St Dominic Catholic School

It is that time of the year when we will start working toward competition at the Regional Technology Fair hosted by Faulkner State College in Bay Minette. The Regional competition will be held in the spring. However, high quality projects take quite a while to fully accomplish. So, we have to get an early start in the year. The first steps in project creation must be completed in the next few weeks.

The Technology Fair gives students the opportunity to display computer skills in a variety of categories. Students can compete as an individual or as a group. While it can be fun to work with a friend (or friends) in a group, I would also encourage you to consider projects as an individual. Group projects will compete against other group projects while individual projects compete against other individual projects.

Past Technology Fair participants and their parents can attest that the competition requires time and energy on everyone’s part, including the parents. If your child would like to compete, please note that you will be asked to spend a significant amount of time with your child in preparation for the event.

The competition is divided into three levels that apply to our school:
Level I—Grades 3 & 4
Level 2—Grades 5 & 6
Level 3—Grades 7 & 8
Within each level we will have the opportunity to enter projects in the following categories*:

General Applications [Projects in PowerPoint, Word, Publisher or almost any software that doesn’t fit the other categories]
Multimedia Applications [PowerPoint with sound and/or animation]
Video Production [programs created with Windows Moviemaker or similar video editing software]
Web Page Creation [Projects created to display on the internet or intranet using FrontPage, Dreamweaver or similar software]

At the Regional Competition, trophies will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each level and category. In some categories, additional recognition will go to two honorable mentions. All first and second place winners will qualify to participate in the Alabama Council for Technology in Education (ACTE) State Technology Fair in Montgomery.

While at Regional Competition, students will be provided refreshments, lunch and an opportunity to win door prizes. There are no entry fees. All of these things are provided at no cost to the student. It just takes a lot of outside work.

The first step will be to select a project idea/topic for approval. Your topic ideas should be presented to Mrs. Powell no later than October 31. Mrs. Powell will inform you if your topic has been approved. Please note: After your topic has been approved it may not be changed without permission. Presentations changed from the approved topic will not be eligible for competition. Once your topic has been approved you will need to prepare 5 slides or 1 edited video segment to Mrs. Powell by no later than December 2. These entries will be used to select the best qualified projects for the Regional competition. A list of those projects selected to go forward will be posted outside the SDS Computer Lab before Christmas.

If you would like to compete, please complete the form below and return it to Ms. Powell by October 31st. Topic choices will be assessed and approved quickly.

Students will be permitted to work on the project during some lab class time, at recess, and after school on designated days. The dates that the computer lab will be open for recess and afterschool work will be announced at a later time. Parents are welcome to join us for after school labs and/or work with your child at home.

October 31st – Last day to submit project ideas/topics to Mrs. Powell
December 2nd – Minimum of 5 slides or 1 segment of edited video due
Week of Dec. 15th – List of selected projects and participants posted

Explanation of Categories*.

General Applications

Entries shall be developed from various non-multimedia application programs. Projects using general presentation software that does not include sound or video capabilities should be entered here.
Research projects that use applications such as spreadsheets, word processing, desktop publishing.
Projects using information obtained from Internet searches and other electronic media—laser disc or CD resources can be entered in General Applications proving that the end product is for print or on screen presentation not using other multimedia effects.
PowerPoint can be used if it does not permit multimedia. (Sound and Motion)
A complete print-out of each “slide” must be included in the student’s notebook if this option is chosen and the final product must be completely linear or book-like in presentation.
Students must demonstrate knowledge and use of application software that they have used. They must have the software loaded that was used.
Any of these applications may be combined and may also use information and images from other input devices such as digital cameras and scanners.
Photographs may be entered in General applications provided they have been digitally altered by computer based software. The alteration process must be a necessary part of the project and the output must be intended for print or visual (non-motion) effects on screen.
The final output from this category must be on-screen or on paper.

Multimedia

May be linear or nonlinear in layout and my be interactive or directed by the student.
Multimedia is defined as a presentation combining sound and or motion with text.
Sound may include voice, music, or natural or man-made sounds.
Videos may be created from video cameras or prerecorded tapes, imported from other sources or taken from still images and manipulated into moving sequences by software, photographs, created by the student with software or scanned in
Digital animation also belongs in this category.
Some examples of suitable software are Kid Pix and PowerPoint, etc.
The exception to the multimedia element is music. Projects that deal solely with sound or music and in which the final product may be produced on an audio tape or compact disc should be entered in multimedia.

Video Production

Entries must be student-created videos or student created broadcasts.
Both digital and analog video productions are allowed, but all entries must use some form of computerized editing or mixing (sound/music, graphics, titles, etc.) for the final production.
Final products cannot exceed 10 minutes total viewing time. Longer videos created for other purposes must be edited into a 10 minute version, but the full-length copy should also be made available.
Videos may be saved to CD or DVD formats, in addition to VHS or VHS-C, but appropriate players must be provided for competition.
A project that is created to complement a larger multimedia project that has text, and is incorporated in that project, should be entered in multimedia.

Web Page Creation

Web Pages may be created for Internet posing or for local area Intranets within confined settings, such as a local school network, a closed network, or a member only network.
Web Pages use Hypertext and Hyper graphics.
Must be at least 3 pages that are hyperlinked together

At least 3 external links to outside information are also required. Because such external links might not be allowable within Intranets and cannot be shown without live Internets. These links should be saved to the designer’s storage disk (disk, CD, Zip, Hard Drive) maybe referred to as internal files although they were created and maintained on the WWW.