Voices of Readiness Podcast

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, advanced coding and tech jobs such as software development are expected to grow 22% over the next decade. Further data from Indeed shows that Python is one of the most in-demand programming languages. Preparing students with coding skills is no longer optional but necessary for careers in technology. No one knows this more than educator Ashley Faulkner.

Ashley Faulkner is a teacher at Triton High School in North Carolina, where she is a strong certification advocate. Over the past 11 years, Ashley has earned more than 40 certifications—and helped her students earn more than 1,150 individual certifications.

She has also served as an FBLA adviser and as the North Carolina Southeast Region advisor. Outside her teaching career, Ashley is the chief financial officer for Simple Web Solutions, Inc., EM Audio, Inc., and Butler Faulkner Enterprise, and she is the mother of two active children.

In this episode, Ashley tells us about how she started teaching coding and programming. We discuss coding topics that students struggle with, and how to break them down to help students understand. Find out how certifications, like the IT Specialist program, can help prepare students for advanced computer science education.

Watch Ashley's full CERTIFIED 2023 presentation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYjWOPAZkyo.

Learn more about coding certifications through the IT Specialist program: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/ITSpecialist/Certification/Overview.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Jenny, 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/.

Are you teaching in a mixed classroom? Maybe you're working with gifted students, students with an IEP, ESOL students, and more. How do you address the needs and learning styles of such a diverse group? Jenny Mohess addresses classroom diversity and mixed classroom benefits and challenges in this episode.

Originally from Trinidad & Tobago, Jenny has lived in Osceola County (City of Kissimmee), for over 22 years. She first stepped onto Valencia's Campus in 2000 as an international student. There she earned an A.S. in Graphic Design. While working for Apple, she earned a bachelor's in business from USF, and master's in art education from Boston University. These experiences led to jobs at Apple, Microsoft, and eventually, her own design studio.

Jenny currently teaches at Valencia College and has found genuine purpose in mentoring future graphic/web designers through the Valencia Graphics Program. She is now building the program at Tohopekaliga High School and sharing real-world experiences with her students. Through all the real-world projects and certifications, her students are coming to the realization that they can become Adobe Certified Professional World Champions and professional designers.

Learn about Jenny's definition of a mixed classroom (it covers more than you think), and her advice for succeeding in meeting your students' needs. Discover how she looks at the "whole student" and finds partners at her school campus.

Jenny briefly mentions here 2023 CERTIFIED presentation. You can check that out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhz9ycLdIg.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Jenny, 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/.

A truly diverse workforce is required to protect companies and countries from a growing variety of cyber threats. However, according to a report from (ISC)2, the current cybersecurity industry is predominantly male and white, with only 26% of cybersecurity professionals identifying as ethnic and racial minorities, and only 14% identifying as female.

In one of our latest CERTIFIED Academy: IT webinars, we sat down with two incredible cybersecurity professionals: Priya Senthilkumar and Yulini Persaud. 

Priya is currently the Vice President of Technology at Pearson VUE. She is a thought leader who has always stepped outside her comfort zone and taken risks in her career. Her journey at Pearson started in 2008 as a Project Manager and she has grown over the last 13 years into a leadership path, where she has not only grown personally but also developed other women leaders on her team. She serves on Women Leading in Technology (WLiT) board, and volunteers time with her city’s sustainability commission.

Yulini is a Senior Information Security Analyst for The New York Times, where she’s worked for the past four and a half years. Yulini started her career in technology 10 years ago as a Cisco Networking student at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School. She then attended Monroe College, where she was the first graduate of their BS in Computer Networks and Cybersecurity program, and earned her MS in Information Security Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University.  

In this episode, we discussed how to attract a diverse student population to your classroom, plus how diversity impacts the cybersecurity workforce.

You can also find new cybersecurity resources here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/September/Be-Cyber-Smart-for-Cybersecurity-Awareness-Month. 

Learn more about our IT Specialist cybersecurity certification here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/ITSpecialist/Certification/Certify. 

Learn more about the Cisco Certified Support Technician cybersecurity certification here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Cisco/Certified-Support-Technician/Overview.

Empowering your students with industry-recognized credentials is just the first step toward their career success. Teaching students valuable skills so they can advance into meaningful employment is the goal. To help bridge the gap between classroom and career, Certiport has partnered with Career.io.

In this week's episode, we were able to sit down with Career.io's very own Amanda Augustine. Amanda is the resident career expert for Career.io and its sister brands, Resume.io, TopResume, TopCV, and TopInterview. As a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), she has spent over 15 years helping professionals of all stages improve their careers and land the right job sooner.

We chatted with Amanda all about what resources Career.io has available for educators and learners, plus how educators can effectively prepare students for the workforce. Get valuable advice for how to help prepare students for the job hunt, including a list of activities you can complete in the classroom to help students feel prepared when they walk into their interviews.

If you want your students to start their job search off on the right foot, this episode is for you.

Learn more about Career.io on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2023/October/Help-students-advance-with-Career-io.

We'll also have more content related to job preparation on the blog coming soon.

Your students are full of potential and helping them reach that potential means they need to be challenged in a rigorous learning environment. At CERTIFIED 2023, Jenny Mohess talked about using rigor in the classroom.

Originally from Trinidad & Tobago, Jenny has lived in Osceola County (City of Kissimmee), for over 22 years. She first stepped onto Valencia's Campus in 2000 as an international student. There she earned an A.S. in Graphic Design. While working for Apple, she earned a bachelor's in business from USF, and master's in art education from Boston University. These experiences led to jobs at Apple, Microsoft, and eventually, her own design studio.

Jenny currently teaches at Valencia College and has found genuine purpose in mentoring future graphic/web designers through the Valencia Graphics Program. She is now building the program at Tohopekaliga High School and sharing real-world experiences with her students. Through all the real-world projects and certifications, her students are coming to the realization that they can become Adobe Certified Professional World Champions and professional designers.

In today's episode, we recapped Jenny's CERTIFIED presentation. We talk about challenging students and helping them gain valuable soft skills. Jenny also discusses how she gets to know the "whole student", and how understanding your students on a deeper level helps you create a more impactful learning environment.

Learn more from Jenny's CERTIFIED 2023 presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhz9ycLdIg.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Jenny, 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/.

How do you bridge the gap between abstract knowledge and the real-world task- and project-based skills your students need to succeed in their careers? In this episode, science, STEM, and engineering teacher John Beale explores the answers.

John Beale has been in the classroom for six years teaching science, STEM, and engineering at Nease High School in St. Augustine, Florida. Over the course of his teaching career, he has also created curriculum for a seventh and eighth grade marine science STEM program and an eleventh-grade level computer integrated manufacturing class. Before beginning his high school teaching career, John worked for more than a decade directing experiential learning in museums around Florida for people of all ages.

John discusses the importance of group work in his classroom, how it helps his students learn critical workforce skills. He also discusses how he formulates his groups using the Archer Method, and how these groups help students emphasize their strengths.

You'll also learn about his hands-on projects, and how he creates projects to give practical applications to abstract skills. John walks through his process, so you can create projects like this in your own classroom.

John has graciously offered to share his grading sheets and Microsoft Forms that he mentioned in the episode. You can find the Form here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ShareFormPage.aspx?id=V9CzsxL8P0-S9HK-boRDUfG8hYV11EpPpwLHiIyvJx5UREYxRFJDSEdVRFpPUktOUUlKMDlGTVpHUC4u&sharetoken=N5lUKI7wEu4SDQzNA1TA&wdLOR=cA28D86D9-8054-493D-85F3-0820D75DD70A. The example grading sheet is available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnQ-HXvttSH4cM6sPySDsTGv3wXe_jBn6rfqJntJ-dc/edit#gid=0.

Get other fun 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 here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

How many times do students walk into your classroom and ask, "Can we do something fun today?" Chances are you hear that often. So why not make your class more fun? Amy Waters shows us how.

Amy Waters is a 34-year veteran classroom teacher who currently works at Hahnville High School in Boutte, Louisiana. Throughout her career, she has proven her nerd force bona-fides by teaching diverse subjects from Latin to computer programming. Amy is passionate about constantly creating, adapting, and improving lessons to reach all students. She currently teaches classes in business computer applications; Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator; and HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Programming.

In this episode, we talk with Amy about her CERTIFIED 2023 breakout presentation. She talks about why it's important to incorporate fun in the classroom. Amy gives some of her best fun project successes and failures, plus some advice for how you can keep your students excited and engaged.

"Sometimes you have to give up what you think is going to work and just listen to your students." If you want your classroom to be more fun and engaging, Amy is here to help.

Connect with Amy for additional ideas and brainstorming: [email protected].

You can catch Amy's full presentation from CERTIFIED here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyGxwoI5kFM.

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

Connect with your fellow educators, like Amy, 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/.

Today's workplace is full of undeniable talent in technology (which is especially important), communication skills can propel students far beyond the "just getting hired" rung on the success ladder. In this episode, Jennifer Stubblefield talks all about communication.

Jennifer Stubblefield taught Business Education in KY for 27 years where she created and managed an award-winning certification classroom in the areas of MOS, ESB, & CSB. She is currently serving as the President of the Kentucky Business Education Association and is a mentor coach for new Business teachers in KY. In 2019, Jennifer was named the Certiport Educator of the Year and was awarded as the 2018 Southern Business Education Teacher of the Year. She is a frequent speaker at conferences around the US and is known for her energetic and real-life approach to teaching. In 2021, Jennifer officially became part of the Certiport team where she now serves as the Customer Success Manager.

Join us as we talk about the importance of communication skills, specifically in the post-pandemic workplace. We discuss what communication skills learners need to excel in the workplace, and how you can teach these skills in the classroom. With Jennifer's advice, you'll be able to make your students unforgettable.

Connect with Jennifer via email: [email protected].

Get other ideas for teaching communication skills on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/Communication-Skills-For-Business.

You can also learn more from Jennifer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mCa-7-JW6hI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdCkWISr3DQ.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Jennifer, 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/.

Are you new to certifying your students? This episode is for you. Veteran teacher and certification expert, Scott Rolando, knows what it's like to launch a new certification program, both the struggles and the triumphs.

Scott Rolando has been a full-time teacher for 22 years, and he has taught CTE classes for the past five years. Scott currently teaches an impressively diverse range of courses at Lakeland High School in White Lake, Michigan, including business, management, technology 1 and 2, sports and entertainment marketing, cybersecurity, web design, and basic and advanced video production.

In this episode, Scott shares practical tips and step-by-step suggestions for launching a successful certification program at your school. This includes insights and ideas for getting your program going, aligning specific certifications with your current classes, getting funding, scheduling certifications into your existing programs, and more.

Connect with Scott via email: [email protected].

Get other ideas for launching and maintaining your certification program on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/blog.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Scott, 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/.

Efficient and effective work is all about finding the right tools for the right job. And no one shares that message more clearly than Erica Blum.

Erica Blum is the program coordinator and an associate professor for the art and design degree at Lindenwood University. She is an Adobe Education leader and an Adobe Creative Educator Level 1. She has obtained many certifications, including the Adobe Certified Associate in Graphic Design and Illustration Using Adobe Illustrator, the ACA in Visual Communication Using Adobe Photoshop, the Adobe Certified Professional in Print and Digital Publication Using Adobe InDesign, and the Adobe Visual Design Specialist CC 2018. Professor Blum was honored to speak during the Adobe Certified Professional launch party in 2021. In addition, she is a member of the Adobe Education Exchange and has over 13 years of teaching and training in graphics, web and design concepts, printing techniques, and software applications. She has designed websites, newsletters, logos, T-shirts, brochures, cards, and more. Her artwork has been displayed in numerous arts shows and has been presented at several summits and workshops. Professor Blum spent a year studying at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art (now known as the Kubert School) working on her comic book skills. Before becoming a designer, she was an Equity stage manager in and around New York City, a database administrator, an IT worker, and a camera/teleprompter/stage manager for tv and movies.

In this episode with Erica, we talk all about her CERTIFIED Educator Conference session, and why she's so passionate about helping educators and students find the right tool for the right job. Erica shares the importance of knowing your software, and what other skills creatives should be building before entering the workforce. We also talk through free and exciting resources available for all educators and Creative Cloud users. If you're looking to add tools to your design toolbox, this episode is for you.

Don't miss out on the amazing resources that Erica mentioned.

1. Adobe Launch Party: https://youtube.com/live/8OvvmNsbDaM.

2. Adobe Character Animator: https://www.adobe.com/products/character-animator.html.

3. Adobe Capture: https://www.adobe.com/products/capture.html.

4. Adobe Color: https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel.

5. Adobe Fonts: https://fonts.adobe.com/.

Connect with Erica via email at [email protected].

You can also learn more about Erica's program at Lindenwood University here: https://www.lindenwood.edu/arts-and-humanities/art-production-and-design/.

Connect with your fellow educators, like Erica, 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/.