NEWS

Call for Applications- 2009 ICT Teacher Scholarships

Adobe has partnered with Charles Sturt University to create a unique series of postgraduate level qualifications for K-12 and TAFE teachers who want to be able to develop and deliver engaging, technology-rich learning activities.

Adobe has two scholarships available for the summer holiday session 2009 intake. The scholarships are for a total of $1520, used to pay 25 per cent of the total fees for the Graduate Certificate in Information Communication Technology Education. Applicants are expected to be degree-qualified, practicing teachers.

Applicants need to submit a typewritten application form incorporating the information as prescribed below:

Section A: Personal Details Family Name/ Given Names/ Contact Address/ Contact Phone Number /Email Address

Section B: School Details Name /Job Online Creative Festival /Location /Approximate number of students/ Demographics

Section C: Professional Development
Briefly detail how you feel this scholarship could help you make a difference to your profession, community and the environment, or how it will help you achieve best practice. Include any other reasons why you have selected this particular course.

Section D: Goals and Motivation
What are the three most important things you aim to achieve in the next 12 months within your teaching and learning environment?

The combined word count for Sections C & D should not exceed 800 words. Additional details available here or call 1300 885 685. The closing date for scholarships is 26th October 2009.

Shop from your seat at Adobe’s exclusive online education store

Students and teachers can now buy online and receive the appropriate discounts and full product advice and information, at Adobe’s Australian Education Store.

Shopping for student edition software and standard education products has never been easier.

Students and teachers simply ‘enter’ the store, order using a valid academic ID and just wait for delivery. From inside the site, you can access all the usual help, see community forums, read about product features, get trial downloads and access product support.

Buying for study or for schools has never been easier. Visit the store today

You don't have to be a superhero to fight crime.

The BSA launched a competition to help fight software piracy on September 21, 2009 and Adobe is a major sponsor of this project. So why not have a go and win some great prizes?

The BSA also wants the campaign to go viral and needs your help. Here are a few ideas:

• Post links to the landing page (www.bsa.org/ausvidcomp) on websites, intranet and social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Distribute information within your personal and professional networks via email and word-of-mouth.
• Join the BSA on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

A 2008 study sponsored by the BSA finding the benefits from lowering software piracy in Australia by ten per cent would result in the creation of 3,929 jobs and $1.9b in local industry revenue - so help support the economy and fight piracy!

Submit your entries for the K12 Innovation Awards

The Adobe K12 Innovation Awards is a creative competition for young students aged between 14-19 years, recognising creativity in web, video and print projects.

Open to students in varying countries (Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand), the Adobe K12 Innovation Awards includes the categories of Web Design and Development,Film and Video, Graphic and Print Design.

Creative Themes include:
Go Green - Conserve natural resources like water and energy, reduce waste and minimise human’s impact on the environment.
Go Legal - Be aware and use legal software legally. Pirated software increases the risk for viruses, spyware, adware, and other malice.
Go Wild - An open category for entrants to tell their own story.

There are Adobe software prizes up for grabs for individual category winners, finalists and schools. The Best-of-Best Winner will receive a certificate of commendation plus a brand new Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv3600 or Apple MacBook Pro 13”. The School Best-Of-Best winner will receive an award for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software for up to 30-seats in the school’s lab. To register, click here. Submissions will close on 15 December 2009.

AWARDS

Eco Sleuths Rewarded

Over 26,000 students from all states and territories throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the USA and China took up the challenge to solve this year's Murder under the Microscope (MuM).

Recently updated using Adobe Flex, MuM is an online educational game designed and produced by the NSW Department of Education and Training's Centre for Learning Innovation in which teams of students compete to solve a fictitious ecological 'crime'. Clues to this eco-mystery are progressively delivered via a sophisticated multimedia web interface including online communications with real science experts.

Over a six-week period each year thousands of Australian and international school students engage in a battle of wits to be first to correctly identify the specific ecological victim, villain and crime site. Typical victims are endangered animals or plants, typical villains are ecological pests or contaminants, and typical crime sites are ecologically sensitive environments.

The victim for 2009 was Amegilla Cingulata, the Blue Banded Bee, solved first by a team called the Warriors, from Vardys Road Public School in New South Wales.

After solving the mystery, students collaborate to create an environmental management plan to help prevent the eco-crime from occurring. Students can produce digital stories, videos using exciting multimedia products such as those in the Adobe Creative Suite to create their management plans.

This year's EcoPlanners Creativity award was awarded to 4/5B Parramatta East Public School NSW, who made Blue Banded Bee costumes and performed their original song and dance, whilst the digital story played on-screen at the awards ceremony at NSW Parliament House.

Project sponsors Adobe, Wacom Australia, Hewlett-Packard, National Geographic Channel, and the University of Western Sydney donated prizes to all the winning teams.

MuM will run again from May through July 2010. Registrations commence in December 2009. Register here. For further information, send an email or call 02 9715 8358.

Murder under the Microscope Award Winners, 2009
EcoSleuths
Warriors from Vardys Road Public School, NSW

EcoPlanners Management plan awards
6H Superstars Neutral Bay Public School, NSW
Chesterfield Dragons Tintinara Area School, South Australia
Loreto Kirribilli Loreto, Kirribilli, NSW

EcoPlanners Creativity award
4/5B Parramatta East Public School, NSW

Highly Commended awards
Tooleybuc Trackers Tooleybuc Central School NSW
Seven Yellow Taroona High School, Tasmania
Loreto Kirribilli Loreto, Kirribilli, NSW
SCAS Crusaders St Columba Anglican School, NSW

People's choice award
Bombo Ss Peter and Paul Catholic School, NSW

Classroom video award
Citizens of Gleitzland Hoxton Park Public School, NSW




Leslie Loble, NSW Deputy Director-General, NSW Education and Training and the students of 4/5B Parramatta East Public School NSW who won the EcoPlanners 2009 Creative Award

Connected Learning Winners

As Principal Sponsor of the 2009 Connected Learning Awards, Adobe congratulates the 26 NSW government schools receiving awards at the recent ceremony.

Teams from as far afield as Lightning Ridge Central School (Western NSW) and Taree High School (North Coast) were recognised for their successes in five award categories: Digital Story; Short Film; Digital Art; Learning Resource and Greeting Card Design.

The Connected Learning Awards provide students with opportunities to engage with real-life situations, where they can develop skills in communicating, collaborating, self-directed learning, problem solving, researching and publishing their findings.

All award winners received either a Canon PowerShot G10 Digital Camera or a Sanyo Xacti HD1010 video camera and a copy of Adobe Visual Communicator, software that offers hundreds of customisable graphics, music clips, and special effects to create video presentations that look like a television newscast.

For further information on the Connected Learning Awards and winners, click here

University of Otago design student wins New Zealand Adobe Pixel Mash competition

Gillian McCarthy (pictured), a B CApSc (Design Honours), BA (Psych, Art History) from the University of Otago, is this year's Adobe Pixel Mash New Zealand winner.

Adobe Pixel Mash is a live digital design tournament where competitors are given an image/object/word and have just 15 minutes to cook up an original design.

Streamed live over the internet, viewers vote for the winner via SMS.

After successfully competing in earlier rounds, Gillian's design - based on the word ‘magic' and an image of a car dashboard hoola dancer - was voted a winner by online viewers and attendees of the live event in Auckland on September 30th.

Describing winning Pixel Mash as "a great achievement", Gillian admits she doesn't mind the prizes either, winning a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium in the first round, and a WacomCintiq 12WX Interactive pen display and an Apple 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.4GHz in the grand final.