What would you do to improve the FIRST experience?

[gblake]

Big picture:

• Make it easier for students and adults to participate (lower barriers to entry).
• Focus more on giving all members of teams opportunities to make hands-on contributions to their team's STEM product.
• Make it easier to put on formal tournaments, off-season tournaments, and scrimmage events (I'm thinking about much more than switching to "districts").
• Have a growth path for students who become inspired to try introductory STEM, and then want to see how far they can develop their skills while still in school.

For me this adds up to a near reversal of the current relative emphasis on FRC vs FTC.

In order to reach more students, and especially in areas that might need STEM programs more that others, I would make FTC (or something similar) the primary/flagship high school emphasis of FIRST, and would let FRC become an advanced program, for those students and adults in locations that want to pay (in time and money) for a more complex challenge.

FTC is the far easier way (far less intimidating, faster tangible results, easier what-if experimentation, etc. etc.) to introduce an uninspired novice to STEM robotics. FTC is the far less costly program. FTC is the far less time-consuming program. FTC is the far more hands-on program. FTC events are far easily to produce, etc.

Blake
PS: Remember that simply convincing K-12 students to try a STEM education/career is a success. It isn't necessary to actually train them (deeply) in any of the various STEM disciplines. That happens in vocational schools, colleges and afterward.