insight from CERTIFIED Ambassador, John Beale.

John Beale began his educational career working in museums including the Spanish Colonial Quarter, the Florida Agriculture Museum, and the Florida Maritime Museum. After more than a decade in experiential education he brought his experiences to the classroom, first at middle school level teaching science and STEM marine science before finding his place at Allen D. Nease High School in St John's County, Florida, teaching Introduction to Engineering and Design, Civil Engineering and Architecture, and Computer Integrated Manufacturing and sponsoring the Transportation Technology Club with a focus on Aerospace and Electrathon motorsports. He believes that industry certification creates a solid pathway to college, careers, and creativity and that collaboration and cooperation in and out of the classroom benefits all involved.

In this episode, we dive into the concepts of design thinking and creativity. We talked with John about Intuit's Design for Delight approach, and how to teach students design thinking skills that they can leverage in the design and development process. Plus, we discussed the soft and hard skills your students gain by applying design thinking principles. If you're not familiar with design thinking, this is a great introduction!

Learn more about the Intuit Design for Delight Innovator certification program: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Intuit/Certifications/Certify/Design-for-Delight.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like John, 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 at https://certified.certiport.com/. John will be presenting at this year's conference, and we know you won't want to miss it.

Research studies consistently demonstrate the power of active learning or learning by doing. Helping students become more engaged in the learning process means creating hands-on learning opportunities.

In our latest CERTIFIED Academy: Design webinar, we sat down with CERTIFIED Ambassador, John Beale, to talk about hands-on learning. John Beale began his educational career working in museums including the Spanish Colonial Quarter, the Florida Agriculture Museum, and the Florida Maritime Museum. After more than a decade in experiential education he brought his experiences to the classroom, first at middle school level teaching science and STEM marine science before finding his place at Allen D. Nease High School in St John's County, Florida, teaching Introduction to Engineering and Design, Civil Engineering and Architecture, and Computer Integrated Manufacturing and sponsoring the Transportation Technology Club with a focus on Aerospace and Electrathon motorsports. He believes that industry certification creates a solid pathway to college, careers, and creativity and that collaboration and cooperation in and out of the classroom benefits all involved.

We talked with John about how to make your classroom more playful and hands-on. He also talks about why play is so important for learning and engagement.

Looking for more? Here are some additional resources to get you started.

Bring play into the classroom with one of John's go-to tools: https://www.blooket.com/.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like John, 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 at https://certified.certiport.com/. John will be presenting at this year's conference, sharing a full "toolbox" of ideas for gamifying your classroom.

The need for video production and editing skills is skyrocketing. In 2024 alone, projections anticipate companies spending over $92B on video marketing. In this webinar turned podcast episode, we dove into the world of video editing and production with CERTIFIED Ambassador, Rob Johnson.

Rob Johnson is a media professional with over twenty years of experience, having gotten his start in live television as a producer for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia where he was nominated for three Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards. He brought his industry experience to the classroom and has been involved in various roles as a teacher and digital strategist at La Salle College High School outside of Philadelphia, PA.

Mr. Johnson's WEXPtv Media Program has won multiple Mid-Atlantic High School Emmy Awards during his tenure with many students achieving certification in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Photoshop.

We talked with Rob about why video editing and production skills are relevant for today's students. He shared valuable tips and tricks for teaching Adobe Premiere Pro in the classroom, plus additional resources he uses to help his students master these in-demand skills. Best of all, he shares advice for how to weave in ever-changing and even emerging technologies into your classroom, such as AI.

Check out the full webinar recording here: https://youtu.be/Gldz6udM4qw.

Get all the details about the Adobe Certified Professional certification program here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Adobe/ACP/Overview.

Check out additional CERTIFIED Academy: Design sessions here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2024/March/Join-Us-for-CERTIFIED-Academy-Design-2024.

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

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

Learn more about our annual CERTIFIED Educator Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

REPLAY: This episode has been previously aired.

Education is the scaffolding around which students can build a successful life. However, students and young people often don't see the big picture. Educators, particularly in the CTE space, need to connect students' experiences more explicitly with relevant job roles and future career pathways. But how do you open your students' eyes to the skills they have and the future jobs they can pursue? Offering context and integrating your classroom with the workforce is crucial.

In this episode, we were privileged to discuss skills contextualization with Dr. Krystal Rawls. Dr. Rawls is the designer of the Workforce Integration Program at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Building on a foundation of theoretically sound and data-driven practices, Rawls endeavors to create transparency and equity in workforce development programming to develop a more diverse, digitally competent, and skilled class of worker. Dr. Rawls draws on herd transdisciplinary background in Education, Psychology, and Business to inform her innovative approach to empowering students to take their place in the modern workforce. Using labor market information to identify the skills needs of employers and curriculum data to evidence skills developed in the academic experience, Krystal creates community through skill-based language. In her role as an analyst and faculty member, Krystal gets to indulge her passion for building opportunities and relationships that are beneficial to the student, educator/worker, as well as industry and community partners. Dr. Rawls welcomes opportunities to create meaningful workforce partnerships and develop pathways for positive economic outcomes for all.

With Dr. Rawls we discussed how to help students contextualize and understand their skillset, and how to let go in the classroom, and create authentic learning experiences. With context, your students will see that they're not "just" students, but professionals in training.

Dr. Rawls mentioned some incredible resources to continue your learning. Check them out here

1. American Council on Education: https://acue.org/?acue_courses=acues-effective-practice-framework

2. "Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development" by Stephen Goldsmith and Kate Markin Coleman: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Fairly-Opportunity-Development-Innovative/dp/0815739486

Want to know more about implementing a Legacy project of your own? Contact Dr. Rawls on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professorrawls/

Email: [email protected]

Or through the CSUDH Workforce Integration Network : https://www.linkedin.com/company/csudhwin/

According to a Greenlight survey, 74% of teens surveyed reported that they don't feel confident in their personal finance knowledge and yet, 73% reported wanting to learn more! Personal finance is a hot topic. Not only among students but within schools and governments. As a teacher, you can make a difference that goes beyond the classroom.

In this CERTIFIED Academy: Business webinar recording, we sat down with educators Dan Tedor and Imani Butler. Together we dove into the impact of personal finance education on students, how to make financial education relevant for the students in your classroom, and how integrating personal finance into your curriculum can equip students with essential skills and the confidence to make savvy financial decisions in their personal and professional spheres.

Check out the full webinar recording (with additional information from our partners at Intuit) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDjeDis9HAg&t=1s.

Get all the details for the Intuit Personal Finance certification exam here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/November/Intuit-Personal-Finance-certification.

Learn more about personal finance education at CERTIFIED this year! Get more information here: https://certified.certiport.com/conference/.

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

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

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 17-19, 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 and Director of Field Marketing, Ben Lambert. They gave us an inside view of CERTIFIED 2024, 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/conference/.

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

Connect with your fellow educators before CERTIFIED this summer in our CERTIFIED Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

This one's for all our Microsoft educators. In a recent CERTIFIED Academy: Business webinar, we sat down with a panel of education veterans from middle school, high school, and higher education.

Jan Went is a business technology instructor at Lakeview High School, a rural jr.-sr. high school of 469 students near Columbus, Nebraska. She is in her 40th year of teaching and is the organization administrator for the Certiport Microsoft Office Specialist Program. She was instrumental in their school becoming a part of the Nebraska Microsoft IT Initiative in 2016, and have qualified to remain members of the initiative for seven years. From 2017-present, Lakeview has been the home to seven state champions, one national champion, and one 5th place finish in the Worlds Competition in 2022. She currently has two state champions who will be competing at the national competition this summer in Orlando. Jan also served as a presenter at the Certiport Educator's Conference in Orlando in 2021.

Karen Coulombe has taught a variety of Career and Technical Education courses at the 8th -12th grade level as well as the Community College since the early 2000's. Her focus is on expanding hands-on and experiential learning in meaningful ways to add valuable "tools" to the students' toolbox, building confidence and a resume of tangible skills to market in the workplace. Karen has seen certifications used to enhance resumes for those who need to get right to work; as well as to differentiate students working towards competitive internships, scholarships, and college programs. The most significant connection from certification to the real world is understanding how to work to achieve goals using the resources available. Before teaching, Karen worked for over a decade as an Avionics Technician with Boeing, DynCorp Aerospace and the US Air Force on programs including Air Force 1, the B2 Bomber, and multiple F-16 deployments abroad.

Laurene Klassen is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Assistant Director of IT Training & Communications at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She took her first Microsoft Office Specialist exam in 2010 for personal development and has been hooked ever since. In 2017, she spearheaded the MOS program at SMU after attending her first CERTIFIED conference. Their program has now certified over 5,000 students within 4 years. Laurene oversees the administrative side of their program working with over 15 faculty members to integrate the MOS exams into their curriculum. She frequently teaches Office workshops to students. She is a native of Massachusetts but now calls Texas her home.

These ladies share strategies to harness the power of project-based learning and MOS certification, helping prepare students for the demands of the workforce and post-secondary education. Listen to student success stories, discover effective tools, and acquire practical insights to enhance student success rates, teacher effectiveness, and program efficiency.

Discover some valuable tips for getting started with MOS on the blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/May/Getting-started-with-Microsoft-Office-Specialist.

Like our educators mentioned, connecting with industry is crucial to the success of your program. Get additional advice here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/November/Successful-Cert-Program-with-Industry-Education.

Learn more about the MOS certification: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Microsoft/MOS/Overview.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Jan, Karen, and Laurene, 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 at https://certified.certiport.com/.