Registering Students on First Website--Help

[rtfgnow]

Originally Posted by gsesny

Anyone out there have success in registering students on the First website. My students have logged in with their accounts from the previous year but they can not find out where to apply to the team. This website is so hard to follow...uggggggh. Any help would be appreciated.

I suggest you check out this thread. Including a guide from team 125.

[jaredhk]

Also, note that FIRST HQ is working on making this process better. See the FRC Blog and CD Thread discussing this issue.

[gsesny]

I know they are trying to make it easier but this is out of control.

[Taylor]

If the interface isn't improved, we will register our awards submitters only and do paper forms for all others.
A bit of a headache at event registration, but much less than the current virtual registration.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by gsesny

I know they are trying to make it easier but this is out of control.

Trust me, most of us agree. This is quite literally the absolute worst STIMS has been in many years.

And while I love the guide from 125, it's not a panacea. It's pretty much impossible to walk a non-native English speaking parent through this process at the moment.

And let us not forget about the paper-copy questionnaire asking for a lot of personal details about a minor that gets handed off to mostly unknown random volunteers running the check-in process at events that might or might not have been subject to a background check.

VIMS hasn't been particularly great either.

Also, if anyone is wondering how to assign a student as a "submitter" for award things, you need to click on the "Full Roster" and then you can do it... because that makes perfect sense...

And while I know the fine folks at FIRST are working on this set of issues, it's still very frustrating and I need to vent. Seriously Frank, I love you all but you can definitely smell my feet for this stuff! I hate telling my students "just try your best with STIMS" knowing they will spin their wheels and fail without me actually being able to help them through it because I can barely understand it or figure out where in the process they got stuck. I'm not a stupid person, I can figure out Snapchat so STIMS shouldn't be impossible.

[Alyssa]

Originally Posted by marshall

It's pretty much impossible to walk a non-native English speaking parent through this process at the moment.

I totally get that, would it be helpful for us to try and make a couple other versions for non-native English speakers? Between myself and a few other mentors and students, we would totally be able to get a few other languages out there.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Alyssa

I totally get that, would it be helpful for us to try and make a couple other versions for non-native English speakers? Between myself and a few other mentors and students, we would totally be able to get a few other languages out there.

Spanish would be my one request if you want to do it. It looks like FIRST has changed some things now as well so might need to update original one.

[jaredhk]

Originally Posted by Alyssa

I totally get that, would it be helpful for us to try and make a couple other versions for non-native English speakers? Between myself and a few other mentors and students, we would totally be able to get a few other languages out there.

It is very difficult to walk English speakers through registration, as well. I can only imagine how much harder it is for those who do not speak the language. The guide does help and I appreciate all of the work that was put into it but I believe that, since redoing the system anyways, FIRST should "idiot proof" it (use photos, few steps, simple walkthroughs). Even once someone gets it, it still take a very long time to complete.

Given the current state of the system, I think the guide is as clear as can be for English speakers. The bottleneck is the system.