The 3rd ROLE Widget Enchantment

Widget Competition

The 3rd ROLE Widget Enchantment

Call for Widget Specifications

Submission starts today!

Join the competition – create a widget – win a prize!

The ROLE project opens the 3rd competition on the development of widget specifications and widgets useful for self-regulated learning. The first round is starting on February 3rd: you have four weeks to submit your specification of a learning widget! The winners of the first round will be announced on March 12th and will be sponsored by ROLE to develop the widgets. Winners of the first round will each receive a 500€ prize after the specifications are implemented! The winner of the second (widget development) round will be announced on May 21th!

ABOUT


The ROLE Widget Enchantment Competition aims to bring together the best ideas from both the software developer and the practitioner communities to create a wide range of innovative Web widgets supporting Technology Enhanced Learning. The goal is to enable learners to build their Personal Responsive Open Learning Environments from a wide range of available learning widgets.


The 3rd Widget Competition will be conducted in two rounds:


1. Widget Specification Competition: in the first round of the competition, you can contribute your specification of a learning widget, which should include a description, a screenshot, a use case, and a link to a prototype (if available). The specifications must satisfy following criteria:
Proposed widget provides an added value for learning in specific or generic learning scenarios (see below: widget types of interest)
Proposed widget is based on ROLE technology (e.g. ROLE SDK)
Future widget will support one of the OpenSocial Gadget or W3C Widget specifications


2. Widget Development Competition: the winners of the first round have two months to develop their learning widgets. Each participant will be individually supported by a ROLE Partner and will receive a prize with a value of 500€ after the widget is developed. The widget which best satisfies the competition criteria will get the opportunity to be featured on the ROLE project website and the ROLE Widget Store and to be evaluated in the ROLE test beds. Competition participants are encouraged to use the ROLE SDK and/or any other technology and datasets from ROLE, and to be creative in exploring approaches for realizing their goals.


Widget types of interest include but are not limited to:
widgets for real-time learner communication and collaboration
widgets for planning and organizing learning process
learning content browser widgets
recommender widgets (learning content, peers, tools, etc.)
widgets supporting creation and manipulation of learning content
widgets supporting training and testing (e.g. Vocabulary Trainer)
reflection and evaluation widgets
widgets supporting pedagogical processes

PRIZES
The best Widget Specifications will be sponsored by ROLE in order to facilitate the development of widgets. ROLE Partners will support the developers during the competition time. Winners of the Widget Specification round each receive prizes with a value of 500€after the widgets are developed. The winner of the Widget Development round will receive the opportunity to test his/her widget in the ROLE test beds.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission Start: February 3, 2012
Submission Deadline (Widget Specifications): March 2, 2012
Winners Announcement (Round 1): March 12, 2012
Submission Deadline (Widgets): May 11, 2012
Winner Announcement (Round 2): May 21, 2012

RULES
The competition is open to individuals and organizations.
Participation is free.
Submitted widget specification may propose any kind of free, publicly available Web widget supporting either one of the OpenSocial Gadget OR W3C Widget specifications, using ROLE technology AND providing an added value for learning.
Each widget specification must be submitted via the ROLE Widget Store (http://role-widgetstore.eu/).


Detailed terms and conditions can be found here. By entering the Competition, participants fully and unconditionally agree to be bound by these Official Rules. All decisions will be final and binding.

JUDGING
Judging Criteria


Submissions will be judged on the following three criteria:
Quality of the idea (including relation to pedagogic principles, creativity and originality) (1/3)
Quality of the specification (including text description, use case, screenshot, design and performance) (1/3)
Potential impact on the competition objectives (including use of the ROLE technology, e.g. ROLE SDK. For more information please visit the ROLE SourceForge Project) (1/3).
Judges
Hans-Christian Schmitz (Fraunhofer FIT, Germany)
Martin Wolpers (Fraunhofer FIT, Germany)
Manuel Schmidt (Festo, Germany)
Daniel Dahrendorf (IMC AG, Germany)
Karen Velasco (British Institute for Learning and Development, UK)
Carsten Ullrich (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)
Effie Law (University of Leicester, UK)
Sten Govaerts (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
Erik Isaksson (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Evgeny Bogdanov (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Li Na (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Alexander Nussbaumer (TU Graz, Austria)
Ingo Dahn (Universität Koblenz, Germany)
Sylvana Kroop (Zentrum für Soziale Innovation, Austria)
Gabriela Thomasova (Zentrum für Soziale Innovation, Austria)
Ralf Klamma (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
Milos Kravcik (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
Dominik Renzel (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)

RESOURCES FOR WIDGET SPECIFICATIONS

ROLE Widget Store: All submissions have to be uploaded to and made publicly available via the ROLE Widget Store. You need to have an account in order to add a widget to the store. To register, please follow this link.

ROLE Showcase Platform: If you want to get informed about the available ROLE software (widget bundles and ROLE tools), try and use it, please visit the ROLE Showcase Platform:http://role-showcase.eu/. Here you will also find sample descriptions, screenshots, and use cases.

Sample Widget Specification: This is an example of Widget Specification provided in the ROLE Widget Store: http://www.role-widgetstore.eu/specification/vocabulary-trainer-widget-example

ROLE Website: Besides announcements made regarding this competition, the ROLE Website (http://www.role-project.eu/) contains valuable information on the ROLE Project.

ROLE E-Learning Course: This course introduces the main concepts and technologies behind Responsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE). To enter the course please, follow the link: http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7433.

ROLE Webinar for developers: This webinar organised by BILD in November 2011 aims to guide the applicants on developing the widgets in the ROLE widget enchantment competition. The public replay is available at: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/p8y7p38caxj/.

ROLE LinkedIn Group: If you want to network or discuss with us, share interesting information, etc., consider doing so in our ROLE LinkedIn Group athttp://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1590487.

RESOURCES FOR WIDGET DEVELOPMENT

ROLE Software Development Kit (SDK): We encourage contestants to make use of the ROLE Software Development Kit including pieces of ROLE software to support the development process of Widgets for Personal Responsive Open Learning Environments. Detailed information about the ROLE SDK and ROLE technologies is available at SourceForgeROLE-Project section.

ROLE SourceForge Project: for all resources centred around ROLE developments, visit our ROLE Project on SourceForge. Besides access to our SVN repository and to ready-to-use builds of the ROLE SDK, the contained wiki provides information on how to develop with ROLE technologies. See: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/role-project.

ROLE Developer Google Group: For technical assistance, feedback, criticism or discussion about any of the ROLE technologies either contained in the SDK or in our SourceForge Project, you can contact the ROLE developer team on http://groups.google.com/group/role-dev.

ROLE Developer Chat Room: For direct contact to our developers, you can alternatively use your favourite Jabber/XMPP Client and join our ROLE Developer Chatroom with the JIDrole-developers@conference.role.dbis.rwth-aachen.de.

ROLE JIRA Issue Tracker: If you identify any issues, requirements, ideas, etc. around ROLE software, we invite you to share with us in the ROLE JIRA issue tracker at http://role-is.dbis.rwth-aachen.de:9085/secure/Dashboard.jspa.

CONTACT

For any questions regarding the ROLE Widget Enchantment Competition please email following members of the Competition Organizing Committee:
Organisational issues: Diana Dikke (diana.dikke@im-c.de)
Technical issues: Daniel Dahrendorf (daniel.dahrendorf@im-c.de)