GlobalSchoolNet.org -- Linking Kids Around the World!

Scholarship awards are only given to the top ranking projects. All eligible participants do receive a Doors to Diplomacy certificate.

The primary goal of this project is to give students a rewarding learning experience. All of the elements in the program are intended to support this goal, including the project narrative and the peer review process.

If your students learned and benefited from this project then they are in fact winners and deserve congratulations.

Global SchoolNet encourages the implementation of regional and national programs, which build on the International CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy model.

State, county, or national educational organizations, community technology centers, or institutions of higher learning typically facilitate regional affiliate programs.

Affiliates and volunteers usually assume the following responsibilities:

1. Identify and enlist the help of local stakeholders who will benefit from the CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy program (i.e. representatives from local schools, universities, PTA, county offices of education, chamber of commerce, etc.).

2. Determine how local stakeholders will assess the success of the CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy program (i.e. number of participants, quality of CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy projects, student achievement measures, public relations, etc.)

3. Articulate the ways in which CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy activities support local and state standards.

4. Generate awareness of the CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy or Doors to Diplomacy program through local print, broadcast media (radio and television) and electronic announcements.

5. Generate awareness of the CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy or Doors to Diplomacy program through on-site presentations and teacher workshops. 6. Provide support to local participants via email and phone.

7. Help to keep participants on task and complete their assignments on time.

8. Develop a plan for local recognition of student achievement (i.e. certificates, prizes, awards ceremony, press releases, etc.)

9. Encourage the best local projects to enter the CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy competition.

Question 7 must be answered yes before you can submit your final project notice. However, it is not permanently recorded any place... every time you go back to submit your final notice you must re-set it to "Yes"

If you answer YES to questions 1-6 and your project narrative is approved, then your final project notice will be accepted and your project will be eligible for final reviewing.

Congratulations, and best wish for success.

We are sorry to learn that your students did not gain value from their participation. We have been running this program for ten years, and more than 5,000 teams have participated and the feedback is always very positive. The incentives to participate are clearly stated.

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/awards.cfm

We hope to have news very soon about the changes that the Doors to Diplomacy program is undergoing for 2013.

In the meantime, we hope that you will participate in International CyberFair: Explore & Unite

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf/

Global SchoolNet has been honored to support the "Doors to Diplomacy" educational challenge from 2002-2012, sponsored by the U. S. Department of State -- to encourage middle school and high school students around the world to produce web-based projects that teach about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. This program is undergoing for 2013. In the meantime, please enjoy the library of more than 3,000 projects outstanding projects created by youth from around the world!

If you are looking for an international competition, please consider participating in International CyberFair 2013!

Register at http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf/

Sincerely,

Doors to Diplomacy Help Desk http:/www.globalschoolhouse.org/doors/

Please read item 15 in the official rules at: http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/rules.cfm

Your project must include a bibliography page that cites the sources for your project's information.

When you complete your project narrative, you must include a link to that page.

Therefore, you should create your bibliography page before you attempt to complete the narrative and include that link in your narrative. However, the bibliography does not need to be completed in final form until peer review begins.

The Citation Machine link below will help you generate appropriate bibliographic entries for your bibliography page. Just copy and paste the citations into your HTML editor and make sure that the URL's included are hot links that work when you click on them.

Your bibliography must also list the names of the people who helped you to assemble your Web pages. If you received no help, your bibliography should state that.

Citation Machine: http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/

Cyberfair Rules: http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/rules.cfm#bibliography

If you are unable to locate a bibliography on the project Web site, please score the other elements of the project as well as you can, and in section B-4 Content: Citation of sources ("bibliography") give it a zero.

The judges will review the web site. If they agree with you that there is no credible bibliography, this project will not be considered for final judging.

However, if for some reason you have simply overlooked or missed the bibliography, your other scores will be used to help establish this project's actual rankings.

CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION for this year's program (for both Projects and volunteer reviewers) will be available on the dates shown in the time line at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/timeline.cfm

To print out your PROJECT Certificate you must log into your project checklist at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/projects.

VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS must log in at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/reviewers.

To print your certificate you must have Adobe Reader version 5 or later. You may obtain the latest Adobe Reader at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

If you have problems generating or printing your personalized Certificate, contact us at: http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/contact.cfm . PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR PROJECT or REVIEWER ID Number.

All participants who complete both their projects and their review assignments receive a certificate.

The grand prize winners receive $2,000 scholarships for each student, a $500 cash award for the teacher.

No. Depending on the quality of submissions, either one or two teams are selected as the grand prize winners. Grand prizes consist of $2,000 scholarships for each student and a $500 cash award for the coach's school.

If the student is not a senior, we hold on to the money until they graduate.

The scholarship money can be used for education at a certified institution any where in the world. Once the student tells us where they will be attending school -- the scholarship money is sent directly to that institution on the student's behalf.

The $500 is awarded to the school, library or organization on behalf of the coach. Typically, the coach designates how the money is to be spent.

Due to budget limitations, the awards include scholarships and cash awards, but do not include a trip to Washington DC.

You may compete. But, you may not be chosen as a Platinum winner two years in a row.

The judging process is a two step process.

Step 1 is Peer Review by participants and independent reviewers.

Step 2 is an international Review Board, which is comprised of distinguished community and education professionals, who are selected based on their experience and devotion to online collaborative learning and their reputation as visionaries. These VIP judges are responsible for reviewing and ranking the semifinalist contest entries.

You can view the rubric used by the judges at http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/judges.cfm

All the information you need can be found online at

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/assignment.cfm

You should check with your Principal or school administration, to determine what level of parental permission is needed. Since the requirements vary from location to location, the rules specify that the supervising adult must obtain all required permissions and consents.

As a general rule, if parents sign an Acceptable Use form giving you permission to publish their child's content on the web, then it is not necessary to have them sign an additional permission form.

Each team has the ability to view their own scores. However, you cannot see the scores of other teams, just your own scores. We encourage teams to contact their reviewers by email and ask questions if they don't understand how they were rated.

When you try to access your checklist, the PROJECT STATUS states, "Awaiting Moderator Approval... check back later." Moderator approval usually takes less than 24 hours... often quite less.

Every time you make a change to your project or narrative, we check it over to make sure that everything we publish is appropriate and represents a legitimate project.

When it is approved, we send you an email notice with the moderator's action. If your project is approved, you will be able to access the checklist.

If your project is not approved, the checklist will not be available until you log back in, fix any problems mentioned by the moderator, and it is re-approved.

Doors to Diplomacy is a a special competition that is being sponsored by the US Department of State. The main differences are:

a. Diplomacy allows multiple projects per school. CyberFair allows only one project per school.

b. Diplomacy limits teams to a maximum of four students. CyberFair does not limit the number of students who can contribute to a single project.

c. The Diplomacy competition is only open to secondary students (middle and high school). CyberFair is open to both elementary and secondary students.

To read more about the differences, go to http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/HowDifferent.html

To be eligible for an award your team must participate in the Peer Review and review a minimum of four other web projects. However, if you do not want to be considered for an award, you may submit your project as a Project-in-progress.

Project in Progress is designated in the "Final Project Notice" section. However, you must complete the narrative before you can do that.

We suggest you complete as many fields as you can in the narrative... this is a good "reflective" piece that will get your students thinking and talking about their learning experience. Enter "Inc" for the items that you're not able or prepared to answer.

Then submit your narrative. The submit your final project notice, answer the yes/no certifications, and select "Project in Progress."

There must be an English version of the web site, because the rules require students from other countries to review each others projects. Therefore, there must be a common language used. However, many schools prepare their projects first in their native language, and translate the best ones into English.

from each location must have a supervising adult coach. When you register, please indicate the names of all the student members, their adult coach and their location.

You may make team changes and project changes up until the entry deadline. You should write about the reasons for the changes in your Project Narrative.

Web Server Space

Unfortunately, Global SchoolNet does not provide Web space on our server for your Web project. However, there are many other locations which offer free web space. Please refer to the rules for some possibilities.

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/rules.cfm

An adult coach or school administrator must register your team's intent to participate by the registration deadline. The role of the coach is to oversee the work that the students do and ensure that all local rules and regulations have been followed.

The purpose of the Doors to Diplomacy program is to teach others about the importance of international issues which affect individual citizens, as well as governments and businesses worldwide. Please select one of the eight sub-categories for your Doors to Diplomacy research project.

You may publish your project on your own server, or on any server that is available to you. If you do not have your own service provider, you may use one of the free services that are listed in the rules.

We are not sure what your question is. Please be more specific.

Doors to Diplomacy is an online project. Students conduct research offline and then publish their projects on the web. It is recommended that you review the projects from previous years.

All the details, registration forms, and projects from previous years can be found on the Web at:

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/

You have successfully made the changes. However, you will not see the change on the live server until our moderator approves it -- which ususally takes 24 hours due to the time zone differences.

Registration for the competition opens in the Fall of each year. Please check back late October or early November for the updated contest information.

Teams CAN get help in translating their project into English. Make sure that fact is explained in the Project Narrative. However, keep in mind that the Peer Review requires students to communicate in English.

Localized Regional Affiliate Programs

Global SchoolNet encourages the implementation of regional and national programs, which build on the International Cyberfair model. State, county, or national educational organizations, community technology centers, or institutions of higher learning typically facilitate regional affiliate programs.

Successful localized Affiliate programs have been implemented in San Diego (CA), Rochester (NY), Broward County (FL), New Orleans (LA), Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Affiliates usually assume the following responsibilities:

1. Identify and enlist the help of local stakeholders who will benefit from the CyberFair program (i.e. representatives from local schools, universities, PTA, county offices of education, chamber of commerce, etc.).

2. Determine how local stakeholders will assess the success of the CyberFair program (i.e. number of participants, quality of Cyberfair projects, student achievement measures, public relations, etc.)

3. Articulate the ways in which CyberFair activities support local and state standards.

4. Generate awareness of the CyberFair program through local print, broadcast media (radio and television) and electronic announcements.

5. Generate awareness of the CyberFair program through on-site presentations and teacher workshops. 6. Provide support to local participants via email and phone.

7. Help to keep participants on task and complete their assignments on time.

8. Develop a plan for local recognition of student achievement (i.e. certificates, prizes, awards ceremony, press releases, etc.)

9. Encourage the best local projects to enter the International Schools CyberFair competition.

Yes, you can continue to improve your project and re-submit this year. But, be sure to mention that fact in your Project Narrative. Tell why you made the decision to continue working on this topic, rather than selecting a new topic.

It is your choice. You can present a local issue or a global issue, as long as you describe how the issue is affected by Diplomacy.

The goal of Doors to Diplomacy is to raise awareness about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. Therefore, outstanding Doors to Diplomacy projects will:

1) present a concise overview or history of the issue or project topic that was selected.

2) cite the sources that students used to research the issue or topic and tell why they selected those sources (your project MUST include a bibliography).

3) mention the different world views and positions related to the issue or topic.

4) take a position and make recommendations as to what the best course of action should be in dealing with the issue.

5) describe how the issue or topic affects their local community, or the team members, personally.

Please follow the instructions below to make a donation to GSN via your credit card.

1. Go to http://www.globalschoolnet.org/membership/contribute.html 2. Scroll to the BOTTOM of the screen 3. Click on "Anonymous Donation" 4. Click on “Secure Credit Card” 5. Click on “Make Donation” 6. You will be transferred to the Just Give secure web site 7. Click on blue “donate now” button 8. Fill in your information 9. Type in MEMBERSHIP under contribution type 10. Provide your credit card info (NOTE: your mailing address must be the same as the billing address on the credit card) 11. Click “OK”

If you would like to speak to us by phone, call 760-635-0001

You may also send a check to: Global SchoolNet 132 N. El Camino Real, #395 Encinitas, CA 92024

Sincerely,

Global SchoolNet HelpDesk

Thank you for your interest in establishing a regional CyberFair or Doors to Diplomacy affiliate.

State, county, or national educational organizations, community technology centers, or institutions of higher learning typically facilitate regional affiliate programs -- and usually assume the following responsibilities:

1. Identify and enlist the help of local stakeholders who will benefit from the CyberFair program (i.e. representatives from local schools, universities, parent-teacher organizations, county offices of education, chamber of commerce, etc.).

2. Determine how local stakeholders will assess the success of the CyberFair program (i.e. number of participants, quality of CyberFair projects, student achievement measures, public relations, etc.)

3. Articulate the ways in which CyberFair activities support local content standards and educational requirements.

4. Generate awareness of the CyberFair program through local print, broadcast media (radio and television) and electronic announcements.

5. Generate awareness of the CyberFair program through on-site presentations and teacher or student workshops.

6. Provide support to local participants via email and phone.

7. Help to keep participants on task and to complete their assignments on time.

8. Develop a plan for local recognition of student achievement (i.e. certificates, prizes, awards ceremony, press releases, etc.).

9. Encourage the best local projects to enter the International Schools CyberFair competition.

If you are interested in providing this kind of support in your region, please send us your complete contact information, including:

Organization Name Coordinator Name Coordinator Job Title Phone Number Postal Address Email Address Organization Website URL

After you have finished your project Web, you must do two things to qualify for final judging:

--- Complete your Project Narrative This is where you include the actual link to your project URL.

--- Submit your Final Entry Notice This is where you certify that you have complied with all of the rules of this program.

To complete these two requirements, log into your checklist at http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/timeline.cfm

Don't forget: To qualify for for final judging, you must ALSO submit four peer reviews of other projects. Your assignments will be sent to you on the date specified on the timeline.

--------------------

Please use this process when you enter your project Narrative:

1. Answer all of the narrative questions in a word processor and save it. Then if a problem occurs you still have your original writing. This is always a good idea when you're submitting extensive text in Web forms.

2. When you log in, click on the KEEP ME LOGGED IN checkbox beneath the password line.

3. When you are submitting your narrative, paste your answers from your word processor into only 2 or 3 sections and then submit the form. After those sections have been saved then go back and answer more sections, until you are done.

This project has been registered by a STUDENT.

Students may NOT register projects. A teacher, ADULT coach or school administrator must register your team's intent to participate by the registration deadline.

Therefore the project is NOT eligible.

Yes. This is an international competition, open to non-university level students in all countries between the ages of 12-19. Parents or community members may serve as the coach.

Each year we wait until we receive the official word from the US State Department before we publish the timeline and begin promoting the competition. A typical schedule is as follows:

- Registration will begin in October - Projects will be due in March - Peer Review will take place in April - Winners will be announced in May

To register for Doors to Diplomacy, go to http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/index.html and click on the TIMELINE link in the left navigation column.

Then on the timeline page click on the link under "Doors to Diplomacy Project Registration."

Note: After registration closes for the year that link will disappear.

Yes. This competition is open to middle school and high school students worldwide, unless other restrictions apply.

It is permissible for a supervising adult to register multiple teams for the Doors to Diplomacy competition.

Yes! Absolutely! The team members may be all multiple locations or all from the same location.

This is an international competition, open to non-university level students in all countries between the ages of 12-19.

Students must be 12 years old by the entry deadline in March. See the timeline for the specific date.

If you have mulitiple teams, you must register each team seperately. Each team will have to complete their own Project Narrative, which documents the "behind the scenes" process of creating the web project.

You cannot submit entries in two different categories.

The rules state that you must "Select one of the eight Doors to Diplomacy categories and conduct a research project involving your selected topic."

The lead coach should register the project. The 2nd coach can be listed under item #3 (Team Members).

An adult may "coach" multiple teams. However, a student can only submit ONE entry. Therefore, a student can only be a member of one team.

Yes. Coaches may mentor multiple teams.

Teams must consist of 2-4 students. If one or more of the team members must drop out, you can replace that member. However, be sure to document that fact in your project narrative.

Here's how to register multiple teams:

1. Be sure you're logged out. If you're not, hit the LOGOUT link in the upper right corner of your checklist. 2. Go to the timeline at http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/_cfm/timeline.cfm 3. Click on Register Now 4. Log in 5. It should take you to a review of your contact info, then to the blank form where you can enter a new team.

When you are done with this step, log out and go back to the timeline "register now" link.

The Doors to Diplomacy contest rules specify that teams must consist of 2-4 students. Perhaps you could divide your team into two seperate groups and submit two different projects.

An adult coach may be a teacher, administrator, parent, community member, or university student who is 19 years old or older. The adult coach or school administrator must register a team's intent to participate by the registration deadline. The role of the adult coach is to oversee the work that the students do and ensure that all local rules and regulations have been followed.

We do not provide web space. We have given some suggestion for free web space, but you are welcome to use any server you wish, as long as the public has access. Remember that many of the reviewers will be from other countries.

After you have finished your project Web, you must do two things to qualify for final judging:

--- Complete your Project Narrative This is where you include the actual link to your project URL.

--- Submit your Final Entry Notice This is where you certify that you have complied with all of the rules of this program.

To complete these two requirements, log into your checklist at http://www.gsn.org/gsh/doors/projects/index.cfm

Don't forget: To qualify for for final judging, you must ALSO submit four peer reviews of other projects.

You may edit your narrative until the deadline to submit your FINAL PROJECT NOTICE.

You may continue working on your Web pages until peer review officially begins, at which time you must cease all work on your site.

Peer review begins on the date specified on the time line. You may not make any more changes to your Web site on or after that date.

Please log into your project checklist at http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/_cfm/timeline.cfm to look at all of the tasks you must complete and the deadlines for completing them.

You may continue working on your Web pages until peer review officially begins, at which time you must cease all work on your site.

We would encourage you to submit your project as a "Project-in- Progress." If you do so, and review entries from other schools, you will still get the benefit of the educational experience.

Many teachers have told us that the peer review process and having their students work with the evaluation rubric was the most valuable part of the program.

However, if you do not submit a "Final Project" or a "Project in Progress," we will keep you on the information mailing list for next year.

Project in Progress is designated in the "Final Project Notice" section. However, you must complete the narrative before you can do that.

We suggest you complete as many fields as you can in the narrative... this is a good "reflective" piece that will get your students thinking and talking about their learning experience. Enter "Inc" for the items that you're not able or prepared to answer.

Then submit your narrative. The submit your final project notice, answer the yes/no certifications, and select "Project in Progress."

We make every effort to accommodate people who have problems getting their projects ready for final judging.

However, our final cut-off date comes when we email the peer review assignments the day before peer review begins.

It takes us the entire week prior to the start of peer review to assign peer review assignments. Every team must be given 4 other projects to review. We try and match teams by age, and to ensure that each team has a variety of countries to evaluate.

This is a very time consuming and difficult process, but it ensures that every project will have enough valid reviews for us to determine the rankings for final judging.

After we email the assignments out, it is impossible for us to include any other projects in the process, since every team has received their peer review assignments... there are simply no more reviewers available to look at your project.

Therefore, while we would like to be able to help, there is nothing we can to do find reviewers for your project.

It's the same as when the ship leaves the dock or the train leaves the station... it can't stop to let you get on. You're too late.

If you would like to be an approved Doors to Diplomacy Web Project Reviewer (and you are not already a registered Doors to Diplomacy participant), please sign up to participate.

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/reviewer.cfm

Sincerely,

Doors to Diplomacy Help Desk http:/www.globalschoolhouse.org/doors/

We often receive questions about how the peer review process works and how the winning projects are selected. We understand the importance of the review process, and we work hard to ensure that every project is fairly reviewed.

These are the procedures we use to establish our finalists:

1) When possible we assign schools to review projects created by students within the same age range.

2) We do not allow schools to review projects in their same category.

3) At the close of Peer Review we create two finalist lists, based on BOTH the RAW and the ADJUSTED scores submitted by each reviewer. Adjusted scores attempt to reduce the effects of reviewers who score either harder or easier than the overall average of all reviewers. We consider and compare these two lists to establish our FIRST finalist list.

4) Next, at least two staff members review the scores for all top projects in each category. We INVALIDATE any unfair high or low score that could MOVE a project TO or FROM our finalist list. (Note: Because of the number of projects submitted, we do not invalidate every possible unfair score... only those that could change the list of finalists. Therefore, if you see an unfair low score for your project, it is because changing that score would not have changed the overall finalists list.)

5) We then alphabetize this last finalist list and send it to the VIP judges. The VIP judges do not see the scores, and they are asked to rank the projects in each finalist list based on their wisdom and experience.

6) We assign several judges to each category, so that no one judge is responsible for selecting the winners.

7) Finally, if you have any specific questions about a review or score, you must send email to the reviewer who submitted that score: you will find the email address for each reviewer in your list of scores.

We will be happy to consider any suggestions you may have to improve this process.

The primary goal of this project is to give students a rewarding learning experience. All of the elements in the program are intended to support this goal, including the peer review process. If your students learned and benefited from this project then they are in fact winners and deserve congratulations

Sincerely,

Doors to Diplomacy Help Desk http:/www.globalschoolhouse.org/doors/

GSN will assign you other projects to review after the project submission deadline. A complete description of the Peer Review process can be found at http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/GSH/doors/rubric/index.html

Peer Review is a very important part of the Doors to Diplomacy Contest. Participating teams must evaluate and submit reviews on four (or more) other projects (in categories that are different than theirs). By the peer review start date we will assign you projects to evaluate. You can check the web for your projects review assignments. (We will also notify you by email.)

Next, follow the step-by-step instructions to organize and conduct the Peer Review process in your school.

Complete instructions can be viewed at: http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/GSH/doors/rubric/index.html

Since this message was sent to both independent reviewers and peer reviewers, we needed to include information for both students and adult reviewers. We do thank you for your time. It will make a difference in the lives of these students.

Some school districts have firewalls that block access to certain web hosting providers. Please check to see if your school has BLOCKED the ISP hosting the web project and then please contact us with this information and we will attempt to replace this project assignment.

Otherwise, when you cannot connect to an assigned project web site URL it could be due to a number of problems:

1. Some school servers have problems staying up all the time. Send email to the teacher letting them know you are trying to review their site so they can make sure their technical people are on top of the problem.

2. The network connections to that site may be overloaded. Try earlier or later in the day and see if the connections may be better at a different time.

3. There may be a problem with the URL you are using. You may want to contact the teachers of the site you are reviewing to ask about this problem.

In any of the cases above, you should always try the site several times over a period of several days.

If you STILL cannot connect to this site, please give that site all zeros on the evaluation and make a note in the comments section that you were unable to connect to their site. Please include the kind of error message your browser was giving you and how many times you tried.

We will consider this problem and the causes of the problem when we are tabulating the scores.

Your team works together to submit ONE set of scores for EACH project they review.

Every reviewer has the option of submitting additional non-assigned reviews in excess of their assigned reviews.

Because of the educational value of the peer review process, some teachers assign their students additional projects to review. In some cases, different students from the same class may independently review the same project.

You may correspond with each reviewer, using the name and email provided, to learn their rationale for scoring.

BTW, our adjusted scores make an effort to accommodate the differences between "easy" and "hard" scorers when we select our finalists.

Check the time line at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/timeline.cfm for the date when scores will be available.

After the results of the competition are announced you can log into your project checklist at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/projects to view your project's scores and comments.

If you would like to submit additional reviews, please let us know via reply email your PROJECT or REVIEWER ID Number and how many additional reviews you would like to do. We will be happy to assign additional projects.

Or, if you prefer, once you submit your assigned reviews, you may contribute additional reviews on projects of your choice with these restrictions: 1. You may not review projects in the same category as your own project. 2. You may not review projects if you know any of the students or teachers in their school.

It is not required that Web projects use multimedia resources (video, sound, etc.).

Therefore, a project should not be penalized in those items in the in Section F (Technical section of the evaluation rubric which assess whether multimedia resources work or not). In those instances, you should give the project a "5" for those items.

For instance, Item F-4 Technical: Multimedia resources Work states: "Multimedia resources, such as movies and sound, work properly on a variety of platforms and browsers when they are downloaded (give project a 5 if there are no multimedia resources)."

The purpose of this policy is to give full credit to all sites that use multimedia that work as well as to sites that don't use multimedia, and to penalize sites that use multimedia that fail to work as expected.

Another way to look at this question is to consider that icons and graphics can also be considered as part of "multimedia." If they are present and they show up, they can be considered to work. However, if there are no icons or graphics of any sort, they also should not be penalized and should be given full credit for those items in the technical section which evaluate the operation of multimedia.

We usually recruit reviewers in January and February. So, we recommend that you register to receive our monthly newsletters to be notified of future opportunities.

Register at:

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/membership/members/login/register/

Please check the official timeline for the dates of this year's peer review benchmarks: http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/_cfm/timeline.cfm

We will email you your peer review assignments on or before the day that peer review is scheduled to begin (GMT/UTC -8).

You can also log in at http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/reviewers/LOGIN/index.cfm to view your peer review assignments.

For more information about the peer review process, please read http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/rubric/index.html

Your NEWEST review scores and comments will REPLACE all older review data.

Therefore, simply re-submit your new scores and comments for the project.

When you have finished submitting all required reviews you can check that item off in your project checklist by clicking on the check box.

The checklist is for YOUR information. We do not use the checklist to establish your eligibility.

Project in Progress is designated in the "Final Project Notice" section. However, you must complete the narrative before you can do that.

We suggest you complete as many fields as you can in the narrative... this is a good "reflective" piece that will get your students thinking and talking about their learning experience. Enter "Inc" for the items that you're not able or prepared to answer.

Then submit your narrative. The submit your final project notice, answer the yes/no certifications, and select "Project in Progress."

Best wishes.

Our moderators must read and approve anything that is submitted before it can go live on the Web.

It may take up to 24 hours for a project to be reviewed and approved by our moderator.

After it has been approved it will be available for public viewing.

You are still able to edit it while it is awaiting moderation.

The Project Narrative must be submitted using the Project Narrative FORM which you will find in your PROJECT CHECKLIST.

Login in at http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/projects/ and click on the Project Narrative "Click Here" link or the PROJECT CHECKLIST button.

We recommend that you create and save ALL of your narrative answers in a word processing program before you start completing the narrative form.

Then, come back to the form and cut and paste your answers into this form.

This will allow you to spell check all of your work before you enter it, and you'll also have a backup copy in case you have problems with the form.

Please read item 15 in the official rules at: http://www.gsn.org/gsndoors/rules.cfm

Your project must include a bibliography page that cites the sources for your project's information.

When you complete your project narrative, you must include a link to that page.

Therefore, you should create your bibliography page before you attempt to complete the narrative and include that link in your narrative. However, the bibliography does not need to be completed in final form until peer review begins.

The Citation Machine link below will help you generate appropriate bibliographic entries for your bibliography page. Just copy and paste the citations into your HTML editor and make sure that the URL's included are hot links that work when you click on them.

Your bibliography must also list the names of the people who helped you to assemble your Web pages. If you received no help, your bibliography should state that.

Citation Machine: http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/

Cyberfair Rules: http://www.gsh.org/gsh/doors/rules.html#bibliography