I know I'm a bit late in offering my congratulations, but I wanted to make sure that those of you who hadn't heard by now that Ireland had 2 finalists in the Imagine Cup 2008 competition found out.

I had written about the Park IT Team from Sligo IT on April 11th. They made the trip to Paris and represented Ireland in the Software Design category. While they didn't win, they deserve a huge congratulations on their unique and innovative solution.

Well done to to the whole Part IT Team

 The 2nd entry from Ireland was the Acid Rain Team from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. They took 2nd place overall worldwide in the Embedded Development category. An unbelievable accomplishment considering the level of competition.

You can see their video here

To see all of the blogs, videos and information about this year's Imagine Cup visit the Imagine Cup 2008 website. To see the Virtual Pressroom go here

If you're interested in taking part in next year's Imagine Cup 2009 in Egypt, contact Liam Cronin, MS Ireland Academic Engagement Manager (v-liamc@microsoft.com)

I look forward to seeing the Northern Ireland entries for next year's competition.

I've just returned from my summer vacation in New Jersey and felt it was time to get "back into the game". I've been very lax lately in posting but that will change this coming school year. I am going to update at least once a week (as long as it's relevant) and keep you updated on the type of projects and pilots I'll be working on this year. I don't know if Alfred was referring to me in his blog, but I've taken it as a "kick in the rear" to get going again. Cheers.

I've pretty much wrapped up my project on OneNote and submitted all of the findings and outcomes to Mike Tholfsen and the  OneNote team in Redmond. This was both a challenging and rewarding experience. When you try and coordinate simultaneous activity between 2 schools in different countries, Teachers, Students, 3 vendor partners and several Educational bodies it can feel like you're "spinning way too many plates at one time". But man was it fun and educational (from a personal perspective).

Some quick snippets of feedback:

Neil Armstrong-Wallace HS History Teacher:

“More pleasing to note, is the improvement of a couple of pupils who have shown an improvement in their essay mark, compared to earlier work this term. This includes Student A, Student B, Student C, Student D and especially Student E. Student E has really shown the true merits of using OneNote and UMPC in the classroom. He was previously underachieving, yet with the pilot he really showed what he was capable of. I believe him to be a kinaesthetic learner; therefore he needs to be focused on completing a task using his hands. Otherwise his attention wanders. During the pilot he was very focused and really put the largest amount of effort into the OneNote module that I have seen all year to date!!. This means that the OneNote has the potential of helping to improve the work and grades of underachieving males and kinaesthetic learners. It may have a larger field in helping pupils with SEN with organisation and producing work."

From Hannah- Wallace HS Student:

“I enjoyed taking part in the project. At the beginning I did not believe it would be helpful to me as in the past I have found using computerised systems distracting however one note proved to be an effective way for me to learn.”

From Niall- Dunshaughlin CC Student:

“Under the right conditions and circumstances, OneNote is more productive with class time. It does take time to get use to the new way of learning and teaching. I do believe that given the right training and equipment, - OneNote is the future for learning!"

Kevin Reilly- Dunshaughlin CC History Teacher:

“Excellent software to facilitate organisation in a student’s learning.Inspires inquisitorial spirit e.g. students organised a guest speaker, Kari Rosvall”  (See RTE video for her background)

There are supporting documents:

• For site visitors on my SkyDrive site here
• For MS Internal EMEA STIC SharePoint access here

I also want to specifically thank Frank McGonagale and Steven Knox at Wholeschool.tv for their help and support without which this would have never happened.

If you're interested in the Curriculum Mapping piece that was a core part of the Northern Ireland solution, you can see a great video about it here

Plenty more to follow in the coming weeks, so see you soon