Awards & Contests
LODESTAR LEARNING LAUNCHES NEW SHOWCASE AWARDS
In December, LodeStar Learning (www.lodestarlearning.com) will award its first Showcase Awards at the TIES Educational Technology Conference (www.ties.k12.mn.us) in Minneapolis. The awards are intended to create an exchange of learning activities created by instructors with the e-learning authoring tool LodeStar. Awards and prizes will be given in three categories: elementary, secondary, and post-secondary. Teachers from across the world have used LodeStar to build activities for the classroom and the Web. Since the release of LodeStar 4.1, some of the projects created by these educators have been shown online, but LodeStar Learning would like to further promote the sharing of these activities through its awards presentation. Among other criteria, projects will be judged on the value they provided to teachers and their originality in using LodeStar to improve student performance. The contest is open to all teachers. They can generate an activity with a trial or purchased copy of LodeStar, export the activity as an IMS file, and submit the activity to showcase @lodestarlearning.com as an attachment. Entries will be accepted at the LodeStar Web site until Oct. 31, 2006.
DESIGN CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Quark Inc. (www.quark.com) has announced the results of a graphic design contest it sponsored for students attending the Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu). The competition was a chance for students to showcase their creative ideas and designs by using QuarkXPress to produce an educational marketing campaign. Contestants were judged by five professionals from the printing, advertising, and graphic arts industries. The grand-prize winner, Radhi Jangla from the Art Institute of Atlanta campus, will receive a trip to the Macworld Conference and Expo 2006 in San Francisco (www.macworldexpo.com/live/20). Jangla will have an opportunity to present her materials to attendees at Quark’s booth, and will receive a free copy of QuarkXPress 6.5 along with a complimentary upgrade to version 7 upon its release.