Open Educational Resources, or OERs, have been around since the 1990s, however current technology has propelled OERs to the mainstream. Because the structure of the educational system is by nature exclusive, the ultimate goal of open educational resources is to make high-quality education available for any person to access at no cost. Because of revolutionary technologies of knowledge delivery, the world is closer to this point than at any other time.

Republished with permission from Melissa Hughes, Ph.D. Original article posted on December 2, 2014 There has been a lot of buzz lately around the maker movement. Recent brain-based research support the notion that hands-on making, building, and creating not only nurture creativity, but also impact cognition, working memory, and innovative problem solving. While we don’t have to have the working knowledge of neuroscientists, if we're going to improve our practice of teaching it's important to understand how the brain learns.

"For students to learn to their full potential, the classroom environment must be of minimum structural quality and contain cues signaling that all students are valued learners."

'Tis the season of giving, and we're happy to announce our latest giveaway! Back by popular demand, we are conducting another Sticker Station giveaway, this time for our Twitter followers! It's easy to win:

What comes to mind when someone speaks of Career and Technical Education? What connotations does that phrase hold in the education world? Are students eager to enroll CTE programs, or do they hesitate, wondering if CTE will help with college readiness? Enter the new players in Career and Technical Education, those who understand the rapidly evolving and complicated choices students will face, and the equally evolving and complicated industries they will enter. Enter high-quality CTE.

Did you see our last post on the Maker Movement? Still wondering what it is and what the movement's implication is for education? We created our newest white paper to answer these questions and more.

Mission: 
To build a better life for our students by creating an environment of high academic achievement while preserving Hmong culture and literacy. 
Vision:
To close the achievement gap and be recognized as one of the top ten charter schools in Minnesota.

Wondering how to integrate anchor charts and traditional classroom visuals with tablets, classroom computers, and interactive whiteboards? We created an interactive PDF (only 8 pages long) that details ways to integrate anchor charts into the technology-equipped classroom. Here's a sample of the sections included:

You like us, you really like us! Maybe we should work on a different acceptance speech... We are humbly honored to announce that VariQuest Visual Learning Tools and the VariQuest Perfecta 2400 wide format printing design system has been named a winner of the 2014-2015 eSchool News Readers' Choice Award! Here's part of the official August 1 press release: