The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) invites teachers and administrators around the world to participate in the 2019 Fall VirtCon on Saturday, October 19, from 8:45 AM to 2:30 PM ET. A no-cost virtual professional learning conference, this peer-to-peer experience provides a unique opportunity for educators at all levels to learn new, actionable strategies for creating dynamic digital learning environments that engage students and improve academic achievement.

The DEN is supported by Discovery Education. A global community of education professionals, the DEN connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable professional learning, idea sharing, networking, and inspiration.

The 2019 Fall VirtCon includes a variety of engaging, online presentations and sessions from DEN members and the Discovery Education team designed to support the professional growth of both longtime users of Discovery Education’s services and educators new to using digital content in the classroom.  Scheduled sessions include:

Let’s Get Googley—This session will showcase how well Discovery Education and Google play together.  Through a series of captivating demonstrations, participants will explore easy ways to infuse Discovery Education resources into their Google-based classrooms that will empower students to create, explore, and stay engaged!

Enhancing Literacy Instruction Using SOS—In this session, attendees will learn how to use Discovery Education’s Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) series to inspire learning through literacy. Featuring real examples of how to pair Discovery Education Experience digital resources, including transcripts from videos, audio files and images, with traditional picture books and novels to support students’ comprehension and communication skills, this session will help participants boost their efforts to support literacy.

Differentiating Instruction with Discovery Education Experience—Discovery Education helps educators differentiate instruction with multimodal digital content for multiple learning styles, degrees of readiness, and interests with resources that vary content, process, and learning environment. In this session, participants will zero in on resources and strategies for effectively using Discovery Education Experience to reach all learners.

Using Discovery Education to Facilitate 5E Inquiry for all Disciplines— By demonstrating how students can engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate ideas in any content area using Discovery Education resources, this session will share with participants new ways to facilitate learning structured in the 5E Instructional Model.

In addition to providing new perspectives and insights on issues important to today’s educators, Fall VirtCon offers participants the opportunity to connect with their colleagues, share ideas, and discover new digital resources and instructional tools they can immediately use in the classroom. Last year, approximately 4,000 educators participated in the Fall VirtCon.

“VirtCon stands head and shoulders above the other education conferences I attend in terms of immediate impact,” said Paula Jasser an Instructional Technology Facilitator in Florida’s Broward County Public School District.  “I encourage any and all educators to attend this fantastic event, as what you learn on Saturday can immediately be put to use when you return to the classroom on Monday.”

Members of the DEN will also host a number of local viewing parties where attendees can participate in the Fall VirtCon in-person. To register to attend in-person or virtually for 2019 Fall VirtCon, visit this webpage, and use the hashtag #DEexperience to follow along with this event on Twitter. At the conclusion of the 2019 VirtCon, all sessions will be archived and available at the event website.