Since 2001, the eLearning Awards competition has been run by European Schoolnet and supported by key industry partners. Ten years after its launch, the eLearning Awards remain Europe’s leading competition to reward excellence for the best use of technology in education.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the eLearning Awards, European Schoolnet invites all schools and teacher training institutions from Europe and beyond to take part and register at http://elearningawards.eun.org, and to present their best projects making use of ICT for teaching and learning. In 2009, 700 teachers from 36 countries submitted their work.
The winners for each category, selected by an international jury of experts, will win thousands of Euros in cash prizes and ICT equipment. Also, following a successful launch in 2009, the 2010 edition will again be open to international competitors, from countries outside of Europe (see full list of eligible countries in the rules below).
Another recent feature: the top 50 entries submitted will be included in the Learning Exchange Resource library (http://lreforschools.eun.org), to give increased visibility to teachers’ innovative practices and encourage others to follow their lead.
Eligibility
- Eligible countries for all categories: Schools and teacher training institutions* in Europe are eligible for the eLearning Awards. EU/EEA countries, EU Candidate Countries, Georgia, Israel and Switzerland are eligible. Entries must be submitted via the eLearning Awards website (elearningawards.eun.org) by the closing date (28 September 2010).
- Eligible countries for International cooperation category: Since 2009, the eLearning Awards have an additional category on ‘international cooperation’. This category enables schools and teacher training institutions from all over the world to highlight school projects from across the globe.
Eligibility of entries:
* Content: All categories: An entry should cover a part of a school’s activity, a collection of resources, a project or an activity. It should have been substantially created after 1 January 2009.
* Delivery: the resource is accessible and can be downloaded from a website or a repository (LRE, local, regional, national portal, Global Grid for Learning etc.). Licensing: the candidate has attached an open license to the digital learning resource describing the terms of use. Information about copyright status is presented in a standardised format (such as creative commons). Non public entries: if you submit a private entry, you must provide all logins and passwords in the registration form, in the field « Design and functionality of the resource. » The registration to the eLearning Awards should be done entirely online, in EN, FR or DE. The information sent by email will not be considered. Description: In the registration form, the candidate should provide a short description of the project (15 lines maximum), including a short narrative (5 lines maximum in English, French or German) explaining how the resource has been / should be accessed and used by teachers and learners. This short summary will be part of the evaluation of the project.
* Applicants: Applicants for eLearning Award should be primary and secondary schools or teacher training institutions. Entries created by individual teachers are eligible, but should be associated with a school or other eligible institution. Cooperative projects between institutions are eligible, but they should be represented by one institution that is part of the project. If a project is submitted by more than one partner, only one of these submissions will be eligible. Commercial or public educational content and service providers are not eligible, neither are institutions that received eLearning Awards in previous years. However, projects that have won other awards or grants (e.g. Comenius), or have benefited from sponsorship, are eligible. Such support should be declared on the entry form.
Prize money can only be transferred to the account of the school or institution, which is also responsible for its disbursement. An invitation to the award ceremony is sent to the person who submits a winning entry. It is however possible to nominate a different representative.
* Language: For all categories, including “International cooperation category”, the language of the project should be one of the 25 eligible languages listed below***.
* Format: As evaluation is carried out online, entries must be visible online. CD-ROMs and printed material are not eligible.
- URL of the entry: All eLearning Awards' entries must be online from 27 October 2010 to 31 December 2011. Also, as top 50 resources can will be added to the EUN's Learning Resource Exchange service, we strongly encourage entries to be stored for a longer period on a permanent server with a permanent URL in order to ensure that broken links will not occur (see ‘Legal and ethical issues).
Legal and ethical issues
Entries should comply with all legal requirements in the country of submission and follow European agreements on copyright. They should conform to current advice from Insafe (www.saferinternet.org) on privacy, e-safety and protection of children online. Short quotations may be used if the source is clearly indicated. Pictures, film, sound and other multimedia may be used only if the owner has explicitly permitted use, or if taken from copyright-free sources.
Entries submitted to the eLearning Awards remain the property of the school/organisation or teacher. During the registration process, you will be asked to provide a Creative Commons licence for your content. Entries submitted in the eLearning Awards will be published on the eLearning Awards portal. Winning and/or short-listed entries will also be published on the EUN’s Learning Resource Exchange portal (http://lreforschools.eun.org).
Entries may not contain any statement, fact, information or quotation that may harm or diminish any person or group of people. Entries may not encourage persecution of people on the grounds of race, opinion, nationality, sex, profession or other persuasion. Nor may entries encourage crime or the breaking of laws.
Judging
Entries are assessed online by evaluators who are experts in the use of ICT in education from different countries in Europe. Evaluators score projects according to criteria to identify a shortlist of 50 potential winners and identify candidates for special awards.
Evaluation will focus both on the project itself and on the fields filled by applicants in the registration form:
* Short description of the project (15 lines maximum), including a short narrative (5 lines maximum in English, French or German) explaining how the resource has been / should be accessed and used by teachers and learners.
* Design and functionality of the resource
* Pedagogical innovation (motivation and participation of the learner in learning activities)
* Networking and collaborative use of ICT (focus on innovative subjects, use of networks, etc.)
* Sustainability and transferability to other countries and schools
Prize Ceremony
The prize-giving ceremony, which will be followed by a gala dinner, will take place in Copenhagen early November 2010, during the annual EMINENT conference. The EMINENT conference is a unique chance to meet and discuss with European ministries of education, global companies and key stakeholders in education.
Prize-winners will be given a trip to Copenhagen to attend the award ceremony.
For more information: http://elearningawards.eun.org/ww/en/pub/elearningawards/homepage.htm
