Global Virtual Classroom News: 2014

Monday, December 8, 2014

One World Award

Andrew Ezzell and JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell are recipients of the 2015 One World Award for their "contributions to enhancing, understanding and respect among peoples of other countries through Give Something Back Foundation and The Global Virtual classroom." The award was presented March 29, 2015 at the 2015 One-World Gala. http://sarasotasistercities.org/en/blog/gala-mar-29-2015-andrew-ezzell-and-joann-patrick-ezzell-winners-2015-one-world-award

Andrew and JoAnn accepting the One World award.

JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell presentation of their works.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Awards Arrive!

It was a long journey for the award plaques to get to the winners in Afghanistan! The team from Tajrobawi Girls High School won awards in both divisions of the Global Virtual Classroom web contest during the 2013-14 competition. The final travels of the awards were accomplished through assistance from the US and Afghan Embassies. (Thanks!)

Left to right Mr. Atarpoor, Mr. Taheri Chief of Education Department in Herat City, Basira Basiratkhah Principal of Tajrobawi Girls high School and Nasrin Obaidi, teacher and guide during the contest.

Some of the very happy students holding the awards.

After the exams are finished (for the end of term), there will be a grand celebration for the entire school with guests from the City of Herat also invited. More will be posted then.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

2014-2015 Web Contest Begins!

Thirty six primary division classes and thirty three secondary classes have received their team assignments and are ready to start the six month journey getting to know each other, choose a collaborative topic and perhaps be ones to change the world. They are from many countries, with many from the USA and India. See where our classes are located!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Connect & Collaborate Through Global Virtual Classroom

Some 2013-14 GVC Participants

Connect & Collaborate Through Global Virtual Classroom

The Global Virtual Classroom vision is to empower, enable, and connect students around the world using Internet technology. Teacher and students must be willing to make a serious commitment to collaborating with their partner schools for the duration of the project. Our emphasis is on teamwork across cultural and geographic distances, which is much harder than working together in the same room.
What is this contest?
Three schools are teamed by the GVC into a single team. That team works together to create a website about a world issue that they have chosen collaboratively. This is a full year commitment. Schools need strong collaboration skills, as the 3 schools in each team are separated geographically, but need to work together as one.
Who may participate?
Teacher guided Primary (Grades 1-7) and Secondary (Grades 8-12, or equivalent) classes and youth groups around the world that have access to the Internet and know or can learn to use Google Sites.

Contest Benefits

Why would a teacher and class take on this task?

Real world experience and audience
Global collaboration
Build on each person's strengths to create a whole; the group is better together!
Nothing teaches faster than learning from each other.
Authentic assessment rubric provided for guidance

What do projects look like?
To see what others have done, look here. The Primary division is listed first, followed by the Secondary.

Ready for this adventure?

Click here to register.

Want more information first? Go to the GVC’s Web Contest

Contest

If you have questions, contact our Program Manager, Janet Barnstable.

Sponsored by Give Something Back International Foundation

Saturday, July 12, 2014

2014-15 Contest Registration Open

The registration for the 2014-15 contest is formally open. You can access the registration form at: https://docs.google.com/a/gsbi.org/forms/d/1b9cw1_Iko_zevNL5bMcpbWdA9QzF-aoVR-txXGCSR54/viewform

There are a few changes in the prize structure for this year's contest.

Every participating school still get a downloadable certificate.
Every winning school receives a plaque.
Tech4Learning software company will continue to provide free software.
The winning primary team and the winning secondary team receives $1000. These teams can decide what to do with the money. They can split it 3 ways. They can donate it to a charity of their choice. Whatever they choose.
A GSBI scholarship/sponsorship to a needy, disadvantaged student will be given on behalf of each school on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place primary and secondary teams. Each school will receive a certificate of recognition of their sponsorship. (To learn more about the scholarships see: http://gsbi.org/by-funding-education/)

All teams will use Google Sites to create their joint work. The space will be assigned by the GVC.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Official Press Release - GVC Awards

GLOBAL VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
2013/2014 AWARD WINNING WEBSITES ANNOUNCED

May 5, 2013 – The Give Something Back International Foundation (GSBI) has announced the winners of the 2013/2014 Global Virtual Classroom Contest (GVC) -- a free online collaborative learning project that fosters creativity, cross cultural understanding, helping others and teaches IT and website design skills amongst students working together from around the world.

Sponsored by GSBI, the GVC program provides an opportunity for primary and secondary school students from different countries to work with and learn from students in other countries, as they collaboratively design a website on a topic of their choosing. Teams are comprised of either three primary or three secondary schools from different countries. A panel of international judges evaluates the final work and determines the winners.

Contest participants virtually collaborated with students in other countries to build and submit websites designed around a provocative theme. As such, the contest aims to enhance abilities required for the 21st century such as: cross-cultural communication, collaboration and technology skills. This year the contest had participants from 18 countries including participants from India, Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, Czech Republic, Afghanistan, Spain, Korea, Greece, Italy, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Hungary, Pakistan and the USA. A map of participants is available at: http://virtualclassroom.org/global2.html

Their efforts were judged for content, presentation, collaboration, and a helping focus. The helping focus encourages students to also demonstrate achievement of a helpful objective such as personal, social and/or environmental responsibility or support for a worthy cause.

JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell, the Chairman and one of the co-founders of the Give Something Back International Foundation said, “Beyond the impressive accomplishment of the website projects, we are so pleased that the students engaged in a myriad of ways to give back to their schools, their communities, and to others around the world in very meaningful ways. This years winners very effectively demonstrated creativity as well as the innovative use of technology in exploring their selected topics."

This year’s Grand Prize winner for the primary school category is the “Love Earth” website created and built by students from Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, USA ; Tainan Municipal Haidon Elementary School in Taiwan; and Voznesenskaya School in the Russian Federation. The website highlights the importance of learning what the earth needs and then acting on that knowledge.

The Second Place winner in the primary school category is the “Feeding the Future World” website designed by Forest Park Middle School, Forest Park, Illinois, USA; International Community School of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; and St. Therese School, Kanss City, Missouri, USA.

In Third Place of the primary school category is “Unique But one” website presented by Tajrobawe Girls High School, Herat, Afghanistan; Jawaar Navodaya Vidyalya Devrala Ghiwani, Haryana, India; and Plaza Park International Prep Academy, Evansville, Indiana, USA.

The secondary school category’s Grand Prize winner is the “Teenage Issues” website presented by students at Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, India, Salakhov's gymnasia, Surgut, Russia, and Littleton High School, Littleton, Colorado, USA. The website highlights teen problems, but also is filled with positive solutions and strategies for navigating that challenging time in life.

The Second Place winner for the secondary school category is the “Preserving Our Past, Forging our Future” website developed by DAV Public School, Pushanjali Enclave, Delhi, India; St Paul Lutheran High School, Farmington, Missouri, USA; and Liceo Classico Giulio Cesare, Rome, Italy.

In Third Place of the secondary school category is the “Animal Realm” website created by Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Derala Ghiwani, Haryana, India; Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, Illinois, USA; and Tajrobawe Girls High School, Herat, Afghanistan.

Certificates of participation are awarded to all students. Plaques and cash awards are presented to the schools of the winning teams. The Grand Prize award is $500 for each winning school. The second place award is $250 for each winning school and the third place award is $75 to each winning school. Special Merit awards are also presented for exceptional academic merit, for significant helping focus accomplishments, for creativity, for collaboration, and for the innovative use of multimedia. Merit award winners receive software from Tech4Learning.com.

To view the winning websites visit www.VirtualClassroom.org.

Online applications for the 2014/15 program are also available on the site. Contest sign-up begins each June. There is no cost for participation. The contest runs from late October until April 1, with results announced in May.

The International website contest is made possible by Give Something Back International (GSBI), a nonprofit educational foundation headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. GSBI’s goal is to provide life changing, quality educational opportunities to children, young adults, and teachers around the world.

“GSBI is dedicated to empowering, enabling and connecting students around the world using Internet technologies,” said their President Andrew Ezzell. “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 contest is now seeking a new sponsor for the event. Interested parties should contact Andrew Ezzell at ezzell@gsbi.org for additional information.

GVC Award Announcement

Results are in for the Global Virtual Classroom 2013 - 14 Contest, in which 21 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, social awareness and computer skills.

10 teams participated in the primary school category and 11 teams participated in the secondary school category.

The Award-Winning Sites are:

PRIMARY DIVISION

Gold Award

1306 - Love Earth https://sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1306/

Silver Award

1305 - Feeding the Future World https://sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1305/

Bronze Award

1302 - Unique but One https://sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1302/

SPECIAL MERIT AWARDS

Exceptional Creativity

1304 - Holidays Around the World http://1304.virtualclassroom.org/