Formation, announcement of assigned teams by GVC Project Manager September 30

Coordination of assigned teams, election of team leader, and submission of team plan October 10

"Sign" your team contract October 15

Formation of teams by GVC Project Manager

Using the information provided in the application process, the GVC Contest Project Manager will assign schools to teams based on the following guidelines:

• The three schools in a team will be from three different countries, and preferably from three different continents or regions.
• Anticipating a preponderance of applicants from naturally English-speaking countries (US, UK, Ireland, Austrailia, and New Zealand), no team will be made up of only schools whose home language is the same.
• If the distribution of applicant schools allows, all three schools will be from the same age group (Primary - grades 1-7 or Secondary - grades 8-12). If the numbers of applicants requires deviating from this goal, the resulting mixed team will compete in the higher Secondary age category.
• Once these three guidelines have been considered, any preference regarding subject included in the application will be taken into consideration, although matching by subject will be a last consideration, and may not be able to be honored.

Coordination of assigned team, elect a team leader, submit a team plan

The three teachers will be advised of their team assignment and provided introductory information regarding teammates in an email from the GVC Project Manager on September 30. With this information in hand, the teachers will be expected to coordinate on the following information:

• What is the minimum number of times per week or per month that each member school should contact the others? (We recommend a minimun of once a week.)
• By what date should a school on your team be replaced if it's not actively participating? (We recommend October 31.)
• What will be the main theme of your team's website?
• Which teacher will act as team leader?

The responsibilities of the team leader are to:

• Register the information regarding the above four questions with the GVC Contest Project Manager no later than October 10. (How to do this will be included in the team assignment notification of September 30.)
• Lead team discussions.
• Submit an on-line weekly report of the team's activities and progress.
• Contact the GVC Project Manager as the team's spokesperson when necessary.

"Sign" your team's Team Contract

When your team leader registers your team, each member school will receive a copy of the team's contract by e-mail. Here's what it looks like:

1. I agree to communicate with my partners at least (X) time(s) per (WEEK/MONTH).
2. If my school is not actively participating by (DATE), I agree that my school will be removed from the GVC Contest and replaced by another school, if one is available.
3. I verify that I am a teacher or other adult who will be supervise and be responsible for my class or group for the duration of the GVC Contest period.
4. I verify that I have the necessary web page building and FTP skills and that I have accurately described my technical skills to my partners.
5. I acknowledge that I have informed my partners of all holidays and school events between October and March that might interfere with my school's participation during the GVC Contest period.
6. I understand the judging procedures as explained in the Orientation Guide. I agree to respect the final decisions of the judging panel.

Also contained in the e-mail message will be instructions on how to "sign" and submit your copy of the contract. (One possibility under consideration is to have each teacher FTP a text file of the contract to a GVC site, so don't exagerate your FTP abilities.) When all three teachers in your team have submitted contracts, your team will be officially registered for participation in the GVC Contest. Note that this does not preclude you from starting to work together as a team during the team registration process.

Team Registration Timing

A maximum of 300 schools (100 teams) will be accepted to participate. For that reason, school applications will be accepted until and the registration process will commence at either 5 p.m. EST September 24 or when 300 schools have applied, whichever comes first.

Announcement of Participating Schools

The teams assembled for participation in the program will be announced on the website and by email to the teachers on September 30.

Overflow Alternatives

If the GVC Contest receives more than 300 school applications, we won't be able to accomodate everyone. We will encourage overflow schools to consider participating in one of the other programs we offer. For a description of them, please read the section "Which Program Is Best For You?".