Doors to Diplomacy Rules

Purpose of Doors to Diplomacy

1. Doors to Diplomacy is an international  e-learning activity designed to:
   • Raise awareness about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy
   • Teach students communication, collaboration, project-management and media literacy skills
   • Use technology to plan for a preferable future and to benefit humanity

Eligibility

2. Student team members must be between the ages of twelve (12) and nineteen years (19).
   This competition is open to middle school or high school aged students who are at between the ages of twelve and nineteen. Universities and other institutions of higher learning are not eligible.

3. Teams must have between two and four student members, and one or two adult coaches.
   Please ensure that your team has at least two student members and no more than four.
   

4. Schools, organizations, or individuals in states, provinces, or nations which tax, restrict or prohibit participation in an event such as Doors to Diplomacy are not eligible to participate.
   This is an international competition open to students in all countries, except where prohibited by law. It is your responsibility to ensure that your team's participation in this event does not violate any applicable laws.

Registration and Entry Deadlines

5. An adult coach or school administrator must register your team's intent to participate by the registration deadline.
   Registration lets us know that you are interested in participating in Doors to Diplomacy. There are some benefits to registering early:
   • Doors mailing list participants receive the most current information.
   • Click here to request help
      
6. Teams must submit their final Web project by the Final Entry  deadline.
   See the timeline for deadline dates.
   
   
7. Teams must submit four (or more) Peer Reviews by the Peer Review deadline.
   To qualify your own Web project for final judging, your team must participate in the official Peer Review process. During the peer review dates your team must submit evaluations on a minimum four other Web projects which we assign to you. These peer review scores are part of the final judging process.

IMPORTANT: Look at your calendar to budget enough time around your spring holidays!

Project Requirements

8. Web projects must be submitted in only one category.
   You must select and enter your Web project in only one of the eight Doors to Diplomacy categories.
     
9. Teams must obtain permission and consent forms signed by participating students and their parents.
   Before you enter your Web project in this contest, you must obtain appropriate permission and consent forms signed by students and their parents. [Click here for a sample permission form. You can review related issues in our Web Tutorial: Harnessing the Power of the Web ].
    
10. All of the content of your Doors to Diplomacy Web project must be created and completed by students.
    Community volunteers may be solicited to help with the technical aspects of producing Web pages and related audio/visual resources, and/or mounting them on a Web server. However, the content of the entry must be generated by the students. This is in keeping with the idea that Doors to Diplomacy is not a Web design contest. The real emphasis of Doors to Diplomacy is on the quality of learning and understanding of diplomacy and international cooperation.
     
11. Responsible supervising adults must take responsibility for student team members and their work.
    Neither the Global SchoolNet Foundation, nor any of the sponsors of Doors to Diplomacy, is able to take responsibility for your students or their work. Therefore, in order to qualify as an official entry you will be asked to state on the Final Entry Form that your students have been adequately supervised and that your school accepts full responsibility for their actions and the content they have posted pertaining to this project. Your entry must be submitted by a responsible supervising adult in an official public or private school, home school or approved educational organization.
     
12. Web Projects must include the official Doors to Diplomacy Project Narrative Page.
    An important part of your evaluation score will be derived from your Project Narrative Page.

    Important: The Doors to Diplomacy Project Narrative must be submitted using the project narrative form. You may access the project narrative form in your personal Checklist.
     
    

13. You must submit your Web project in English.
    Because of the Peer Review component of judging (described below), projects must be submitted in English. However, teams are encouraged to submit projects in both English and their own native language.
    
     
14. You should organize your project with the Peer Review Evaluation Rubric in mind.

    The Peer Review Evaluation Rubric represents an evolving effort to establish objective guidelines and criteria to evaluate student-developed Web projects. (See Peer Review and Final Judging ). Here are some suggestions:

    • Review the draft for this year's evaluation rubric (if you have any comments or suggestions for improvement, please Click here to send them to us)
    • Review the complete peer review procedures.
    • Review two or three past CyberFair winners or Diplomacy winners.
      You and your students will find this to be a very valuable
      experience in terms of the kind of project Doors to Diplomacy seeks to elicit.
      
15.    You must properly cite sources of information used.

    When conducting original research and publishing a report or project, it is always necessary to identify the source of your information.  See examples of how to cite sources and create a bibliography.

    Your project must contain a separate bibliography page where you cite the sources for the information in your project and list the people who helped you with your Web pages (if any). You will provide the link to this page in your Project Narrative (see your checklist for the due-date for your narrative), and the review rubric evaluates your bibliography.

    IMPORTANT: Your project will be disqualified if the reviewer cannot find your bibliography.

    Although we do not require any specific citation format, we recommend that you use the Citation Machine at http://citationmachine.net to generate and compile your citations which you can then cut and paste into your HTML editor.

    In any case, your students should leave the reviewers no doubt about where they acquired the information they used, and in no case should you permit your students to plagiarize.

    Your bibliography must also list the names of the people who helped you to assemble your Web pages. If you received no help, your bibliography should state that.

Peer Review and Final Judging

16. Projects will be evaluated in a two-stage process.
    
    • Stage One: Peer Review
      Between the peer review dates (see timeline) each participating team must review four other projects. The scores obtained from these reviews will be averaged and used to rank each project in each category.
      *Additional reviews may be solicited from the Internet
      community.
      
      
    • Stage Two: International Judges
      The top-ranked Web projects will be further reviewed
      by a panel of "distinguished judges." This panel will
      determine the final ranking. Distinguished judges will
      use the same evaluation rubric used in the Peer Review
      process.
      
      
17. All decisions of the judges will be final and are not subject to review or revision.

Awards Ceremony and Prizes

18. Limits on Eligibility
    Only team members in states/provinces and countries that do not restrict this kind of event are eligible to receive the offered awards, gifts and prizes. It is your responsibility to ensure that your school's participation in this event does not violate any applicable laws. It is the responsibility of the recipient to pay any associated taxes, tariffs, or duty charges.
    
    
19. Announcement of Winners
    The results of the final judging will be announced in May 2008.
    
    
20. Time Limit for Redemption
    Any incentives or awards will be shipped by the end of August.

Help & Project Assistance

21. Web Server Space
    Global SchoolNet no longer provides Web space on our server for your Web project. However, there are many other locations that offer this service. Please make sure that the host you select does not publish offensive or inappropriate advertisements. Listed below are a few places which offer Ad-free, free web hosting:
    

    • Snap Pages

    • Weebly

    • Webs

    • Webnode

    • Yola

    • Wix.com (Flash-based)
       

22. Timeline & Milestones
    This timeline walks you through the steps which will help you to organize and complete your Doors to Diplomacy Web Project.
    
    
23.  Global SchoolNet Help Desk
    To find the answers to your questions, you may:
    • Check the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)
    • Click here to send your questions and comments to us
      
24. International Conversion Helper Resources
    To aide you in converting international currency, time zones, or language translation, we encourage you to use the International Conversion Helper Resources.
    
    
25. Global Schoolhouse Web Tutorial: Harnessing the Power of the Web
    This treasury of insight, information and technique provides you will valuable resources to aide you in developing your project. Learn more

Disclaimers

• The views and organizations found in these student-created websites are not necessarily supported or endorsed by the U.S. Department of State or Global SchoolNet Foundation.

• Global SchoolNet Foundation is solely responsible for the design and implementation of Doors to Diplomacy.

• Sponsors have generously donated prizes to support this school-based online learning activity.
     
  Have a question?
  • Check the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)
  • Click here to send your questions and comments to us