Welcome: Sloan Kiechel Student President of FGDC and Social Media Lead at CTeLearning!

For the past few years, members of the CTeLearning team have been helping Web Professionals Global in running the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, GA. Last year, we branched out into assisting with state competitions that prepare students for the national competition. Since we started working directly with states in 2022, we have seen the level of competition improve significantly at both the state level and national level. Students are better prepared than ever to hit the ground running on day one and contribute to team success. In the spring of 2024 we helped facilitate competitions in Washington, South Carolina, Arizona, Rhode Island, Vermont, Texas, Nevada, Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma and Illinois. Web Professionals Global does all the heavy lifting and supplies the state SkillsUSA events with the following: Online web design exam similar to what the competitors might see at nationals Competition project with client assets and judging rubric Handouts for competitors with overview and links to resources Online development environment “IDE” for each competitive team Support for judges and competition chairs CTeLearning’s big contribution is loaning our CloudCodePro IDE (integrated development environment) so that each competitor has their own online coding environment that is connected to our TeacherView. This allows the judges to have live access, making it easier for them to judge each team’s work. We also loan Steve, and he ends up roping some of our other team members in to help as needed. We enjoy doing our part to help the State SkillsUSA programs. We are glad that we get to partner with Web Professionals Global and help them deliver a turnkey competition that not only makes running the state competitions easier (rather than have the burden of creating the competition from scratch), but also models the national event so the state teams get a feel for the rigor of the national competition, whether students are participating in-person or remotely. Using our CloudCodePro IDE with the TeacherView also helps encourage judge participation. This is often due to needing to travel across the state and be out of the office a day or two. Our model gives states the chance to have judges assess participants from anywhere in the state. Many states struggle with getting industry help, let alone people willing to commit to hanging around late to judge. We make it easy for judges to participate from anywhere. The Day of the Competition Let’s look at how the IL competition ran to see how our package makes life easier for the teams, volunteers and judges that make each state competition happen. The Illinois competition on April 25, 2024 is representative of what other state SkillsUSA programs experience when they work with CTeLearning and Web Professionals Global. First, the Illinois SkillsUSA team contacted us to schedule the state competition and receive the competition kit. In the following days, the Illinois SkillsUSA team met with our team to get trained on what to expect on the day of the competition and how to ensure it went smoothly. On the day of the competition, teams showed up to the venue and received handouts outlining how the competition would run. This included an introductory video outlining the online development environments (although most teams don’t need to review much as many are already with online coding environments *such as VSCode ). The team members also logged into their IDE to make sure they were ready to go when the competition began. The IDE also contained the client assets along with a readme file explaining what each team needs to focus on if they want to win the competition (for example, make certain to preview your work to verify images are linked properly). Students were then introduced to their client for the competition and began to analyze the client’s needs, target audience and images and logos they would be using. After this introduction, students began the competition in their teams and started building their websites. Teams are not allowed to use frameworks of any sort (or help from AI), and doing so results in disqualification. We want competitors to use their knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding of responsive design, web accessibility and much more. Relying on a framework can hamper this demonstration as frameworks can be relied upon as a crutch. Upon completion of the competition, the judges used the online judging system that we provided. This included a fair and easy-to-use rubric for judging the work of each team. Judges are able to review all teams' work from a single view and can examine the end result or the code directly in the browser. This system ensures a transparent judging process that is consistent with the process that winning teams experience at the national competition. The winners of the Illinois competition were then submitted to the national competition and invited to participate in June. Chat With Us We are proud to be a part of this growing network of state competitions. Feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here or calling us at 913-764-4272 to learn more and have your state take advantage of our solution next year.

As school choice gains traction across the United States, an increasing number of parents are exploring educational options that extend beyond the traditional public school system. In addition to public schools, private, parochial, charter and Christian schools are increasingly recognizing the shift in student interests away from four-year universities towards more career-oriented education pathways that mitigate the risk of debt. This trend is driving parents towards schools that offer robust career and technical education (CTE) programs alongside the traditional core curriculum and character education found in charter, private, religious, and schools supported through school voucher programs. Career and technical education, when done right, is highly multidisciplinary. Technical skills are merged with history, math, and science and wrapped with the soft skills to better prepare learners for a more complex job market and future. Every career requires technical skills to get hired, but soft skills is what keeps professionals employed and allows them to move up the career ladder. Studies show that a lack of hands-on career exploration in high school is a critical gap, leaving many students unsure about their future paths and more likely to require significant adjustments to their educational trajectories post high school. How We Help At CTeLearning, we specialize in offering a diverse array of CTE courses designed to address these challenges. Our courses are ideal for schools of choice who are looking for easy to facilitate curricula taught by their educators so they can maintain their educational standards. CTE differs from traditional education by focusing on practical, hands-on experiences tailored to specific career pathways. This approach helps bridge the gap between education and employment, equipping learners with the skills and insights needed to thrive in the workforce. Our courses enable schools—including private, parochial, charter and Christian institutions—to provide engaging CTE curricula that expose students to potential career pathways, starting as early as middle school. Our courses include the technical skills and soft skills that industry expects. Each of our curricula include two soft skills modules: Ethics in the Workplace and Critical Thinking in the Workplace. These two interactive modules help fill gaps that many students seem to have in core career skills. To help students get career and college ready, these modules enable your learners to earn industry micro-credentials they can add to their resumes or a college entrance application. Our experience working with students and teachers shows that the project-based learning (PBL) approach is important. The best way to amplify PBL is to emphasize experiential learning and hands-on practical engagement. We enhance PBL by weaving in industry professionals who introduce important concepts and give context to the work and experiences the curriculum offers. By offering students direct engagement with industry professionals and real workplace environments, CTE programs enhance learning retention and deepen students' understanding of how theoretical concepts apply in practical settings. Our curricula are designed to allow students to learn at their own pace while building real-world projects and gain firsthand experience. Students beginning to identify their interests and career goals early on is crucial for making informed decisions in their educational journeys. Families of students in CTE programs report high levels of satisfaction, noting the effective guidance in career readiness that CTE provides, in stark contrast to traditional education pathways. Furthermore, CTE programs contribute to higher graduation rates, with students more likely to graduate on time compared to their peers in traditional settings. These programs also close the skills gap in the U.S. economy by aligning curriculum with workforce needs, ensuring that graduates are prepared for high-demand occupations in fields like web design, game design, coding, sustainability, animation, marketing and robotics. Our approach allows educators to better prepare and future-proof their students. Industry studies tell us that soft skills, ethics, critical thinking, communication, teamwork, time management and personal leadership are what industry needs, yet these skills seem to be harder and harder to find in graduating students. Taking the time to develop critical thinking within a career context prepares students not just for specific jobs but any career pathway. The world as we know it has a high rate of change and seems to be accelerating. This makes it seemingly impossible for educators to keep up. The turbulence of change makes curricular choices for educators more and more stressful. Our teachers know they can trust us to make sure that they remain on the cutting edge of what industry is looking for, continually updating curricula to reflect the latest industry trends and practices. Teachers and parents around the country are looking for ways to stand out and show more options for learners who may have varied educational trajectories. Foundationally, all parents want their children to learn in an environment that builds their character, confidence, knowledge and readiness for their futures. They want their kids to be adaptable, resilient and independent. Overall, the continual growth of school choice is closely linked to the growing appreciation for CTE as a vital educational pathway. This approach not only meets the immediate training needs of students but also prepares them for long-term career success, making it an attractive option for parents and students alike who are seeking practical, debt-free education alternatives. It is tough being a parent these days. It is tough being an educator these days. Let us make things easier for your school, your teachers and in turn better for your students. Contact us today to find out how we can help by clicking here or calling us at 913-764-4272. Interested in learning more? Check out our recent blog post on the importance of career and technical education.