Apple in Education Awards 2015 - mind-blown!

The yearly Apple in Education Awards was announced on Tuesday night!
As always I walked away with a an inspired feeling of FOMO! I am definitely missing out!
I wish I was in education right now!
I wish I was a student again!

The possibilities! The creativity!

This year there were again entries from Grade R to Grade 12.
70 schools from 9 provinces participated.
1156 projects were received which were judged by local and international judges.

Here is one of the winning entries:
Exploring the Sciences in Everyday Life - Thomas Granig from The Ridge School
"Gravity and beyond"



You can check out the rest of the winners here: Apple in Education competition 2015.

Christine Greig from Parklands College won in the iPhoneography part of the competition with her "Selfiest Self" portrait! Stunning!

Judge Bernard Viljoen (from "I was shot in Joburg") with Christine Greig

Lindsay Durell from Parklands College won the iTeacher award, and it was not difficult to guess, because she was on stage with many of her students!

Lindsay Durell

The following are links to the rest of the entries. If you have time, it is worth looking at all of these! And wondering How The *Genius they did it!

- Expression Through The Arts: Gabriella Fedetto from St Stithian's College: Lovely

- Bring to Life Your Favourite Historical/Literary Figure: Matthew Thompson from St Andrews: Winston Churchill

- Shape of my world: Luca Genovese from The Ridge School: The Shape of My World

- iTunes U in the Classroom: Brett Udal from Hilton College


Well done to all the winners and the teachers who make this happen! You are stars!!


Which one of the projects are the most mind-blown to you?

Apple in Education judging 2014 #AEC2014

I get a yearly shot of inspiration when I see the Apple in Education submissions for the Apple in Education competition. These kids are so creative. They are already working with the technology and with the apps in such a way that it boggles my mind.
I am only now starting to use some of it in my daily life!

I was fortunate enough to be invited again in judging a category, Shape of My World, on Friday.

The competition this year changed it's previous brief and "set out with a series of educational challenges - that could be applied across grades and subjects. Through guiding questions, creative solutions and innovative Apple technology they wanted to see how these projects can be brought to life in extraordinary ways."

Michelle Lissoos of Think Ahead introducing the judges

The students could make use of the following apps on the iPad: Book Creator, Camera, iBooks, Explain Everything and EduCreations. There were four of us in each category, and it helped in making the best choice overall!

Fellow judges: Leyla Haidarian, Nikki Heyman and Hayley Owen

Leyla Haidarian in charge of finding the projects

Nikki Heyman, the Scribe for the day!

We spent more than three hours deliberating on 3 age categories in Shape of My World, and we all had to agree on the best three in each.
It took us longer than the rest, but I am happy to report that we found the best three in each.
It was difficult in most instances, but luckily we had the clear guidelines to adhere to:

"Judging criteria:
- Clear indication that the challenge has been addressed, including clear evidence of planning
- Apple Technology has been used effectively (hardware and appropriate apps)
- The project has been linked to the currriculum
- Concept is creative, innovative and original
- High quality of the project presentation"

The Tweet:

This is difficult! IPad judging #AEC2014 @nikkiheyman @HayleyOwenSA pic.twitter.com/uJEOHBeKpd
— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) October 24, 2014

We had a sense at the end of the judging that the teachers could have played a more creative role in suggestion diversity in the use of the apps. There are so many possibilities out there!
Especially with regards the younger age categories. But we were still impressed with the submissions!



The Awards ceremony is on 6 November and I can't wait to see the rest of the categories and how it was interpreted.

Related posts:

- Apple in Education Awards 2013 - the winners #iPadlearningZA

- Apple in Education Competition Awards 2013 coming up #appleined

Apple in Education Awards 2013 - the winners! #iPadlearningZA

The 7th annual Apple in Education Awards 2013 arrived on Wednesday. It is designed to award excellence in the classroom. But it does more than that. It challenges the teachers and learners to excel in being creative in their use of technology to enhance their own learning.

I love seeing the finalists and the winning entries! But I must mention that I think that each of the entries in the competition deserves to be mentioned, and especially the teachers who have made a special effort for these kids to be able to take part!

I see this as a positive step towards a future in education where we will be able to address imbalances in the standard of our education, compared to the standard of education globally. The winning entries showed that government schools that implemented the same technology were on par with the private schools!

A few interesting facts, figures and announcements were made:

• The second edition of the Education App guide has been launched, and there are over 100 000+ education apps that are available to use.

• ZA Books have now over 1500 South Africa titles 
• There are great apps that are free on new iPad purchases: iWork productivity apps: Pages, Numbers and Keynote and iLife creativity apps: iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand.
• From Grade R - Grade 12 have submitted entries in this competition.
• There are entries from 32 subjects in the competition.
• 56 schools have submitted entries.
• 783 projects were entered.
• The judges were independent from the schools and the learners.

Donnay Torr announcing the winning entries for
the Curriculum Projects Grade 5-7

I had the privilege to be a judge in the category Curriculum Projects Grade 5-7 with Donnay Torr and Karen Walstra. It was very difficult to decide on the winning entries, because the entries were all very creative and innovative. Luckily we had a list of criteria to measure and compare our marks of the different projects.

Grayston Preparatory School winning entry being shown

The winning entry from Grayston Preparatory School deserves their win!

Congrats to the winners of Curriculum Projects Gr 5-7 >Grayston Preparatory #iPadlearningZA @SAPixi @KarenWalstra pic.twitter.com/teTnxOd5BB
— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) November 27, 2013

The iTeacher of the year from Gugulesizwe Primary School (I missed her name, unfortunately!) successfully introduced her learners to using the iPads as a way to introduce English as the language of learning and teaching in the school. 

I am sorry I don't have more information about the other winners and about the learners. I was hoping to find some more information about this competition on the web, but so far it has not been made available.

Congratulations to all the enthusiastic teachers, and especially the creative students! 

The students are showing us that there are no limits on education! 

Give them the tools and technology, and they will embrace it with enthusiasm and with positive results!

Related posts:

- Apple in Education Competition Awards 2013 coming up #AppleinEd

- Apple in Education