We are updating the VEX Digital Notebook templates to add the 2023-2024 games for VIQC and VRC. While we are making these changes:
see notebooks.vex.com for last years notebooks
Big fan of the Digital Notebook Templates:
I used the notebook template prior to Worlds to help an MS VRC team with explaining gear structures and compound gears. They totally got it, and adapted their build with a stronger structure that was consistent.
Keep being amazing!
It would be helpful to have a link this year to just view the templates without making a copy in my drive.
Sometimes I wanted to look at the blank template or show a colleague, but then had to make a whole new copy to see it or find my last downloaded one.
It would also make viewing on mobile easier.
I love the digital template.
Something I find really helpful and find I use a lot is the Gear Formulas page.
One thing I would like though, is the addition of the brain port and controller mapping pages to the new slide options. Sometimes you delete it and want it back and have to go to the original template again and copy it. That’s just a tiny critique that doesn’t really matter but would be helpful.
- Henry 344E
How can we “lock” a page, i.e. after 24 hours, the page is “locked” and must be “unlocked” (consciously edited) thereafter.
Is there also a digital timestamp for each page that judges can see to verify authenticity?
Like other digital authoring tools, a page create date and a page edit date. This will be hard to do because we take the template, rename it and that becomes our document. We then copy the appropriate template page whenever we add “new” page. Later we drag and drop pages to reorder the document and add section dividers for “readability”
Have the fields been updated, since I am still getting the spin up field on one of the slides.
See original post for your answer.
As a side note, If a team’s suggestion is used for the notebook template, please change the watermark located at the bottom of the resources page. I am not a lawyer, but it seems to suggest that all ideas are owned by REC, which would not be the case it a suggestion is implemented.
So, do we need an online notebook?
All team members should participate in documenting their teams design process. Tools to do this may be hard copy or digital. Tools accomplish this may be from VEX, third party, or team created.
Look at Rubrics for Notebooks and interview for this season, and they will be a good guide as what Judges at events are looking as indicators. of authentic design process.
No, written notebooks are completely fine to use.
There are a few tournaments that require a link to a digital copy of the notebook, but this can be achieved by taking a picture of each page and submitting the written notebook in pdf form.
No, you can still use physical ones.
I agree with you…
I recommend scanning, as it looks better and more professional.
Cool thanks for the info.
First, my student love the ability to have a digital notebook - so thank you again for creating this. My only comment/concern is the longer the notebook is, the harder/longer it takes to download or update because the file gets too big and slides is finicky like that. Is there another way to continue to add to the notebook without our iPads and Chromebooks stalling while loading? Or maybe I’m not tech savvy enough and missing something simple that someone else here can share?
Thank you!
Will they allow videos for the purposes of making submissions in American Sign Language with English captions? This is for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing community.
Maybe I’m missing something. In what situation would captioned video be more useful than written text?
We ran into a similar problem this past season as well. Our solution was to split the notebook into two or three separate google slide projects. Once it is time to submit the notebook, we just merge all of files together in one additional project.
This should reduce the amount of time the project takes to load, as there is simply less to load in a given project file.
I really like the digital notebook template. It’s a great resource for starting teams and I like the image of the field it includes, especially since it’s already the proper scaling for my own notebook and is easily transferable as I also use Google Slides for the digital aspects of my notebook. I help mentor some middle school VRC teams and last year was my first year doing it. They did great, but they never really caught onto the notebooking aspect of VEX. That’s one of my goals next year, which is to get them to document their design process so when they get into high school, they have already established good habits and can possibly win some awards both in middle school and in high school.
However, just a couple things could be improved. First, I think a separate page on the template for the notebook rubric would be great. A link is included to it, but I know several teams include the criteria in the beginning of their notebook as a reminder for themselves. Having it already put into the template would help with that. Also, I already use the field layout image and I also think it would be nice to have the game elements in the same format for use. The Spin Up version just had the field, field without the game elements, and the field with movable discs (for skills/autonomous). Including a close up profile of the Triballs (or future game elements) and maybe a side profile for the Elevation Bars/Goals would be cool. The Elevation Bar next to the Elevation Tier tool thing would be awesome too.