U.S. Department of Education
CTE Makeover Challenge

We are now halfway through the CTE Makeover Bootcamp. As we enter Week 4, we encourage you to start completing your Blueprint submission, which is due on Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 10:59:59PM EDT.

Please also note that last Friday we emailed eligibility notifications to Team Leads. If you have not received an eligibility notification email or have any other questions, please email hello@ctemakeoverchallenge.com.

Reminders for Week 4

• Office Hours with Maker Ed on Thursday: We are excited for our final office hours “Creating a Budget”, hosted by Maker Ed, on Thursday, May 5th, 4:00PM EDT. The office hours event link for this week was sent to Team Leads in this morning’s email from hello@ctemakeoverchallenge.com. If you’re joining Google Hangouts On Air for the first time, see this blog post for more tips.

• Ed Prizes YouTube: Recordings of the Orientation webinars and Bootcamp office hours are available on our YouTube Channel. During last week’s office hours we talked with Snap-on Incorporated, the U.S. Fab Lab Network, and National Coalition of Certification Centers about Tools, Equipment, and Makerspace Safety, and with Maker Ed about Connecting with the Community.

Bonus Funding Resources

To complement Bootcamp Lesson 5: Budgeting and Resources, we encourage all teams to check out the following resources.

• Learn more about other available grants on the U.S. Department of Education page of Grants.gov.

• If you have enjoyed this prize competition, see a list of other government challenges on Challenge.gov.

• Read the U.S. Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter to states, school districts, schools, and education partners on how to maximize federal funds to support and enhance innovative science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for all students.

• Start a fundraising campaign for your makerspace through GoFundMe, which is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with a special opportunity to multiply your funds.

Have a great week, and happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all educators!

Week 3 of Bootcamp is underway! We are thrilled to welcome two more experts to answer your questions live in this week’s office hours. As a reminder, recordings of the Orientation webinars and the Bootcamp Office Hours, including the two terrific sessions last week with Makerspaces.com and Autodesk, are available on our YouTube channel.

Also, you can follow our recently launched @EdPrizes Twitter handle for all Challenge news.

Reminders for Week 3

We encourage you to take advantage of the remaining live office hours sessions to ask experts your making questions. We hope you and your team members can join us to talk to Snap-on Incorporated, U.S. Fab Lab Network, National Coalition of Certification Centers, and Maker Ed this week in the following sessions.

• Google Hangout with Snap-on Incorporated, U.S. Fab Lab Network, and National Coalition of Certification Centers: Tune in at 4:00PM EDT on Tuesday, April 26th to ask questions on tools, equipment, makerspace safety, or anything else related to Lesson 3: Plan It, Make It.

• Google Hangout with Maker Ed: Tune in at 6:00PM EDT on Thursday, April 28th to ask questions about involving your community in your makerspace or anything else related to Lesson 4: Identifying and Engaging Your Community.

The event links for office hours this week were sent to Team Leads in this morning’s email from hello@ctemakeoverchallenge.com.

How to Join Office Hours on Google Hangouts and Ask Questions:

• Click the event link and select “Yes” under “Are you going to watch?”
• When the event starts, click play. If you don’t see anything, please refresh your browser. It may take a minute to load.
• Log into your Google+ account to ask questions on the event page, or tweet questions using #CTEMakeoverOfficeHours

If you’re joining Google Hangouts On Air for the first time, see this blog post for more tips.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into our make-up session of the Lesson 0: Orientation and Overview this past Monday, April 18th.

This webinar covered the same material as the April 13th session, with the exception of the different questions asked during the Q&A section. Please note that the Q&A section begins at the 16:20 mark.

April 18th Orientation Webinar Recording (Make-up Session):

If you would like to tune into the Q&A section of the April 13th session, it begins at the 17:50 mark.

April 13th Orientation Webinar Recording:

The first Bootcamp Office Hours session, Maker Projects in Education, begins today at 6:00 PM EDT. The session is hosted by Makerspaces.com, and all Bootcamp participants are welcome to join and ask questions on maker projects or anything else related to Lesson 2: Learning Through Doing. The event page link was emailed in Monday’s newsletter to Team Leads.

The session will be broadcast via Google Hangouts On Air. If you’re new to Google Hangouts On Air, here are some tips:

• RSVP for the Event: Click the event link and select “Yes” under “Are you going to watch?”

• Joining the Broadcast: At the time of the event, go to the event page and click the black and white play icon. Please refresh your browser and try again if you don’t see anything. It may take a minute to load.

Click the Play icon to join the Office Hours session at 6:00 PM EDT.

• Asking Questions: Sign into your Google+ account to post questions on the event page. If you do not have a Google+ account, it’s quick to set up, or you can tweet questions using #CTEMakeoverOfficeHours.

If you do not have a Google+ account, Google will prompt you to create one when you click into the comment box to type a question.

We look forward to a productive session!