Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
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1886: Remote Notebook Judging and notebook collection at event


Gregory Caswell
21-Jan-2024

If our event is remotely judging engineering notebooks, are we still allowed to collect physical copies of the engineering notebooks at the event for reference during deliberations? Notebooks would only be scored on the rubric prior to the event and eligibility for the Excellence, Design, and Innovate Awards would be based on those scores. Notebooks would not be required, but requested from all of the teams at the event whether or not they submitted a digital copy by the deadline to be scored against the Engineering Notebook Rubric.

In the past having the physical notebooks available has been helpful for qualitative comparisons for those awards and for deliberations on the other awards where the notebook is note a requirement, but can reinforce what judges discover in their interviews with teams.

Answered by Competition Judging Committee
24-Jan-2024

In order to ensure that all teams are evaluated consistently at an event, it would not be permitted for an event to require or request a different Engineering Notebook submission format than what was communicated on RobotEvents for Engineering Notebook submissions.

The primary issue is that even if the Engineering Notebook Rubrics are not scored using the physical copies, the introduction of physical notebooks into Judging evaluations and deliberations may result in teams being inconsistently evaluated, and teams who opt to not bring a physical notebook would be put at a disadvantage compared to other teams.

If judges at an event prefer to evaluate physical notebooks in person, it is recommended that digital notebook submissions are not used, in favor of in-person submissions for the Engineering Notebooks.