Judging 2010 Update #3

Wednesday May 5, 2010

After eliminating incomplete projects from grades K-3 and 10-12, the number of projects remaining is 502. I will be working on the first review of the 4-6 and 7-9 projects today and Thursday.

Teachers are urged to submit their evaluations as soon as possible.

Judging 2010 Update #2

Tuesday May 4, 2010

The original 609 projects have been reduced to 539 as a result of withdrawal notices from teachers. Teachers are urged to send a listing of any students that did not complete their project. As well, teachers are reminded that Teacher Evaluations are due May 7.

See http://odec.ca/wordpress/?p=159

Judging 2010 Update #1

Sunday May 2, 2010

The accounts have been locked and the long process of judging begins.  Judging usually takes several weeks. Expect results around the end of May. I will provide more information on the judging process and progress  in later Judging Updates in this blog.

As always, if you have any questions or comments reply in this blog or email larry@virtualsciencefair.com

Teacher Evaluations

Teacher Evaluations:
  • All teachers with more than one project in the Virtual Science Fair are asked to rank their student’s projects and provide a comment for each student.
  • Use standard ranking procedures you learned in Stats 101, that is rank 1 is best, rank 2 second best etc.
    • More than one project may have the same rank.
    • Please have only 1 or 2 projects with rank of 1
    • Do not separate by subject area.  Please evaluate the entire grade category as one group.
    • Include the Team Number and Userid please.
  • Record your evaluations in a Excel or Word document then email to me. larry@virtualsciencefair.com
  • You should evaluate the projects by viewing them online.
  • The students will not see your rankings, but they will see your anonymous student comments.
    • You may also include confidential comments for only the judges to see.
  • Your evaluations should be based on your personal criteria.
  • Criteria we use in judging are found in the:
  • Please try to have this done by May 7 If you have any questions or don’t remember your Teacher Userid and Password, please contact me at once.
  • If you wish to also be involved in judging projects other than your own, please contact Larry for more information.
Use a table similar to:

Rank Team Number Userid Comments for Student Comments for Larry
1 2234 testxd2
2 2275 smitxs2

Secret of Success… Edit–>Upload–>Check

Create a very very simple first page named index.htm then upload to the server and check if it displays properly using a browser- IE or Firefox. The address is www.virtualsciencefair.org/2010/your_userid

If it doesn’t display correctly, then stop and solve the problem before adding more to the page.

Once a very simple index.htm page is working add to it and check each addition in a browser.

Edit–>Upload–>Check

Edit–>Upload–>Check

Edit–>Upload–>Check

Repeat this cycle frequently. I seldom work more than a few minutes on a webpage without uploading and checking my work.

NOTE: “Refresh or Restart” the browser after  each upload to view the updated page. Otherwise you may be viewing an older cached version of the page.

Teacher Accounts

To view the contents of your teacher account use the full URL. For example:

www.virtualsciencefair.org/2010/teacher_userid/index.htm

Students use www.virtualsciencefair.org/2010/student_userid

The student display includes a header containing project information useful for judging.

If teachers or students have any problems with the display of there projects please contact Larry at once.

larry@virtualsciencefair.com

Help with Projects

Help can be obtained by email larry@virtualsciencefair.com or phone (250) 598-5960. As well questions can be submitted in the Forum.

Please review the following:

Do’s and Don’ts for Projects

Intro Video1

Intro Video2

Rules Section

Help Section

Old VSF Home Page

Away from VSF Office Sun. Mar. 14 to Mon. Mar.22

I will be away from the VSF office Sun. Mar. 14 to Mon. Mar. 22.

I will not be able to process registrations during this period. As well, I will be slow in responding to emails etc during this period.

Registration Closing Date Extended to March 31, 2010

The closing date for all Teacher and Team Registrations is extended to Wed.  March 31.

This will accommodate those on Spring Break.  As well, I will be away from the VSF office from Mar. 13 to Mar. 22.

All Teacher and Team Registrations received as of March 5 have been processed and the appropriate replies emailed to teachers.  If a Teacher has not received the emails it may be due to it having been filtered by the school mail server. Please contact me using an alternative email account or phone (250) 598-5960.

larry@virtualsciencefair.com