To share excitement of Global Finals with the world
CHERRY HILL, NJ – So the world can keep up with all of the exciting news and fast-paced action, Destination Imagination is planning to launch a high-tech online streaming broadcast channel during its annual creativity celebration taking place in May.
The online media production, to be known as DITV, will allow student reporters to experience first-hand the technology, scripting, time-demands, planning, organization, production, and modern newsgathering skills required to create and stream content over the internet.
DITV will be streamed on the web 24 hours a day during the Global Finals competition May 23-26, with studio interviews taking place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time daily. DITV may be accessed through the website www.globalfinals.org beginning at 11 a.m. on May 23.
The broadcast display will have three areas of content. A window (largest area of the screen) will contain the student reporter interviews, commercials, upcoming events, animations, and general “b-roll” or footage from the event. The bottom portion of the display will have a scrolling Twitter feed. One side of the screen will be used to show timely information such as updates, commercials, and scheduling changes.
"In everything we do, we strive to give DI participants relevant, meaningful experience with technologies that will give them a competitive edge in the world and prepare them for the future," said Chuck Cadle, M.Ed., CEO of Destination ImagiNation Inc., a 501 (c)(3) non-profit with more than 1.5 million alumni and a global network of 35,000 volunteers.
"With global interest in this event, DITV will be a way for the world to keep up with the Global Finals experience, and it will be a crucible in which serious learning will take place for the youth involved in its operation."
DITV news teams will be roving all the venues at Global Finals on the University of Tennessee campus, Knoxville Convention Center, and World’s Fair Park gathering news for the day's programming, while interviews with VIPs and newsmakers will take place in studio to round out coverage. DITV will be streamed to TV monitors in the Knoxville Convention Center, and to hotels where DI teams, parents, supporters and others will be lodging during Global Finals.
Opening and closing ceremonies for Global Finals will be broadcast live on DITV.
"We are extending the Global Finals experience beyond Knoxville," commented Pete Sandford, Executive Vice President at NXLevel Solutions, which is overseeing the project. "We are building a state of the art custom user interface, with everything being done at very professional levels of design, development and implementation."
Out of the 100,000 students participating in team challenges globally , only about 8,000 will earn the right to compete at Global Finals May 23-26, where they will find out if they have the skills to be counted among the world's best creative thinkers.
Destination Imagination officials said today they expect more than 1,200 U.S. and international teams to qualify for a shot at problem solving bragging rights when they converge the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for Global Finals.
BETTER GRADES CREDITED TO DESTINATION IMAGINATION
In a survey on 1,000 students at Global Finals last year, nearly half said taking part in DI had improved their grades, and a majority reported that DI helps them "do better in school." The majority also said DI helps them develop critical thinking skills, self-confidence, leadership and the ability to communicate better.
Destination Imagination is an educational program where student teams are immersed in the creative process needed to solve open-ended challenges, and then present their solutions at local and regional tournaments. If they win at those levels, they gradually work their way up to an invitation to Global Finals.
“The DI competition requires students to work through some very demanding critical thinking and problem solving assignments that strengthen our educational systems by enhancing the learning processes taking place in the classroom,” declared Cadle. “We’ve seen the development of superior aptitudes in analytical thinking, leadership, project management, teamwork, communication, research and innovation in hundreds of thousands of youth since our organization’s inception almost three decades ago, and we believe Destination Imagination has the potential to bridge the gap between what is taught in our schools and the thinking skills our youth will need to succeed in the world of the future.”
Destination Imagination dedicates itself to enriching the global community by providing opportunities for learners of all ages to explore and discover unlimited creative potential through teamwork, cooperation and mutual respect.
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