Lynne Wolters :: Blog :: Three Classroom Makeovers For Creative Video Submissions

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1. Hi, Lynne  - I hope all is well! I wanted to let you know that with less than one week left in the first Interwrite Makeover™ video contest, Interwrite Learning is announcing today the five judges who will evaluate the submitted videos for the contest. The selected judges represent internet communities, education blogs and social networks.  Each judge will solicit feedback from within their communities to help them select which videos best meet the contest criteria: ·         Effectiveness of demonstrating use of technology in the classroom·         The extent to which the entry demonstrates collaboration between the student(s) and teacher(s) in creating the video·         Overall creativity and spirit of the entry  Fifteen finalists will be announced on Friday, October 26, 2007, and the one final winner from each grade segment will later be announced on Tuesday, November 27, 2007. Each interactive makeover is valued at approximately $15,000, with a total of more than $50,000 in prizes to be awarded.  Included in that is a celebration party for each winning entry’s entire school.  I’ve included the press release announcing the judging panel below. Do you think you can share this with your readers?Megan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Megan LawlerDittoe Public Relations2815 East 62 St., #300Indianapolis, IN 46220Phone: 317-202-2280 ext 13Fax: 317-202-2290megan@dittoepr.com Lauren KinzlerDittoe Public Relations2815 East 62 St., #300Indianapolis, IN 46220Phone: 317-202-2280 ext 10Fax: 317-202-2290lauren@dittoepr.com Judging Panel Announced for Interwrite Makeover Video Contest $50,000 in classroom technology at stake in Interwrite Learning’s student/teacher video promotion; Judges represent internet communities, education blogs and social networks COLUMBIA, Md. — October 17, 2007— With less than a week remaining in the contest, Interwrite Learning, a leading provider of interactive learning solutions for schools around the world, today announced the names of five judges who will evaluate the submitted videos for the first Interwrite Makeover™ video contest. The judges are Andrew J. Rotherham, Tony Brewer, Jenny Barrett, John Merline and Jessica O’Masta. “The videos submitted so far are an amazing demonstration of collaboration, creativity and technology,” says Lisa O’Masta, vice president of marketing for Interwrite Learning.  “The excitement this contest has created for both participants and voters is beyond anything we imagined. I’m glad I’m not a judge, I’d want to pick them all to win.” The judges will select five finalists from the following three grade level segments: Kindergarten through fifth; sixth through eighth; and ninth through 12^th. Once the finalists have been announced, the judges will collaborate to choose one final winner from each segment.  Each judge will solicit feedback from within their communities to help them select which videos best meet the contest criteria: ·         Effectiveness of demonstrating use of technology in the classroom·         The extent to which the entry demonstrates collaboration between the student(s) and teacher(s) in creating the video·         Overall creativity and spirit of the entry  In partnership with TeacherTube, Interwrite Learning recently announced the company’s first video contest to recognize teachers and students for their creativity and use of technology in the classroom. Participants of this contest are asked to create a short music video parodying the song of their choice. Each judge has a different background in the education sector and will solicit the individuals within their communities for feedback on evaluating the submitted videos. Andrew Rotherham is the co-director of Education Sector, an independent national education policy think-tank, and writes an award-winning and widely read education policy blog, Eduwonk. Rotherham serves on the Virginia Board of Education and formerly served at the White House as education advisor to President Clinton.  He will be selecting the contest’s finalists based on the videos that are both engaging and educational. In short, he wants to hear a good story and see a fun video that involves the students. “I’m looking forward to seeing all of the videos and I’m excited to see what else comes in before the contest concludes,” said Rotherham. “There is enormous creativity in classrooms around the country and that is clearly on display in this contest.” Jenny Barrett, former teacher and lead trainer at Sitech Systems NZ (Ltd), and current New Zealand distributor for Interwrite Learning, will be polling teachers and students to help her make her decision on which classroom deserves to win the Interwrite Makeover.  “The contest is a great opportunity for students to showcase their creativity and imagination,” said Barrett.  “I will be asking the New Zealand audience to vote for the video that they like best via the Sitech E-learning Zone. We’ll be looking for a video that really stands out.  There are so many simple tools that give people tremendous creative freedom of expression and we’re really eager to see the way young people and their teachers are grasping and putting new video and audio technology to work.” John Merline plays a pivotal role in classroom technology. While Interwrite Learning provides a line of high-tech visual tools, Merline’s role as marketing director for FrontRow is to provide complimentary audio tools that are equally fundamental to modern classroom learning.  Just as visual and audio tools work together to improve learning, Merline wants to see students and teachers working together to create great videos. “I’m very interested to see how students will communicate the effective use of technology in the classroom, while demonstrating a noticeable collaboration between students and teachers,” said Merline. “This contest provides them with a great opportunity to work together to create something meaningful.” Tony Brewer has been involved in technology and education for more than 20 years. Not only does Brewer run a professional development firm, in which he focuses heavily on classroom management, but he also gives motivational speeches across the nation that inspire teachers to embrace technology in their classrooms. It is to no surprise that this former teacher is looking for innovation and motivation in the submitted videos. “I want to see how innovative the teacher is in terms of using technology, how well the video is produced and whether the use of technology is truly displayed,” said Brewer. “I ask myself, ‘am I being motivated to use technology after seeing this video?’ The overall aesthetic appeal will score major points with me as I have extremely eclectic taste.” And in accordance with the right to a jury of ones’ peers, Jessica O’Masta is using the contest as the foundation of her high school graduation project. O’Masta plans to link the videos through an Interwrite MySpace.com page she created in order to gauge opinions from a variety of her peers and teachers. Along with the feedback she receives, O’Masta will be judging the videos based on their creative quality and noticeable effort. Fifteen finalists will be announced on Friday, Oct. 26, 2007, and the one final winner from each grade segment will later be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. Each interactive makeover is valued at approximately $15,000, with a total of more than $50,000 in prizes to be awarded.  Included in that is a celebration party for each winning entry’s entire school.                                                                  For more information on Interwrite Learning’s interactive learning solutions and rules and guidelines for participating in the video contest, visit http://www.interwritelearning.com/contest.  -­###-  About Interwrite LearningInterwrite Learning is a premier global provider of interactive learning solutions for primary, secondary and higher education markets. Interactive solutions, including the Interwrite Board, Pad and Panel all come with Interwrite Workspace, a next generation educational software application for creating, teaching and assessing student performance using digital content.  Interwrite assessment solutions include Interwrite Cricket and PRS clickers, members of a powerful student response system that combines interaction and assessment to enhance classroom productivity and improve student results. Interwrite Learning has a rich 32-year history of delivering interactive solutions that are changing how the world learns. To learn more about Interwrite Learning’s Interactive Classroom solutions, please visit http://www.interwritelearning.com.   

   Dittoe Public Relations Megan Lawler megan@dittoepr.com tel: 317-202-2280 x13 fax: 317-202-2290
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   Guest on Wednesday, 17 October 2007, 16:43 CEST # |

2. I hope all is well! As you know the Interwrite Makeover contest is an international contest, and we have used Greenwich Mean Time as the standard for communicating dates and times.  However there has been some confusion about when voting ends in each time period. ***To make it fair for everyone, we have extended the voting period***Please be advised that the deadline for voting is now:

   Zone	Voting Ends
   EST	08:00AM, Saturday, November 10
   GMT	01:00PM, Saturday, November 10
   NZST	02:00AM, Sunday, November 11

   If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Drew at interwrite_support@shycast.com. 

   Guest on Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 19:49 CET # |