Digging In and Getting Ideas Out

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In this post you will find:

1. All the National Materials and Updates
2. Teams needed to do demonstrations at Girl Fest
3. Detailed look into the Project Rubric Pilot
4. Share your Innovative Solution at OMSI or Cedar Mill Library

1)  All the National Materials and Updates

All of the printed materials your team needs are available online! Rules and strategies are new this year. Please don't just assume the way your team did things last year is exactly how things are done this year. Make sure your team understands the Challenge Manual. Ensure your team knows the updates to the game and the project (no new updates since September!)  Make sure your team is ready for success with the documents on this page.  If your team has a question make sure they identify the rules they are unsure of when submitting the question for review.  Strategy will not be recommended by anyone affiliated with ORTOP, but we are more than happy to help teams understand rules fully. We will also review all of the mission models in November.

2) Teams needed to do demonstrations at Girl Fest

ORTOP will be at Girl Scouts of Oregon & SW Washington's Girl Fest! If you are there, please come by and support our booth (Number 9) at this event. Girl Fest will take place on November 5 from 10-4 at the Portland Expo Center, Hall D. This event brings in many organizations to show a variety of skills and professions for Girl Scouts and other girls to explore.

We are still looking for more girl's teams to join us in performing demonstrations. If your team would like to sign up for a 2-hour slot please sign up using this form before Friday, October 28.  Demonstrating teams may have boys, but should be majority girls for this Girl Scout event. Your team does not need to be a Girl Scout team to do a demonstration at Girl Fest.

3) Detailed Look into the Project Rubric Pilot

This year Oregon is part of the Project Rubric Pilot. This means our judges will not be using the same rubric as last year. This year's rubric has some changes that will affect your team in the judging room if you are not prepared.

Let's start by looking at the project rubric this year:

Just like in previous years there are three sub-sections that relate to the awards that are given at the state championship. Also just like last year, there are required components that must be demonstrated before your project  is considered complete and your team eligible for awards at a qualifying tournament. The first of these is the Problem Identification. If the problem is so complicated that it can not be explained in just a few seconds, it's probably not a good problem for FIRST LEGO League. Clearly identifying the problem to be solved is a critical component of FIRST LEGO League.

Next judges will be looking for the team's research into the problem and what sort of analysis was done with that information. Both of these are important components. While the category for reviewing existing solutions has been removed, it is still very important! Judges will be looking for this under Innovation, so please continue to research what else already exists to solve the problem!

In the Innovative Solution section, the Team Solution is still required. This is not just your innovative solution, but how your innovative solution will solve, or be a part of the solution to the problem the team identified. It is critical that the judges understand what your solution is and how it relates to the problem. Not only is it required, confusion over the solution will make it difficult to see how the solution is innovative.

The third item is new this year. In addition to having a solution, our judges need to see more about your solution development process. We all know that nothing innovative is perfect in its first iteration. Creating is a process. Judges will be looking into your process.  This also includes considerations that are more than "it will work". Share what it would take to make your solution reality. What would it take to manufacture or enact? How has your original design improved as you continued to work on it? What research and development still needs to happen before your solution is ready? These are all questions your presentation should address.

In the final category, there are no new changes. Sharing of the team's project with at least one individual or expert is still required. Remember that at least one person you share your idea with should be able to use or help use your idea. Teams as encouraged to share with multiple groups. Sharing MUST take place before the tournament begins!  Judges are still looking forward to your creative, informative, and effective 5-minute presentations!

To see the rubrics for Core Values and Robot Design you may download them here (please discard the project rubric from this group - it is NOT the pilot rubric).

4) Share your Innovative Solution at OMSI or Cedar Mill Library

To help your team share their Innovative Solutions OMSI and Cedar Mill Library are welcoming FIRST LEGO League teams to come in and share!

On November 19th and December 3rd, your team can be the feature of the OMSI Lab for one hour. Your team will have the opportunity to bring in their innovative solution and any additional materials they need to share their solution with all the people attending OMSI that day. Book your 1-hour slot here. 

Cedar Mill Library also has several days they are welcoming FIRST LEGO League teams to share their Project. Teams must use the link above to register to participate on these days: Monday, November 28, 6:30 pm, Tuesday, November 29, 6:30 pm, Friday, December 2, 6:30 pm, Sunday, December 4, 1:00 pm, Monday, December 5, 6:30 pm, Tuesday, December 6, 6:30 pm, Friday, December 9, 6:30 pm.

I hope your teams are having a good time with the project challenge this year. In November the blog focus will shift towards the robot game and the November Mission Model Discussion will return on Facebook, with posts mirrored on the blog.

Tournament Assignments will be posted by November 7th!

Best Wishes,
Loridee

Team Information Final Checks

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In this post you will find:

1. Last Chance to Check Your Team Information
2. Words of Guidance From a Former Coach - Tom Watson
3. Tech Talk presented by FIRST Tech Challenge Team Total Chaos

1)  Last Chance to Check Your Team Information

On Friday, all team information will be locked for the season! Please make sure your team name and status is correct on the Oregon Nationally Registered Teams and Qualifying Tournament Status sheet. Your team information and NAME will be printed on all tournament materials EXACTLY as you see it on the sheet. 

If you need to change a team name, please use this form before NOON on Friday, October 21.

If you need to change a coach name or affiliation please email Loridee

If you are not registered for a QT and you thought you filled out the application, email Loridee

If you aren't marked as paid and are fairly sure you've done that, email Loridee

If you do not see your team number at all - then you haven't finished your national registration CALL Loridee @ ORTOP

Tournament Assignments will be ADDED to this page by November 7.

2)  Words of Guidance From a Former Coach - Tom Watson

I love having the opportunity to share insights our coaches and community. This insight came from some email snaffus we experienced in September, but after clearing it with Tom, I'm happy to let all of you benefit from his experience.

I was there in the beginning and had a wonderful 5 years with our team. They outgrew FLL and started FTC. Now they are separated into different teams and doing quite well.

Let the team do the work. All you need to do is read the challenge and then challenge the team to come up with solutions. Too much technical knowledge can be a detriment. Schedule the field trips, continue to challenge the team, help them notice when they are stuck on an issue and need to move on so solutions will come as they progress, and instill in them that this project is not for a trophy. This project is a journey they cannot measure the success of.

Most teams come to the tournament with simple 3 point robots that do little on the field but give them a chance to learn about robots and making them move. Out and back is a great accomplishment for a 1st year team. A well-spoken report is awesome but anything to show effort fun and rewarding. Paying attention to and meeting the other teams on tournament day will teach them more than anything else during the season.
Tip #1. Kid’s need food. Who brings food to your meetings. 

Thomas R. Watson

3) Tech Talk presented by FIRST Tech Challenge Team Total Chaos
Everyone is  invited to an exciting and informative Tech Talk presented by FIRST Tech Challenge Team Total Chaos. 
The event takes place this Saturday, October 22nd starting at 10:00 am at the Intel Jones Farm Conference Auditorium.
It is free of charge. A great way to learn more about new advancements in neurosciences, sports medicine and technology. 
Team members, mentors and parents are encouraged to attend. No sign-up is required. 
FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE 

Best Wishes,
Loridee

Tournament Registration and Judging Update

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon. I apologize for the delay in communication as I have been out sick. I hope this helps some of you catch up and look for more posts soon!

1. Registration Extended due to illness!
2. Tournament Registration Status 
3. Oops! I need to change our name
4. NEW Project Rubric will be piloted in Oregon
5. More updates from the Oregon Judges

1)  Registration Extended due to illness!

Due to a recent illness, the tournament registration has been extended until NOON on Saturday, October 15, 2016 If you have not yet registered your ANIMAL ALLIES team for this season please do so TODAY! Even if your team has is still waiting on a FIRST YPP to finish your national registration. Please fill out an application for your team. Please pay your Tournament Registration Fee. Your team MUST be nationally registered to participate in a tournament, so do not forget to finish that process even if you are still waiting with FIRST!

2)  Tournament Registration Status 

Please check the tournament registration status page to see if we have received your registration for your team and your team payment. Please keep in mind that these items are updated manually through multiple systems. If it has been less than 24 hours (or its the weekend) please do not expect an update to occur. The page update is about 2 days back on payments right now. We are updating the systems as we are able. If you paid or registered before the time of the last update (posted in the yellow box at the top), feel free to contact with questions. 

Tournament Assignments will also be posted on this page By NOVEMBER 7.

3)  Oops! I need to change our name

If the tournament registration status page has the incorrect team name for my team how do I fix it? This is not as easy of a fix as you might think. The registration from survey monkey is what is sent to the tournament directors so to change your team name after it's been submitted takes a little work. Because so many of you are requesting this I have created a form for you to use. Please do not expect it to show up on the status page right away, as all changes have to sent through the entire ORTOP system.

Please have ALL Changes in BEFORE  October 17.  Thank you.

4)  NEW Project Rubric will be piloted in Oregon

FIRST has invited Oregon to pilot the new Project Presentation Rubric. Our judges are very excited about this new rubric, but it is NOT the one posted on www.firstinspires.org. The new rubric can be found on the FIRST LEGO League Oregon website. The updated rubric has an increased focus on the process of developing the Project and includes the following changes:

• The Sources of Information criteria now more clearly reflects the need for quality sources and a wide variety of sources.  Teams must consult professionals in fields relating to their topic to be at the Accomplished or Exemplary levels.
• The Review Existing Solutions criteria has been combined with Problem Analysis and Innovation.  Teams are still expected to review and analyze existing solutions.
• When teams are describing their Team Solution, they are now expected to describe how it solves the problem.
• The new Solution Development criteria encompasses the previous Implementation criteria. Teams should explain how they developed the solution, considered and narrowed alternative solutions, evaluated and improved the solution they chose, and assessed feasibility and implementation factors.

While the update will shift what teams should share with Judges, we do not expect it to have much impact on the work teams are doing for the FIRST LEGO League Project.  Teams who are working toward the Accomplished and Exemplary levels for Solution Development may choose to spend more designing their process than they did before, in order to ensure it is systematic and includes some type of evaluation or verification of their solution.

5)  More updates from the Oregon Judges

If your team has read the challenge manual, which is highly recommended for every team member to do! Your team should have noticed the Core Values Poster and Robot Design Executive Summary. You will also have read that these items are not required in all regions. In Oregon, as in the year's past, both of these items are required at the state championship. However, new this year we will be allowing Core Value Posters at the Qualifying Tournaments. They are NOT required, but if your team would like to make one they may bring it into the judging room and it will be considered by the judges. 

Our Oregon Head Robot Design Judge would also like you to know that the Robot Design Executive Summary is a great way to prepare for robot design judging. This short presentation breaks the ice with judges. It also helps teams to share the unique aspects of their robot, programming, and game strategy. The Executive Summary must be short! It should include 1 robot run that the team would like to use to highlight their robot and programming. The summary should not be longer than 1-2 minutes and should be considered the ice-breaker the team starts with as they enter the judging room.

Since I have been out sick I am terribly behind on email and voicemails. Please have patience. If I address your issue in this blog do NOT expect an email. If I have not addressed your issue please email again next week. I am doing my best to make sure all of you get your questions answered, but am hoping that today's blog covers some of the most common questions.

Best Wishes,

Loridee

FIRST LEGO League Jr Information Night Postponed to October 18

Due to instructor illness, we are postponing tonight's FIRST LEGO League Jr Information Night for one week. The FIRST LEGO League Junior Information Night will now be held on October 18th from 6-8pm at OMSI in Classroom 1. The WeDo information class is being rescheduled with OMSI. 

Please help us spread the word so those who are planning to attend, but did not get the opportunity to sign up are aware of this change.

Thank  you,

Loridee

Is your team nationally registered?

FIRST LEGO League Qualifying Tournament Registration launches tomorrow, October 5. Only some of you are ready? Is your team among them?

In this update you will find:

1. The Oregon National List
2. The Still Registering List
3. What to do if you are not on one of the lists and think you should be
4. Qualifying Tournament Payment Quirks
5.  The Evergreen Space Museum Qualifying Tournament

1) The Oregon National List
If you plan on registering for a qualifying tournament please make sure your team is on this list! If it isn't you have work to do TONIGHT!

(link to sheet)

2) The Still Registering List
Don't see your name above, but you were good and put your team name on the Region Lock Exemption Form? Might need to make sure. Check this sheet!
(link to sheet)

3) What to do if you are not on one of the lists and think you should be
If you are planning on registering to participate in a Qualifying Tournament this December in Oregon and you do NOT see your team on either list you need to take ALL of the following steps.

1. Login to www.firstinspires.org (the login button is in the upper right-hand corner)
2. Select your Dashboard from the upper right-hand corner if you are not automatically redirected there.
3. Check the status of your team:
1. 2/2 Coaches Youth Protection Policy Completion
2. Balance: $0, Amount Paid: $225
4. If you do not see the above numbers for your coaches, check  Manage Team Contacts/Roster. If one or more LEAD coaches have an orange YPP checkmark, contact that coach, find out what day they submitted the YPP form to Verified Volunteers and complete this form.
5. If both of your LEAD coaches have green checkmarks, go back to the Dashboard, select Pay This Season's Team Registration. Pay the registration. If you need to pay by check, P.O. (really not a good idea at this point) or have already started a payment with one of those systems, you need to complete this form with the date you MAILED the check or P.O. to Manchester NH.
6. If you have done all of the above, but are still not on either sheet AND you did this before 3pm on October 4, 2016 - Check Edit/View Team's Account (right under your team name). Make sure the Region is set to Oregon. 
7. Everything else checks out, but you weren't on the lists? Email Loridee Wetzel.

4) Qualifying Tournament Payment Quirks

The Qualifying Tournament Payment page was showing last year's page for a couple moments yesterday, but has been fixed. We've also had a couple quirks with the credit card system. If you have paid by credit card, but are not emailed a receipt please email Loridee Wetzel.  If you downloaded check or P.O. forms yesterday please make sure they are for the 2016 Season.

5) The Evergreen Space Museum Qualifying Tournament

As returning teams may be aware, the FIRST LEGO League Qualifying Tournaments at the Evergreen Space Museum are IN the museum paid area. The team and up to 3 adult coaches will be given wristbands for the Space Museum Only when they check in at the tournament. Spectators will need to pay the Education Admittance price which last year was $10 per person or $15 for both museums. There will be an update tomorrow confirming these prices as I am checking with the museum to make sure we have the same rate.  Any teams are welcome to travel for their Qualifying Tournament if they would like, but full tournaments will have a preference for local teams.

Lead coach's on the 2 lists above - watch your email for a link to register tomorow, Wednesday, October 5 @5:00pm. The link will not be available prior to that time!

Best Wishes,
Loridee

It's Qualifying Tournament Registration Week!

In this update is completely focused on the Qualifying Tournament registration process for Oregon
You will find:

1. How Qualifying Tournament Registration Works
2. Region Lock Exemption
3. Qualifying Tournament Registration SAMPLE Form
4. Paying for your Qualifying Tournament
5. Team Registration Status

1) How Qualifying Tournament Registration Works
Qualifying Tournament registration in Oregon will OPEN on October 5th at 5pm. The lead coach from the team will receive an email at 5pm. In the email, there will be a link to a surveymonkey application. This application must be completely filled out for EVERY team that is competing at an Oregon Qualifying Tournament this year.  The lead coach or their appointed person may register the team anytime between 5pm on October 5 and 5pm on October 12.

To register the team, you need demographic information about the team, their 3 top choices for tournament, and their team name that they will use at the tournament.  All of the questions asked can be seen on the tournament registration SAMPLE form, see below for more information.

Teams are assigned to events on a first-come-first-in basis with some consideration for regional access. Your team will be able to choose whether the day of the week or the location are more important, and we will do our best to accommodate all teams. It is our goal, that with rare exception, teams will not drive more than 2 hours to reach their tournament in good weather.

2) Region Lock Exemption
If your team does not have a completed national registration because you are waiting for FIRST to approve a coach's YPP or process a payment, please use this form to tell me all about it. This is the only way your team will be able to register on Wednesday for a qualifying tournament in Oregon without a complete national registration.

Dates are important in this form. It can take 5-10 business days for YPP to clear for a coach. If it takes longer I will be contacting FIRST on your behalf. It also helps to make sure that the coach has started this process. The same is true for checks and purchase orders.

Your team MUST be nationally registered with FIRST or on this list by October 4, tomorrow!

3)  Qualifying Tournament Registration SAMPLE Form
To make sure the person who is registering your team for their qualifying tournament has all the information they need before the form goes live on Wednesday night, it is recommended to review the Qualifying Tournament Registration SAMPLE Form. This pdf looks exactly like the online application that must be filled out between October 5 and October 12 for your team to participate in a Qualifying Tournament. THIS PDF MAY NOT BE USED IN PLACE OF AN OFFICIAL ONLINE REGISTRATION. ORTOP does not accept paper versions of the application, filling this out is only for your own reference!

4) Paying for your Qualifying Tournament
Your team may start the payment process for the qualifying tournament registration fee. Your team's registration is not complete until they have paid for their qualifying tournament registration fee. Your team is welcome to use a secure online form and pay by credit card or they can send a check or purchase order by mail. All of these options are available on the Qualifying Tournament Payment page.

There has been a change to the Qualifying Tournament fees this year. This year the fee is on a sliding scale. This is to better reflect the true cost of this program. If your team needs a sponsor to cover part of your registration fee, up to $100. Please make sure you read the copy of the email from ORTOP Executive Director from July to understand all the details.

5) Team Registration Status

Later this week, the Team Registration Status will be posted on the ORTOP website. This Google Sheet will track all of the nationally registered teams (and teams on the exemption list) through the qualifying tournament registration system. By November 7, the tournament assignments will also be added to this sheet. The sheet must be manually updated because of the various systems involved, so if you just paid please a full business day before wondering why it is not showing on the Google Sheet. A link to this sheet will be posted on the ORTOP website.