Last week over 70 GenYES students from all over Washington were part of the tech crew at NCCE, the Northwest Council of Computer Educators state conference. Students from grades 7-12 helped with video and audio production, technical support for attendees, geocaching events, and support for speakers. (Blog post here: NCCE student tech support at your service)
And one more thing. In between all this, the GenYES student crew from the Kent School District put together this video that was shown during the closing keynote. NCCE asked for a video that would capture the spirit of Seattle and the energy of the conference.
As part of our Learning Games webinar series, we invite you to join us this Wednesday, Feb 10, 2010 for Olympics Science: Online Resources for the Classroom from NBC Learn.
Description: On February 12th, the torch will light over Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Join the Learning Games Network’s Alex Chisholm and special guest Norman Cohen, producer at NBC Learn, to bring the science of the Winter Olympics home to your classroom.
NBC Learn has collaborated with the National Science Foundation to create this series of video resources and lesson plans demonstrating the links between the laws of physics and the principles of chemistry, and downhill skiing, bobsledding, and other sports.
We hope you’ll join us this Wednesday, Feb 10, at 7:30pm EST to learn more about how NBC Learn can inspire students by approaching the science of sports from a new perspective.
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.
This year we have launched two new multimedia resources for our GenYES and TechYES schools — webinars and screencasts.
The screencasts are short 1-2 minute help videos that quickly show students, teachers and advisors how to use the online tools and curriculum for GenYES and TechYES. The first set of TechYES screencasts went up today, and TechYES schools can see them by logging into their account and looking in the Toolkit. GenYES screencasts will be coming soon.
We’ve also started to do webinars for our member schools – if you are a GenYES or TechYES teacher, advisor, or district coordinator, you should have received an email with the instructions. And if you can’t attend live, no worries – they will be archived on the Generation YES website on the Free Resources page. We plan to do one a week for now, with topics on everything from the online tools, to tips and tricks, and using the curriculum. We’d love to hear your ideas too!
The plans are to add webinars about more general topics, such as student empowerment, project-based learning, and introductions to GenYES and TechYES.
We are happy to say that our webinars are being presented in Elluminate, thanks to the fine people there who accepted us into their Community Partner program. We couldn’t do this without their support!
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.
“Fair use” is the doctrine that allows some use of copyrighted material for education purposes without requiring the permission of the copyright holders.
However, confusion about what exactly is allowed has caused many educators and students to either avoid ALL copyrighted materials just to be safe, or to use ANYTHING without regard to copyright laws. According to a report last year from this same organization, teachers’ lack of copyright understanding impairs the teaching of critical thinking and communication skills.
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.
The screencasts are short 1-2 minute help videos that quickly show students, teachers and advisors how to use the online tools and curriculum for GenYES and TechYES. The first set of TechYES screencasts went up today, and TechYES schools can see them by logging into their account and looking in the Toolkit. GenYES screencasts will be coming soon.
