Unique Website Design Contest Fosters Online Collaboration
LITTLETON, CO. – Results are in for the Global Virtual Classroom 2011-22012 Contest, in which 22 teams of schools around the world built and submitted websites - an exercise aimed at enhancing abilities required for the 21st century -- cross-cultural communication, collaboration and computer skills.
Littleton High School’s Team, including Athens District High School in Athens, Ontario, Canada and Kedainiai Atzalynas Gymnasium, Lithuania, won 3rd place in the secondary division for their website, “World’s Strangest Festivals”. The site can be viewed at HYPERLINK "http://gvc1114.gvc11.virtualclassroom.org." The Program Manager for Global Virtual Classroom congratulated the team, saying, “This team’s collaboration is an example of how the program should be run. The energy of the team was apparent,” This is the 6th year in a row that LHS’s teams have placed in the top 4 internationally.
Judge’s comments on the site included, “The site does look amazing, Zach I agree with Issac that “understanding other people’s festivals and celebrations is a big step towards global understanding.” I really enjoyed the cartoons of chickens and roosters with and without heads. I have to think that they are in honor of the “Headless Chicken Festival” and Mike the rooster who wouldn’t die. Great citations.” Another Judge stated, “The idea of using something that is as universal as festivals to generate connections between schools across the world is an effective one and the focus on unusual festivals leads to an increase in the level of interest for the viewer. The site was easy to navigate and well researched.”
Students in Littleton High School’s Integrated Business Technology 3 class taught by Amber Hall participated in the development of the award-winning website. Students collaborated with teammates to determine a topic and begin the research process. During second semester, students continued collaboration, design and built the website that was judged in this International Competition, earning $250 for LHS.
Students who participated from LHS include Joe Archer, Ibraheem Abdulrahman, Taylor Adams, Ali Al-Agele, Travis Barrow, Denae Casados, Johnny Cruz-Espina, Dalia Cruz-Rodriguez, Elisa Dominguez, Morgan Fuiks, Lesly Garcia Romero, Riley Harden, Alyssa James, Jordan Jessen, Sara Leovic, Jacqueline Lombardi, Ashleigh Martinez, Nolte Mehnert, Zachery Michael, Briana Mosby, Korey Rader, Isaac Rubey, Nigel Sajona-Cronenberg, Madeline Spencer, Alan Thornburg, John Wakefield, Jordan Winograd, and Jacimar Woodman.
All participating team’s sites are available for viewing at HYPERLINK "http://www.virtualclassroom.org/win11.html"
Give Something Back International (GSBI), a nonprofit educational foundation headquartered in Sarasota, Fla., that hosts the Global Virtual Classroom (GVC) contest each school year. The GVC contest is a unique competition among virtual teams of students around the world who collaborate to create websites.
“Give Something Back International is dedicated to empowering, enabling and connecting students around the world using Internet technologies,” said Andrew Ezzell, President, GSBI. “It is enormously gratifying to watch kids learn to use technology to reach out to each other across great distances, and we’re delighted to see the Global Virtual Classroom contest facilitate that kind of cross-cultural collaboration.” The GVC contest (www.virtualclassroom.org) operated from 1996 through 2000 as the AT&T Virtual Classroom. GSBI’s goal is to provide life-changing, quality educational opportunities to children, young adults, and teachers around the world. The GVC vision is to empower, enable and connect students around the world using Internet technology. It aims to teach students three essential skills they will need in the 21st century:
Cross-cultural communication: Overcoming language and cultural differences is a skill that must be learned in today's international environment. GVC offers a learning experience that we hope will put students on the road to being good global communicators.
Collaboration: GVC projects offer the chance to learn how to work and succeed as a team. These are valuable skills that are often hard to learn in school, yet are absolutely required in the working world. Students are rewarded by seeing their work as part of a greater effort, and by having the results posted on the World Wide Web for their communities to appreciate.
Computers: A fundamental understanding of technology is necessary for today's students -- tomorrow's leaders. GVC students learn not only how to navigate the Web, they learn how to use it to interact and communicate, to research and create. More importantly they learn to be confident and comfortable with technology.
To achieve these goals, Global Virtual Classroom provides a variety of free on-line activities suitable for a wide range of schools' technical capabilities and student abilities. One of these activities is right for your students. Sign up today and make the world your classroom!
Written by Amber Hall, Littleton High School, Littleton, Colorado.
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