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UMD STUDENT WEB CONTEST 2008

Up to 5 - $500.00 Prizes will be awarded!

Undergraduate and graduate students working with an identified faculty or departmental sponsor are invited to enter a Web Site Development Contest. Starting in 2008, this long-running contest will be expanded to include the following options:

• develop a new web site for an undergraduate or graduate course
• significantly update or enhance an existing web site for an undergraduate or graduate course
• develop a new web site for a campus department or organization
• significantly update or enhance an existing web site for a campus department or organization
• develop a multimedia application for a course or campus department that enhances teaching and learning

To qualify, the projects must have been created on or before January 25, 2008. These projects must accomplish one or more of the following in order to be eligible for a prize:

• advance the teaching and learning goals of the University by using web or multimedia technology
• encourage faculty, teaching assistants, or staff to use web or multimedia technology in innovative ways
• enhance students' learning experiences with web or multimedia applications
• provide students access to course information and interaction with other learners at any time and from any place
• improve students' information technology literacy skills
• share interdisciplinary teaching methodologies
• improve the quality, content, and communication methods of campus web sites
• demonstrate state-of-the-art web or multimedia technologies

Please see "Web Design References" for helpful links.

Students and Sponsors

CONTEST DETAILS

To encourage good design, the ITSS Faculty Technology Team will offer up to 5 $500.00 awards. To be considered, a Web site contest entree must submit his or her intent to enter the contest by December 21, 2007. The submission of the actual URL for the UMD STUDENT WEB CONTEST 2008 must be submitted by Friday, January 25, 2008. Please see submission form at the bottom of this page.

JUDGING

A judging panel is comprised of individuals from the Colleges/Academic Units at UMD. These individuals evaluate how each Web site meets the following criteria:

AUTHORITY

• The site or multimedia clearly denotes the content provider.
• The content provider is easily contacted.

DESIGN/STYLE

• The appearance of the web site enhances user experience.
• The text is legible.
• The material is logically arranged and organized.
• The user can adjust the font size and color to meet his/her needs (e.g., personal style sheet may be used).
• The site may be easily maintained by the faculty member or department.
• Multimedia effectively and aesthetically communicates.
• Mulitmedia volume, start and stop may be controlled by the user.

NAVIGATION

• The user can move around the web site efficiently.
• The user can search the site.
• All links work.
• Hypertext is well used.
• Multimedia may be stopped and started at any point.

CONTENT

• The expected content is available.
• Information is useful.
• Content seems accurate.
• Content is consistent with UM WWW Policy (non-discrimination, etc.).
• Multimedia conforms to University accessibility requirements.
• Depth of content is significant.

PERFORMANCE

• Page loads quickly.
• Code conforms to W3C standard. http://validator.w3.org/ (W3C HTML validator)
• CSS Code, if used, conforms to W3C standard. http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ (W3C CSS validator)
• Code does not contain significant barriers to access by individuals with disabilities. http://www.contentquality.com/ Cynthia Says Site Tester
• Site works with Firefox and Internet Explorer (6.x or later).
• Multimedia plays in a wide range of browsers.

Page Coordinator: breeves