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" What are MakerSpaces? Makers build, fix, and create. They are students, teachers, tinkerers, cooks, technology buffs, architects, crafters, performers, hobbyists, builders, artists, engineers, scientists, and writers. They use the MakerSpace to solve real life problems with access to tools and materials. A MakerSpace is not confined to a school setting but can also be a community space like a public library where community members off all ages, means, and abilities can design, prototype, and create original works. On March 18th and 19th, we celebrated New Jersey Makers Day, and I had the opportunity to visit a number of different Maker events in various communities. These are some themes and big ideas that I noticed in my travels. Perhaps these big ideas will inspire you to create your own MakerSpace makeover in your own classroom, school, or local community."

"Compared with how academic research was carried out in the pre-internet era, It seems like technology is really a godsend gift to researchers. From easy and unlimited access to journal articles to web tools that do the referencing and auto-syncing, everything has been digitized making it way easier for todays researchers to add to the body of the human knowledge than any time in history. As a web 2.0 researcher and a graduate student in the faculty of education in Mount Saint Vincent University, I have had the chance to experiment with a wide variety of web tools that can make your academic life much more easier. Below are some of the web tools I have been recommending to undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and PHD students, and professors. Check them out below and make sure you share them with your colleagues, they could be in dire need for them. Enjoy"

"The Maker Movement has crept into the consciousness of schools in the past few years. For some, it's a wake up call that over-tested, over-scheduled young people are not going to become the creative, enthusiastic learners we all hope to nurture. For others, it's a personal reconnection to our collective, deeply-felt human impulses to create, invent, and shape the world. Makerspaces, genius hour, design thinking, and other frameworks can help make these ideas come to life in classrooms, libraries, museums, and community centers. But are these innovations accessible to everyone, to every child?"

"The notion of digital literacy, or "Information, Communications, and Technology Literacy" (ICT Literacy), usually takes into account the vocational skills required to operate digital machines or the intellectual skills required to program or 'code' them. The concept does not account for the social and intellectual advantages that are available to affluent students with access to more, and better integrated, educational technologies. In other words, it is not only about skills, but also about cognition, etiquette, motivation, socialization and culture - the context within which one uses the tools."

"I have come across a lot of posts with resources to free images and find them fascinating. Then I forget where they heck they are and even if I find them it takes way too long! So, I decided to put together a Symbaloo page to make it accessible to me immediately. If you're not using Symbaloo you should seriously consider giving it a try. It's a great way to find and share resources fast! At the end of the post I've included a short video on Symbaloo. So below is my new Symbaloo Images page. Hopefully you'll be able to find the image you need!"

"The "maker movement" can play an important role in getting kids interested in innovation and design, and littleBits-which makes easy-to-use electronic building blocks-is finding itself at the center of this movement. Until now, the company has focused mostly on the consumer market, but during a March 8 keynote session, littleBits founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir announced a new kit made specifically for schools. "We want to unleash the inventor in everyone," Bdeir said. In a conversation with Education Week, Bdeir said schools need to find ways to make science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education more fun, engaging, and accessible for students. "I studied engineering, and almost on a weekly basis I wanted to quit," she said. "We need to find ways of approaching STEAM education differently." Bdeir said her experience in learning engineering as an undergraduate was "completely hands-off; as a result, many other students and I were turned off to it." But when she arrived at the MIT Media Lab for her master's of science degree, "it was the exact opposite. Every week was a new project, a new learning challenge. It was very scary, but also exhilarating and engaging." That's the experience her company is trying to replicate for students at all levels with the new STEAM Student Set."

"If you're anything like us, you're always looking for new inexpensive (or better yet, free) resources that can introduce more students to STEM and maker education. There are a lot out there, but the really useful ones can be hard to find. Here, we're excited to share 50 resources that we think are doing a great job of expanding access and pushing the envelope."

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. According to the Torrance Test-which measures CQ, or creativity quotient-the United States has been declining in creativity since 1990. There has to be a reason. Perhaps it is because we focus on students' weaknesses instead of their strengths. In many schools, we'll put a math genius who struggles with grammar into extra English classes. Should we not give this math genius access to college-level advanced math work, and figure out the basic English requirements he or she needs for a basic understanding of grammar? Why do we think that all students should be good at everything? We can either be average at everything or exceptional at something. With this in mind, here are some things we need to do to encourage student inventors as we nurture student passions, interests, and strengths."

"This is a collection of 100 STEAM Projects created for teachers and educators to do with youth. Each project encourages exploration, modification, and students to pursue their own ideas and curiosities. They are also meant to be accessible, both in approach and availability and cost of materials. Feel encouraged to adapt them to your local learning space."

Celery is a simple system that allows non-computer users to "be included" in email using the Celery device and service, which automatically prints incoming emails for them, and instantly sends their outgoing pen-and-paper messages as email.