Surprisingly, 15-20% of the population has a language-based learning disability and over 65% of those are deficits in reading. Often, these go undiagnosed, written off as “s/he doesn’t like to read”. If this sounds familiar to you, maybe before you became a writer you struggled with adopting the love of reading, check out the International Dyslexia Association’s Dyslexia Awareness Month in October.

Dyslexia is a condition that affects people of all ages, male and female equally, and causes them to mix up letters and words they read making what for most is a joy-filled act challenging and frustrating. (more…)

In our ongoing series on college-to-career, the Ask a Tech Teacher team has three new topics to share ideas on how t prepare for sought-after careers. Today, “How to Develop the Skills, Portfolio, and Experience Game Design Careers Require“:

Game design looks like one of the most appealing lines of work in the creative world, and in many ways it is. It joins storytelling, art, systems thinking, and technology into a single craft, and the people who do it well shape how millions of players spend their free time. It is also competitive. Studios receive far more applications than they can consider, and the people who stand out are rarely the ones with the most enthusiasm alone. They are the ones who can show what they can do. Building that kind of readiness takes a deliberate plan, and the earlier you start, the stronger your position will be.

Source: Pexels

Why Game Design Careers Ask for More Than Talent

Plenty of people grow up loving games and assume that passion will carry them into the industry, only to find that studios hire on evidence rather than interest. The obstacle for many of them is that a bachelor’s degree in game design can feel out of reach once work, family responsibilities, and distance from a campus all pull in different directions. Completing that degree online removes most of those barriers, because the learning travels with the student instead of tying them to one place and one timetable. Studying for a Game Design Bachelors degree online keeps the practical work employers look for within reach of people who cannot put the rest of their lives on hold. That accessibility is what turns an early interest in games into a serious path toward the work itself.

How a Portfolio Shows the Way You Think

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In our ongoing series on college-to-career, the Ask a Tech Teacher team has three new topics to share ideas on how t prepare for sought-after careers. Today, “How Online Education Programs Are Reshaping the Path to Teaching“:

If you’re thinking about becoming a teacher, the route into the classroom no longer looks the way it did ten or even five years ago. Online education programs have changed how you can study, train, and balance real life with career goals. That matters even more in places like Missouri, where working adults, paraprofessionals, and rural students often need flexible options that still lead to serious professional outcomes.

Source: Pexels

Flexibility helps more people enter the profession

One of the biggest advantages of online study is that it widens access. If you live in a rural area, commute long distances, or already work in a school support role, flexibility can be the difference between starting a degree and putting it off for another year.

This is where programs like online schools for education become relevant in a practical sense. They give aspiring teachers options to earn credentials while managing jobs and personal responsibilities. For many students, that setup isn’t a luxury. It’s the only workable path.

You can also see why this appeals to career changers. Someone moving from childcare, corporate training, or community work may already have teaching-adjacent skills. A flexible degree format lets them build formal qualifications without hitting pause on rent, bills, or family obligations. (more…)

Here are the most-read posts last month:

1. World Letter Writing Day
2. Happy Productive Labor Day
3. How to Teach Writing to Non-writers
4. How Parents Can Inspire Curiosity and Spark Lifelong Learning in Kids
5. Is a Liberal Studies Degree Online Actually Worth It?
6. 5 Cures for Technophobia
7. Be Featured on Ask a Tech Teacher
8. Here’s How to Get Started with Ask a Tech Teacher
9. Autumn Websites
10. Online Sites to Teach Mouse Skills

We’re almost half way through October already–hard to believe–but here’s what’s still to come in this Halloween month: (more…)

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

In our ongoing series on college-to-career, the Ask a Tech Teacher team has three new topics to share ideas on how t prepare for sought-after careers. Today:

A medical device can begin as an elegant engineering solution and still fail where it matters most: in the hands of a patient or clinician. Designing technology for healthcare requires engineers to think beyond mechanics, electronics, or software. They need to understand human behavior, biological systems, manufacturing constraints, risk, regulation, and the consequences of failure. That makes medical device engineering particularly challenging to teach. Students need technical depth, but they also need opportunities to see how separate engineering decisions collide in the real world. The strongest education therefore does not treat device development as a collection of isolated subjects. It teaches students to follow a medical technology from an identified problem through design, testing, production, regulation, and eventual use.

Source: Pexels

Teach the Entire Device, Not Just the Engineering

Traditional engineering courses often separate subjects because doing so makes complex principles easier to learn. Medical device education eventually has to put those pieces back together. (more…)

My sis is visiting from Oct. 5-10th. I will have difficulty thinking of anything other than family. We have a lot to talk about.

See you-all Oct. 12th!

This article hits many of my core tech beliefs–that it shouldn’t be difficult to use, that it should solve a problem, and that it should make your teaching tasks easier. One of the members of the Ask a Tech Teacher team applied this thinking to AI voice tools:

Technology earns its place in the classroom when it solves a problem.

If it adds another platform to learn and another headache on Friday afternoon, it may not be worth using.

Voice tools are one useful category. Used well, they can offer students another way to take in information, practice speaking, or, in the case of voice typing, show what they know without turning the teacher into a full-time tech assistant/troubleshooter.

1. Give Long Instructions an Audio Option

Some kids simply take in information better when they hear it alongside reading it. But there’s no need to reformat an entire lesson to accommodate them. Instead, the teacher can provide an audio version of the instructions at a fraction of the cost of recording everything.

This can be especially helpful for instructions that guide kids through multistep projects. Instead of pausing to dissect the process, they can go back to the audio file.

2. Let Students Listen to Their Own Writing

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Have you wondered if taking additional classes in business would benefit your career? Maybe an MBA? Or a certificate in data analysis? The Ask a Tech Teacher team as a few ideas for you to consider as you ponder your options: 

Every career reaches a point where hard work alone no longer leads to the next step. Many professionals find that promotions start to depend on a wider set of abilities, such as guiding teams, planning for the long term, and understanding how every part of an organization fits together.

Advanced business education helps close that gap. It gives people the knowledge, habits, and confidence they need to move from doing good work to leading others who do good work. For anyone who wants to grow into a leadership role, learning the language and logic of business can make a lasting difference. (more…)

Learning to use technology has become as important in most jobs as being comfortable with computers was for any post-high school job twenty years ago. Now, thanks to advances, even hands-on professions benefit from solid tech skills. In this article, the Ask a Tech Teacher team explores that reality as it relates to mental health nursing:

Technology has changed the way people learn, communicate, and access healthcare, but that does not mean meaningful careers are limited to computers and engineering. In fact, healthcare increasingly depends on professionals who can combine digital confidence with strong human skills. Mental health nursing sits directly in that space. It requires scientific knowledge, communication, critical thinking, and the ability to use evolving healthcare technology while supporting people through some of their most difficult moments. For students who enjoy problem-solving, digital tools, and work that creates a direct impact, this career path offers an interesting combination of innovation and personal connection. (more…)