Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

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dick23
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Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by dick23 »

I am putting together my tryouts for this year's Olympiad and trying to see if anyone else have their tryouts online. From what I gather the tryouts are done in a physical location. I have about 70 students trying out for 3 events ea out of a total of 23. The logistics of coordinating this at a physical location is mind boggling. It occurred to me that at least the tests can be carried out online (build it event tryouts are another issue altogether.)
People at my school are hung up on the cheating issue. I think I can solve the cheating issue by giving multiple forms of the same exam.
This whole Olympiad except for the build it events can be run like an online course, which to my knowledge no one has figured out the cheating issue with them. Besides the Olympiads are not for a grade
Anyway I have put together a program like this and I would like your feedback . This pertains to my school's tryouts and I don't think the Olympiad committee can say anything about how they are run
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by DatSciolyBoi »

Isn't it easy to just search up stuff online since there's no supervion?
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by dick23 »

Could you explain your experience with doing this online. My school told me I couldn't do it this way. I told them the old way was in the dark ages.
Anyway I quit the job.
What I am looking for is someone who would be willing to try this system.
I thought it was a really good idea but I can't put to use.
Basicly this system use Google Classroom. Each student is put in a separate and secure classroom. All materials, learning resources etc
are in the classroom.
This system gave me access to students 24/7 which I really thought would help me coach the team
Anyway I don't mean to chew your ear off but really want feedback on this project
Thank you
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by Blank25 »

If the students are in secured classrooms, why can't you just print out tests to prevent cheating from looking up answers?
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by dick23 »

Thank you for your reply. I guess the real problem universally is cheating.
My issue is sci oly is not an athletic event, its a scholastic event and I don't see why the internet shouldn't be used. We have pools for swimmers, track for runners, traspeze for hymnist. Why not the internet for Scilly.
Anyway I am looking for any input.

Thanks
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by Blank25 »

My suggestion is to do tryouts on a paper test with similar "conditions" like a real competition so you get more accurate tryouts. For example, if you did tried out for Rocks and Minerals(Which is no longer in the rotation), you would do stations or something with physical specimens. Or for Anatomy, you would just get a physical paper test to do with multiple-choice, short answer, ...
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by TheMysteriousMapMan »

Here are my thoughts based on my limited (two years) of experience at a school that is small enough that doesn't require tryouts–the team shrinks to a reasonable size after people drop out, and event placements are decided by the coaches seeing how much effort is put in to a particular event:

I definitely think that you are correct in that the best way to organize information and keep tabs on progress is online; my school uses a shared Google Drive folder handled through one of the systems our school uses for a digital classroom hub, but I think Google Classroom is another effective tool that could be used to great success. I believe that students can still have the ability, if it is set up in a certain way, for students to post information and resources, in addition to the ones you share throughout the season.

However, I believe that virtual tryouts are problematic. As others have pointed out, ensuring accountability for not cheating digitally is very difficult. Even if the classroom itself for tryouts is secure, the internet is still wide open. I believe that the form Blank25 suggests above is the best way to really run tryouts for maximum security and accountability. It may seem daunting to set up the tests, but, at least for tryouts, a lot of good sample tests can be found here on the SciOly Test Exchange, including tests designed for tryouts. For builds and lab events, perhaps a small portion of the constructing or testing could be done to try and gauge placement.

That being said, the internet is still a really great resource for Science Olympiad coordination and study, and I hope you find a solution that works for your team!

Hope these thoughts are useful!
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by dick23 »

Thank you, thank you. I thought I was going crazy.
Anyway, what if cheating was not an issue? Online courses don't seem to worry about it. Why would students cheat, there is no grade.
Essay questions solve cheating and gets in to students heads to help coach them.
Anyway thank you, if I am crazy at least someone else entertained the thought

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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by samy-oak-tree »

dick23 wrote: September 14th, 2019, 10:02 pm Thank you, thank you. I thought I was going crazy.
Anyway, what if cheating was not an issue? Online courses don't seem to worry about it. Why would students cheat, there is no grade.
Essay questions solve cheating and gets in to students heads to help coach them.
Anyway thank you, if I am crazy at least someone else entertained the thought

Richard
I'd argue that if the test is determining who's on the team and who's not, it'd provide even more incentive to cheat.
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Re: Using virtual classrooms for tryouts

Post by TheMysteriousMapMan »

samy-oak-tree wrote:
dick23 wrote: September 14th, 2019, 10:02 pm Thank you, thank you. I thought I was going crazy.
Anyway, what if cheating was not an issue? Online courses don't seem to worry about it. Why would students cheat, there is no grade.
Essay questions solve cheating and gets in to students heads to help coach them.
Anyway thank you, if I am crazy at least someone else entertained the thought

Richard
I'd argue that if the test is determining who's on the team and who's not, it'd provide even more incentive to cheat.
I agree with Samy on this point–cheating to get on the team would be a big motivating factor, especially because you have to pick 15 - 20 people out of a group of 70. Getting on the team would be that equivalent of a good grade. I would argue that essay questions mostly solve the problem of cheating off other people (i.e. plagiarizing a peer), but don't solve the problem of cheating by researching the information from the question if they do not know (assuming the tryouts are without reference materials). If you wanted to run the events that have a binder or cheat sheet open note, then that would be less of an issue.
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