Hard to believe that it’s been over a month since we wrapped CERTIFIED 2021. We’re already counting down the days until we can gather in Dallas next year.
What is CERTIFIED?
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. It’s an opportunity to listen, learn, and collaborate with a community of educators who share your passion for using certification to improve education and change lives.
How Can I Access 2021 Breakout Sessions?
Missed CERTIFIED 2021, or looking to rewatch some of the sessions? We’ve got you covered. Check out the full list of breakouts below, in alphabetical order. All sessions are linked to the full recording on our YouTube channel.
The year 2020 has reiterated the fact that technology education and skills are no longer optional but necessary for success in school and beyond. Learn from STEM Computer Essentials and Computer Science Teacher Devina Khan to discover different strategies and teaching styles for the classroom to successfully engage your students, as well as several methods of providing academic rigor that will enable every student to reach a higher level of learning. She also discusses how classroom dynamics create an environment where each student is expected to learn at high levels and is supported so they can learn and retain what they are learning. This session provides examples of daily lesson plans, student trackers, formative assessments and infographics that are geared toward achieving the competencies required to pass MOS certifications.
Motivation and flexibility within a hybrid classroom are keys for success. This session provides a hands-on, outside-the-box approach to successfully building relationships with students and parents to motivate them to certify in hybrid environments. In this interactive session with Computer Education Teacher Nichole Ross, you’ll learn how to ensure all students are continuing to get a quality education, whether online or in person. We’ll also discuss the benefits of adding additional certifications to a curriculum to receive funding and points, while encouraging teachers to not give up during challenging times. Additionally, this session includes insights from interviews with students about what helps them most with motivation and learning, especially those affected by a quick transition to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is possible to get 100% of your students to pass their Adobe Photoshop tests with the help of GMetrix! In this workshop you’ll learn the methods Teacher Jillian Robinson has developed and honed for nine years, leading to a 100% pass rate for Adobe Photoshop tests for the past five years.
Employers are frustrated when it comes to the lack of communication and soft skills in their job candidate pools. It's a professional crisis that has reached the boiling point. Learn what you can do and what resources are available to you as an educator to send students into the workforce with these essential skills to make them stand out as job applicants. This is a hands-on, interactive session with President Elect of the Kentucky Business Education Association Jennifer Stubblefield where you’ll be immersed in a classroom setting to learn about communication skills for business certification.
BootUp Camps provide high-quality, high-demand workplace skills training to help students obtain industry-recognized certifications and further opportunities, particularly for underserved populations, in high-wage careers. Through community partners, BootUp Camps also seamlessly connect students with resources for academic and career navigation, childcare, and family assistance, and financial support. Learn how you can use BootUp to get exceptional results with outreach, departmental income and enrollment with Program Chair and Associate Professor Lynn Wilson.
It’s often difficult to see what your students know just by reading what they write on a piece of paper or type on a computer screen, especially with remote learning. In this session with Digital Media Teacher Tina Johnson, you’ll learn the basics of Screencastify, an easy-to-use screen recording software you can use to assess a student's knowledge of a concept. You will finish this session knowing how to implement Screencastify software into your classroom to really “capture” what your students know.
Student competitions bring technology certifications to life for your students, provide them with a positive platform to showcase their skills and give them a unique opportunity to earn valuable rewards and recognition. In this session, Brian Nielson, bahabeach Competitions Manager, outlines everything you need to know about the annual bahabeach Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) and Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) student competitions. You’ll learn who can participate, how you can encourage your students to get involved, what they’ll experience, and how you can help them make the most of these fun and educational events.
In this session, Josh Sommers, Director of Technical Support and Sales Engineer at bahabeach discusses best practices and addresses questions related to Compass – bahabeach’s exam delivery platform. Come with questions and leave with solutions on how to make your testing day run more smoothly.
Are you struggling to engage learners with a fun and immersive computer science curriculum? Do you want to validate your learners’ skills in coding? Minecraft, the bestselling video game of all time, is the perfect way to engage and excite young learners. In this session with Trainer and Mentor Peter Doherty, learn how to use Minecraft: Education Edition for an engaging computer science credential program with supporting curriculum. The pathway comprises four courses that develop coding skills in MakeCode, JavaScript and, new for 2020, Python. The courses are standards aligned (CSTA and a Florida Digital Tool Certificate) and easy to teach no matter your coding or computer science experience. Upon completion, students can progress to industry-recognized certifications like Information Technology Specialist.
In this breakout session, learn about the latest developments and updates for Compass, bahabeach’s state-of-the-art exam delivery technology. This breakout session will cover what Compass is and how you can use it to deliver bahabeach exams securely and easily to your classroom, or to students who are located remotely. This session will address local, on-premise delivery, as well as browser-based delivery options, also known as Exams from Home. The session will present a roadmap of the future of Compass to help you take advantage of the many features and benefits Compass.
Engaging All Students with Remote Learning (Part 1 and Part 2)
With the COVID-19 pandemic changing the way schools operate, remote learning is a new way of life for teachers and students. With challenges of limited space, limited technology and limited visibility, this new approach to teaching can be difficult for keeping all students engaged and learning. In this session Teacher Susan Morris explores specific techniques and resources that can help teachers keep students engaged, even when they’re without direct instruction. Learn how to use different techniques and resources to meet the needs of all your students — including the growing list of accommodations and modifications for IEPs and 504 plans — without sacrificing the content.
University View Academy has been a fully virtual school for almost 10 years, and they have grown in the number of certifications they have been able to offer students each year. In this session Director of Technology and 6-12 Curriculum Sara Mungall discusses how University View Academy has been effectively engaging students virtually for years. Learn their approach for getting students credentialed for success in their careers and beyond.
Want to boost your online classroom attendance and student engagement? In this session Dr. Chitpasong Vazquez discusses how student engagement is affected by relationships. Online learning is the new way of learning, and this session will provide you with ways to incorporate creative tactics in your hybrid teaching to engage your students. Learn best practices to engage students through building relationships and how to help your students more actively participate in the online classroom.
This session explores the foundations of the Brooklyn STEAM Center as a secondary education institution that routinely recruits, supports, and celebrates underprivileged (racial, socioeconomic, or nontraditional underprivileged) youth in New York City with CTE Director Damiano Mastrandrea. We will focus on how you can use certification, with a concentration on bahabeach-offered assessments, to drive student success, including direct employment and continued postsecondary study options. We also discuss strategies that include the frameworks for student success, building a new curriculum based on what we find.
What are the superpowers the superheroes in your classroom don’t even know they have? In this session with IT Instructor Abner Soto-Henry, you’ll look at the process the Latin American Youth Center Career Academy (LAYCCA) uses to engage students from diverse backgrounds in the IT certification pathway to prepare them for college and/or their professional lives. LAYCCA uses a unique process to prepare students with industry training while helping to award industry-recognized certifications. This session will leave you with ideas on how to engage students in the learning process, helping them recognize the superpowers within them that will drive their success.
Learn how to incorporate a certification program into your classroom from our highly experienced Statewide Deployment Team. We discuss blending certification objectives into your class standards, effective pacing, and course sequence, managing technology requirements, and marketing your program to increase enrollment and develop internships. The Statewide Team has worked with teachers, administrators, IT Staff, and DOE Staff in over 22 states to effectively incorporate certification programs into more than 3,000 K12 and Higher Education classrooms. Learn best practices from their experiences and a Q&A session from educators that own and develop the most successful certification programs in the country.
bahabeach partners with some of the best publishers in the industry to bring you curriculum and practice tests that will help you prepare your students for certification and for their future employment. During this session, we take a look at these learning products. We provide a general landscape and dive deeper into new features and offerings. Leave this session with fresh perspectives on available options that will surely enhance your students’ learning experiences.
Learn how educators can use bahabeach’s various learning products to solve the challenges that inhibit students' success in certification. Business Education Coordinator Melanie Haynes provides you with practical ways to design classroom instruction while using the learning products that can set students up for success in their certification pursuits. Additionally, learn how to integrate these learning products into course plans with tips and resources from real classroom practice.
Are you considering a switch to QuickBooks Online (QBO) from QuickBooks Desktop? In this session Associate Professor of Instruction Jennifer Johnson teaches you the pros and cons of the versions, how QBO software is accessed, what it looks like, how files are managed and how you can successfully use QBO in your classroom.
By educating adults we open doors for adult students as well as for their children, families, and communities. In this session, learn how adult education can empower and revitalize communities. Additionally, Instructor and Career Counselor Regina Brack discusses what Plainfield Public Library’s adult education program is doing to shape the adult-oriented programs of New Jersey.
In this session Business Education Instructor Stacey Ryan shares tips and tricks to prepare students for their at-home certification test and to reduce student test anxiety. You and your students have learned several learning strategies with virtual learning, and some of these strategies may carry over when you get back to in-person learning. To make this transition successful, you need to carefully plan and communicate with students and parents.
In this session participants learn how Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) offer a wide variety of certification exams for students to get a head start in whatever career pathway they choose. Business and IT Program Manager Stephanie Holt discusses how FCPS students can successfully take certifications such as Adobe, AutoCAD, MTA, MOS and/or QuickBooks based on the CTE course they are enrolled in. Additionally, this session helps participants develop an understanding of how exams and exam alignments are determined and funded.
Developing project management skills will serve students throughout their lives. The PMI Project Management Ready certification is a way for students to immerse themselves in the project management industry and connect with this passionate community of professionals. In this session CTE Teacher Carol York discusses the PMI Project Management Ready certification and how it introduces students to project management fundamentals and core concepts, traditional plan-based methodologies, agile frameworks, and business analyst frameworks. The PMI Project Management Ready is aligned with the bahabeach Learn, Practice, Certify model. Course materials, practice tests and the certification exam will be offered through bahabeach.
COVID-19 has forced us to move many of our classroom instruction and certification online. In this session, learn tips and tricks to overcome the challenges this move may present. Join Curriculum Facilitator Serge Treyger to find out how Broward Schools’ Career, Technical, Adult and Community Education conquered the academic challenges of eLearning and industry certifications in the era of COVID-19.
Educators take what resources they are given each year and turn them into unique, functional, and priceless experiences for students. Join President Elect of the Kentucky Business Education Association Jennifer Stubblefield in this session, where we think of those resources as clay and the educators as potters. Potters mold their clay, form it, decorate it, shine it, process it, and protect it. In fact, if the clay is near the potter, the potter feels compelled to continuously dedicate time and energy to the clay. Hands that have the privilege of working with clay are special hands. They are trained, strong and professional.
Want to help students be successful on certification exams? In this session Business Education and Career Technology Teacher Melissa Cooper teaches you how to use GMetrix to track students’ progress to determine test readiness. With GMetrix, you can create custom tests for assessments, exams, objective reinforcement, and remediation. Learn more about using GMetrix and certification success to engage exceptional student education (ESE) and low-performing students. This session shows how to modify a curriculum to provide opportunities for success and growth and how to use immediate feedback with GMetrix to motivate students.
A lot can happen in a year! This session reviews the latest plans for bahabeach products, services, and programs including exciting details around our recently announced IT Specialist Certification. Learn what these changes mean for you and your school’s certification programs. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to explore the latest bahabeach news and updates — and look at future certification product trends.
Why is Excel important for students? What does it offer them in their current role as students as well as in future careers? Some days, Microsoft Excel feels like the last thing students are interested in learning, but it is increasingly important for them to learn. Hear inspiring, frustrating, and heartwarming stories from Teacher Mary Carroll’s experience in the pursuit to certify business students in Microsoft Excel.
Interested in staying connected with CERTIFIED all year long? Check out our online resources here.