Berne (CH), March 2010 - For over 25 years, the Worlddidac Foundation has presented the Worlddidac Award, an internationally recognised distinction for educational resources. The participants are companies that offer products and solutions for all levels of education. Registration deadline for this year's award is 31 March 2010.
First bestowed in 1984, the Worlddidac Award is presented every two years. With the aid of clearly defined criteria and a pre-evaluation, a jury of experts assesses, evaluates, and judges the products entered. The winners are announced in October and an awards ceremony will place at Worlddidac Basel 2010.
The Worlddidac Award has the following aims: to motivate manufacturers of educational products towards the development of high quality and innovative products and to support the continuous further development, and thus improvement, of learning and teaching.
Continuous further development, diverse reforms, and technological advances in the education sector have led the Worlddidac Foundation to make several changes. Recent years have seen an increased call for greater quality in all sectors. The Worlddidac Foundation has therefore decided to place greater emphasis on quality. Innovation will still be part of the Award, yet more awards will be given in 2010 for quality than innovation.
Further changes have been made to the evaluation process. Before the jury of experts judges the products, a jury of teachers will carry out a pre-evaluation and will assess the products from a teacher's point of view. The judgment of the teaching jury will count for 1/3 and will, therefore, have great influence on the end results (jury of experts 2/3).
In order to increase transparency, the requirement has been introduced that every entrant must submit the telephone and e-mail details of two referees to whom the panel of experts can turn with questions. Finally, the categories and participation fees have been modified according to the changes outlined above.
