NCCE - Northwest Council for Computer Education

10/12/2026

What Does a ‘Makerspace’ Really Offer for Participants? Libraries Offer The Answers

In the mutterings of STEM education there have been many aspects that have been around for many years, but what do they really have to offer? Makerspace is one of those buzzwords. A lot of people think of creating - maybe it is circuit building, wood burning, 3D printing, or crafting with technology, but there are many ways people can access Makerspace....

In the mutterings of STEM education there have been many aspects that have been around for many years, but what do they really have to offer? Makerspace is one of those buzzwords.  A lot of p…

10/12/2026

Middle school students are online every day. Do they know how to recognize a scam?

Phishing is one of the most common ways students get pulled in, and the signs are learnable. A message that rushes you. A link that looks almost right. A request for personal information. With practice, students start catching those patterns on their own.

Common Sense Education publishes a free lesson called Don't Feed the Phish. It helps students identify suspicious emails, protect their personal information, and think critically before they click. Practical, and ready for a middle school class period.

Resource: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/dont-feed-the-phish

What is one sign of a scam your students have learned to catch?

10/11/2026

Budget-Friendly EdTech Upgrades: Cost-Effective Solutions for School Administrators

School administrators across the Northwest and the country face the ongoing challenge of stretching limited budgets while still delivering access to meaningful and beneficial technology experiences for both students and staff. With funding pressures and rising expectations for digital learning, it’s not surprising that the focus has shifted from pursuing expensive overhauls to identifying strategic, high-impact upgrades that maximize value. When you make smart choices in EdTech, you can still enhance instruction, support equity, and reduce long-term costs without straining district resources....

School administrators across the Northwest and the country face the ongoing challenge of stretching limited budgets while still delivering access to meaningful and beneficial technology experience…

10/11/2026

A district IT team just became the front line for AI safety, privacy, and vendor vetting. Nobody funded it for that.

More than four in five teens have used AI tools. Schools carry the whole load of explaining and governing them.

The 74 proposes five federal supports, from technical assistance hubs to modernized funding.

https://www.the74million.org/article/for-many-schools-implementing-ai-has-become-a-minefield-how-congress-can-help/

10/11/2026

New York spent a decade moving state tests online and finished this spring. Now more than half of New York City's Council wants a paper option for grades 3-8.

One council member's reason: a computer-based testing mandate pushes extra screen time and device practice, right as schools try to cut both.

The state is reviewing it.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/10/09/nyc-paper-state-standardized-tests-digital-testing-waiver/

10/11/2026

Detectors flag honest students and miss the rest. Lisa Nielsen points at a better lever: the assignment itself.

A plain worksheet scored 1.3 out of 10 on a cheat-vulnerability index. Add a real audience, student choice, and a visible process, and the same task gets much harder to outsource.

What is your most AI-resistant assignment?

https://www.techlearning.com/technology/ai/stop-trying-to-detect-ai-start-creating-better-assignments

10/11/2026

Think about the last project that stuck with your students. Chances are they built it.

That is project based learning. Students move through a step-by-step project with a clear outcome while you support from the side. The yearbook is the classic example.

Three moves make it work: shift responsibility so students lead students, put timelines and progress where everyone can see them, and keep the check-ins and reflection on a schedule.

What project would you hand over first?

https://www.edutopia.org/article/student-led-project-based-learning/

10/10/2026

Nearly half of New Mexico's six-year-olds were once flagged for reading help. The state's new screener flags 16.7%, mainly because it produces fewer false positives for English learners.

Families still deserve plain answers about voice recordings. Those are governance questions with answers. What they should not trigger is a blanket ban that takes the screener from the kids who need it most, according to Jaime Casap, formerly of Google.

Story link in the first comment.

10/09/2026

The teachers who lean on AI the most have different habits depending on the grade level they teach. New Stanford SCALE research looked at 87,000 power-user teachers.

Elementary teachers leaned on AI for family emails, student support, and admin tasks. Middle and high school teachers leaned on it for writing feedback, assessments, and lesson content.

Honest limits: one platform's most active users, showing usage patterns rather than outcomes.

https://scale.stanford.edu/research-in-action/how-highly-active-k12-educators-are-using-ai-tools-like-magicschool (link also in the first comment).

10/08/2026

💡Tech Tip of the Week:

Upload last year's lesson plans into an AI tool like Chat GPT or Google Gemini, and have it create an at-a-glance overview.

This helps you see unit names, key dates, and topics without digging through each individual lesson.

One AI prompt can make planning this year a whole lot easier!

Learn more at NCCE.org.