DonorsChoose, the online charity for classrooms, recently announced the results of its Hacking Education Contest, which challenged developers to create interactive apps to help engage the public in classroom projects. The winner—selected by judges Arianna Huffington, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, and TFA’s Wendy Kopp—was Michael Nutt of New York City, who developed the DonorsChoose Signature. Rather elegant in its simplicity, the app dynamically adds urgent classroom projects from the DonorsChoose database to users’ e-mail signature lines. Other contest finalists are shown here.
Speaking of DonorsChoose, an article from The Gainesville Sun (Fla.) notes that, as school budgets continue to decline, the service is becoming a standard resource for teachers in need of basic supplies. The article quotes from one teacher’s donation application: “The budget is nearly nonexistent. ... The students ‘make do’ with everything else, but I would love a new carpet to enhance our classroom community and to help my sweet pre-kindergartners learn.” She was seeking $500.