Getting Started Questions and Answers
Q: How do I get started?
First, you have to register (it's free) at GlobeNet and you have to confirm your email by going to a message from us and coming back into the system and logging in. This shows us that you can be reached via email. Then you form a "Country Team" with 1 friend and 1 adult that you know. That is a full Country Team. Finally, you join with a Country Team from another country and you are "started."
Q: What are the step-by-step directions for forming a Country Team?
1. Once you register and confirm it by going to the email address you used when registering, you have an active account. You are "on our map" (on GlobeNet.GlobalChallengeAward.org) and you now have a link on your profile that says "Invite me to your team." Other students with team spaces might find you and invite you to join them. You can just wait for someone to find you...OR you can be more pro-active and make a team of your own and go out and find people to invite.
2. To make a team, use the orange button "Create a Country Team" - this allows you to name the team and it gives the team a space. Then you can search for people to invite by using the search tool to find matching interests, to meet girls or boys, and how far they live from you. I recommend that you think of a student in your life already - someone good in school that you would like to work with. Also, think of an adult in your life. The adult does not have to be good in science - they are there to help you set goals, make decisions and stay on track.
3. There are two ways to invite people to your team. One is to get their emails and use the link within your team space called "Invite people you know." The other is to get your friend and adult to register and then look them up on the map and invite them by selecting on their button "Invite me to your team."
4. Once you have 2 students (you and a friend) and 1 adult, you have a "Full" Country Team. Your team space will now have a new orange button that says "Make an International Team." Give the new International Team a name (you can edit it later). Use the "Search Teams" to find other Full Country Teams and start getting to know people. Eventually, invite a team to join with yours and you are then well on your way in the competition. This whole process of making a team might take two or three weeks, depending on how much time and effort you give it.
Q: I want to ask a neighbor if he would like to join my team as an adult, but I want to make sure that he is informed on what he is getting into. He is not a teacher, I am not sure if this is required.
It is fine to choose ANY adult who you know and trust to be helpful to you. The adult's time is for him and you to decide. He or she is expected to be a helper to you in whatever way you decide. Some adults have a weekly checking phone call of 10 minutes to go over questions such as: What goals have you set this week, How's the team doing, Is there anything you need help with? The adult can then be in touch with us and your Mentor to help solve problems as they come up - or can just be a silent partner to you as you go through the whole experience.
Other appropriate adults might be: parents, brothers and sisters or friends in college, business people, pastors, youth group or club leaders, and of course teachers.
Q: How do I go about earning points while still searching for team members, especially now that I have access to the eFolio?
If you have created a Country Team but are still looking for members, we will give you access to eFolio so you can start to earn points while building your team. There are two ways to begin to earn points. You can fill out Surveys, and you can begin to work on STEM Explorations on the web site. The work you do on STEM Explorations will need to be saved until you have an International Team space in the eFolio, because that is where we want you to save your work
| Q: I'm really confused as to what I am supposed to be doing. I have already created a Country Team with two students and an adult. Then we joined with another Country Team to form an International Team. What do I do from here? |
Congratulations on forming your International Team! The first thing your team should do is decide which project to work on first. Go to your Dashboard to see a list of all of our activities! You can do some of them with your team and others on your own. Each activity you complete adds points to your point total (you can redeem these points later for prizes!) and some of them offer you a chance to win scholarship money as well! You might want to start by getting to know your team better. You can find these mini-challenges under the TIP or GBP Challenges from your Dashboard.
You've got lots to choose from, so explore your options, plan carefully, commit to each other and your choices, and get down to work! Be sure to read the contest rules...which will give you more information on what to do and how to win. You are in control of what you do from here on!
Q: What is the focus of the TIP?
The TIP is a smaller project than the GBP. It focuses on the technical innovation - but not the global business aspects of your idea. If you do the TIP, you can then insert all that work into the GBP, if your team wants to and has the time. Your team can only submit 1 solution - either a TIP or GBP.
Q: Are the challenges, explorations and exercises just suggestions on how to get started with your overall big project?
In a sense yes, BUT each of them earns you points. So, do as many as you like. Some teams systematically divide up the challenges and have individual members create papers and other products then report back. Other teams let each individual decide which challenges to do. The choice is yours. However, there is a cost! The overall production of documentation by individuals and the team is an important part of the selection process for semifinalists and making awards. Also, you are individually rewarded for the STEM Explorations (we want each person to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics) - so it makes no sense to have one person doing the STEMS. But it DOES make good sense to divide up the work of the TIP and GBP. Teams and individuals with no documentation of any kind will score lower than an otherwise equally matched team; so choose wisely!
Q: Are the challenges due at the end of each week? When are things "due?"
Nothing is due until April 30, and it does not matter what week you complete any particular project, exercise, or challenge. The calendar is just a suggested way to schedule your work. The final evaluation will NOT take time of completion into consideration. The challenges will be reviewed near the end of the whole year, so the week that you post answers, products or solutions does not matter. However, to keep your team moving forward, you should make your own team deadlines and then hold people to them, otherwise you'll have too much to do at the end. We’ve arranged the calendar so that your team can work carefully one step at a time to create an outstanding solution as well as learn about the science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Each time you complete any of the tasks, put a document into your eFolio AND fill out an evaluation.
Q: If completed, do the challenges, explorations, exercises and projects provide you with points?
Yes, EVERYTHING YOU DO (if documented in the eFolio) gives you additional points for you and your team. Near the end of the year in April, the staff of the Global Challenge will look at the eFolio and will make recommendations of semifinalists to the panel of judges who will join the staff to make final decisions. Teams without any completed tasks (but who otherside submit a scorable solution) will score lower than others given equality on all other factors. For example, given two equally promising solutions and outstanding business or technical plans, a team with evidence of teamwork and completed STEM Explorations will outscore a team without those.