2019 Event Schedule

1 : 00 PM - 8 : 00 PM

Conference Hallway

Conference Registration

Check in at our welcome booth and get ready for an exciting week!

4 : 00 PM - 5 : 00 PM

Amethyst Ballroom

Speaker's Reception

For conference speakers only.

4 : 00 PM - 5 : 30 PM

Salt Lake City

Trolly Tour

For conference attendees and family members and guests.

6 : 00 PM - 8 : 00 PM

Capital Ballroom

Conference Welcome Reception

Come join us for a fabulous reception in your honor as we welcome you and your family to this year's TestOut Experience Conference. (Reception includes dinner)

6 : 00 AM - 8 : 30 AM

Olympus Ballroom

Breakfast

You and your family/guest will enjoy a beautifully catered breakfast to start out the day.

6 : 45 AM - 7 : 30 AM

Capital Ballroom

Insights over Breakfast

"Student Employment, Ensuring your Success, Communication, & Product Improvement" Focus Groups with TestOut Employees

8 : 00 AM - 8 : 50 AM

Capital Ballroom

Welcome

Noel Vallejo, CEO, President at TestOut Corporation
Ken Sardoni, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation

The official welcome and introduction to this year’s TestOut Experience Conference and what to expect during the sessions and activities.

8 : 50 AM - 9 : 05 AM

Break - Divide Rooms

9 : 05 AM - 9 : 50 AM

Capital A

Engaging Like Crazy to Be More Fun

Jed Patrick, IT Program Lead at Mountainland Technical College

Learn how Jed Patrick keeps his students engaged through interactive and creative learning methods while maintaining a strong focus on real-world application and employment.

9 : 05 AM - 9 : 50 AM

Capital B

Bits, Bytes, and Pieces: 4 Proven Ways That Get Your Students Certified and Hired

Ken Toth, PC and Network Technology Instructor at Careerline Tech Center

Hear from Ken Toth’s 30 years of teaching experience and using successful methods to get his high school students certified and employed by keeping today’s generation engaged, finding successful ways to partner with businesses, and improving certification pass rates.

9 : 05 AM - 9 : 50 AM

Capital C

The Flipped Classroom Debate: Achieving “Deep Learning” through Experiential Projects and Training

Spencer DeGraw, Program Chair - Cybersecurity at LDS Business College

Learn best practices from the success of Spencer DeGraw, an IT professional-turned-educator, who has turned a two-year college IT program with a few classes into a multi-faceted certification and employment engine using teaching methods like the flipped classroom model to get students high-paying, competitive jobs.

9:50 AM - 10 : 20 AM

Networking Break

10 : 20 AM - 11 : 05 AM

Capital A

iFIX- Make I.T. Happen! Create a practical, fun & engaging classroom environment with Help Desk troubleshooting

Linda Brown, Information Technology / Computer Science Instructor at Desert Hills High School

Learn from over 20 years of Linda Brown’s experience getting high school students trained, certified, and employed using a student-run computer repair shop and a ticketing system integrated with TestOut training and peer mentoring.

10 : 20 AM - 11 : 05 AM

Capital B

My Journey to the Cloud

David Carter, Support Engineer, Identity & Security at Microsoft Corporation

Learn from the experience of car-salesman-turned-Microsoft-Azure-Support-Engineer, David Carter, as he provides a unique perspective on getting his dream job. He’ll provide suggestions for helping students get employed in IT and be successful on the job after getting hired.

10 : 20 AM - 11 : 05 AM

Capital C

Tailoring Your Class Around Certification: Utilizing All that TestOut Offers to Get Your Students Certified

Dave Alexander, Marketing & Sales Development Manager at TestOut Corporation
Zach Steele, Implementation Manager at TestOut Corporation

Does making room for certification in your class seem unrealistic or too difficult to do? Learn from Dave Alexander and Zack Steele on tips for tailoring your class around certification and enlisting TestOut’s help to get you there. You’ll hear stories from both instructors and students about the impact certification has on their classes and on individual students’ lives and get ideas that you can take back to your classroom.

11:05 AM - 11 : 15 AM

Break Between Sessions

11 : 15 AM - 12 : 00 AM

Capital A

Prototyping, Piloting, and Program Implementation

April Pelfrey, Computer Science & Cybersecurity Instructor at Central Gwinnett High School
Philip Peavy, Computer Science Instructor at Paul Duke STEM High School

Hear from April Pelfrey and Philip Peavey on how to effectively roll out a Cybersecurity Pathway in your Career & Technical Education (CTE) program.

11 : 15 AM - 12 : 00 AM

Capital B

Getting Buy-In: Proven Ways to Build Excitement and Engagement around Certification, among Students and Faculty

Eugene Andres, IT Instructor at Cuyahoga Community College

Learn Professor Eugene Andres’ innovative methods for getting buy-in from his students, instructors, and administrators, to enhance your program, recruit students, get students certified and employed in the IT industry.

11 : 15 AM - 12 : 00 AM

Capital C

Learn 5 Key Practices to Transform your Program into a Certification and Job-Ready Focused Dynasty

Bart Taylor, Professor, SkillsUSA Texas District Coordinator, & TIVA President

Receive training from Bart Taylor, a 20-year veteran instructor, on five key methods for ensuring success with certification and job-readiness among students while helping your school embrace an IT certification culture.

12:00 PM - 2 : 00 PM

Olympus Ballroom

Lunch

12 : 00 PM - 2 : 00 PM

Gallivan Room

Optional Hands-On Open Labs

Stevie George, Implementation Specialist at TestOut Corporation
Nate Garner, Vice President of Engineering at TestOut Corporation
Brian Taggart, Lead Engineer at TestOut Corporation

This is an open time for attendees to ask questions about LabSim. Presenters can cover anything during this session from course features to Pro Certification exams to building custom reports. Depending on attendance, this open lab may become a group session or one-on-one training. Attendees are welcome to bring a laptop, but computers will be provided.

12 : 00 PM - 2 : 00 PM

Sundance Room

Optional TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro Simulation Demos and Discussion

Dana Fellows, Instructional Designer & Content Developer at TestOut Corporation
Ken Sardoni, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation
Craig Jenkins, IT Course Production Manager at TestOut Corporation

With an estimated 3 million potential cybersecurity job openings, the new TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro is part of the solution to fill that need. This session will help instructors get a jump start on introducing an Ethical Hacker course to their school. Dana will introduce the TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro contents, demonstrate the features of the course, and attendees will have an opportunity for a hands-on evaluation of the material.

6 : 00 AM - 8 : 30 AM

Olympus Ballroom

Breakfast

You and your family/guest will enjoy a beautifully catered breakfast to start out the day.

6 : 45 AM - 7 : 30 AM

Capital B

Insights over Breakfast

"Student Employment, Ensuring your Success, Communication, & Product Improvement" Focus Groups with TestOut Employees

6 : 45 AM - 7 : 30 AM

Capital C

K12 Networking Session

8 : 00 AM - 8 : 45 AM

Capital A

Intro to TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro & TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro

Ken Sardoni, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation
Paul Miller, Course Designer at TestOut Corporation
Craig Jenkins, IT Course Production Manager at TestOut Corporation

This session will provide a quick look at two new TestOut courses that will be released this summer. Ethical Hacker Pro includes many new and cool technologies to propel your students into a cybersecurity career. IT Fundamentals Pro is designed to help students acquire basic knowledge and skills to bridge the chasm into information technology.

8 : 00 AM - 8 : 45 AM

Capital B

Supercharging Classroom Success: Elevating your Cybersecurity program using Security Pro

Lee Ann Pessoney, Cybersecurity Program Lead for Madison City Schools

Hear Lee Ann Pessoney share her expertise on how to utilize various online tools and resources to ensure success using TestOut Security Pro. She will pass along some tips on how to create lesson plans, effectively promote certifications to students, and explain how to align Security Pro with other CyberSecurity curriculum and standards, such as PLTW and CyberPatriot.

8 : 00 AM - 8 : 45 AM

Capital C

The Definitive How-To Guide: Learn the steps to building a top-ranked online Computer Information Systems Degree

Mary Beth Tarver, Computer Information Systems Instructor

Hear from 50+ year legend and veteran instructor Mary Beth Tarver as she presents a detailed process for building a large-scale and top-ranked online information systems degree.

8:45 AM - 8:55 AM

Break Between Sessions

8 : 55 AM - 9 : 40 AM

Capital A

Preparing to R.O.A.R.R.: 5 steps to valuing, obtaining, and maintaining an IT Certification focused program

Patrea Wilson, Cybersecurty Risk Analyst with Lockheed Martin

Receive training from Patrea Wilson, a veteran IT educator and working industry professional, who will share five key methods for increasing student exams and pass rates. She will share her perspective on the importance of certifications in academic programs, the industry, and the federal government/DoD.

8 : 55 AM - 9 : 40 AM

Capital B

If You Build It, They Will Come: Creating a help-desk/repair shop at your school to get your students noticed and employed

Trent Stokes, IT Department Head at Bridgerland Technical College

Receive training from industry veteran and IT department head Trent Stokes from Bridgerland Technical College. He will train on a key method for ensuring successful student employment: creating a student-ran help desk.

8 : 55 AM - 9 : 40 AM

Capital C

Improving the way you teach: Flips, flops and failures on my journey to creating a more engaging learning environment using TestOut

Brandon Grace, IT Instructor with Lubbock ISD and District 3 Director with SkillsUSA Texas

Learn from the experiments, failures, and successes of Brandon Grace as he’s implemented TestOut into his program over the last three years and discovered the best approaches for utilizing it while changing the way he teaches high school and college students.

9:40 AM - 10:15 AM

Networking Break

10 : 15 AM -11 : 00 AM

Capital Ballroom

Critical Issues in Education

Don Whitnah, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation

11 : 00 AM -11 : 45 AM

Capital Ballroom

Things I Learned from the IT Industry: A teacher’s retrospective

Johnny Carrera, Technical Trainer at Rackspace’s Open Cloud Academy

Hear from high--school--instructor--turned IT--corporate trainer Johnny Carrera on his unique perspective of going from academia to industry. He’ll provide insight on the things he did right in the classroom and things he would do differently now that he’s working in industry.

11 : 45 AM -12 : 00 PM

Capital Ballroom

Closing Thoughts

Noel Vallejo, CEO, President at TestOut Corporation

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Olympus Ballroom

Lunch

12 : 00 PM - 2 : 00 PM

Gallivan Room

Optional Hands-On Open Labs

Stevie George, Implementation Specialist at TestOut Corporation
Nate Garner, Vice President of Engineering at TestOut Corporation
Brian Taggart, Lead Engineer at TestOut Corporation

This is an open time for attendees to ask questions about LabSim. Presenters can cover anything during this session from course features to Pro Certification exams to building custom reports. Depending on attendance, this open lab may become a group session or one-on-one training. Attendees are welcome to bring a laptop, but computers will be provided.

12 : 00 PM - 2 : 00 PM

Sundance Room

Optional TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro Simulation Demos and Discussion

Steve Decker, Course Designer at TestOut Corporation
Ken Sardoni, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation
Paul Miller, Course Designer at TestOut Corporation

This session will help instructors get an introduction to TestOut’s new course, IT Fundamentals Pro. Presenters will introduce the course contents, demonstrate the features, and attendees will have an opportunity for a hands-on evaluation of the material.

2 : 20 PM - 5 : 00 PM

"This is the Place" Heritage Park

Afternoon at "This is the Place" Heritage Park

Take a step back in time as you explore life on the great frontier. Visit Pioneer village, ride trains and ponies, play at the irrigation station splash pad and pan for gold. Say hello to friendly farm animals up close and even milk Clara Belle the Cow. See a working Blacksmith shop, a Tinsmith, and help a "Spinster" card and spin wool.

5 : 00 PM - 8 : 00 PM

"This is the Place" Heritage Park

Closing Dinner Fiesta

Enjoy a delightful celebration of culture and authentic Mexican food in what has become a TestOut tradition. You won't want to miss it!

6 : 00 AM - 8 : 30 AM

Olympus Ballroom

Breakfast

Enjoy another wonderful breakfast with everyone.

8 : 00 AM - 12 : 00 PM

Gallivan Room

Optional Hands-On Open Labs

Stevie George, Implementation Specialist at TestOut Corporation
Nate Garner, Vice President of Engineering at TestOut Corporation
Brian Taggart, Lead Engineer at TestOut Corporation

This is an open time for attendees to ask questions about LabSim. Presenters can cover anything during this session from course features to Pro Certification exams to building custom reports. Depending on attendance, this open lab may become a group session or one-on-one training. Attendees are welcome to bring a laptop, but computers will be provided.

8 : 00 AM - 12 : 00 PM

Sundance Room

Optional TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro Simulation Demos and Discussion

Dana Fellows, Instructional Designer & Content Developer at TestOut Corporation
Ken Sardoni, Vice President, Course Development at TestOut Corporation
Craig Jenkins, IT Course Production Manager at TestOut Corporation

With an estimated 3 million potential cybersecurity job openings, the new TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro is part of the solution to fill that need. This session will help instructors get a jump start on introducing an Ethical Hacker course to their school. Dana will introduce the TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro contents, demonstrate the features of the course, and attendees will have an opportunity for a hands-on evaluation of the material.

8 : 00 AM - 12 : 00 PM

Sundance Room

Optional TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro Simulation Demos and Discussion

Steve Decker, Course Designer at TestOut Corporation
Paul Miller, Course Designer at TestOut Corporation

This session will help instructors get an introduction to TestOut’s new course, IT Fundamentals Pro. Presenters will introduce the course contents, demonstrate the features, and attendees will have an opportunity for a hands-on evaluation of the material.

11 : 30 AM

Olympus Ballroom

Boxed Lunches for Pickup

Boxed lunches available for those who stay through the morning.