Want to test the Bitcoin education scholarship donation system?

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Hello everyone, the Immersive Education Initiative is now testing the BTC donation system in preparation for announcing the Bitcoin education scholarship that I wrote earlier about in this forum post:

  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=623771.msg6916727#msg6916727

If you'd like to help test it please let me know! You can send me a private message me here, or you can email me at barbara.miko@ImmersiveEducation.org

The testing is pretty straight-forward, and just involves donating a tiny fraction of BTC to the scholarship fund (which we can refund or send back to you) to ensure that it's all working properly before it's announced and "open" to the public. With the testing link that would send to you you'll also see the majority of the official announcement that is scheduled for release as soon as testing is complete (most likely today or tomorrow).

Thanks for your help!

Barbara
...
Barbara J. Mikolajczak
Boston College, Woods College of Advancing Studies
Immersive Education Initiative
Email : barbara.miko@ImmersiveEducation.org
Web   : http://ImmersiveEducation.org

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[Ludi]

You want people to donate to test if its working?  Sounds like a scam.

[unexecuted]

Are you going to make donations for students' education or how it works? I can't say I got you ideas.

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

You want people to donate to test if its working?

There's no need, as the testing is underway now, but if anyone here wants to test as well we would send them 0.00100000 BTC and then they would just send it back (to test the transaction system).  The amount it pretty tiny, as it's a transaction test, but I do understand your point!


Barbara
...
Barbara J. Mikolajczak
Boston College, Woods College of Advancing Studies
Immersive Education Initiative
Email : barbara.miko@ImmersiveEducation.org
Web   : http://ImmersiveEducation.org

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Are you going to make donations for students' education or how it works?

Hi Ludi. Below are a few snippets from the announcement that will be released once the testing is complete (I can't paste it all here, but hopefully these bits/snippets of it are helpful in answering your question?). For the first dispersal category (Professional Development) you'll see how we're applying that to teachers and students to attend the IMMERSION 2014 conference, and for the second dispersal category (Intellectual Enrichment) we have a partnership with the Smithsonian to roll it out in the fall K-12 schools in Boston, Maryland, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri:


The Immersive Education Initiative scholarship is a global education scholarship funded entirely through Bitcoin.  [...]

Scholarship Dispersal

Scholarship funds are allocated under two categories:

Professional Development: Funding for teachers, students and budding young entrepreneurs to attend educational conferences, receive training and certification on immersive technologies for education, and enroll in camps, clubs and classes that they could not afford otherwise.

Intellectual Enrichment: Rewards learners of all ages who complete intellectually challenging tasks using educational software as well as using commercial video games and software products that, while not specifically designed for educational purposes, support intellectually challenging and enriching activities (such as Minecraft, Portal, LittleBigPlanet, Civilization, Google Earth & Sky, Scribblenauts).

[...]

The Immersive Education Initiative, in collaboration with four different non-profit and educational organizations (United Teachers of Los Angeles, LA Fund, California Community Foundation, and the Catholic Education Foundation ), has identified over 100 teachers and students who would like to attend IMMERSION 2014 but cannot afford the registration fee. Seats have been reserved for each of these in-need teachers and students, and with your help they can all attend. Donate any amount of Bitcoin to the scholarship fund today: every BTC counts!
 
[...]



Maybe this helps to clarify what you read in my original post?

Barbara
...
Barbara J. Mikolajczak
Boston College, Woods College of Advancing Studies
Immersive Education Initiative
Email : barbara.miko@ImmersiveEducation.org
Web   : http://ImmersiveEducation.org

[Ron~Popeil]

Do you have a .edu e-mail address? I don't mean to be suspicious but you would not believe the sheer amount of scams that we get here.

[Light]

Do you have a .edu e-mail address? I don't mean to be suspicious but you would not believe the sheer amount of scams that we get here.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Real educational organisations should have no issues in getting the verification necessary to get an edu domain and email address. It's not that hard for people to buy a .org domain.

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Do you have a .edu e-mail address? I don't mean to be suspicious but you would not believe the sheer amount of scams that we get here.

I certainly do, and appreciate your asking: I didn't even think about my Institute account being an issue here. Below is my Boston College contact information:

Barbara Mikolajczak
Boston College, College of Advancing Studies
Email: barbara.mikolajczak@bc.edu
Campus Phone: 617-552-3900

And here is a link to the Computer Information Technology program that I teach in, where you will see a description of a few of the Immersive Education courses I am teaching right now (during the 1st summer session). You'll see "Immersive Education" at the top of the page and you can see the courses I'm teaching this summer session by looking for my name (Mikolajczak) on the course list:

http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/schools/advstudies/courses/undergrad/informationtechnology.html

I'm also presenting at IMMERSION 2014 during the "Immersive Education" module, where you'll see both my Boston College and Immersive Education Initiative credentials under my photo:

  http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org

This might be a little overkill, but here are links to local news stories written about the elementary school Immersive Education clubs and camps I run as well (related to my iED credentials under the photo on the conference website above):


Immersive Education Scratch Club featured at 24th Annual Boston Gala
The 24th Annual Inner-City Scholarship gala honored New England Patriot's football team owner Robert K. Kraft and was attended by Peter Lynch (Fidelity Investments) and Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley. Pope John Paul II appointed O’Malley Archbishop of Boston in July 2003, and Pope Benedict XVI named him a Cardinal in 2006. Photos and videos are online at:

 http://csfboston.org/calendarofupcommingandpastevents.html


First Immersive Education Scratch Club is a Great Success at Saint John:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2013/06/first-immersive-education-scratch-club-is-a-great-success-at-saint-john-school/

St. John School Immersive Education Scratch Club Hosts Hour of Code:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2013/12/st-john-school-immersive-education-scratch-club-hosts-hour-of-code/

St. John School featured on Radio Show This Week:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2014/02/st-john-school-principal-and-teachers-featured-on-the-good-catholic-life-radio-show-this-week-for-catholic-schools-week/


I hope this helps establish my credibility on this forum. I really didn't even think about my Initiative email address being questioned, and am glad you asked since you're probably not the only one wondering! And I did write for advice on the "safest and most secure" approach for our scholarship, so providing my credentials makes perfect sense.

Best wishes,
Barabara

[Ron~Popeil]

Do you have a .edu e-mail address? I don't mean to be suspicious but you would not believe the sheer amount of scams that we get here.

I certainly do, and appreciate your asking: I didn't even think about my Institute account being an issue here. Below is my Boston College contact information:

Barbara Mikolajczak
Boston College, College of Advancing Studies
Email: barbara.mikolajczak@bc.edu
Campus Phone: 617-552-3900

And here is a link to the Computer Information Technology program that I teach in, where you will see a description of a few of the Immersive Education courses I am teaching right now (during the 1st summer session). You'll see "Immersive Education" at the top of the page and you can see the courses I'm teaching this summer session by looking for my name (Mikolajczak) on the course list:

http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/schools/advstudies/courses/undergrad/informationtechnology.html

I'm also presenting at IMMERSION 2014 during the "Immersive Education" module, where you'll see both my Boston College and Immersive Education Initiative credentials under my photo:

  http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org

This might be a little overkill, but here are links to local news stories written about the elementary school Immersive Education clubs and camps I run as well (related to my iED credentials under the photo on the conference website above):


Immersive Education Scratch Club featured at 24th Annual Boston Gala
The 24th Annual Inner-City Scholarship gala honored New England Patriot's football team owner Robert K. Kraft and was attended by Peter Lynch (Fidelity Investments) and Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley. Pope John Paul II appointed O’Malley Archbishop of Boston in July 2003, and Pope Benedict XVI named him a Cardinal in 2006. Photos and videos are online at:

 http://csfboston.org/calendarofupcommingandpastevents.html


First Immersive Education Scratch Club is a Great Success at Saint John:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2013/06/first-immersive-education-scratch-club-is-a-great-success-at-saint-john-school/

St. John School Immersive Education Scratch Club Hosts Hour of Code:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2013/12/st-john-school-immersive-education-scratch-club-hosts-hour-of-code/

St. John School featured on Radio Show This Week:
http://northendwaterfront.com/2014/02/st-john-school-principal-and-teachers-featured-on-the-good-catholic-life-radio-show-this-week-for-catholic-schools-week/


I hope this helps establish my credibility on this forum. I really didn't even think about my Initiative email address being questioned, and am glad you asked since you're probably not the only one wondering! And I did write for advice on the "safest and most secure" approach for our scholarship, so providing my credentials makes perfect sense.

Best wishes,
Barabara

Thanks! I only noticed it because my wife is a professor at a small Liberal Arts University in PA so I knew to look for it. I think you will find this community to be very generous with worthy causes. We just tend to be overly cautious.

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Absolutely not a hassle or problem at all. As soon as I saw your question I realized that I hadn't properly established my credentials (although you have to admit that was one very long intro post I made!), and am glad to have been able to do it now. It has been a wonderfully long week so I'm going to "unplug" for the night but do appreciate your taking the time to let me know this was a concern! Barbara

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Hi everyone. The first announcement related to the Bitcoin scholarship is supposed to go out today. I haven't seen it yet, but when I do I will pass it along!  Barbara

[Swordsoffreedom]

Hi everyone. The first announcement related to the Bitcoin scholarship is supposed to go out today. I haven't seen it yet, but when I do I will pass it along!  Barbara

This looks like an interesting project and its nice to see these type of projects ongoing
Thanks for overkilling your references it helps to avoid the scams here and prove a project is real.
Anyways sent a PM if you need testers still

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Hi everyone. The first announcement related to the Bitcoin scholarship is supposed to go out today. I haven't seen it yet, but when I do I will pass it along!  Barbara

This looks like an interesting project and its nice to see these type of projects ongoing
Thanks for overkilling your references it helps to avoid the scams here and prove a project is real.
Anyways sent a PM if you need testers still

Thank you, and also to everyone who has offered to test. I just replied to your private message with the link to test the scholarship donation system with 0.0002 BTC (which we will refund, of course, if you'd like it back).

If anyone else would like to test before it's officially announced (and open/live) on Monday just let know.

Also, I am still awaiting the official announcement about the scholarship and will send that along as soon as I see it!

Barbara
...
Barbara Mikolajczak
Boston College, College of Advancing Studies
Email: barbara.mikolajczak@bc.edu
Campus Phone: 617-552-3900

[Swordsoffreedom]

Hi everyone. The first announcement related to the Bitcoin scholarship is supposed to go out today. I haven't seen it yet, but when I do I will pass it along!  Barbara

This looks like an interesting project and its nice to see these type of projects ongoing
Thanks for overkilling your references it helps to avoid the scams here and prove a project is real.
Anyways sent a PM if you need testers still

Thank you, and also to everyone who has offered to test. I just replied to your private message with the link to test the scholarship donation system with 0.0002 BTC (which we will refund, of course, if you'd like it back).

Received your PM and sent a reply back
Gave it a try good way to experiment with the system anyways tell me if it worked fine
Cheers

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Thank you very much. I just got your post here, but replied with a private message to you last night. I'm so glad that the quick test you did worked out so well

And, as it turned out, one of the announcements for the scholarship did go out yesterday after all. I'll post this in a separate post so everyone not following our conversation can see it as well:

Bitcoin Scholarship Funds IMMERSION 2014 Global Conference
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11903649.htm

Best,
Barbara
...
Barbara Mikolajczak
Boston College, College of Advancing Studies
Email: barbara.mikolajczak@bc.edu
Campus Phone: 617-552-3900

[Canis Lupus]

I dont see this working out... I sense a scam.

[Barbara Mikolajczak]

Hi Canis, this was an important question raised earlier in this post which I replied to in detail with my credentials and references to the organizations here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=632376.msg7046421#msg7046421

Hope that helps!
Barbara