CS11: What Was I Doing?

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In today's FIRST LEGO League Oregon Update we will cover these items:

1. Mea Culpa
2. Saturday Teams Needed to Swap for Salem on Sunday, Dec 8
3. What you absolutely need for your tournament
4. Do Good with ORTOP
5. Free Table in Central Oregon
6. Letters from your Tournament Director
7. Using the Team Meeting Guide

Use this link to read this update as a blog post

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

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