Recently, our team has been working on a new project – Israeli RoboTed. This project is designed to help experienced teams acquire more knowledge in relevant fields such as mechanics, programming, electricity, and CAD while new team members are preparing for the build season. Teams will also be able to learn and, perhaps, adopt new management systems not only during the build season, but also during the competition as well as incorporate strategies and scouting methods. Some lectures will be adjusted so everyone will understand. By adjusting the lecture, new teams or new team members will be able to acquire a basic understanding upon which to build. Some lectures, however, will be targeted towards those with prior knowledge and experience in the subject.
 
From where did this idea come? We would like to tell you about our team’s own experience. During this time of the year when new members join the team, we split off into pairs – a new and old member together to begin the learning process. The pair receives a subject that they must thoroughly research, consult with mentors and professionals, and finally, present the lecture in front of the team. This process is an unique experience for new members to feel a part of the team and learn a new subject in depth. Experienced members deepen their own knowledge as well and strengthen relationships with new members. The goal is for this process to continue throughout the season – creating a process of experimental learning for everyone. Some of you might ask, “What can we learn from students our age?” We say you can learn a lot.
 
The project will be carried out as follows: Once we know exactly what lectures the FIRST ISRAEL community is interested in, we will present a set of lectures already reviewed by us and some of our mentors. It is our hope that other teams will join us during these lectures. In addition, we would be happy to speak about other suggested topics of interest.
 
It is important to say that the project is still in the planning stages and we would be pleased if you could carefully answer the following questionnaire. The purpose of this questionnaire is to help us understand how to give meaningful and interesting lectures. The questionnaire is divided into three parts: Part One: What topics are you interested in? What are the most important topics you would like to learn? Part Two: What is the best way to deliver a lecture? Part Three: Suggestions, comments, contact information and a registration form for this project.