Sylvia Charp Award for District Innovation in
Technology: Mooresville Graded School District,
Mooresvil2le, North Carolina, USA (Mark Edwards,
superintendent; Scott Smith, chief technology
officer; Karen Hart, board chair)
The Sylvia Charp Award, presented by ISTE and THE
Journal, recognizes district innovation in technology.
SIGMS Technology Innovation Award (primary
school winner): Suzi Prassas, teacher, and
Mary Carole Strother, library media specialist,
Fanny Finch Elementary School, McKinney,
Texas, USA, for “Penguin Palooza”
Kay L. Bitter Award for Excellence in
Technology-Based PK– 2 Education:
Jennifer Orr, first grade teacher, Annandale
Terrace Elementary School, Annandale,
Virginia, USA
Who says first graders can’t use tech- nology to communicate and practice critical thinking skills? Well, cer- tainly not Jennifer Orr, who has been stretching the limits of technology in her elementary classrooms for more than 10 years. Her first grade students write their own blog posts, create digital stories using Voice Thread and PhotoStory, contribute to a class wiki, and collaborate using an interactive whiteboard. She manages this despite the fact that three-quarters of her stu- dents receive free and reduced-price lunches and two-thirds have limited English proficiency. “Her strategic use of technology not only enhances her students’ educational experiences, but presents the material in an authentic, relevant manner that also helps students be- come more proficient in discerning and analyzing information regardless of the form,” says her principal, Andrea Garris. Orr’s students have created videos and other multimedia content. In one movie, Orr filmed students demon- strating straight motion, back-and- forth motion, and circular motion and then had her student filmmakers sort
the examples, create titles, and record
the narration.
SIGMS Technology Innovation Award (secondary
school winner): Susan Steidl, English teacher;
Cathy Swan, technology integration teacher; and
Michelle Luhtala, library department chair; New
Canaan High School, New Canaan, Connecticut,
USA, for “Invisible Influence”
The SIGMS Awards, sponsored by ISTE’s Special
Interest Group for Media Specialists, honor a
school librarian and collaborating teacher who
have conducted an exemplary technology
program extending beyond the media center.
SIGOL Online Learning Award, 1st place:
Gail Casey, PhD student at Deakin University
and classroom teacher at Geelong High School,
Geelong, Victoria, Australia, for “Web To Where:
Creative Learning for the Global Classroom”
SIGOL Online Learning Award, 2nd place:
Kathy Perkins, director and team member of
PhET Interactive Simulations Project, University
of Colorado, Boulder, USA; and Patricia Loeblein,
teacher and PhET team member, Evergreen High
School, Boulder, Colorado, USA, for “Creating and
Using PhET Interactive Simulations to Improve
Science Education”
SIGOL Online Learning Award, 3rd place:
Christine L. Coleman, director of technology,
City School District of New Rochelle, New York,
USA, for “Mobile Learning on the Go!”
The SIGOL Learning Awards, sponsored by ISTE’s
Special Interest Group for Online Learning, recognize
creative educators for their pioneering use of online
networks for students in grades K– 16.
Read Orr’s blogs:
emdffi.blogspot.com
and TeachingHistory.org
SIGTE Research Paper Award: Teresa Foulger,
Ray Buss, LeeAnn Lindsey, and Keith Wetzel from
Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona, USA,
for their paper “Preservice Teacher Education:
Benchmarking a Stand-Alone Ed Tech Course”
The SIGTE Research Paper Award recognizes an
exemplary research paper on teacher education.
