ATLANTA, GA—EdSurge and Digital Promise are thrilled to announce the launch of the first “Digital Innovation in Learning Awards,” or DILAs, to highlight exemplary practices of teachers, administrators, and edtech organizations that support learning. The announcement was made today at the 2014 ISTE conference.
“We want to highlight excellence, both by celebrating leadership and sharing tangible evidence so others can benefit from their work,” says Karen Cator, CEO of Digital Promise.
“There’s a kind of magic involved with bringing together three critical communities — teachers, administrators and organizations that are building tools and services,” says Betsy Corcoran, cofounder and CEO of EdSurge. “Each of these groups is learning from — and teaching — one another.”
There are five awards each for three categories of leaders: teachers, administrators, and organizations (both for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations). The “Creative Director” award for teachers, for instance, spotlights teachers who are inspiring their students to create high-quality multimedia projects. The Administrator “Open Door Policy” Award will elevate administrators leading the way in collaboration, communication, and sharing their schools’ practices with others. And for organizations, the “Mindful Data” Award will celebrate a company or nonprofit that has exemplary data management policies.
See the full collection of awards below.
People and organizations can nominate themselves or others for the awards. All applicants are asked to create a short video illustrating their practice. EdSurge and Digital Promise are convening a team of respected educators and thought leaders who will review the videos and pick the most compelling practices. Among the judges are:
- Karen Brennan, Harvard Graduate School of Education and MIT Media Lab
- Jaime Casap, Global Education Evangelist, Google
- Stacy Childress, CEO, NewSchools Venture Fund
- Rafranz Davis, Instructional Technology Specialist, Arlington ISD
- Dr. Mark Edwards, Superintendent, Mooresville Graded School District
- Michael Horn, Co-founder and Executive Director, Education, Clayton Christensen Institute
- Jennie Magiera, Digital Learning Coordinator, Academy for Urban School Leadership
- Pam Moran, Superintendent, Albemarle County Public Schools
- Constance Steinkuehler Co-Director, Games+Learning+Society Center, University of Wisconsin
All finalists will be invited to the Digital Innovation in Learning Awards Gala in November, co-hosted by EdSurge and Digital Promise and held in Silicon Valley. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for winners.
“The most significant award, however, is that the work will be shared widely as examples of great practices,” Corcoran says. “There are marvelous practices out there and we’re looking forward to publishing them.”
Applications and nominations are now open and available here ( awards.edsurge.com). The deadline for completed applications is 11:59 PM on October 1. Find out more details about the DILAs, sponsorship, judging, and more here.
The First Annual Digital Innovation in Learning Awards
| TEACHER AWARDS | This award recognizes a teacher who... |
| Busting Boundaries Award | Inspires students to work in-person or virtually with peers in different geographic or cultural communities |
| Community Counts Award | Engages the whole community, including students, parents and local stakeholders, to make learning relevant |
| Creative Director Award | Leads students in producing creative, high-quality, relevant, substantive multimedia projects |
| Sharing is Caring Award | Shares resources freely with peers and professional communities, actively contributes to a community of practice and continuously evolves their personal learning network |
| Teacher Trailblazer Award | Implements a unique, innovative idea involving action and student agency that leverages the power of education technology |
| SCHOOL/DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR AWARDS | This award recognizes a school/district administrator who... |
| Administrator Trailblazer Award | Implements an innovative, unique school model that develops student grit, creativity and agency, or otherwise fosters authentic learning in an unconventional way |
| Open Door Policy Award | Shares what’s working and what’s not with other schools, visits schools and welcomes visitors, facilitates open collaboration between charters and district schools and publishes resources for free public use |
| Power to the People Award | Empowers teachers, students and other administrators to take on leadership roles and participate actively in change management |
| Walk the Walk Award | “Leads by example” by demonstrating their own meaningful use of technology |
| We Are Family Award | Engages parents and caregivers by offering them educational opportunities at school or by providing resources that enable learning outside of school |
| ED TECH ORGANIZATION AWARDS | This award recognizes an edtech organization that... |
| Better Together Award | Includes various stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, and community members, in product/initiative mission and implementation |
| Crystal Clear Award | Discloses privacy policies with clear, detailed descriptions of how user data is used and who owns it |
| Listen & Learn Award | Responds quickly to reported problems, employs a successful feedback mechanism for users and incorporates pilots and user feedback in product or initiative development |
| Mindful Data Award | Manages, translates and delivers data to users in a manner that is understandable and actionable |
| Research @ Work Award | Thoughtfully uses academic research to shape development of a product or initiative |
