Printed vs. Online Resources

[RiverWalker88]

Along with the many, many unprecedented challenges of this year, there is the issue of a resource policy (generally a decision of printed vs. online) that tournaments have to think up now. Tournaments have to struggle to create a guideline for binders and cheatsheets that balances accessibility and cheating potential, while making it fair.

Some potential challenges include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Accessibility to printing
• Internet speed
• Teams who are able to meet in person over those who cannot
• Internet searching (obviously)
• Teams who have a digital resource over those who have a printed resource
• Ctrl+F / Cmd+F (The function to search a document for keywords, for the less keyboard command-focused)

What are your thoughts on this? What do you think is the right balance? How do you make a resource policy that is fair across the board, that all teams will be able to work to while still minimizing the ease for cheating? What compromises need to be made?

I just kind of brain-dumped, but how do you think tournaments could best handle this? And if you're involved with a tournament, how are you planning on tackling this challenge? (And finally), what to you think regional and state competitions (in both small and large states) can do about this, as the reward for quickly web-searching answers to boost their score soars over that of an invitational?

[MorningCoffee]

I think that resources should be completely printed, especially binders, since the Ctrl + F function creates it easy to find the page with the specific fossil or bird, having a large advantage over teams with printed resources, taking away the spirit of Scioly. Digitally accessing a reference sheet with small words also makes it so zooming in is enabled, taking away the fun of size 4 font.

Of course, there are teams who cannot print, which causes debate and such, since they will have overall access to the internet. Really, there isn't one solution, but making tests with deep thinking questions that can't be looked up would be a great way to combat cheating, in my opinion. This enables the teams to have to make connections between topics, rather than just looking up the answer and typing it down. Test writers can also make tests long and not meant to be finished, so looking up answers would just waste time.

Also, score distributions are a mediocore way, but still good. If a team scored way higher than the 2nd place team, there would be some suspicion and some investigation should be done. There are problems with this, since some teams could just be really good at the event. So this should be a last resort really, since it would create some unfairness.

So basically, there are a few solutions, but I think printed resources should be the main choice to create a fair test, but NOPE COVID-19 has to make our lives harder

[knightmoves]

Of course, there are teams who cannot print, which causes debate and such, since they will have overall access to the internet.

In a normal year, they'd have to print, or hand-write their resources. The only thing that's different this year is that they might not be in school every day. But school buildings, and the printers in them, still exist, and I think teachers everywhere are able to access their school buildings, so having a teacher print out your resources and arranging to collect them (for a kid who is doing school online, and doesn't have access to a printer) doesn't seem like too big an ask.

[SilverBreeze]

Of course, there are teams who cannot print, which causes debate and such, since they will have overall access to the internet.

In a normal year, they'd have to print, or hand-write their resources. The only thing that's different this year is that they might not be in school every day. But school buildings, and the printers in them, still exist, and I think teachers everywhere are able to access their school buildings, so having a teacher print out your resources and arranging to collect them (for a kid who is doing school online, and doesn't have access to a printer) doesn't seem like too big an ask.

Not everyone is as privileged as you are. Not every team has a teacher willing to do more than sign papers. Not every school has a printer available for these uses. Not every teacher has unlimited pages they are allowed to print.

[Jehosaphat]

You can use the same argument for computers, the teams with more money are more likely to have more expensive computers, which allows them to more easily search and look for information, at a higher resolution, helping them exponentially. Printing is a way to handicap everyone and still force them to know some information by heart, and allow competitions to not be races to see who can find it in their reprinted textbooks the fastest.

Especially for astronomy, some kids will walk in with literal books. I think almost all events should go back to the maximum of 2 back-to-back sheets of paper. This limits cost and limits the amount of information that can be put on it. That is my opinion.

[knightmoves]

Not everyone is as privileged as you are. Not every team has a teacher willing to do more than sign papers. Not every school has a printer available for these uses. Not every teacher has unlimited pages they are allowed to print.

What does that team do in a normal year? This year got cheaper, because nobody has to pay for gas, or bus rental, or whatever, to travel to a competition. You're right that a team who doesn't have a teacher willing to do more than provide nominal cover on paper, and doesn't have access to a printer, is disadvantaged with respect to other teams - but that team is no less disadvantaged in a normal year.

When that team was competing in physical competitions, they had to show up with paper, and if their school still wouldn't let them print, and their teacher / coach couldn't help them, they're in the same position, aren't they?

[MorningCoffee]

Not everyone is as privileged as you are. Not every team has a teacher willing to do more than sign papers. Not every school has a printer available for these uses. Not every teacher has unlimited pages they are allowed to print.

What does that team do in a normal year? This year got cheaper, because nobody has to pay for gas, or bus rental, or whatever, to travel to a competition. You're right that a team who doesn't have a teacher willing to do more than provide nominal cover on paper, and doesn't have access to a printer, is disadvantaged with respect to other teams - but that team is no less disadvantaged in a normal year.

When that team was competing in physical competitions, they had to show up with paper, and if their school still wouldn't let them print, and their teacher / coach couldn't help them, they're in the same position, aren't they?

Well, usually for those on my team who could not print, it would be the partner with the printer who brought the cheat sheet. If both didn't have a printer, one of them would print at a friend's house with a printer. However, in these circumstances, some parents don't want any physical contact or close distance between others for even short periods of time, which certainly creates a disadvantage for those who would like to stay safe.

There would also be disadvantages of a team in normal circumstances who cannot afford a bus. My team does not get any funding from our school, so we certainly cannot get a bus, so we would each have to drive. Even then, some families cannot afford the gas costs, especially in PA where gas prices are higher. Not everyone wants to risk something now for a competition and would rather keep themselves or their families safe. Some schools cannot print in color either, giving schools with the funding for colored printers advantages as well. I guess resources really create an unlevel playing field, depending on how privileged you are :/