How students can cash in on Best Buy’s $200,000 tech fund

If you're a student or educator, chances are you can benefit from some extra tech in the classroom, be it extra laptops or tablets for a computer lab, cameras and other photography gear for multimedia courses or digital recording equipment for music creators.

Canadian teachers who make their case in 500 words or less could be eligible for up to $20,000 in Best Buy gift cards, as part of the electronic retailer giant's generous Best in Class fund.

For the fourth year in a row, Best Buy is giving away a total of $200,000 in gift cards to Canadian schools. Submissions are open until November 17 for teachers with students in Kindergarten to Grade 8.

With or without help from the classroom, teachers are encouraged to write a convincing explanation on why they believe tech could benefit their classroom and how they'd use the funds. The official question at the online submission site is "How do you plan to use the technology with your students to inspire and enhance their education?"

It shouldn't be too hard of an argument to make given how technology touches every facet of our lives — and will play an even greater role in the future when today's grade school kids are looking for work. Preparing students for the digital world they're growing up in is a key objective of the Best in Class fund.

The application also includes a budget component to highlight the item(s) and resources you would purchase (such as touchscreen tablets) and the quantity of each (say, 24). The request can be big or small, though the total amount should not be more than $20,000.

Submissions for Best in Class are reviewed by Best Buy's internal team and winning schools will be announced in January, 2012. Only one submission is allowed per school and previous Best in Class fund grant recipients are not eligible to apply to the program.

Watch this video on previous winners and how the classrooms benefitted from the infusion in technology.