STEAM Education

In regards to complaint ID# [redacted] In response to the complaint of service issues, we advertise a professional development training camp where day focuses primarily on theory and day on classroom practicumOur camp was advertised specifically as follows:Training Day – Theory and Reasoning • Introduction to the STEAM framework• Review of epistemology and pedagogy of STEM/STEAM• Learn about the commons of the subjects• Class management tactics – behavioral & interdisciplinary• Meeting extensions for all types of learners• Review of previous examples of STEAM projects and programs Training Day – Practicum and Plan Creation• Reasoning for and how to create STEAM Teams for educators and students• Examples of STEAM themes & interdisciplinary PBL styled projects – hand’s -on• Program sustainability considerations and tactics• Partnerships, sponsorships and grants advice• Community Outreach structure and STEAM school events• Lesson plan creation/expansion based on benchmarksOur presentation format and attendee-accessible downloadable items include everything advertisedOur company has been offering this professional development for years nowWhile the attendee may have believed that the training would be almost all hanactivities to do with students; in reality, framing a new educational program requires background paperwork as well as understanding theory.Briefly, Day is less hanand Day is more hands-onThere is a lot of information to fit into two daysThis was certainly not “bait and switch”All attendees received one year of online acccess to over downloadable pages of documents on how to frame their programs as well as already-written lesson plansThe accusation that Ms [redacted] doesn’t know anything about the topic she is marketing is unfoundedShe is the founder of the STEAM movement and has been practicing it for almost a decade with good results in schools around the country and a record of repeat clients.During the training, as she explains different aspects of the program, she subsequently asks people to populate documents based on their own program as part of showing them how to personalize the STEAM frameworkThe last two hours of the training involved Ms [redacted] working individually with the groups on these framing documents and lesson plans.This person did not actively participate in this aspect of the training or address their concerns to Ms[redacted] during this work session free time or at any point previously to Ms [redacted] ’s assistant, who was present throughout both days of the training, assisting with demonstrations and helping attendees with any questions they may have hadThe statement “Everyone was dissatisfied” is also not correctWe have received positive comments back on this particular training and several groups chose to stay late to work with Ms [redacted] to help develop their personalized curriculum.During the training, Ms [redacted] was quite ill and had to sit for part of the training She did tell the attendees that she was not feeling well at that time and later sent an email to them apologizing for not being able to give the training her allHowever, everything promised in the advertising was deliveredOur refund policy is stated on our website on our Terms of Use page as well as on the checkout page when registering for the trainingWe would certainly have been willing to work with this person, but this complaint is the first that we have heard about her dissatisfaction with the trainingWe take pride in our customer serviceEveryone receives direct email responses in a timely mannerAt no point did this person address their concerns with us prior to contacting the Revdex.comWe would have liked to have been given the chance to address these issues, and we take any complaints or suggestions for improvement very seriouslyWe would have been more than happy to work directly with this person on this issue STEAM Education Mailing address: [redacted] *** [redacted]

RE: STEAM Education Conference
In response to:
“Day was definitely nothing but
theory… there were absolutely no examples of STEAM projects or programs shared
during this conference.”
Day started with
attendees coming in and working on a small transportation project to build a
car, and later in the day we covered power and energy and at least different
ways to power the vehicleThe day culminated with showing the larger
interdisciplinary transportation introduction lesson as an example of what
students receive, with many extensions reviewed and demonstrated for the
spectrum of the K-audience in attendance
“Reasoning: Simply place a member
from each content area into a “STEAM” group and develop a theme…no how was
explained.”
We spent approximately
30-minutes going over this topic in ways that were applicable to staff and
students, including numerous ways to evaluate people for skills, personality,
interests and disabilities to create meaningful groups as well as suggestions
for different types of groups depending on the types of projects being
developedIn addition, prior to the sessions, we had attendees fill out
surveys based on some of these techniques to be able to create teams of people
during the sessions that would benefit from being grouped togetherWe
absolutely do not advocate simply placing people from each content area in a
groupIt’s much more planned than thatWe have plenty of documentation to
show that we advocate a variety of assessments and a way to coordinate these to
create teams
“Examples of projects: Not one PBL project was shared with the audience,
instead a table of store-bought science toys were shown to the audience.”
Our trainer flies around
the country with a very tight schedule, so we don’t have the means to bring
many manifestations of hanprojectsIt is true that we use store bought
items but we focus on showing how to use them in a projectDuring the 2-day
training we share at least ideas, examples and variations on a wide variety
of projects and offer time or more specific information to those who inquire
about any one of them specifically and/or have a desire to develop related
projects
“No evidence gathered from the conference would lend itself to program
sustainability.”
We cover this topic in
two waysWe illustrate how to connect to businesses and communities for
program and financial support and show at least three examples of different
school districts around the country making such connections that contribute to
their sustainabilityWe also cover using globally environmentally sustainable practices
“No advice about grants were shared.”
Again, we cover this in
the ways we described above and tell the attendees where in our literature they
can find answers to commonly asked questions on grants and we offer specific
support when neededThis is our smallest section, but it is covered in the
training
“No structure for outreach or STEAM school events were offered.”
We certainly do have a
structure that we promote that starts with promoting engagement practices that
are working in our schools, as well as the spring event that we promote and
help coordinate for programs in our network
“A lesson plan template was provided at the end of the conference so that
attendees could submit their own lesson plan to the presenter in order to be
considered for a STEAM certified certificate.”
Much more than just
providing a lesson plan was offeredWe take our attendees step-by-step through
the process of curriculum mapping, theme development, brainstorming project
ideas, matching that with interdisciplinary benchmarks and then manifesting in
the creation of an integrated STEAM lesson planWhen we go over the STEAM
lesson plan, it is with a specific topic to show how it works as well as using
the generic instructions to achieve a custom plan
“The
topic covered during the entire morning session of day was a very detailed
and lengthy lecture about a game called, The Game of Baduk/Go/Wei-chi, which is
marketed and sold by the presenterFor a bigger picture, please see the
PowerPoint attached to my email.”
We absolutely do not
market and sell such productsIn fact, the organization that does offers free
kits to anyone who attends our training with no strings attachedIt is a great
thing that they offer as a bonusWe do not ask our attendees to buy ANY
specific equipment for our program and are regularly applauded for that fact
“The PM consisted of attendees writing
lesson plans and working with the presenter’s lesson plan template.”
This is very true; this
is an open structure time for attendees to get specific feedback on their
custom program and how to adapt it for themWe have a lesson plan template so
that there is consistency for us to review ideas efficiently, but, much more
importantly, to provide our growing network of international educators with a
common format to exchange ideas withThis format was developed by a collective
of teachers who were trained in the first few years of this program becoming
nationalWe pride ourselves on not telling the educational experts what they
need, but including them in the development of their own programs and finding
the commons to share with those in the larger network to be able to find things
that work more universally for people
We are very sorry that
this person is displeasedWe say many times during the training to come talk
with us if they need more supportWe try to help educators work across the spectrum of
skills, interests and personality types that are out there, with students,
teams and with each otherWe look to model building networks and being
helpfulWe have received great feedback on our willingness to discuss our
methodologies and offerings and establish grounded reasonings in offering what
we do. We feel
we were not given the opportunity to further break things down for this group
and assist themWe have a strong track record of this training working for
other groups all across the countryWe regularly take suggestions to improve
things and listen to feedbackWe even have a post-training survey for this
purposeThis person chose not to use any of those means to get the support
they needed or voice their concernsWe always welcome the chance to work with
people to support them

In regards to complaint ID#[redacted]In response to the complaint of service issues, we advertise a professional development training camp where day 1 focuses primarily on theory and day 2 on classroom practicum. Our camp was advertised specifically as follows:Training Day 1  – Theory and...

Reasoning • Introduction to the STEAM framework• Review of epistemology and pedagogy of STEM/STEAM• Learn about the commons of the subjects• Class management tactics – behavioral & interdisciplinary• Meeting extensions for all types of learners• Review of previous examples of STEAM projects and programs Training Day 2 – Practicum and Plan Creation• Reasoning for and how to create STEAM Teams for educators and students• Examples of STEAM themes & interdisciplinary PBL styled projects – hand’s -on• Program sustainability considerations and tactics• Partnerships, sponsorships and grants advice• Community Outreach structure and STEAM school events• Lesson plan creation/expansion based on benchmarksOur presentation format and attendee-accessible downloadable items include everything advertised. Our company has been offering this professional development for 3 years now. While the attendee may have believed that the training would be almost all hands-on activities to do with students; in reality, framing a new educational program requires background paperwork as well as understanding theory.Briefly, Day 1 is less hands-on and Day 2 is more hands-on. There is a lot of information to fit into two days. This was certainly not “bait and switch”. All attendees received one year of online acccess to over 100 downloadable pages of documents on how to frame their programs as well as already-written lesson plans. The accusation that Ms. [redacted] doesn’t know anything about the topic she is marketing is unfounded. She is the founder of the STEAM movement and has been practicing it for almost a decade with good results in schools around the country and a record of repeat clients.During the training, as she explains different aspects of the program, she subsequently asks people to populate documents based on their own program as part of showing them how to personalize the STEAM framework. The last two hours of the training involved Ms. [redacted] working individually with the groups on these framing documents and lesson plans.This person did not actively participate in this aspect of the training or address their concerns to Ms.[redacted] during this work session free time or at any point previously to Ms. [redacted]’s assistant, who was present throughout both days of the training, assisting with demonstrations and helping attendees with any questions they may have had. The statement “Everyone was dissatisfied” is also not correct. We have received positive comments back on this particular training and several groups chose to stay late to work with Ms. [redacted] to help develop their personalized curriculum.During the training, Ms. [redacted] was quite ill and had to sit for part of the training.  She did tell the attendees that she was not feeling well at that time and later sent an email to them apologizing for not being able to give the training her all. However, everything promised in the advertising was delivered. Our refund policy is stated on our website on our Terms of Use page as well as on the checkout page when registering for the training. We would certainly have been willing to work with this person, but this complaint is the first that we have heard about her dissatisfaction with the training. We take pride in our customer service. Everyone receives direct email responses in a timely manner. At no point did this person address their concerns with us prior to contacting the Revdex.com. We would have liked to have been given the chance to address these issues, and we take any complaints or suggestions for improvement very seriously. We would have been more than happy to work directly with this person on this issue.  STEAM Education Mailing address: [redacted]

Review: This complaint involves an educator's conference that was paid for and attended in [redacted] on January 30-31st.The business owner/speaker is [redacted]. Prior to payment for the conference an email was delivered nationally that described an informational session on the STEAM Education framework and process scheduled to be held in [redacted] and in southern [redacted]. I attended the [redacted] conference and was extremely disappointed that [redacted] didn't appear to know anything at all about the topic she was marketing. The conference was a session of theory and attitude that droned on for hours with absolutely nothing offered as the promotional email led one to believe. This was a classic case of the old "Bait and Switch" routine in the form of a conference that cost its attendees $300 to $350 per person in addition to hotel and travel expenses. Everyone was extremely dissatisfied and left to feel as though they had been "hood-winked" out of a lot of time and money.Shame on this individual for taking advantage of people in this way, especially when money in public education is so incredible scarce.Desired Settlement: My school district would like to be reimbursed for the conference, hotel and travel costs. At the very least, we would like others to be aware of this "company" and their practices.

Business

Response:

In regards to complaint ID#[redacted]In response to the complaint of service issues, we advertise a professional development training camp where day 1 focuses primarily on theory and day 2 on classroom practicum. Our camp was advertised specifically as follows:Training Day 1 – Theory and Reasoning • Introduction to the STEAM framework• Review of epistemology and pedagogy of STEM/STEAM• Learn about the commons of the subjects• Class management tactics – behavioral & interdisciplinary• Meeting extensions for all types of learners• Review of previous examples of STEAM projects and programs Training Day 2 – Practicum and Plan Creation• Reasoning for and how to create STEAM Teams for educators and students• Examples of STEAM themes & interdisciplinary PBL styled projects – hand’s -on• Program sustainability considerations and tactics• Partnerships, sponsorships and grants advice• Community Outreach structure and STEAM school events• Lesson plan creation/expansion based on benchmarksOur presentation format and attendee-accessible downloadable items include everything advertised. Our company has been offering this professional development for 3 years now. While the attendee may have believed that the training would be almost all hands-on activities to do with students; in reality, framing a new educational program requires background paperwork as well as understanding theory.Briefly, Day 1 is less hands-on and Day 2 is more hands-on. There is a lot of information to fit into two days. This was certainly not “bait and switch”. All attendees received one year of online acccess to over 100 downloadable pages of documents on how to frame their programs as well as already-written lesson plans. The accusation that Ms. [redacted] doesn’t know anything about the topic she is marketing is unfounded. She is the founder of the STEAM movement and has been practicing it for almost a decade with good results in schools around the country and a record of repeat clients.During the training, as she explains different aspects of the program, she subsequently asks people to populate documents based on their own program as part of showing them how to personalize the STEAM framework. The last two hours of the training involved Ms. [redacted] working individually with the groups on these framing documents and lesson plans.This person did not actively participate in this aspect of the training or address their concerns to Ms.[redacted] during this work session free time or at any point previously to Ms. [redacted]’s assistant, who was present throughout both days of the training, assisting with demonstrations and helping attendees with any questions they may have had. The statement “Everyone was dissatisfied” is also not correct. We have received positive comments back on this particular training and several groups chose to stay late to work with Ms. [redacted] to help develop their personalized curriculum.During the training, Ms. [redacted] was quite ill and had to sit for part of the training. She did tell the attendees that she was not feeling well at that time and later sent an email to them apologizing for not being able to give the training her all. However, everything promised in the advertising was delivered. Our refund policy is stated on our website on our Terms of Use page as well as on the checkout page when registering for the training. We would certainly have been willing to work with this person, but this complaint is the first that we have heard about her dissatisfaction with the training. We take pride in our customer service. Everyone receives direct email responses in a timely manner. At no point did this person address their concerns with us prior to contacting the Revdex.com. We would have liked to have been given the chance to address these issues, and we take any complaints or suggestions for improvement very seriously. We would have been more than happy to work directly with this person on this issue. STEAM Education Mailing address: [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.RE: STEAM Education ConferenceIn response to the above referenced, please see the outline below:Training Day 1 – Theory and Reasoning • Introduction to the STEAM framework• Review of epistemology and pedagogy of STEM/STEAM• Learn about the commons of the subjects• Class management tactics – behavioral & interdisciplinary• Meeting extensions for all types of learners• Review of previous examples of STEAM projects and programsDay 1 was definitely nothing but theory. We were looking forward to seeing how examples of previous STEAM projects and programs enhance all that theory but unfortunately there were absolutely no examples of STEAM projects or programs shared during this conference. Training Day 2 – Practicum and Plan Creation• Reasoning for and how to create STEAM Teams for educators and studentsReasoning: Simply place a member from each content area into a “STEAM” group and develop a theme…no how was explained.• Examples of STEAM themes & interdisciplinary PBL styled projects – hands –onExamples of projects: Not one PBL project was shared with the audience, instead a table of store-bought science toys were shown to the audience. • Program sustainability considerations and tacticsNo evidence gathered from the conference would lend itself to program sustainability.• Partnerships, sponsorships and grants adviceNo advice about grants were shared.• Community Outreach structure and STEAM school eventsNo structure for outreach or STEAM school events were offered.• Lesson plan creation/expansion based on benchmarksA lesson plan template was provided at the end of the conference so that attendees could submit their own lesson plan to the presenter in order to be considered for a STEAM certified certificate.The topic covered during the entire morning session of day 2 was a very detailed and lengthy lecture about a game called, The Game of Baduk/Go/Wei-chi, which is marketed and sold by the presenter. For a bigger picture, please see the PowerPoint attached to my email.The PM consisted of attendees writing lesson plans and working with the presenter’s lesson plan template. Regards,

Business

Response:

RE: STEAM Education Conference

In response to:

“Day 1 was definitely nothing but

theory… there were absolutely no examples of STEAM projects or programs shared

during this conference.”

Day 1 started with

attendees coming in and working on a small transportation project to build a

car, and later in the day we covered power and energy and at least 10 different

ways to power the vehicle. The day culminated with showing the larger

interdisciplinary transportation introduction lesson as an example of what

students receive, with many extensions reviewed and demonstrated for the

spectrum of the K-12 audience in attendance.

“Reasoning: Simply place a member

from each content area into a “STEAM” group and develop a theme…no how was

explained.”

We spent approximately

30-45 minutes going over this topic in ways that were applicable to staff and

students, including numerous ways to evaluate people for skills, personality,

interests and disabilities to create meaningful groups as well as suggestions

for different types of groups depending on the types of projects being

developed. In addition, prior to the sessions, we had attendees fill out

surveys based on some of these techniques to be able to create teams of people

during the sessions that would benefit from being grouped together. We

absolutely do not advocate simply placing people from each content area in a

group. It’s much more planned than that. We have plenty of documentation to

show that we advocate a variety of assessments and a way to coordinate these to

create teams.

“Examples of projects: Not one PBL project was shared with the audience,

instead a table of store-bought science toys were shown to the audience.”

Our trainer flies around

the country with a very tight schedule, so we don’t have the means to bring

many manifestations of hands-on projects. It is true that we use store bought

items but we focus on showing how to use them in a project. During the 2-day

training we share at least 100 ideas, examples and variations on a wide variety

of projects and offer time or more specific information to those who inquire

about any one of them specifically and/or have a desire to develop related

projects.

“No evidence gathered from the conference would lend itself to program

sustainability.”

We cover this topic in

two ways. We illustrate how to connect to businesses and communities for

program and financial support and show at least three examples of different

school districts around the country making such connections that contribute to

their sustainability. We also cover using globally environmentally sustainable practices.

“No advice about grants were shared.”

Again, we cover this in

the ways we described above and tell the attendees where in our literature they

can find answers to commonly asked questions on grants and we offer specific

support when needed. This is our smallest section, but it is covered in the

training.

“No structure for outreach or STEAM school events were offered.”

We certainly do have a

structure that we promote that starts with promoting engagement practices that

are working in our schools, as well as the spring event that we promote and

help coordinate for programs in our network.

“A lesson plan template was provided at the end of the conference so that

attendees could submit their own lesson plan to the presenter in order to be

considered for a STEAM certified certificate.”

Much more than just

providing a lesson plan was offered. We take our attendees step-by-step through

the process of curriculum mapping, theme development, brainstorming project

ideas, matching that with interdisciplinary benchmarks and then manifesting in

the creation of an integrated STEAM lesson plan. When we go over the STEAM

lesson plan, it is with a specific topic to show how it works as well as using

the generic instructions to achieve a custom plan.

“The

topic covered during the entire morning session of day 2 was a very detailed

and lengthy lecture about a game called, The Game of Baduk/Go/Wei-chi, which is

marketed and sold by the presenter. For a bigger picture, please see the

PowerPoint attached to my email.”

We absolutely do not

market and sell such products. In fact, the organization that does offers free

kits to anyone who attends our training with no strings attached. It is a great

thing that they offer as a bonus. We do not ask our attendees to buy ANY

specific equipment for our program and are regularly applauded for that fact.

“The PM consisted of attendees writing

lesson plans and working with the presenter’s lesson plan template.”

This is very true; this

is an open structure time for attendees to get specific feedback on their

custom program and how to adapt it for them. We have a lesson plan template so

that there is consistency for us to review ideas efficiently, but, much more

importantly, to provide our growing network of international educators with a

common format to exchange ideas with. This format was developed by a collective

of teachers who were trained in the first few years of this program becoming

national. We pride ourselves on not telling the educational experts what they

need, but including them in the development of their own programs and finding

the commons to share with those in the larger network to be able to find things

that work more universally for people.

We are very sorry that

this person is displeased. We say many times during the training to come talk

with us if they need more support. We try to help educators work across the spectrum of

skills, interests and personality types that are out there, with students,

teams and with each other. We look to model building networks and being

helpful. We have received great feedback on our willingness to discuss our

methodologies and offerings and establish grounded reasonings in offering what

we do. We feel

we were not given the opportunity to further break things down for this group

and assist them. We have a strong track record of this training working for

other groups all across the country. We regularly take suggestions to improve

things and listen to feedback. We even have a post-training survey for this

purpose. This person chose not to use any of those means to get the support

they needed or voice their concerns. We always welcome the chance to work with

people to support them.