“Jetpack for Learning” Design Challenge Winners Announced at SXSW

Three projects of the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge were awarded special prizes at the Mozilla SXSW party today. Ten projects already selected as Design Challenge winners participated in a design camp in Austin, TX over the past three days. Today three of these projects were chosen for special awards: ClozeFox was selected as “best use case”; the project leader of Mupple received the prize for “sharing knowledge with others”; Expression Widgets was chosen as the “best web hack”. You can find more information about them and download all Jetpacks-based add-ons from the Design Challenge wiki.

The Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge supported projects that turn the open web into a rich social learning environment. Developed by Mozilla Labs, a design challenge is an innovative combination of online seminar series, programming competition and hands-on workshop. The Jetpack SDK enables anyone who knows the tools of the web—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—to build powerful Firefox add-ons. Jetpack for Learning is a part of Mozilla’s new Drumbeat initiative and was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning program.

Project teams from across the world started working on Jetpack-based prototypes in December 2009. After the first round of seminars, ten finalists were invited to attend Design Camp, a hands-on workshop for hacking Jetpack-based add-ons and the future of open education, which took place just before SXSW. The overall winners were selected by a panel of judges and the Design Challenge participants themselves.

The Design Challenge finalists showcase different ways of learning on the open web:

Clozefox – Clozefox turns any webpage into an interactive, educational and fun language learning resource, and share your progress on twitter.

Cohere – Collaboratively annotate the web with Cohere. Create semantic connections between annotations while discussing them with other users online.

ExpressionWidgets – Create, capture and share web content like text and images collaboratively with Expression Widgets.

HooverNotes – Annotate the web like a book with HooverNotes. Leave comments, highlight content and collect pieces of content from multiple sites or a single web page.

LangLadder – Learn a new language while doing your everyday internet activities. Langladder integrates language exercises into activities like email, social networking and blogs.

LineHive.com – Hyperlink storytelling. Create paths through the internet by grouping webpages and sites into a timeline you can share, tweet, or embed.

Mupple – Keep best practices and experiences with Mupple by recording your web activity and sharing them with others on the web.

Net Detective – Joe Denton is one of the best gumshoes on the force, but he can’t solve these cases without your Internet detective skills in this jetpack that turns Internet search skills into a game for kids.

Rubrick – Create, share and reuse teaching rubrics using Rubrick and allow both teachers and students to get on the same page.

Study Troll – Be sure you know your facts before the Study Troll comes and demands an answer in this add-on that turns any web session into an interactive flash card quiz.