April 20, 2003 Newsletter

1. IT Challenge Calendar
The UAE Educational IT Challenge will run from March 2003 to April 2004.

Online pre-registration of projects began last month. Projects can be entered
online at http://www.uaechallenge.com/register1_2004.asp

The important dates to remember are
Feb 25, 2004 - Last date for entry of projects
Apr 14, 2004 - Finalists announced
Apr 25, 2004 - Project exhibition, award ceremony and gala dinner

The full calendar of events can be found online at http://www.uaechallenge.com/calendar.htm

2. Who Can Enter
A project can be submitted from any teacher(s), student(s), school, college or
university in the UAE. The challenge is limited to schools, colleges and
universities in the UAE. The project must be in use (or being piloted) and involve
the use of information technology in a classroom setting. If you are unsure if your
project can be entered, please contact us at uaechallenge@hct.ac.ae. Projects
which are previous winners of the UAE IT Challenge cannot be entered again.
Projects from other countries will not be accepted.

3. Rules About Projects
The project should have in use during the award year, namely March 2003 to
May 2004. It does not matter when the project started, but it must be in use and
available for the judging panel to view by Feb 25, 2004.

Projects may only be entered in one category. The project authors must decide which
category to submit their project. A student project is primarily done by a student
or group of students. A teacher project is primarily done by a teacher or group of
teachers. An institution project is primarily done by an institution (the project
involves most of the teachers and students).

For a full explanation of all the rules, please visit the website at http://www.uaechallenge.com/faq2004rules.htm

4. We Were There
The UAE Educational IT Challenge 2004 was present at the recently held 2003
Gulf Education and Training Exhibition at the World Trade Center in Dubai.
Throughout the four days, we met a large number of interesting people, and had
the opportunity to promote the challenge concept to teachers and students of the
UAE.

His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan officially opened the exhibition.
Many educational institutions were present as well as representatives from UAE
firms. More details can be found at the challenge website
http://www.uaechallenge.com/news20032003.htm

In addition to the Gulf Education Exhibition Fair, a presentation on the challenge
was done at the e-learning and laptop conference held at the Abu Dhabi Women's
College of Higher Technology on April 9th, 2003. The presentation was eagerly
received by a number of eager participants. Many thanks to Phil Milton
(Ed Tech Supervisor ADWC) and Gary Johnson (Ed Tech Head, ADWC) for their
time and energy in delivering this presentation.

Over 220 participants from the colleges and Universities of the UAE attended 26
different presentations.

So that's it for this newsletter. Remember, all the top stories, feature articles,
rules, projects and latest news can be found online at www.uaechallenge.com

In the next newsletter, look for information about FAQ's, project updates and focus,
and a behind the scenes look at the challenge.

If you have any questions or news items, please email us at
uaechallenge@hct.ac.ae