Innovation in Community

1. Innovation in Community Blogging bonds and uplifts communities Grade 4 and 5 learners found that blogging and Web2 opens the door to a whole new set of exciting relationships and enriched learning experiences. They connected with the local elderly community (even teaching them how to blog), as well as with classrooms around the globe, in collaborative writing projects.

2. Lights! Camera! Action! This Dramatic Arts project involved making short videos for organizations that serve the community. Learners were required to find a “client” who needed a video, then film and edit it for them. Some videos were calls for help, some were to raise public awareness, others just informative. Videos to support community organizations

3. International Travelling Mascot Using Windows Live to stay in touch with home school The teachers who entered the Travelling Mascot project for the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum that took place in Brazil in 2009 had a novel use for Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft Outlook. Five classes (in five different countries) each created a mascot to represent their class. This mascot then travelled to the other four countries where it was taken on outings by the host class. The mascots each had their own Windows Live ID and which meant that they could use email and messenger to “write” home about all the exciting places that they had visited. Obviously because the mascots weren’t human the host class had to write the news for them – and would send chats and emails pretending to be the mascots. The host class would also take photos of the mascots doing interesting things and would send these home or would upload them on the mascot’s SkyDrive for the class at home to see. This project was a great way for learners to find out more about other countries, improve their English skills and to get involved in a novel pen-pal relationship!

4. Belgium Second Hand Shop This project was completed by learners at a special needs school in Belgium. As a fund raiser, community members were asked to donate second hand goods to the school. The learners appraised the goods, worked out the going rate for each item by looking at similar goods on eBay and they then wrote and posted their own adverts. When an offer was made, the learners dealt with the customers and concluded the sales. This project was a success in that it raised funds for the school – but more than that it gave disabled learners an opportunity to be genuine sellers on eBay which compelled them to take the task seriously. The participants also delighted in the anonymous nature of the internet and how as far as the customers were concerned they were just like anyone else making use of eBay. Disabled learners using e-Bay

5. Innovation in Content : Who wants to be a millionaire? This is a comprehensive project in which the Grade 4 learners learn about entrepreneurship by designing board games and creating videos. The learners make use of a variety of ICT resources including Google docs, Intel’s visual ranking tool, online surveys, blogs and wikis. The parents are able to follow the project from home.

6. Game Programming with Microsoft Zune This project engaged female students in game programming using the Microsoft Zune. The project was a way of building a community of young women who had shared the experience of high level programming that resulted in the creation of a tangible product on real hardware..