VEX Robotics Community Introductions

General Discussions
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Hi everyone,

I’m Evan, and I finished my nineteenth year of teaching this past June - my last before taking a year off with my wife and daughter. This ends six years at Saigon South International School (SSIS) in Vietnam, six years at Hangzhou International School in China, and seven years spent teaching in public schools in New York City. I helped run a FIRST LEGO League program in the Bronx and coached FIRST Robotics and FIRST Tech Challenge teams while I taught in New York. I didn’t coach my own FIRST LEGO League team until moving to China. And while I was among those that bought VEX kits from Radioshack back in 2005, it wasn’t until moving to Vietnam that I joined the VEX robotics competition community.

I’ve taught a number of different things from the math/science/computer science/engineering subjects, building electives in computer science as well as teaching standardized AP, IB, and other curricula. In my final year at SSIS, I taught two sections of iOS app development, and one course on automation. The automation course is probably most relevant to the VEX community here.

This course had six units:

  • modular programming
  • state machine programming
  • collaborative tools and generative art
  • control systems and libraries
  • machine learning and ml5js
  • processing data and making measurements

The control systems unit in this course introduced students to control algorithms such as on/off and P/PI/PID control and learning to use libraries and APIs. The final project involved students programming a Sphero robot to drive around a VEX field. This video of students working on the challenge has some elements from previous VRC games that I’m sure you recognize.

I also taught students about neural networks by having them experiment with one collecting data from a simulated self-driving car. This video overview shows the task and some of the resources that I gave students as part of this activity.

I really enjoyed building this course. It kept me learning and creating experiences for students to learn programming skills that are essential to building automated systems of many different types. This course started as a way to push many of the VEX robotics competition students that were topping out at programming they could figure out on their own. I pulled on my own experience with competitive robotics in VRC, FRC, and some automation projects of my own to help students learn in a very practical way.

I also worked with SSIS to grow the VEX Robotics program into a program that stretched across Vietnam. We hosted the first and second VEX national tournaments in January 2020 and January 2021 and networked with schools around the country. While I am sad to leave the program, it is in the very capable hands of my colleagues who are continuing on with the program this fall.

I’m looking forward to taking this year off from teaching. With COVID travel restrictions reduced, My family and I are ready to see people we’ve seen only on screens for the past two and a half years. I hope this forum can be how I stay connected with the amazing world of robotics education. I am humbled by the knowledge and talent here on the forum.

Hope to meet you all soon!

Best regards,

Evan

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87

Hi Evan,

Wonderful to have you hear in the community. Thank you for providing all of that information. I remember seeing some of your work on twitter - I’m excited to be collaborating with you here.

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Welcome to the Community Evan! I’m looking forward to learning with you in PD+ :slight_smile:

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Hi Evan and welcome. Looking forward to learning more, it is a great community.

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Hi, all! I’m Michelle Lonsinger, and I recently came onboard as a Technical Editor for VEX after helping with several VEX & REC Foundation initiatives as a contractor.

My current big task is helping with the creation and launch of the new RECF Resources collection–a knowledge base comprised of information, tips, and processes to help teams, volunteers, event partners, students, and parents navigate and thrive in competitive robotics. I’m collecting techniques and knowledge from experienced organizations, adding it to the existing resources, and sharing it with the REC Foundation community. Crowd sourcing is amazing, isn’t it?

I got hooked on VEX Robotics when my daughter joined an elementary school VIQC team in the Bankshot season. Since then I’ve helped start and run private and school clubs, hosted events, and filled every single volunteer role at least once. For the last several seasons, I’ve focused on Head Refereeing for VIQC, VRC, and VEX U events from local events through the VEX World Championships.

My professional background is in technical writing, editing, and instructional design, and I’m excited to help with everything VEX & the REC Foundation have to offer.

I look forward to learning from all of you in this community, and helping the larger community learn from you, too!

The RECF knowledge base isn’t officially launched yet, but I encourage all of you to go try it out while it’s in development. You can find it at kb.roboticseducation.org. :slight_smile:

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Hi @Michelle_Lonsinger,

Welcome and I look forward to seeing the development of the RECF knowledge base. When getting starting with VEX Robotics and still today I use the kb articles and find them so helpful, so much accessible information. It’s great being able to also ask for help and share in this great community too!

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Welcome, Michelle! Happy to have you here in PD+ :slight_smile:

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Hi @Michelle_Lonsinger Welcome to the community. So happy for you to join us.

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Hi everyone-

My name is Shawna O’Hara. I was a classroom teacher for 26 years (5-6th mostly). My son was a member of the VEX robotics program in middle school and then the FIRST robotics program at the high school (go team701!!). This led me to helping the high school coach implement robotics in the elementary schools of our district.

We are a small district (5 elementary schools) and have used VEX IQ for our 5th and 6th graders as an after school program. We hold a district competition every year. Two of the elementary schools are on an air force base so we tend to get a revolving door of students.

Part of my job position this year is to coordinate all robotics at the elementary level and implement VEX 123 and VEX GO to the younger grades.

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Welcome Shawna! I am excited to hear how your district ends up implementing VEX 123 and GO. Let us know if you have any questions! @Aimee_DeFoe and @Audra_Selkowitz will be an amazing resource :slight_smile:

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Hi @Shawna_OHara It isn’t too late to join our VEX GO/123 online class: VEX Professional Development Plus

You can watch the recordings of the previous classes or just jump into the next one.

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Hi everyone. My name is Brett Webber and I am a Robotics, Programming and Digital Media teacher and VEX robotics coach in Wangaratta, Australia.

I have been teaching for 9 years now, and have been involved with VEX for the past 5 years with me now teaching a compulsory 10 week VEX IQ unit to all students in year 7 at my school, and optional electives in year 8 and 9. I am also a co-coach (with Maree Timms who introduced herself below) for my school’s extra-curricular VEX competition teams.

Unfortunately COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in Australia had a massive impact on our competition side of things and has forced us to pretty much start again from scratch. This year though we are trying to come back strong and look forward to everything VEX.

I am happy to share any resources that I have, so feel free to reach out.

Brett

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98

Hi Brett! Great to hear from you and welcome to the community.

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Hi Brett,

Thanks for being here and look forward to learning more from you and Maree in the future. All the best!

Michele.

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Hello everyone! I am Joe Pudlewski from Upstate New York. I have been teaching math for 15 years in a small public school. Over the last several years I have picked up a few computer science courses and co-taught a robotics class. We have been competing in VEX V5 since the Nothing but Net season. Unfortunately, due to COVID we took a couple years of from competing. This year, we have a completely new group of kids and look to get back to “competing strength” soon.

I am looking forward to learning form this PLC!

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Welcome @Joseph_Pudlewski! I’m a former math teacher as well! :smiley: welcome to the community!

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Welcome @Joseph_Pudlewski We are looking forward to collaborating with you!

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Hi,

My name is Philisia Spearmon. I am a IT/CS and Math teacher at Tattnall County High School in rural South Georgia. Previously, I was a high school mathematics teacher. After attending a coding professional development, I received my CS endorsement and begin teaching a computer science pathway. Our school does not have any engineering or technology classes so I started TSA so students interested in STEM careers could have an opportunity to participate. As a TSA advisor, I noticed VEX robotics so I am starting a team at my school. I have no prior experience with robotics, but I do have some coding experience from teaching computer science. I am here to learn as much as I can about Vex so that I can help my students be successful. We have a Vex 5 robot and plan to participate at the state competition in March if we are ready. I am not sure how or if I will use in my classroom, but once I learn more I may be able to incorporate into my lessons.

Philisia Spearmon

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104

Welcome to the Community @Philisia_Spearmon! Best of luck with your competition team :slight_smile: Feel free to ask questions in the Community as you’re getting your team ready, and we’ll do whatever we can to support you. So glad you’re here!

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Hi Philisia!
I am also from Ga and teach with VEXIQ at the middle school level. Are you also familiar with CSTA? As a new CS teacher, you might find helpful resources and benefits from the CSTA community and find our Ga chapter of CSTA beneficial.

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