Friday, 28 October 2011
GearBots Engineering Challenge
Save the date - BC Skills Canada - Provincial Competition in Abbotsford at the TradeX on April 18th 2012. Official invitations go out by email in middle of November. Email me if you want to learn more about the one day engineering challenge. Visit the following link to see pictures from last year's pilot project. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59926592@N03/sets/72157626609127334/
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Question: Can I use the consumer kit for the GearBots Engineering Challenge at Skills Canada competition?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: At this stage, I do not see any reason why teams cannot use the consumer kit version.
Registration for the upcoming BCIT's GearBots Engineering Challenge opens January 15th 2012. All registration must go through Skills Canada BC - http://www.skillscanada.bc.ca/
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Can I use RobotC with the NXT platform?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: Yes you can. You could even use NI LabVIEW or FisherTechnik's platform and ROBO-Pro software.
Registration information
ReplyDeleteAll registration activities are coordinated by SkillsBC only.
Registration Deadlines are two weeks prior to Regional and Provincial Competition dates.
Registration is online at
www.skillscanada.bc.ca .
Students are not in the competition until their teacher has been notified by the SkillsBC office that they have been accepted into the contest.
Process & Distribution
School Affiliation:
Teachers (or school staff) are to affiliate their school with SkillsBC first. Following school affiliation, teachers may register students into contests in there Region at the appropriate secondary or post-secondary level. The affiliated school must be within the boundaries of the region that the student wishes to compete.
Student Registration:
Teachers (or school staff) may register as many students into any given contest as they like in order of priority, prior to the registration deadline. Two scenarios will result. There will be either too many students registered into the contest, or there will be remaining space available by the deadline.
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If Registration is full scenario: The SkillsBC office will select the first priority student, one from each school, if space is still available, then a second from each school, then the third priority student until the maximum number of students is reached. In the event that there is an uneven number of students from each school, schools with a larger number of registrants will take priority; or if this number is equal, the school that registered students first will take priority. Teachers will be notified following the deadline of which students have and have not been accepted into the competition.
If Registration is not full scenario: In this scenario all of the students that are registered prior to the deadline will be accepted into the competitions. Teachers with students already registered will be notified of their students’ acceptance and will be notified that there is available space. The remaining available space will be given on a first come first registered basis.
RE: Registration for upcoming BCIT's GearBots Engineering Challenge Update
ReplyDeleteOK, silly me for thinking this was going to be a smooth process. Thanks to those who have emailed me over the past week regarding issues in the registration process. I agree, it has been confusing and I will take full responsibly. My apologies go out to the group.
I had a lengthy discussion with Adam from Skills BC on Thursday and here is the deal with registration. I hope the following clarifies the process.
First off, as this event is now an official Skills Canada BC provincial event (direct entry), registration procedures are going to restrict each school to only one team (at first) and the rest are wait listed (if the event is not full then wait listed teams will be informed and equally distributed). This is to ensure all school have equal access and spots are distributed fairly. I understand and accept this policy.
Second, when registering your school and teams, you are required to rank them (your first team you enter has the highest priority and would have the best chance of getting in). You can sign up other teams but depending on demand, they may or may not get in. Cut off is on April 4th (two week before the event) so we will have a better picture then. To confess, I have not registered my team or teams yet. I will not know who I am taking until next semester. This is when I have my grade 9 robotics course.
At this stage, I know I have stated that a maximum of three teams per school (with a maximum of 3 students per team = 9 students) can participate. Obviously, as the organizer, I cannot promise this as it all depends on the demand for the event. I still have no way of knowing how many school will participate. However, I have increased the number of teams to 42 (up from 24) from last year's demo event. This should accommodate an increasing interest in this type of event and still allow those school that want to bring more teams to do so. I am very hopeful that all school / organization will be allowed to bring their original number of teams they wanted to bring to the event this year. We just have to be patient and wait until April 4th.
FYI, other than to last year's participants, I have not advertised this event. Not because I do not want other to participate, I just have not had time. I am hoping word of mouth will spread awareness.
Please email me with any concerns you may have. I appreciate hearing from you.
Not on list but think you should be?
If you are a registered school in BC and you do not see your school in the drop down menu during the registration process, Adam as asked that you send him an email and they will add the school to the list adam@skillscanada.bc.ca
Paying (fee) for the event:
You are not required to pay up front for your participation in this event. Skills Canada BC will invoice your school after the event.
IMPORTANT NOTICE - Private education companies, community groups and associations:
Those groups that are not a registered K-12 school in BC, we have a potential problem. Skills Canada BC has a very strict policy that states all registration must go through a registered K-12 school in BC. This is to ensure the participants are who they say they are and they are the correct age for the event. I understand this complicates the process considerably and is completely contrary to what I have said in early emails to the group.
Based on my conversations with Adam, the solution to this problem my be simple or complex. The groups will need to contact one of the schools the students go to and get them to sponsor the team - in effect the team would officially represents the school that will ultimately pay (group can pay school and school pays Skills Canada BC when they get the invoice later) and unofficially their actual group/association (ie Cadets). I could help in this process if needed but first you need to find a host school. Like I said, this could be simple or complex. There is no work around to this issue either. I have tried.
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