A music video parody earned Dover Bay Secondary School students thousands of dollars worth of cutting-edge, educational technology.
The school learned this week that the video students and staff produced for the annual Flip Your Classroom – eInstruction Classroom Makeover Contest won the grand prize of $30,000 worth of software for the school.
“The whole school screamed,” said business education teacher Denise Montgomery, who found the contest and pitched it to her students.
“I just feel extremely relieved because I had no idea what I would say if we did not win. We’re incredibly proud of ourselves.”
In just three weeks in October, students and staff produced a music video parody of the popular Gangnam Style song by PSY. The making of the video involved about 300 students from 14 different classes and the school’s dance teacher taught students the dance moves seen in the original video.
Last month, Dover’s entry became one of five shortlisted in the high school category from dozens of videos across Canada and the United States and student efforts ramped up even further from there, as the video had to secure the most votes of all five to win.
“We had kids going door to door, going to gas stations … wherever we could find people,” said Montgomery.
One weekend, students set up a display at Woodgrove Centre and danced for shoppers as their music video parody played in the background. Another weekend, they were out soliciting votes at a coffee shop.
The technology the school just won includes electronic whiteboards, animation software and student response systems, which allow students to weigh in on opinion-based questions electronically via mobile devices.
“We have to decide where to put it all,” said Montgomery. “It might go into one room that everyone can book to use, we might divide it up.”
Along with the $30,000 in new technology, eInstruction has also given the school $500 to throw a party, which she wants to open up to the community that helped the school win the contest. To view the video, please go to http://flipyourclassroom.einstruction.com.
Dover also wins video camera
Dover Bay Secondary School is better prepared to document environmental action stories for submission in the B.C. Green Games thanks to winning a video camera courtesy of Sony Canada Ltd.
The Nanaimo school is one of six B.C. schools to receive a digital media device from Sony, which chose the winners at random from schools that registered early in the annual competition hosted by Science World.
“Dover Bay has participated in the Green Games since its inception,” said teacher Gordon Graham, in a press release. “This program allows students to tackle environmental challenges, share results and inspire more action.”
B.C. Green Games, for students in kindergarten to Grade 12, is designed to motivate action, enable sharing and reward and celebrate the green efforts of B.C. schools. So far more than 100 teams have registered this year.
Next March, the public can vote on its favourite submission.