Mouse is thrilled to have been selected as a finalist for the Digital Media & Learning Competition!

Launched by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC, and Mozilla Foundation, this $2 million competition is designed to encourage the creation of digital badges and badge systems that support, identify, measure and account for new skills, competencies, knowledge and achievements for 21st century learners. The Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition focuses on badges as a means to inspire learning, confirm accomplishment, or validate the acquisition of knowledge or skills.

Mouse has submitted their Badge-based Achievement System for National Youth Technology Leadership that rewards youth for their active role in the national Mouse Network through its web-based network platform: www.mousesquad.org. Badges reward student achievements including online and offline network participation, skills-building, and project work.

Mouse has been invited to enter Stage Three of this competition, which brings together winning badge content and program proposals from Stage One and collaborator content with winning badge system and technology designs from Stage Two to form comprehensive teams.  This phase will culminate in the Finals: two days of face-to-face meetings to finalize the proposal, and then “pitching” their proposed badge systems to an expert panel of judges.

Winning badge systems will be selected from those presented at the Finals in Stage Three by an expert panel of judges and announced on March 1, 2012 at the Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Francisco. The winning teams rom Stage Three will receive awards ranging from $10,000 to $200,000.

Check out the list of Digital Media and Learning Competition finalists here.