10-3+eINSPIRE

October 3, 2011

**__VOTING FOR INSPIRE TEAM PATCH BEGINS TOMORROW__**
The submissions are in, and now it is your turn to pick the Team Patch that will represent this year's Online Learning Community! This Team Patch will be utilized throughout the OLC and even on NASA INSPIRE official communications and products. Over 100 designs were submitted to the OLC drop box, and INSPIRE staff have scoured through them to bring you the selections meeting our strict criteria for a Team Patch. Selection will take place using a bracket method familiar to those of you who follow the NCAA March Madness. You will select your favorite from pairs of patches, with the selections receiving the highest number of votes moving into the next round. Come back each day to see if your favorites made the cut, and to vote your favorite patch into the final rounds! Brackets will be posted on Tuesday with voting to begin immediately and continuing each day. Good luck to all who made submissions!

More information including full competition rules is available on the Discover page.

__RealWorld/InWorld Engineering Design Challenge Sign Up Opens__
Teams are now forming for the 2011-2012 RealWorld/InWorld (RW/IW) Engineering Design Challenge in the INSPIRE OLC Discussion Boards. Teams consist of five students, and you have the choice of selecting your team members or being placed on a team by INSPIRE staff. An information chat with RW/IW challenge manager, Sharon Bowers, will be held on **Tuesday, October 4, at 6:00pm CT** for any new or returning students who want to find out about the challenge or ask questions. Parents are invited, but should attend with their student if possible to allow places for interested students. You can sign up in the OLC Discussion Board through October 27. You __must__ also sign up on the RW/IW website at http://www.nasarealworldinworld.org/ to proceed with the competition.

__Students and Parents/Caregivers: Activate Your Account by Tuesday, October 4th!__
If you were invited to be a member of the 2011-2012 INSPIRE Online Learning Community, you must activate your account by 12:00pm (Noon) Central Time on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011. This also includes accounts sent to parents/caregivers of our INSPIRE students. Activate the account by using the username and password emailed to you to complete the enrollment requirements. Once **both** student and parent/caregiver have completed all required steps, access will be given to the education content of the OLC. Failure to complete these steps will result in removal from the OLC. This will allow other deserving students, who were not selected, an opportunity to participate. If you experience difficulty in completing the activation process, please email nasainspire@okstate.edu or call 1-800-358-2724.

__**This Month’s Theme **__
Earth Month __**Weekly Sub-theme**__ Weather

__**LiveChats **__
// Date: // Tuesday, October 4, 2011 // Time: // 6:00 PM CT Sign up on the Discussion Board/Other Chat Sign Up now! // Speaker: // Sharon Bowers //Topic:// RealWorld/InWorld Challenge Information Chat

// Date: // Thursday, October 6, 2011 // Time: // 8:00 PM CT Sign up on the Discussion Board/Weekly LiveChat Sign Up now! // Speaker: // Ron Miller, Goddard Space Flight Center-GISS //Topic:// Scientific Study of Weather

__What's in the OLC?__
The Online Learning Community is a big place, and if you have just joined our community it may be a little intimidating. To help you get around, we have developed a Features page to show you what is where and how to get there. You'll find a link to the Features area by logging in to the OLC and clicking on the OLC 2011-12 Features link found under the OLC Links box at the middle right of the Home page.

__OLC Wall of Fame__
The Wall of Fame will be located inside the OLC to honor student accomplishments, including both those who have excelled in the Online Learning Community and those who have won awards at home. If you have received a national, regional, or state level award, let us know! Go to the Wall of Fame dropbox, fill out the form and submit your information in the Wall of Fame dropbox.

__Bloggers Wanted!__
Do you have something you would like to say? Or do you want to report on something going on at school, like your Science Fair or FIRST Team? Write it out and submit to the INSPIRE Blog! You will find the dropbox linked from the Discover page. 10 points will be given for any blog article used (your blog must appear under the INSPIRE Blog on the Connect page). You may submit as often as you wish.

__INSPIRE on Twitter__
If you have a Twitter account you can receive timely messages from NASA INSPIRE. Tweets are sent out notifying our group of new eINSPIRE, upcoming Live Chats, or when an important deadline looms. Search for and follow "@nasainspire."