Lorie Cooper Squalls, M.Ed.

Irving ISD would appreciate your help with our annual Technology Media Fair! Each year we invite students and faculty members to enter technology projects into our district fair. Over the past few years, we have opened up several categories for online judging in order to allow professionals and enthusiasts near and far to participate. The response has been wonderful! The critique and comments from an authentic audience have been so meaningful to our students. The main goal of online judging is to connect our students who are learning about technology with practicing experts around the world. Your encouraging words will go a long way in promoting technology skills and encouraging our students to become better evaluators of their own work.

We have more than 250 entries in our online judging categories this year and we would like every project to be judged by at least three different people. As you can see, we have a great need for participation from the online community. This is where we need YOU. If you have a passion for technology, media, or education and the time to comment and critique some student projects, then you qualify as a judge.

Student projects have been uploaded to our judging website (http://mediafair.irvingisd.net/GuestJudging ) and can be judged any time until January 9, 2011. There are six categories of projects, and you can choose to judge as many or as few entries as you wish.

Judging consists of the following:
• Completing a short (multiple choice) rubric: The rubric items will be averaged and will be used to determine our first, second and third place winners in each grade category.
• Making brief comments for each project: We would appreciate a few positive comments and a few “instructive” comments for each entry. Your comments, while not figured in to the composite score, are very important to our students.
The projects are separated into grade-level categories ranging from pre-kindergarten (yes, 4-year-olds!), elementary, middle school, high school to adult/staff. The categories are Digital Audio, Website Design, Original Illustrated Art, Product Design, and Digital Video (under 90 seconds).

To judge the projects, go to http://mediafair.irvingisd.net/GuestJudging and click on the judging link. When judging, you will need to log in with a Yahoo or Google e-mail account. Your email address will not be published. It will be used for security only. You will see the directions when you access the site and select the “Judge Entries” or “Login” option.

If you know of anyone else who would be interested in participating as a judge, please pass this on to them as well. Thanks in advance, your help is GREATLY appreciated.
Please contact me if you have questions or need assistance.

Thank you,
Lorie Squalls
Coordinator of Instructional Technology
Irving Independent School District
2621 West Airport Freeway – Irving, TX 75062
972.600.5258