The adoption of digital technology in K-12 classrooms and the establishment of national Common Core K-12 educational standards propelled significant investment in the burgeoning field of EdTech. As in the music, publishing and film industries, American classroom curricula were shifting from analog to digital, with traditional textbook publishers finding themselves in competition with emerging media technology companies.
One of these emerging tech companies was Amplify Learning, a subsidiary of News Corp. Initially gaining traction in schools through its teaching assessment software, Amplify recognized the vast potential to develop curriculum-based programming for this new media environment.
To capitalize on this opportunity, Amplify brought in Steve Okin and Critical Thinking Media to develop and launch ProjectEd.
Here’s how it worked
ProjectEd was a series of ongoing contests aimed at middle and high school students, challenging them to produce short films addressing specific Common Core subject prompts. These student-created films were then integrated into Amplify's overall digital curriculum package, enhancing the educational experience by combining student engagement with curriculum-aligned digital content. This initiative not only provided a highly engaging resource for teachers but also empowered students to take an active role in their education through creative expression and critical thinking.
ProjectEd contests were developed around English/Language Arts, Math and Science curriculum prompts. Each 60 day contest was announced with a challenge video and a posted creative brief describing the mandatory prompts for each video (not to exceed 2 minutes), contest rules and sources for additional resources.
Contest Prompts
Contest Entries
Submitted videos were reviewed by the Amplify Learning curriculum development team for accuracy and the Project Ed team for technical / creative achievement. Winners were announced and winning videos were posted to the Project Ed online library.
Along with the excitement of launching and managing what was essentially an ongoing, Common Core film festival, ProjectEd demonstrated that often, the most effective way to instruct a 13 year old is via the creative expression of another 13 year old.
