Institutions, organisations and individuals at the forefront of creativity in America’s international education industry were recognised at the second GoAbroad Innovation Awards, held at the NAFSA 2012 Annual Conference & Expo last week.
Award categories were varied, covering areas such as marketing, sustainability, programme quality and social media among others. Among the winners were EF International Language Centers for the innovation in marketing award (for their cool Live the Language videos) and SIT Graduate Institute and SIT Study Abroad for innovative use of technology.
“This is our chance to share these amazing programmes and projects with the field,” said Troy Peden, GoAbroad.com. “The economy has had an impact on international education and experiential travel but the field continues to see growth through innovation.”
“It’s a really great effort on GoAbroad.com’s part” said Blake Cooper, study abroad outreach & communications coordinator at University of California Davis, whose social media platform, Aggies Abroad, won the Innovation in Social Media award.
“It’s nice that there’s a group out there to research, accept nominations and give committee developed feedback. The patch that we have for the website to show we’re the winner is really smart.”
“It’s nice that there’s a group out there to research, accept nominations and give committee developed feedback”
GoAbroad.com is one of the USA’s leading international education and experiential travel resources, offering students internships, courses and volunteer opportunities.
It assigned a group of international education professionals to pick winners in each category, except for the Innovative Student Video and People’s Choice award. These were selected based on the results of an online poll that ran up until the night before the reception, with over 8,000 votes collected between the two categories.
Cooper said that he has already had calls from industry professionals asking for information on how to build innovative social platforms. “It was great to get this recognition because now other people can learn about the platform we’re using and can hopefully start using it too because it’s great for the students.”
The complete list of the 2012 winners:
INNOVATION IN MARKETING:
EF International Language Centers
“Live the Language Films”
INNOVATIVE NEW PROGRAM – STUDY ABROAD:
Center for Global Education, Wheaton College
”Study Abroad Program in the Kingdom of Bhutan”
INNOVATIVE NEW PROGRAM – INTERNSHIP:
Academic Studies Abroad (ASA)
”Business in the Arts and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Internship
INNOVATIVE NEW PROGRAM – VOLUNTEER:
Rustic Pathways
”Women Speaking Volunteer Project”
INNOVATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY:
SIT Graduate Institute and SIT Study Abroad
“LibGuides”
INNOVATIVE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
University of California, Davis
“Aggies Abroad Network”
INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABILITY:
ProWorld
“Cleaner Burning Stove Project”
INNOVATION IN GLOBAL ACCESS & EQUITY:
Center for Global Education, Augsburg College
”Summer Academic Program in Mexico”
INNOVATIVE STUDENT VIDEO:
CRCC Asia
”CRCC Asia Summer 2011 Video Competition by Kate Gantner and Andrew Ignacio”
PEOPLE’S CHOICE:
The Education Abroad Network
For further information, go to http://www.goabroad.com/blog/2012/06/05/goabroad-innovation-awards-winners/.