On June 10 the Imaginarium at Denver Public Schools is launching a new competition to come up with solutions that meet the needs of Denver's students, the Design for Equity Challenge. The two-day event will kick off at 6:30 p.m. at High Tech Elementary School in Denver.
This challenge brings the public, non-profits, private and entrepreneurs together to focus on blended learning and educational technology. In all, up to $80,000 will help a total of four teams fund their winning projects -- with each winning team able to capture up to $20,000 to make their vision a reality.
The Imaginarium is inviting the public to come to the event and pitch ideas to help make Denver Public Schools better. It's also inviting the public to attend the event to vote on which projects to support and enjoy food, music and activities.
This is the second challenge the Imaginarium has launched in 2015. Earlier this year it held a $50,000 competition focused on personalized learning, according to organizer Sarabeth Berk. "The winning team focused on changing electronic worksheets to make them more interesting," she says.
This round of the challenge will focus on more blended learning solutions, with Janus Capital Group leading the funding for the program. "This time it's focused on educational technology since Janus is inserted in blended learning and technology."
The Imaginarium also has plans to launch more challenges. "Our goal is to do about three a year. We're trying to instill these challenges as a regular event," Berk explains. "Different funders are sponsoring different challenges and depending on the theme the amount of money available may shift. But we expect a significant amount of dollars each time."
Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.