Google is kicking off the third annual Doodle 4 Google competition. Doodle 4 Google is a competition open to K-12 students in U.S. schools who are invited to create their own Google doodle inspired by the theme, “If I Could Do Anything, I Would . . .” A “doodle” is the logo design that appears on the Google homepage periodically to celebrate special events, holidays, or the lives of artists and inventors.
There are a lot of great prizes, including a new “Extra Credit: Technology Booster” award in the form of netbook computers for schools that submit the maximum number of doodles by March 10, 2010 and have students that are selected to be a 400 State Finalist.
Schools must register to participate by March 17, 2010 and the entries are due March 31, 2010.
I typically don’t post all the emails I get asking for placement on this blog. I guess I should be happy that people think it’s worth their time! But this one seems like it should be the exception. Here it is in whole.
Hey Sylvia,
This is Maria Tchijov, Director of Outreach at Change.org. I wanted to let you all know that we recently officially launched the second annual ‘Ideas for Change in America’ competition today, and I wanted to see if you’d be interested in posting an idea of your own. (You can see the site at www.change.org/ideas.)
As you might recall, the first Ideas for Change in America competition was launched following the presidential election, inspiring the submission of more than 7,500 ideas and 650,000 votes. The purpose of the initiative this year is to empower citizens to identify and build momentum behind the country’s best ideas for addressing the major challenges we face.
We’re currently accepting ideas in 20 issue categories, and are looking for a few top bloggers in each area to post an idea that we can feature. To participate, all we’d need you to do is post an idea of a few hundred words or less describing a policy or program you’d like to see implemented. You can see the simple submission page here: http://www.change.org/ideas/post_idea.
Voting is open to the public, and we’ll be hosting a large event in DC to announce the 10 winners of the competition in March. Most importantly, in the months following the conclusion of voting we’ll be mobilizing the growing Change.org team and our 1 million community members to heavily promote each winning idea and the people and organizations behind them.
If you have any questions at all, please let me know. And if this isn’t something you have the time to participate in but think your readers might be interested, it would be awesome if you might mention it on your blog.
Tech & Learning invites K-12 students to participate in the seventh annual digital photography contest. The competition, open to all K-12 students, challenges you to capture — and share — your unique vision of the world. If you have an artistic side, you also have the option to digitally enhance your photos with your favorite imaging software.
The top 4 winners in each grade level (elementary, middle, and high school) win prizes and have their photo featured in the December Awards Issue of Tech & Learning.
On September 8, President Barack Obama called on the nation’s students to take greater responsibility for their education. Now, the U.S. Department of Education is asking students to respond by participating in a national video contest titled “I Am What I Learn.”
The website has a YouTube video introducing the contest to students.
The contest is open to active middle, secondary and college students, ages 13 and older. Starting September 21, through November 2, students can submit their videos on the contest website. The videos must be less than two minutes long, but otherwise, there are no restrictions on the style of the video. Winning videos will be chosen based on the following criteria: use of creativity, strength and originality of content, and ability to inspire.
November 9 – 24, the public can view the finalists’ videos and vote on their favorites. The top three finalists with the most votes will each win $1,000 prize issued by the U.S. Department of Education.
Winners will be announced the week of December 1.
Contest rules
Each video must be submitted by an active student, age 13 and older, and a U.S. citizen or legal resident.
Contestants chosen as finalists will be contacted through their YouTube account and must respond within seven business days to confirm eligibility.
Finalists under the age of 18 must submit a parental consent form.
My comments: This is an incredible opportunity for students to show their media and technology literacy skills to a wider audience! Don’t wait for your “video production” lesson set for May — if you can shuffle things around, why not?
And why limit the topic to “I am what I learn” – how about “I am what I do”, or how about some of our GenYES or TechYES student-mentors show “I am what I TEACH.” Learning is not just about input, but output too – it’s what students do that counts.
Yes, sigh, I know that YouTube is blocked at many schools. It’s ironic that the federal government is using this information channel without seeming to realize that their own regulations cause schools to block that channel.
And finally, several people commented on my previous post (President to speak to students) questioning the age limit. Why 13 years old? My guess is that because they are using YouTube to submit videos and also to contact contest winners, they are bound to the President to speak to students) questioning the age limit. Why 13 years old? My guess is that because they are using YouTube to submit videos and also to contact contest winners, they are bound to the terms of service set by YouTube. YouTube requires anyone creating an account to be at least 13. This, in turn, is a direct response to the federal government online child protection regulations that severely restrict any online interaction with children younger than 13.
Lowe’s will donate $5 million to public schools and public school parent teacher groups at more than 1,000 different public schools in the United States.
California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) is conducting a survey of the Free Digital Textbook Initiative to discover awareness among educators, to find out whether educators plan to implement any of the books, and to inquire about the need for additional courses. We’d appreciate if you would participate and forward this message to educators in your area. As a reward, we’ll select two surveys at random for an iPod Nano.
Your assistance is needed:
On June 9, 2009, the Governor implemented the Free Digital Textbook Initiative (FDTI) making it possible for educators to access and download free high school math and science textbooks that align to the California Content Standards. The California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) reviews and determines the extent to which digital textbooks align to the Standards and then posts the information on the CLRN Website. Educators can go to CLRN to determine which standards-aligned digital textbooks are available. This survey is to determine familiarity and use of the digital textbook program by California schools. Your completion of this survey will help to determine the value and make improvements in the digital textbook initiative.
Once again, Google is offering Doodle 4 Google, “…a competition where we invite K-12 students to play around with our homepage logo and see what new designs they come up with. This year we’re inviting U.S. kids to join in the doodling fun, around the intriguing theme “What I Wish for the World.”"
There will be regional winners and four age bands. Registration closes on March 17, 2009 and entries are due on March 31, 2009. Teachers must register their schools – no individual student entries are accepted.
Adobe has issued the call for entries to the 2009 Adobe School Innovation Awards program. The awards program honors creative and innovative technology design projects from high school students in the US and Canada. With the theme “The World is Your Stage,” students can submit entries using Adobe applications in three categories: Web Design and Development, Film and Video, and Graphic and Print Design. Category award winners will be named, in addition to a grand prize winner for best overall submission.
The purpose of the School Innovation Awards is to engage students in learning and to encourage them to communicate what they know and care about in the community.
Full-time students age 14-19 years in grades 9-12 from accredited public or private high schools in the US and Canada (except Quebec) are invited to submit through the Adobe School Innovation Awards website.
Submissions will be accepted through May 8, 2009.
Winners will be selected by a panel of Adobe judges based on their originality and effectiveness in communicating project objectives. The best of the best winner will receive Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Master Collection and be recognized by Adobe in their community. The winning student’s teacher receives a trip to the 2009 National Education Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington D.C., and the winning student’s school will be awarded a site license of Adobe Creative Suite 4.
Google is running a contest called Doodle 4 Google. It offers students all over the U.S. the chance to play around with the Google logo, and perhaps have their artwork viewed by people all over the world on Google’s home page.
The Doodle 4 Google theme is “What if…?” Here are some examples of what this could mean:
- What if…I could live underwater, or in outer space, or in Colonial America?
- What if…I could see into the future?
- What if…I could build any kind of invention I wanted?
But your students are encouraged to come up with their own ideas about this theme. The competition is open to U.S. K-12 students between 5 and 18. An expert panel will pick 40 finalists who’ll be invited to a workshop with Google’s official doodler, Dennis Hwang, at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. The U.S. public will vote for their favorites, and the winning design will replace the regular Google homepage on May 22, 2008. This champion doodler will receive a $10,000 college scholarship and his or her school will receive a $25,000 technology grant.
P.S. A great accompaniment to this contest is a recent Wired multimedia article about how the original logo was designed. Really interesting stuff to show students. So many students don’t know that design is an iterative, collaborative process. They think that unless an idea is fully formed, it’s not good enough. Looking at a blank screen is intimidating, but knowing that’s where all great ideas start helps!
To enter, students create a public service announcement—a short video that showcases why digital learning tools are critical to your school or curriculum. The contest, sponsored by 21st Century Connections, is open to all K-12 students. Enter the contest or learn more at the website.
Note on eligibility: The contest website says the contest is open “to all K-12 students”. However, the online contest entry form only allows you to select the 50 US states or the District of Columbia, and there is no country asked for on the form. It seems a bit of a throwback that anyone would assume that a webpage wouldn’t be seen outside of the U.S. in this day and age! For a contest called “21st Century Connections” sponsored by a marketing cooperative of multi-national companies (Lenovo, Intel, Adobe, and Futurekids,) it seems a lazy oversight.
Google is kicking off the third annual Doodle 4 Google competition. Doodle 4 Google is a competition open to K-12 students in U.S. schools who are invited to create their own Google doodle inspired by the theme, “If I Could Do Anything, I Would . . .” A “doodle” is the logo design that appears on the Google homepage periodically to celebrate special events, holidays, or the lives of artists and inventors.
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