Verizon Foundation is Giving Future Application Developers an Opportunity to Show their Stuff.

                                         prweb.com



If you know any middle and high school students that just love web app technology then this is will be a great challenge for them to participate.


The Verizon Foundation, in partnership with the Technology Student Association, has opened the 2013-2014 Innovative App Challenge, giving middle and high school students across the country a chance to develop a concept for a mobile app and bring it to market.

The mobile app design competition aims to engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and empower them to create STEM-related app concepts that solve real-world problems in their community or school. Students have a chance to win Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets courtesy of Samsung Telecommunications America, cash grants of up to $20,000 for their school, and the opportunity to team up with app development experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab to build and bring their apps to life. Verizon will help winning teams bring their app to the Google Play store, available for download.


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The fastest-growing careers in the United States are STEM-related, yet the country is not graduating enough young professionals in these fields to meet this need. As a result, as many as 3 million STEM jobs have gone unfilled, according to STEMconnector’s “2013 EdTech – Revolution in Education” report.

To address this issue, the Verizon Foundation and TSA launched the inaugural Innovative App Challenge last October. More than 1,000 schools from every state and Washington, D.C., registered for the competition, and 471 teams submitted app concepts. The competition engaged more than 3,000 boys and girls from major cities to rural areas including many underserved communities. Nearly 60 percent of the winning team members were girls.

Justina Nixon-Saintil, director of education and technology programs for the Verizon Foundation, said: “We created the Verizon Innovative App Challenge to encourage students to collaborate, get creative and use their STEM knowledge to come up with powerful answers to local, everyday problems. The inaugural challenge provided all that and more, as we saw some amazing app concepts and heard inspirational stories from students and teachers. We’re eagerly awaiting the fresh, innovative ideas that the student teams will bring to the second challenge.”

What’s New in 2013 – More Ways to Win

This year, the Verizon Innovative App Challenge offers more chances to win for teams of five students in grades 6-12 with a faculty advisor. The winning teams, which will be chosen by an expert panel of judges, will include:

• Twenty-four Best in Region winners from the West, Midwest, South and East. Each Best in Region school will receive a $5,000 cash grant plus virtual training on coding and support from the MIT Media Lab’s app development experts to help it build its app concept.
• Eight Best in Nation winners, selected from the pool of Best in Region teams. Best in Nation schools will receive an additional $15,000 cash grant, and each winning team member will receive a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Additionally, the MIT Media Lab will provide onsite and virtual training on coding and support to the Best in Nation teams as they develop their apps, and Verizon will help bring their apps to the Google Play store. The Best in Nation winners will present their apps in person – on their new tablets – at the 2014 Technology Student Association National Conference in Washington, D.C., next June.

• Three special Best in Category winners, which will be recognized for their app concepts to help solve problems in education, healthcare or energy management – focus areas for the Verizon Foundation.

Submissions will be accepted now through Dec. 3. Teams can submit their app ideas, access tips and instructional videos on app design, and learn more about the Verizon Innovative App Challenge atwww.verizonfoundation.org/appchallenge.

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/eastex/living/verizon-foundation-launches-app-challenge-for-middle-and-high-school/article_2922238a-2afb-5c8a-b2f5-c5f07ae9e801.html

Student Web Developers Nationwide Are Being Challenged by CapitolBlue Cross to Create Applications for Healthcare or New Web Tools for One of 3 Great Prizes

                                       




Sharing this challenge is important to us that are in web design and development. New applications and tools that help produce informative websites or applications in order keep up with the current technology is always welcomed.

Below is the information needed in order to enter the contest.




Capital BlueCross is challenging student developers nationwide to create web-based tools or mobile applications that enrich the health care consumer experience. All entries must be submitted by Nov. 22, 2013, and winning entries can earn one of three prizes totaling $30,000.

Titled Blue Innovates, the challenge is an opportunity for students 18 years of age or older to bring their innovative ideas to life in one of three categories:

Financial: Applications that assist health care consumers in finding, accessing, organizing, simplifying, understanding or minimizing health care expenditures.

Telemedical: Technology that provides consumers with affordable and high quality health care while saving time and money.

Experiential: Tools that help consumers have a more personalized and satisfying health care experience and that enhance their well-being.

Students may use their preferred tools, programming languages and technologies to develop a unique solution.

To get started, students can visit Blue Innovates to review contest rules and register. Developers can also use the online forum on the Blue Innovates web site for support and advice throughout the process.

The developer of the first-place winning application will receive $15,000, while the second and third place winners will receive$10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Winners will be announced by Dec. 20, 2013. Entries must be original work created by the developer who is submitting the application for consideration.

About Capital BlueCross

In 2013, Capital BlueCross is celebrating 75 years of serving central Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley residents and businesses as the region's leading health insurer. Through its family of companies, Capital BlueCross brings innovative services and clinical solutions to the marketplace. Committed to delivering medical value to its communities, Capital BlueCross focuses on improving patient satisfaction, enhancing quality of care and reducing costs. The company continues to lead the change in the industry by meeting the evolving health needs of its customers, most recently by entering the retail market and building a first-of-its-kind health and wellness store called Capital Blue. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, employing more than 1,800 people. More information about Capital BlueCross can be found at capbluecross.com.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deadline-nears-for-new-web-tools-or-mobile-health-care-applications-as-capital-bluecross-challenges-student-developers-nationwide-223120191.html 

Vivid Learning Systems Has Developed a New Redesign of Four Industry Websites

Why was this redesign needed for MSHA,Electrical Utility Safety, Healthcare and OSHA Compliance?

New design for these industries websites has provided benefits to safety professionals,from safely directors to those workers in the field of their specific industry. The new websites have provided content for education on the benefits of learning technology for safety programs.

“Our goal was to build a scalable and responsive multi-site content platform, that will allow us to easily implement new assets from game-based learning to videos and infographics" said Liz Bormida, Marketing Manager at Vivid Learning Systems. “The result is a new, mobile friendly website for each industry to help students and visitors have access to educational information and resources in an effort to help increase safety awareness in the workplace. Our vision is to bring mobility and convenience to occupational health and safety.”


“Our online visitors and students will now experience a more vibrant and seamless view of safety related content, from online training and best practices, to industry news and regulatory updates,” said Shawn Simon, Utility Manager for Vivid Learning Systems. “In the same way that the creation of Vivid Learning Systems Electrical Training Worker 1910.269 library brought top industry experts for an on-demand training solution for electrical utilities, the redesign of the Utility Safety Online website creates a new home in cyberspace for wide-ranging utility safety resources, making virtual visits to Utility Safety Online more exciting and informative than ever."

View the following websites and see what you think of the new changes made by Vivid Learning Systems.

http://www.utilitysafetyonline.com
http://www.mshatrainingonline.com
http://www.healthecaretrainingonline.com
http://www.complianceatwork.com