Notebook Submission Format
The choice of judging format for the event rests with the event partner. Detailed information about judging should be found on the event page on RECFEvents.org . All teams at the event must submit their notebooks in the same format, regardless of their notebook’s native format. A team with a physical competition notebook may need to upload a link to a digital copy via RECFevents or conversely, a team with a digital competition notebook may be asked to print a copy prior to the event to submit at the event.
Irrespective of whether the notebook is submitted digitally or in person (physical notebook), teams are responsible for their notebooks formatting and submission, and must ensure all materials are properly organized—including numbering and/or dating pages.
If the competition notebook is written in a language that is not common for the region and judges fluent in the original language are not available, it is the team’s responsibility to provide the original language version along with a translated copy. This should be brought to the event partner’s attention as early as possible so they can inform the judge advisor.
Different teams may submit notebooks with varying levels of sophistication and beautification. For example, some teams may have brief sketches in pen, others may have colorized illustrations or CAD/electronic drawings. Judges should be cognizant of evaluating the content of notebooks, not the level of beautification. It is possible for many different types of notebook and different communication styles to present relevant content.
Teams may utilize different methods for organizing their competition notebooks. For example, some notebooks may be organized purely chronologically, while others may be organized into subsections based on topic. Depending on the submission format, this may complicate the efforts of judges to evaluate notebooks. Judges should make every effort to evaluate the content of the notebook based on the Competition Notebook Rubric, and not be unduly influenced by the organization methodology chosen by the team, particularly if the submission is not in the native format of the notebook.
Note: The confidentiality principle of judging also applies to competition notebooks. Whether notebooks are shared physically or digitally, judges should not photograph, share, or duplicate information found in competition notebooks or otherwise breach this principle.
Competition Notebook Handling
Physical competition notebooks are typically collected at team check-in at an event and delivered to the judge advisor. Digital competition notebook links are required to be submitted via RECFEvents.org prior to the event date.
It is not recommended for judges to collate competition notebooks and rubrics by slipping the rubrics into the notebook. These can be easily forgotten and unintentionally returned to teams which would violate the confidentiality principle of judging.
Competition notebooks collected at an event should be returned directly to teams in their pit area or via some other controlled process; it is not recommended that notebooks be left unattended for teams to pick up. This should be done prior to Finals Matches, as some teams may decide to leave prior to the completion of the event.
STEP 1 – SORTING THE COMPETITION NOTEBOOKS
It is recommended that the same judges which interview a set of teams also evaluate those teams’ competition notebooks. The competition notebooks and team interview should reflect one another; having the same judges evaluate both will help give judges a better understanding of the team and may prove insightful.
- ADC and ADC Pro Judging Note: For ADC teams, the Competition Notebook is evaluated using the Competition Notebook Rubric. For ADC Pro teams, the Notebook and Team Interview are evaluated together using the combined Notebook and Interview Rubric, with separate scoring columns for the Notebook and Interview.
Judges perform a quick scan of all the competition notebooks and divide them into two categories: Developing and Fully Developed. If it is unclear whether a notebook should be categorized as Developing or Fully Developed, either another judge can help make that determination, or the notebook should be given the benefit of the doubt and categorized as Fully Developed.
Developing competition notebooks contain little detail. To save judges’ time, the Competition Notebook Rubric will not be completed for those teams. However, all competition notebooks should still be retained until the end of judging deliberations.
Fully Developed competition notebooks contain great detail, and will include detailed drawings, tests and test results, and solutions to problems the team encountered. notebook attributes for Fully Developed competition notebooks may be scored as Emerging, Proficient, and Expert on the Competition Notebook Rubric. Only Fully Developed competition notebooks should be considered for any awards requiring a competition notebook. The absolute minimum for a competition notebook to be considered Fully Developed would be a score of two or higher (Proficient or Expert) in Four criteria on the Competition Notebook Rubric.
STEP 2 – COMPLETING THE Competition Notebook Rubric
Important: The Competition Notebook Rubric is a tool for initial team notebook evaluations through quantitative comparison. The final determination of all award candidates and winners is done through further qualitative deliberation among judges based on award descriptions and criteria. As such, a team earning a particular or overall score on a rubric is not an automatic disqualification or threshold for any judged award.
Fully Developed notebooks are scored and ranked using the Competition Notebook Rubric. They may be initially ranked according to their rubric scores, then top notebooks can be re-ranked according to further qualitative evaluation by judges.
Judges should review the notebooks to identify the proficiency level of the student entries for each of the Competition Notebook Rubric criteria. There will likely not be enough time to do a page-by-page reading of every notebook.
Judges should focus on the entries associated with the Competition Notebook Rubric criteria and proficiency level to determine the scores for each Fully Developed notebook. It is recommended that at least two judges score each Fully Developed notebook, and the first few notebook scores be discussed so that judges can “calibrate” scores to be consistent across the event. Having additional judges score notebooks will provide even better calibration. Further notebook evaluations and interviews may be needed to support the final rankings of the notebooks and interviews during deliberation.
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