Poor Dean's Homework 2013 Turnout

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Let me rephrase:

Why can't we BE the FIRST story and TELL it at the same time?


And with that I will take off me teacher hat and step down from my soapbox.

Because we have a finite amount of time available to us. Our team prioritized forming new connections with local industry over Dean's homework. Our return on investment was higher so we did something that gave us value instead of a nebulous good feeling.

But, go on living in your fantasy world, the rest of us will just tolerate your insufferable preaching.

[AllenGregoryIV]

I can tell you that it was on our radar but it never happened. I brought it up to students but none of them really ran with the idea. Video production has never been a strength of ours. I even went as far as to start learning video editing software over the summer. By the time the new year rolled around and we had 20 fresh faces to train up for the FRC season and numerous events to attend and help run during the fall. This got pushed to the bottom of the list. Is that right, no. Did it happen, yes.

I definitely think HQ could have done more to incentivise teams, even just a video or a note from Dean or Woodie sometime in August would have bumped this higher on the todo list for a lot of teams. If HQ wants teams to think something is important they need to make it important.

I also think releasing sample videos would have helped a ton. A few times our team talked about what the video would look like and with so many options we never really settled because we had no real sample ideas to draw from.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Also, just because it's been bothering me, all I have to say about this

is this:

It bugs you that elementary schoolers aren't making YouTube videos? 6-9 year olds aren't old enough to agree to YouTube's Terms of Service.

---

I think wilsonmw04 has a point. We're supposed to be changing culture, no? You can't change culture by quietly building a robot in the corner. Everyone has some aspect of their team that they can promote / "make loud", even if all the team does is build a robot.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It bugs you that elementary schoolers aren't making YouTube videos? 6-9 year olds aren't old enough to agree to YouTube's Terms of Service.

I can't believe that 6-9 year olds not making a video is actually considered a problem worth mentioning, in part for what you mentioned.

[Hallry]

While I don't appreciate the subtle hostility that I have sensed towards a few posts in this thread, I want to thank everyone for their honesty in their responses. I'm glad to see that many teams used the time for more rewarding 'big-picture' projects, yet also wish that FIRST advertised the homework more so that teams who would have been interested would have been aware of it.

However, if your team did make a video but were too late on submitting it, it seems like the 'deadline' wasn't final. One team's new video entry appeared in the Box.com submission folder last night, and another one only a few hours ago today.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It bugs you that elementary schoolers aren't making YouTube videos? 6-9 year olds aren't old enough to agree to YouTube's Terms of Service.

That's what parents and mentors are for. The team makes the video, somebody old enough who's affiliated (a mentor preferably) uploads it, as the team's work. Just saying.

[Pault]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

That's what parents and mentors are for. The team makes the video, somebody old enough who's affiliated (a mentor preferably) uploads it, as the team's work. Just saying.

I'm don't think he meant that Jr. FLL teams couldn't make the video literally because the students are to young sign the TOS. The point is: how exactly do you expect a group of 6-9 year olds to make a video? Their parents signed them up to build robots with Legos, not get interviewed on film.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Pault

I'm don't think he meant that Jr. FLL teams couldn't make the video literally because the students are to young sign the TOS. The point is: how exactly do you expect a group of 6-9 year olds to make a video? Their parents signed them up to build robots with Legos, not get interviewed on film.

Last I checked Jr. FLL wasn't "Lego Robots Club". If anything, the Lego part is, while a requirement, secondary. It's about Researching and finding a solution to a problem and then presenting the solution; the Lego part helps illistrate the solution as part of the presentation. I don't see how presenting on camera is that far off of what Jr. FLL already does.

I wouldn't expect the videos to be the next blockbuster, but to say that making a video isn't in the scope of Jr. FLL is IMHO shortsighted.

---

That said, having spent 4 years as an FRC student, I know all about time management and the like... I also know it's possible and doable to make time management work. To those that did get videos done: Well done, keep it up. To those that didn't, hopefully your team got something else productive done, and if not, try again and try harder. Any progress is progress, the more the merrier.

[PayneTrain]

I'm going to do my best to avoid this thread like the plague after this post, but if people are seriously going to try to start a debate over whether or not children between the ages of six and nine should be doing this video project when they're developing motor skills, reading and writing abilities, spelling, and all of that on top of JrFLL, I just can't put into words how empty-headed that sounds. The priority of JrFLL is to start teaching kids about what FIRST is all about, not record their every interaction in formative years to tie it into FIRST.

[Libby K]

This thread isn't about whether JFLL kids should be making homework videos. Ryan was just breaking down the submissions by program. Keep in mind that the Homework was issued during the FRC closing ceremonies, so it's not like the other programs had any exposure to it until the release of the guidlelines later in the year. However, my main point is, everybody chill out.

I think at the beginning of this thread, before its clear and not-at-all-subtle* downward spiral, had some useful discussion on how the Homework could be better distributed/handled in the FIRST Community. Maybe we can bring it back to that? Hm?

*I do commend your efforts on trying to be neutral/nice/PC, Ryan. Sometimes it's hard to, amidst the catfighting that happens in threads.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Libby K

...

I think at the beginning of this thread, before its clear and not-at-all-subtle* downward spiral, had some useful discussion on how the Homework could be better distributed/handled in the FIRST Community. Maybe we can bring it back to that?

Good thoughts.

Why we didn't create a video submission:

1. It was not on our list of things we needed to get done this summer/fall due to higher priorities such as:

• Outreach opportunities
• Sponsorship incentive
• Training and workshops to prepare for the 2014 season
• Organizing our own off-season event (Nov. 9)

2. Our current video making skills are very poor. Creating videos is NOT simply turn on the camera on your iPhone and hit the record icon. There's a TON more that goes into the process in order to do it well.

3. Our Summer/Fall meetings are sporadically attended by students, due to other extracurricular activities, school emphasis, and working jobs while they can before Build Season begins.

Could we have used making a video for homework as a way to train and prepare for our upcoming CA Video project?
Absolutely, but then I direct you back up to points 1 and 3. Plus, the students decided to create a Safety Animation submission this year instead: honing their visual media skills that way, instead of video.

Ways to improve this specific Dean's Homework project:
Instead of videos, have teams submit written stories, then have a group at HQ choose which stories they felt would make good videos and pair those teams with a video-team equipped to help teams make professional videos.
Loosen the criteria. The exact 2 minute video criteria is daunting.
Post a nice big "Dean's Homework" on the main page of the website, explaining what it is and how teams can easily submit one.

Dean's Homework has always been something that I hear and think, "That's a great idea! Let's add it to our priority list."

But this is the reality:
April-May: Students busy with end of the year activities
May-July: Students busy with summer activities like jobs, sports and being with their families. When we do team activities it's usually outreach one-day activities, or rebuilding our robot for off-season events.
August-November: Students busy with workshops, training, soliciting funding, balancing school, jobs, other extracurricular activities, and planning our own off-season event.

I love FIRST. This is my 11th year in the program. I'm the P.R. mentor for my team, and I love things like Chairman's Award and making videos. I think FIRST is the most important thing that these high school kids will do during their educational experience.

But there is a limit to what we can do on our team. Limited time, limited resources, limited students, limited mentors. And creating a video like this honestly would not have helped improve our team enough for the time and resources that it would take.

For those teams that did create a video: AWESOME JOB! I am in awe of your efforts. Next year, my team will hear Dean's Homework and say, "Let's do this!" Hopefully we succeed. Hopefully it fits in with what we need to do. Hopefully it can be placed higher on our priority list.

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by Libby K

I think at the beginning of this thread, before its clear and not-at-all-subtle* downward spiral, had some useful discussion on how the Homework could be better distributed/handled in the FIRST Community. Maybe we can bring it back to that? Hm?

Libby,
Thanks for bringing the conversation back to the original question.

We dedicated a few resources to complete the assignment because we felt it had a net benefit. Specifically, the video gave us a jump start on our Chairman’s Award process going into our sophomore season. It became the “first draft” of our message.

Getting awards organized early may also give us a better shot at winning a few. Winning our way to Championship is definitely a strong incentive. Documenting our history and having additional promotional materials to recruit sponsors are other benefits.

The November 1st target was a little early in my opinion. A mid December deadline would still have forced us to finish before kick-off, which I felt was the true goal. The early completion date could have discouraged boarder participation of other FIRST teams.

I know my rational above was focused on the benefits to my team. However, the actual goal of Dean’s Homework was to provide “Make It Loud” content for the benefit of FIRST as an organization. Maybe Dean should provide examples as to how other homework assignments have used to benefit FIRST. I am assuming these videos will be used to convince future sponsors or agencies to join our mission. But it is just an assumption…

David

[dag0620]

I can't speak 100% for why the video wasn't accomplished on 1071. I know we had discussions about it back in the spring, and we said we we're going to do it. However I know myself (PR leader at the time) and my PR mentor, along with many others in the PR sub-team got wrapped up in planning for our off-season event, and it got pushed to the way side. Summer is always hard for the team to accomplish things so that didn't happen. As for this fall, with over 50% of our 2013 membership now at college, the team was busy training new membership and it couldn't be accomplished.

With that said, most of the reasons 1071 didn't get it done was reasons specfic to our situation. However there are some things I recomend FIRST could change to hopefully increase participation.

• Increase the maxium length of the video to 5 minutes.
• Extend the Deadline to at least kick-off of the next year.
• Provide an example video or two.
• As it has been already said, a little more promotion on FIRST's part would help as well.

With that said, even with these and other changes suggested, sometimes teams just won't be able to make it happen. Thats okay, every team needs to focus on what it considers a priority based on it's own needs and situation in the moment.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

We were one of the teams that did do it, and I think I know why. We were able to cut it down to a 2 person team to make the video -- one of our guys has a great story, so he told it, and our video person made the video. However, we have a relatively big team, so we were able to spare the manpower to get this done (while also running three offseason events).

As for ways to make more teams do it, I like the idea that someone suggested earlier of having it be a prerequisite for a Chairman's submission. It'll get far more teams to submit, while also making the quality better (Chairman's teams often have awesome stories to tell).

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by TheCascadeKid

As for ways to make more teams do it, I like the idea that someone suggested earlier of having it be a prerequisite for a Chairman's submission. It'll get far more teams to submit, while also making the quality better (Chairman's teams often have awesome stories to tell).

An interesting idea, but I don't think a carrot or stick approach is the answer to this homework problem.