The Visualization Competition idea describe below is not yet a reality. It needs an owner/project manager who will turn this page into a business plan and proposal so that sponsors and funding can be generated to implement and grow the idea.
Below is a visualization done by Sam Lee, an intern from IIT in Chicago who is from Korea. IIT interns have served six week internships with Tutor/Mentor Connection every six months for the past few years.
You can see work done by interns in many places:
- Intern Blog
- Korea Group
- Michigan group
- Animation examples on Tutor/Mentor Institute site
This page shows how I provide project ideas that I want the interns to work on. This page is another example.
Instead of one intern working on these projects, I'd like to create an on-going award program, that encourages students from all over the world to innovate their own ways to communicate these ideas. The projects announced at the November conference could be worked on by teams until March of the next year, then put on a web site for display, and for public voting. The voting could go until May, and the winners could be announced at the May Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. At that event, we also would announce new projects for students to work on, which would be finished in time for the Nov. conference.
We could repeat this cycle each year with new ideas being worked on, or with older ideas being looked at again, with a fresh set of students. As more and more students take part in this competition we build their understanding of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC ideas. As more and more people go on-line to look at the projects and vote to show which they like best, we expand the awareness and use of these ideas.
Each year the ideas submitted can become part of a library of community information that is used throughout the year to support civic engagement and that future teams can use to inspire their own thinking in future competitions. In some case the same idea could be communicated by hundreds of different student groups over a period of years.
These are examples of competitions done elsewhere:
Social Innovation Competition - The University of Texas at Austin and Dell are looking for university students around the world with innovative ideas to solve a social or environmental problem. We’re giving away more than $100,000 in cash prizes to at least five winning teams who will be flown to Austin, Texas for an expense-paid Finalist Week-End that culminates in a final pitch and awards ceremony.
* Ashoka Changemakers Competitions - http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/competitions/browse/all This site has a lot to learn from, and to participate in. Here’s a page with 139 submissions related to tutoring. http://www.changemakers.com/search/apachesolr_search/tutor%20mentor .
* Global Challenge Award has found a way to engage students from many places to work in teams on projects.
* Urban Environment Challenge - Earth Force and Staples sponsor THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT CHALLENGE. Entries to the UEC from each region have a chance to win a $1,000 custom technology & supplies package or one of two $500 packages..
* StayClassy Awards recognize philanthropic efforts
* No Right Brain Left Behind is a speed innovation challenge, calling on the creative industries to concept ideas that can help the creativity crisis happening in U.S. schools today. See how the web site sets up the competition.
