In the early hours of Friday morning on the 30th of September, two of the Vocabulary Voyagers app inventors (Delaney & Kira) and their teacher, Michelle Fitzpatrick, were interviewed by James Lush on radio 720 ABC Perth.
The Tech Girl Superheroes are the National Winners of the 2016 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero competition, with their app which is not only useful in targeting the areas of spelling, grammar, vocabulary and reading, but it’s also lots of fun! Read about the other winners here.
The app creators looked into NAPLAN results and discovered that the government is putting in a lot of money into trying to increase NAPLAN results but results are still plateauing, and they decided to choose a different way of presenting it to kids, that is, through gamification.
The Tech Girl Team, who represent Western Australia as the Secondary State Finalists, also spoke about skills they have gained, such as coding, creating a business plan, improving their networking & public speaking skills.
These experiences have built their confidence, and opened a lot of career paths for them that they weren’t initially expecting.
Their teacher Michelle, spoke about how coding is now available in every single year group (from Junior all the way up to Year 10), as well as keeping the elective so that girls’ can take their IT further than just compulsory IT. Vocabulary Voyagers are one of 12 teams that competed from WA, and since their WA Finalist win in 2015 they have been role models for young students at St. Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School.
Apply now! Registrations open!
In August 2017, Vocabulary Voyagers will represent Australia as Tech Girls Movement Ambassadors in all the way to San Francisco to pitch their business plan and app at the global Technovation Challenge! Thanks to Technology One for supporting us in this trip!
Earlier this year, nearly 500 techgirls set out in 124 teams across 6 states of Australia to compete in the 2016 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero. The goal: to use technology to make the world a better place.
On the 18th of September, at the Queensland Showcase, the State Finalists were announced; two primary school teams and five secondary school teams. Two weeks later, on the 29th of September, the primary school and secondary school winners were announced at the New South Wales showcase.
Primary – team READING REPUBLIC
angelica, claire, sophia & sabrina
st philip neri catholic primary school
Reading Republic is a free reading application which encourages reading for young people through interactive quizzes, rewards, and avatars.
Reading Republic has an interactive library (with book reviews). The app aims to increase memory, vocabulary, written and analytical skills as well as stress reduction through mini-games.
In their business plan, the app designers identified “that children today are very active and stimulated. Reading Republic offers them valuable skills that they need in an interactive and interesting way and to share their excitement of reading with others”, and this is how they came up with the idea for their app!
Secondary – TEAM VOCABULARY VOYAGERS
kira, teale & delaney
st mary’s anglican girls’ school
Vocabulary Voyagers is a free literacy app targeted at primary school students to improve their literacy reading skills in a fun, digital environment. Vocabulary Voyagers has enjoyable mini-games and “quirky pirates” which aims to help children build a foundation to aid in literacy at a secondary level.
Vocabulary Voyager offers a range of present spelling lists based on the Australian curriculum, NAPLAN tests, and difficult words. In their business plan, the app designers identified that “in Australia, only 48.6% of students in year 6 attain the Proficient standard for NAPLAN… and that everybody should have the opportunity to enhance their spelling ability”, and this is how they came up with the idea for their app.
It was a superbly fun and inspiring day and congrats to all entrants in the competition, and to everyone who helped along the way including the teachers, mentors and judges. We could not have such a great program without you.
Cannot wait to see your entries in the 2017 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero! Build your own future, techgirls 🙂
We had a sensational event last Sunday at the Cube at QUT. Mind blowing seeing our 15 teams from primary and secondary showing off their apps to our 350 strong audience. We had great Masterclass with Genie Solutions and a very popular UX workshop with Suncorp who have provided amazing mentors this year for our teams in the competition.
The Honourable Leeanne Enoch, Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business gave an inspiring speech, and announced our Qld State Finalists and awarded them their prize – you can read all about their incredible innovations here. Dr. Catherine Ball – our Dame of Drones – was our brilliant MC for the day, giving us many reasons why we should buy a drone for Christmas 🙂 Listen to her podcast series here. She interviews our very own superhero Dynazap for her first podcast!
Our very own Jewella donned a new red cape to greet our many tech girl guests, including a special gift to thank the Minister, and the obligatory cupcakes were inhaled by the masses – an obvious hit!
With speeches from Associate Professor Peta Wyeth from QUT, Kathy Carr from Technology One, Orla Fourie from Suncorp and our very own Tech Girls Movement Ambassadors Team Pawsout talking about their amazing adventures with us over the past 12 months, it was a jam-packed day full of laughs, fun and technology.
We awarded our local Qld teams their prizes: Clayfield College won the Secondary Prize with their app Study Buddy and Mt Gravatt East State School won the Primary Prize with their app Bye Bye Cultural Bullying. Love the look on their faces when we announced them as winners!
A special shoutout personally from Jewella goes to our talented team from Ormiston College. They used makey makey to add sounds to some of our tech girls stories like Jewella and Enthusiastica – opening up a whole world of possibilities for people to interact with storytelling and technology.
Also a thanks to Finn and Mikayla from West End State School who were our (9yo) roving reporters on the day. We are so inspired by all of the tech girls who participated in the competition, and who attended on the day.
Next up, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne showcases this week! See you there tech girls. Then let’s take over the world with the global Technovation Challenge – New website coming soon so stay tuned!
You can also read about us here in the ABC news, and here in the Source News.
We are super excited to announce the 2016 State Finalists and Runners Up in the Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero! We are so very proud of all tech girls who participated in the competition – we think you are all winners! You have inspired us immensely by solving really important problems in your local communities. We hope you have learnt new things and had fun along the way working with your mentor and coach. It was really difficult for our judges with 75 teams vying for awards. Based on the points allocated by at least 3 independent judges for each team, we announce our Finalists below. Congrats!
NSW Finalists: Reading Republic from St Philip Neri School – …app aims to increase memory, vocabulary, written and analytical skills as well as stress reduction through mini-games
QLD Finalists: Bye Bye Cultural Bullying from Mount Gravatt East Primary School – …app educates students about different countries and cultures as well as informing them about bullying, how to prevent bullying and most importantly how to get help if you need it. Pitch VideoDemo Video
Special Mention – Primary (one entry in VIC and two in SA)
VIC Special Mention: Bialik College – Trash Dash – …app aimed at younger children to teach them how to recycle different items properly through a fun and interactive game. Pitch VideoDemo Video
SA Special Mention: Bridgewater Primary School – Brunch Box –…app to encourage people of all ages to pack and eat more nude food. Parents and volunteers can keep up to date with everything happening in the kitchen and garden at their school.
Star of the Sea School – MarinExplorer – …app helps beachcombers identify marine life or objects they see at the beach. Users scan one of the QR codes provided, and then receive information on the particular marine flora or fauna they have found. Pitch VideoDemo Video
State Finalists Secondary
NSW Finalists: Amuse from Nagle College – …app helps to quickly relieve daily stress for both teenagers and adults through means of education and entertainment. Pitch VideoDemo Video
TAS Finalists: From the Docks fromSt Michael’s Collegiate School – …app targeted at tourists coming into Hobart on cruise ships without the need of a multitude of maps and information booklets… short guided tours in the areas of family history, food, and exploration. Pitch VideoDemo Video
TAS Runners Up: St Michael’s Collegiate School –Alcohol Consumption Tracker – Pitch VideoDemo Video St Michael’s Collegiate School – Collegiate Subject Choice App Pitch Video Demo Video
VIC Finalists: Cars Connect fromBialik College – …app allows parents to organise the carpooling of their children, connect with other parents through instant messaging, an organised roster schedule & reminder notifications. Pitch VideoDemo Video
WA Finalists: Vocabulary Voyagers from St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School – …app works to improve spelling ability through games, activities and reading…spelling lists based on the Australian curriculum, NAPLAN tests. Pitch VideoDemo Video
QLD Finalists: Study Buddy from Clayfield College – …app allows students who are struggling with their school work to get extra helpat school by pairing students with others who are willing to help mentor. It is aimed at secondary students in the areas of English, Maths, and Science. Pitch VideoDemo Video
We are super excited to announce that we will host our first ever Perth showcase on the 29th September at 5pm to celebrate the many entries from WA this year, including our WA finalists. All techgirls, parents and teachers are welcome.
Last week we participated in the biggest event on the Tech Girls Movement calendar, the biannual, ‘Go Girl, Go for IT’ event, held at Deakin University in Melbourne.
This year was our fifth Go Girl event.
We’ve been participating for a long time and we love the day so much. This year we had almost 2, 000 girls come from far and wide onto the University campus to meet a whole bunch of incredible women working in STEM to hear them speak, to learn about how technology can be used in so many different areas, and to excite them about the possibilities of the future of working in technology.
Our very own Jewella did back-to-back presentations to more than 300 girls, talking about the importance of failure as a necessary means for success. Celebrating many of the success stories of the search for the next Tech Girl Superhero in her presentation, Jewella inspired and encouraged the audience to think about the possibilities of the future and what type of contribution they could make with technology. Then, our superhero looked after our expo-stand amongst thirty other companies, where girls came to get their Instagram selfie photo, a show bag, and a whole bunch of Tech Girls goodies.
This is such an important event and we’re so glad to participate. If you want to know about our research on these events for the past ten years, go to www.techgirlsmovement.org/our-research/
Remember: Anything is possible!
We are so very proud of our superheroes who competed in the Annual Women in Technology awards!
Congratulations to Mathilde Desselle, a TGM Board Member, WIT Board Member, and Program Coordinator / Antibiotics Hunter at the University of Queensland who took out the Professional Award
“Winning this award is a great validation of what I achieved to date in the space of health sciences and open-access research, and of my vision for the future for advancing human health. I feel very honoured to be recognised as a leader in my field among a high level of incredibly talented women in technology” says Mathilde.
Congratulations also to Gemma Lloyd, Co-Founder of Diverse City Careers who won the Entrepreneur Award
“Receiving this award for something we’re so passionate about and have worked so hard on is a dream come true. Over the last two years, whilst starting a business isn’t easy, seeing clients attract talented women, and seeing those women gain employment with truly supportive employers has been incredibly rewarding. I’m excited for DCC’s continued growth within Australia as the number one jobs platform for women, and for our next phase of expanding the platform globally”
Congratulations also to our upcoming featured superhero Dr. Catherine Ball who was runner-up in the Entrepreneur Award category. Talk about tough competition!
Catherine – our very own Dame of Drones – will be one of 4 new stories featured in our new edition of Tech Girls Are Superheroes 2 due out soon! You will have to wait to see her awesome avatar 🙂
Judging is almost complete in the 2016 search for the next Tech Girl Superhero. We have been overwhelmed here at the Tech Girls Movement with the quality of the entries this year and the sheer incredible ideas that our next generation of leaders are coming up with.
Covering issues like homework help, saving the local environment, coordinating kids activities and issues like bullying; this year’s entries come from far and wide, cover many many topics and really are mind blowing in their innovation.
We are so grateful to all of our judges who volunteer their time to help us give the feedback to teams and to help us make a decision as to who will become this year’s state finalists and the national winners of the next Tech Girls Superhero.
Stay tuned!
If you haven’t yet signed up for our showcase events – register now
This Friday our very own Jewella, along with Team PawsOut will attend the annual Queensland Women in Technology (WIT) gala dinner as special guests of our hosts TechnologyOne, our supportive partner at the Tech Girls Movement.
This is team PawsOut’s first gala event where we get to frock up and mix with the most awesomeness of the tech industry in Brisbane. We are very excited to cheer our superheroes on who have been nominated for awards this year. Congratulations to Gemma Lloyd from Diverse City Careers for being a finalist in the entrepreneurship award, also to our upcoming featured superhero Dr Catherine Ball from Elemental Strategy who is our Dame of Drones, also up the same award (talk about tough competition!) and thirdly, congratulations to Mathilde Desselle, our Tech Girls Movement board member, for being a finalist in the ICT Professional Award.
What a line up! We wish our incredible role models all the best – even to make it this far they are all winners we think! Cheers to fun night networking and meeting people and sharing the good word about team PawsOut’s app, which is being launched in September. Exciting stuff!
Now, where’s that cape? 🙂
Melbourne based startup Code the Future Ltd (codefuture.org). has taken out the Innovation Award at last night’s ANZIAs presentation. The event, hosted by auDA (.au Domain Administration Ltd) celebrates the achievements of the ANZIA winners who are setting new benchmarks for the Internet industry.
The ANZIAs are a collaborative effort between auDA and InternetNZ. The awards aim to commend those individuals and organisations that have made a positive contribution to the accessibility, security and innovation of the Internet, making it an even more valued space for all users.
The innovation award was judged on the way organisations have used internet-related technologies in new and unique ways that address and make a significant contribution to a community or public need. Knowing how to code is too rare a skill in our society. This makes it even harder to teach. That’s where Code the Future comes in. Code the Future connects teachers in schools with local software developers from the surrounding community. These developers volunteer their time to come into the classroom as industry experts, partnering with the teacher to help kids learn to code. Code the Future has been lucky to have developers from companies like Xero, Real Estate Australia, Ausmed and Transurban volunteer in their projects.
Co-founders, Will Egan and Bec Spink were thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the 1000s of educators and volunteer software developers who are helping to redefine how coding can be taught in schools throughout Australia. Less than two years ago Code the Future was merely an idea being pitched at a Startup Weekend in Melbourne. It has been fast success for the organisation with more and more schools and developers being connected each week, enabling an increasing number of kids in schools learning to code.
The ANZIA Innovation Award will provide another avenue for Code the Future to get their message out and make their impact even greater. Cameron Boardman, auDA CEO, commented that “it is encouraging to see such diversity and innovation across the wider tech sector. auDA is particularly proud of the success of four Australian applicants, who took home ANZIA trophies this year.”
For Code the Future, the award represents the efforts of 100s of people along the way, but Bec and Will thanked their immediate team, John Knight, Gemma Sherwood, Nigel Sheridan-Smith, Hugh Middleton and Aidan Partington.
