The Bucks Mash-up
Contest is a new way for
students at Bucks to present
research in different way.
The program started in
2009 as a new way for students
at Bucks to research a
particular project.
The program’s website,
http://www.bucks.edu/m
ashup/index.php, states,
“The contest demonstrates
and promotes media literacy
and effective assignment
design.”
The creators of the multimedia
mash-up program –
Jim Sell, Kelly Sell and
Marilyn Puchalski – created
the program to “spark the
interest of faculty and students
and create an alternative
to the traditional
paper,” says Jackie Fritz.
Fritz is the co-chair of the
mash-up team. She has been
a member of the team since
2010.
Fritz also teaches an INTG
Food and Society course at
Bucks and is the Faculty
Liaison for Teaching and
Learning Technology
Roundtable (TLTR).
The mash-up contest project
was modeled from a
program used at the
University of Pennsylvania.
The contest has grown in
popularity; in 2009 there
were seven entries, last year
there were 24.
“They were getting such
great results and enthusiasm
from the students at
Penn. That was another reason
why the contest was
brought over to the Bucks
community,” Fritz said.
One way to enter into the
Mash-up contest requires
completing the project as an
assignment given by an
instructor during the semester.
This is to encourage faculty
to make use of this
option as an academic tool
for students.
Students learn to incorporate
different multi-media
in ways that are not traditionally
used. “The contest
benefits visual and tactile
learners,” Fritz said.
In a ceremony entitled
“The Tyler,” winners of the
contest are awarded cash
prizes. There are three categories:
Best group mash-up,
best individual mash-up
and runner up.
Panels of judges choose
the winner based on a
rubric which takes into consideration
five areas for of
the presentations: Clarity
and consistency, coherency,
content and knowledge,
creativity and originality
and citation.
Bucks Alumni Association
sponsors the contest and
participates in the award
ceremony. This is the second
year the association has
sponsored the contest.
Tobi Bruhn, executive
director of the Bucks
Alumni Association said,
“This kind of contest
inspires the creativity of our
current students. We wanted
to make sure we can help
in sponsoring such a creative
way of how students
express their views and
opinions.”
The deadline for entering
the contest was April 15.