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The Team Coach reserves a location in your high school team
to meet during the morning of the Technology Challenge at a location in your high school with computers that have reliable
Internet access. The Team Coach received visual directions by email to access the Technology Challenge file(s) on "Moodle".
Once
your team is logged in, you will be able to
"download" files. When your team has completed the tasks on the day of the Technology Challenge, "upload"
or copy the completed files to your team account. Each team needs
to complete uploading all files by 11:59 AM; there is a very stiff penalty for any late submission.
Scoring Rubric
Q. What "scoring rubric" do judges use to evaluate the 3 various tasks, each worth 20 points?
A.
The dozens of judges see the directions for each task and use
the scoring rubric, shown here, to determine a score from 10 to 20
points. Judges start the evaluation of each task at 15 points,
using the scoring rubric; depending on what judges perceive to be
important, the score goes up
or down. Each of your team's 3 tasks is judged by 2-4 judges;
about 10 or so judges are involved in evaluating each team.
All results are averaged in a spreadsheet; the average of
all of the evaluations from all of the judges are "rounded up" to the nearest
tenth of a point. In the event of ties, the quality of writing
determines the winners.
- All files from your team are only identified with an assigned team number. This assures impartiality.
- Each team answers 20 questions using the Internet.
- And, each team selects 3 tasks to complete. (Only the first 3 tasks that each team completes are judged.)
- The scoring rubric shows that positive qualities, as determined by each judge, can increase a score by 1 to 2 points..
- Negative qualities, as determined by each judge, can decrease a score by 1 to 2 points.
- Each judge determines a score for each task from 10 to 20 points. Judges' scores are averaged.
Every registered team receives an email by Monday before the event as explained here,
with visual instructions and login and password information. On the day of
the Challenge, at 8 AM, your team can access your team's
Moodle
account using the directions and information your Team Coach
received. The Technology Challenge consists
of Internet Search (40 points) and 3 Chosen Tasks (20 points each).
A perfect score for the Technology Challenge is 100 points.
Teamwork is critical in completing tasks on time. Your team should work together to divide up the tasks during
the first minutes, using different computers. It might be a good
idea for groups of 2 or 3 to
work together on specific tasks. Make sure to upload all of your 4 files to your team's
moodle
account well before the deadline. Late submissions after 11:59 AM are
heavily penalized. Any
incomplete team submission that is 30 minutes late, for any
reason, will NOT be judged. The top finishers will be
announced on this website, on the main page.
Q. Generally what do judges seem to think is most important?
A. Grammar and spelling are important. Many
university faculty feel strongly about the importance of
communicating clearly with complete sentences. Even if technology
applications are impressive, judges appear to value good writing skills as equally important.
Q. How important is teamwork?
A.
Teamwork makes a huge difference. In past years, Winning team coaches
consistently have informed us how important it is for a
team to work well together.
Q. What should the Tech Team Coach do during the Technology Challenge?
A. Team coaches:
- should provide minimal technical assistance.
- should not touch a mouse or keyboard.
- refrain from providing suggestions or guidance during the Challenge.
- avoid "looking over students' shoulders".
- should, as much as possible, allow the team to complete the activities, without assistance.
- arrange, if possible (optionally), a "pizza party" for the students, using funds from the school.
Ideally,
a Team Coach should allow the team of students the valuable opportunity
to do all of the activities by themselves, without assistance.
Finally
In the interest of fairness, there is no advantage in completing
more than 3 chosen tasks; if your team submits more than 3 chosen
tasks, only the first 3 tasks will be
judged.
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