Apply for the Digital Innovation in Learning Awards!

EdSurge and Digital Promise have partnered to create the "Digital Innovation in Learning Awards" (DILAs if you prefer a fun acronym). This program will honor powerful examples of innovative teachers, administrators, and ed-tech organizations. 

There will be five awards each in three categories: teachers, administrators, and organizations (both for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations). The "Creative Director" award for teachers, for instance, spotlights teachers who are inspiring their students to create high-quality multimedia projects. The Administrator "Open Door Policy" Award will elevate administrators leading the way in collaboration, communication, and sharing their schools' practices with others. And for organizations, the "Mindful Data" Award will celebrate a company or nonprofit that has exemplary data management policies.

All finalists will be invited to the Digital Innovation in Learning Awards Gala in November, co-hosted by EdSurge and Digital Promise and held in Silicon Valley. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for winners.   

You can either nominate yourself or nominate a person or group who inspires you. I'm honored to say that I'll be a board member and judge for these awards. I look forward to seeing many amazing videos and applications soon :)!

Below is a list of the different awards you can nominate someone or apply for yourself (no nomination needed). Applications and nominations are now open and available at awards.edsurge.com. The deadline for completed applications is 11:59 PM on October 1. Find out more details about the DILAs here.

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The First Annual Digital Innovation in Learning Awards

TEACHER AWARDS	This award recognizes a teacher who...
“Busting Boundaries” Award	Inspires students to work in-person or virtually with peers in different geographic or cultural communities
“Community Counts” Award	Engages the whole community, including students, parents and local stakeholders, to make learning relevant
“Creative Director” Award	Leads students in producing creative, high-quality, relevant, substantive multimedia projects
“Sharing is Caring” Award	Shares resources freely with peers and professional communities, actively contributes to a community of practice and continuously evolves their personal learning network
“Teacher Trailblazer” Award	Implements a unique, innovative idea involving action and student agency that leverages the power of education technology

SCHOOL/DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR AWARDS	This award recognizes a school/district administrator who...
“Administrator Trailblazer” Award	Implements an innovative, unique school model that develops student grit, creativity and agency, or otherwise fosters authentic learning in an unconventional way
“Open Door Policy” Award	Shares what’s working and what’s not with other schools, visits schools and welcomes visitors, facilitates open collaboration between charters and district schools and publishes resources for free public use
“Power to the People” Award	Empowers teachers, students and other administrators to take on leadership roles and participate actively in change management
“Walk the Walk” Award	“Leads by example” by demonstrating their own meaningful use of technology
“We Are Family” Award	Engages parents and caregivers by offering them educational opportunities at school or by providing resources that enable learning outside of school

ED TECH ORGANIZATION AWARDS	This award recognizes an edtech organization that...
“Better Together” Award	Includes various stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, and community members, in product/initiative mission and implementation
“Crystal Clear” Award	Discloses privacy policies with clear, detailed descriptions of how user data is used and who owns it
“Listen & Learn” Award	Responds quickly to reported problems, employs a successful feedback mechanism for users and incorporates pilots and user feedback in product or initiative development
“Mindful Data” Award	Manages, translates and delivers data to users in a manner that is understandable and actionable
“Research @ Work” Award	Thoughtfully uses academic research to shape development of a product or initiative