2011 Award Pre-Announcement Release

Sakai Community Members -

It is with great excitement that the committee announces a number of significant changes to the Teaching With Sakai Innovation Award (TWSIA) process that will affect the entire Sakai community. Since the Denver Conference, the Award committee has been working diligently to revise important aspects of the award process, based on feedback received at the conference from previous years' winners and applicants.

While the official press release for the 2011 Award will not be distributed for another month, we want to give you a preview of changes to the award process.

The 2011 TWSIA Committee has proposed four Award Categories for submissions, from which winners will be selected. This will replace the current process of selecting 1st and 2nd place winners and honorable mentions from all submissions.

The new Award Categories are:

• Higher Education: Face to Face (including web-enhanced courses)
• Higher Education: Distance Education or Hybrid Courses
• Primary and Secondary Education (K-12)
• Non-Traditional/Non-Course Sites (including project sites, student sites, portfolios)

The committee has also:

• provided a revised Definition of Innovation that will be used for the Award,
• revised the TWSIA rubric to reflect aspects of the new categories,
• and is refining a new TWSIA judging process.

For more information you may send a message to the TWSIA Committee or you may contact one of the 2011 Award Committee Members directly.