10-24+eINSPIRE

October 24, 2011

__NASA INSPIRE Taking New Applications__
Do you have friends at school who wish they could have joined you as a member of the INSPIRE Online Learning Community? Make sure they get this great news! Due to increased interest, NASA INSPIRE is excited to announce additional spaces have been made available in the NASA INSPIRE Online Learning Community. The applications will **open** on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, at 12 noon CT, and are **due** by November 9, 2011, at 12 noon CT, for all those interested in becoming INSPIRE OLC members. Click [|here] to go to the INSPIRE application site at http://inspire.okstate.edu.

Tell your friends to start preparing their application now by requesting an official transcript from their school. Remind them the official transcript must include their 2011 spring semester grades. The mailing address is provided on the application.

If your friends, their parents, or your teachers want to learn more about this exciting project, ask them to please visit [|INSPIRE's Application Website].

__RealWorld/InWorld Teams Post Tomorrow__
Due to some last minute additions to the roster of RealWorld/InWorld Design Challenge participants, announcement of teams will be delayed until tomorrow. They will be posted after noon CT on the Discussion Board in the RealWorld/InWorld forum.

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

__**LiveChats **__
// Date: // Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 // Time: // 8 p.m. CT Sign up on the Discussion Board/Weekly LiveChat Sign Up now! // Speaker: // TBD //Topic:// Earth Science

__Virtual Visits - Learn About New Careers__
An addition to our short activities will be a recurring feature called 'Virtual Visits.' These activities utilize short videos of NASA engineers, scientists, and managers who discuss their backgrounds and careers. The videos were produced by the NASA Digital Learning Network, and can be found at []

__Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award__
One goal of INSPIRE is to share with our community opportunities available to challenge and motivate you to reach your highest potential. The Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award (www.conradawards.org) is a challenge enlisting students to create innovative products using science, technology, and entrepreneurship to solve real-world, 21st century problems. The Conrad Foundation was created by the family of late astronaut Pete Conrad (Apollo 12), with NASA serving as a government partner. A webinar will be available to explain the competition and answer questions.

Innovation Challenge Webinar for Students and Coaches/Teacher Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. CT Registration Web Link: []

Interested students are encouraged to sign up on the Conrad website, attend the webinar, and contact a teacher at your school to be a coach. The INSPIRE OLC will support student teams by providing space on the Discussion Board to share with other INSPIRE students participating in the challenge. In addition, 200 points will be awarded to students for sharing your final project. We encourage our community to participate in this challenge, and look forward to your innovations!

__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 Blog **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 LiveChats, or when an important deadline looms. Search for and follow "@nasainspire."