FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Organized into 4 topics: General, Regionals, DPOJ and State.
FAQ: GENERAL
Questions About General STLP Topics
(Gold Status, Get Recognized, Level Up, and more)
Yes! STLP Regionals are still on… albeit in a temporary format: All Digital.
In a typical STLP season, schools would travel to a regionally based location to share their Level 1 Projects and to apply for Service Teams. However, with multiple sources of guidance suggesting that schools cancel field trips the decision was made to transition to a digital format.
Going digital will mean that schools will not be challenged to keep up with the evolving COVID-19 restrictions/guidelines and can instead focus on helping students develop a project idea to share. Likewise, the 2020-21 STLP Project Cycle has been amended to reflect these challenges (updated rubrics, extended timelines, etc.).
These ideas have been generated by STLP Coaches at training events over the past year. These are not necessarily recommendations, but simply intended as a list to help spur imagination and creativity while brainstorming ideas for Level 1 Projects.
Community Service Projects examples
- Assist non-profit agencies in technology needs
- Host open houses with tech demonstrations
- Publish written and virtual work
- Produce school items for a purpose
- Collaborate with others to solve a problem
- Collaborate with another school, district, state, nation
Instructional Projects examples
- Offer technology classes on topics
- Teach parents, senior citizens, and fellow classmates
- Form buddy partners with lower grades, peers, and staff
Technical Expertise Projects examples
- Support highly specialized topics in STEM topics
- Offer technical support as a help desk service
- Make patch cables, salvage parts from inoperable computers check and clean computers
- Work with the school and district technology departments to support technology in schools or district
- Seek industry standard technology certifications
- Utilize technical skills with software and hardware
- Deploy software upgrades or install new software
- Troubleshoot video production issues; hook up hardware
- Learn new software well to teach others
Table size varies for each Regional location. While there is no way to know in advance the exact dimensions of the tables your teams will be assigned, you can plan for tables to be:
- between 5′ to 8′ in length
- between 2′ and 3′ in width
- unadorned
How you utilize your presentation space is left up to each team. Some choose to bring a table cloth (often schools have one with their school or district logo). All of these choices are left to the individual teams to determine.
Keep in mind that project can be “in development” at the time of the regional event. Teams will need to impress upon judges that they have a solid development plan and will work to convince judges that their project plan is strong enough to deserve an invitation to Level 2 at State.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Food for purchase is at most sites. Schools may also bring in a sack lunch at every site. Coolers for food and drinks are allowed.
Many of the college campuses have student centers in which your students may eat. We consider this an educational experience since students will be interacting with others on campus.
Some schools like to eat at a food establishment while on the way back to school.
Make sure all competing students read and understand the rubric and are prepared for any interviews.
The most successful STLP groups hold a pre-Showcase/School Showcase/District Showcase to provide students with practical experience presenting to adults prior to the Regional Showcase.
At the Regional event, know that all service categories and showcases will need to provide their own devices during presentations/interviews. For example, if you want to show judges a video, instead of arriving with a DVD copy only, plan to bring a laptop or have it preloaded on a mobile device. Judges will not have devices.
Although internet is available, be prepared with a back up plan to present in an offline mode or via a secondary, personal hot-spot connection.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Two types of events happen simultaneously during Regional Qualifiers. Either students are waiting their turn to present their Level 1 Project ideas to judges or they are waiting for their turn to interview with judges for a position on a State Service Team.
SERVICE TEAM CATEGORIES
- Media Arts Service: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the Media Arts and is interviewed to join the team that will record and produce media that highlight the events occurring at the State Championship. Their content will be shown during the Awards Ceremony and posted to the STLP website (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 Only)
- Engineer Service: individual student presents a resume, references, and is interviewed for technical positions. Engineers are considered the pinnacle of STLP and will have responsibilities that include representing STLP at state and national levels (Division Level 9-12 Only)
- Live Production: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the production of live/recorded broadcasts and is interviewed to join the team that will help present the STLP State Championship in various production roles (both behind the camera and in front of the camera) in partnership with KET.
- Social Media Service: one student presents a resume and is interviewed for a position to help share stories, event updates, and scoring results at State (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 only
PROJECTS
- Level 1 Project Presentation: One to four students create and present the project for Level 1 Judges. Selected Projects will be invited to State Semifinals (Level 2) judging at the State Championship, with the goal of making it to Level 2 judging and possibly being named “Best Showcase in Kentucky”.
Each school is responsible for supplying at least one judge for Regional.
Although all STLP events are free, each school is required to provide one person to act as a judge in order to participate in the day of competition.
A lot of effort goes into making Regionals a great experience for everyone — and the judges play a super-important role in make the day a success. Judges comments alone, can help a team better prepare for the next level of competition — or help a team better understand why they don’t qualify for State. Judges will receive on-site training the morning of the event regarding how to score project, what to look for in a good presentation, and how to gauge a team’s preparedness to thoughtfully discuss their project plans and intended impact. Judges are the last to leave because they will be busy recording final scores and comments. If a school does not provide a judge, the entire school is ineligible for advancing to Level 2 at State Championship.
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FAQ: DPOJ
Questions About the Digital Products, DPOJ Categories, creating shared URLs
DPOJ categories range from Digital Art to Media Literacy and span everything in between. Explore each category via the STLP Super Sheet: https://stlp.education.ky.gov/supersheet
STLP works to reflect the relevant topics of interest to students. Likewise, STLP strives to match the education technology trends found in classrooms across Kentucky. As a result, DPOJ categories remain agile and often are adjusted year to year. Keep an eye on the STLP Super Sheet throughout the fall semester for the inclusion of new and exciting DPOJ categories.
Got a great idea for a DPOJ category? Reach out to Jeff.sebulsky@education.ky.gov to share your idea!
Of course! All schools are welcome to participate in DPOJ. Just submit a link to some student digital products before the posted deadline.
DPOJ is the easiest way to get started with STLP. Even submitting a single student digital product gets you involved and on the path to making a difference in the lives of students through STLP.
What are you waiting for?
DPOJ = Digital Product Online Judging. As one of the Big 3 STLP events throughout the year, DPOJ is unique as it allows schools to welcome more students into STLP by highlighting their amazing digital creation skills.
The best part of the Digital Product Online Judging challenge is that work from any student, created for any reason, is welcomed to be submitted. Students are creators and makers… so take advantage of the digital products they have made for fun on their own time. Or, send out an “all-call” for DPOJ entries to your whole school at a faculty meeting or on the daily news show. Grab great work students have done to demonstrate learning as part of normal classwork (NTI and digital learning have generated numerous DPOJ submissions… it’s a perfect fit!).
Look outside what you might consider to be your core STLP group. DPOJ is a great way to incorporate more classrooms and more students into STLP.
#STLPRoad2Rupp
FAQ: STATE
Questions About State, Level 2/3 Projects, Service Team duties, Awards, etc.
Yes! STLP Regionals are still on… albeit in a temporary format: All Digital.
In a typical STLP season, schools would travel to a regionally based location to share their Level 1 Projects and to apply for Service Teams. However, with multiple sources of guidance suggesting that schools cancel field trips the decision was made to transition to a digital format.
Going digital will mean that schools will not be challenged to keep up with the evolving COVID-19 restrictions/guidelines and can instead focus on helping students develop a project idea to share. Likewise, the 2020-21 STLP Project Cycle has been amended to reflect these challenges (updated rubrics, extended timelines, etc.).
These ideas have been generated by STLP Coaches at training events over the past year. These are not necessarily recommendations, but simply intended as a list to help spur imagination and creativity while brainstorming ideas for Level 1 Projects.
Community Service Projects examples
- Assist non-profit agencies in technology needs
- Host open houses with tech demonstrations
- Publish written and virtual work
- Produce school items for a purpose
- Collaborate with others to solve a problem
- Collaborate with another school, district, state, nation
Instructional Projects examples
- Offer technology classes on topics
- Teach parents, senior citizens, and fellow classmates
- Form buddy partners with lower grades, peers, and staff
Technical Expertise Projects examples
- Support highly specialized topics in STEM topics
- Offer technical support as a help desk service
- Make patch cables, salvage parts from inoperable computers check and clean computers
- Work with the school and district technology departments to support technology in schools or district
- Seek industry standard technology certifications
- Utilize technical skills with software and hardware
- Deploy software upgrades or install new software
- Troubleshoot video production issues; hook up hardware
- Learn new software well to teach others
Table size varies for each Regional location. While there is no way to know in advance the exact dimensions of the tables your teams will be assigned, you can plan for tables to be:
- between 5′ to 8′ in length
- between 2′ and 3′ in width
- unadorned
How you utilize your presentation space is left up to each team. Some choose to bring a table cloth (often schools have one with their school or district logo). All of these choices are left to the individual teams to determine.
Keep in mind that project can be “in development” at the time of the regional event. Teams will need to impress upon judges that they have a solid development plan and will work to convince judges that their project plan is strong enough to deserve an invitation to Level 2 at State.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Food for purchase is at most sites. Schools may also bring in a sack lunch at every site. Coolers for food and drinks are allowed.
Many of the college campuses have student centers in which your students may eat. We consider this an educational experience since students will be interacting with others on campus.
Some schools like to eat at a food establishment while on the way back to school.
Make sure all competing students read and understand the rubric and are prepared for any interviews.
The most successful STLP groups hold a pre-Showcase/School Showcase/District Showcase to provide students with practical experience presenting to adults prior to the Regional Showcase.
At the Regional event, know that all service categories and showcases will need to provide their own devices during presentations/interviews. For example, if you want to show judges a video, instead of arriving with a DVD copy only, plan to bring a laptop or have it preloaded on a mobile device. Judges will not have devices.
Although internet is available, be prepared with a back up plan to present in an offline mode or via a secondary, personal hot-spot connection.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Two types of events happen simultaneously during Regional Qualifiers. Either students are waiting their turn to present their Level 1 Project ideas to judges or they are waiting for their turn to interview with judges for a position on a State Service Team.
SERVICE TEAM CATEGORIES
- Media Arts Service: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the Media Arts and is interviewed to join the team that will record and produce media that highlight the events occurring at the State Championship. Their content will be shown during the Awards Ceremony and posted to the STLP website (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 Only)
- Engineer Service: individual student presents a resume, references, and is interviewed for technical positions. Engineers are considered the pinnacle of STLP and will have responsibilities that include representing STLP at state and national levels (Division Level 9-12 Only)
- Live Production: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the production of live/recorded broadcasts and is interviewed to join the team that will help present the STLP State Championship in various production roles (both behind the camera and in front of the camera) in partnership with KET.
- Social Media Service: one student presents a resume and is interviewed for a position to help share stories, event updates, and scoring results at State (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 only
PROJECTS
- Level 1 Project Presentation: One to four students create and present the project for Level 1 Judges. Selected Projects will be invited to State Semifinals (Level 2) judging at the State Championship, with the goal of making it to Level 2 judging and possibly being named “Best Showcase in Kentucky”.
Each school is responsible for supplying at least one judge for Regional.
Although all STLP events are free, each school is required to provide one person to act as a judge in order to participate in the day of competition.
A lot of effort goes into making Regionals a great experience for everyone — and the judges play a super-important role in make the day a success. Judges comments alone, can help a team better prepare for the next level of competition — or help a team better understand why they don’t qualify for State. Judges will receive on-site training the morning of the event regarding how to score project, what to look for in a good presentation, and how to gauge a team’s preparedness to thoughtfully discuss their project plans and intended impact. Judges are the last to leave because they will be busy recording final scores and comments. If a school does not provide a judge, the entire school is ineligible for advancing to Level 2 at State Championship.
Tweet #STLProcks
FAQ: REGIONALS
Questions About Regionals, Level 1 Projects, Service Team interviews
Yes! STLP Regionals are still on… albeit in a temporary format: All Digital.
In a typical STLP season, schools would travel to a regionally based location to share their Level 1 Projects and to apply for Service Teams. However, with multiple sources of guidance suggesting that schools cancel field trips the decision was made to transition to a digital format.
Going digital will mean that schools will not be challenged to keep up with the evolving COVID-19 restrictions/guidelines and can instead focus on helping students develop a project idea to share. Likewise, the 2020-21 STLP Project Cycle has been amended to reflect these challenges (updated rubrics, extended timelines, etc.).
These ideas have been generated by STLP Coaches at training events over the past year. These are not necessarily recommendations, but simply intended as a list to help spur imagination and creativity while brainstorming ideas for Level 1 Projects.
Community Service Projects examples
- Assist non-profit agencies in technology needs
- Host open houses with tech demonstrations
- Publish written and virtual work
- Produce school items for a purpose
- Collaborate with others to solve a problem
- Collaborate with another school, district, state, nation
Instructional Projects examples
- Offer technology classes on topics
- Teach parents, senior citizens, and fellow classmates
- Form buddy partners with lower grades, peers, and staff
Technical Expertise Projects examples
- Support highly specialized topics in STEM topics
- Offer technical support as a help desk service
- Make patch cables, salvage parts from inoperable computers check and clean computers
- Work with the school and district technology departments to support technology in schools or district
- Seek industry standard technology certifications
- Utilize technical skills with software and hardware
- Deploy software upgrades or install new software
- Troubleshoot video production issues; hook up hardware
- Learn new software well to teach others
Table size varies for each Regional location. While there is no way to know in advance the exact dimensions of the tables your teams will be assigned, you can plan for tables to be:
- between 5′ to 8′ in length
- between 2′ and 3′ in width
- unadorned
How you utilize your presentation space is left up to each team. Some choose to bring a table cloth (often schools have one with their school or district logo). All of these choices are left to the individual teams to determine.
Keep in mind that project can be “in development” at the time of the regional event. Teams will need to impress upon judges that they have a solid development plan and will work to convince judges that their project plan is strong enough to deserve an invitation to Level 2 at State.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Food for purchase is at most sites. Schools may also bring in a sack lunch at every site. Coolers for food and drinks are allowed.
Many of the college campuses have student centers in which your students may eat. We consider this an educational experience since students will be interacting with others on campus.
Some schools like to eat at a food establishment while on the way back to school.
Make sure all competing students read and understand the rubric and are prepared for any interviews.
The most successful STLP groups hold a pre-Showcase/School Showcase/District Showcase to provide students with practical experience presenting to adults prior to the Regional Showcase.
At the Regional event, know that all service categories and showcases will need to provide their own devices during presentations/interviews. For example, if you want to show judges a video, instead of arriving with a DVD copy only, plan to bring a laptop or have it preloaded on a mobile device. Judges will not have devices.
Although internet is available, be prepared with a back up plan to present in an offline mode or via a secondary, personal hot-spot connection.
NOTICE: Due to challenges associated with COVID19, all 2020 STLP Regionals are transitioned to an all-digital, virtual, event.
For more information, visit the REGIONALS section or the STLP Super Sheet. Information provided below will not be accurate until the 2021-2022 STLP Season. Thank you!
Two types of events happen simultaneously during Regional Qualifiers. Either students are waiting their turn to present their Level 1 Project ideas to judges or they are waiting for their turn to interview with judges for a position on a State Service Team.
SERVICE TEAM CATEGORIES
- Media Arts Service: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the Media Arts and is interviewed to join the team that will record and produce media that highlight the events occurring at the State Championship. Their content will be shown during the Awards Ceremony and posted to the STLP website (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 Only)
- Engineer Service: individual student presents a resume, references, and is interviewed for technical positions. Engineers are considered the pinnacle of STLP and will have responsibilities that include representing STLP at state and national levels (Division Level 9-12 Only)
- Live Production: individual student shares a digital sample of work demonstrating their skills in the production of live/recorded broadcasts and is interviewed to join the team that will help present the STLP State Championship in various production roles (both behind the camera and in front of the camera) in partnership with KET.
- Social Media Service: one student presents a resume and is interviewed for a position to help share stories, event updates, and scoring results at State (Division Levels 6-8, 9-12 only
PROJECTS
- Level 1 Project Presentation: One to four students create and present the project for Level 1 Judges. Selected Projects will be invited to State Semifinals (Level 2) judging at the State Championship, with the goal of making it to Level 2 judging and possibly being named “Best Showcase in Kentucky”.
Each school is responsible for supplying at least one judge for Regional.
Although all STLP events are free, each school is required to provide one person to act as a judge in order to participate in the day of competition.
A lot of effort goes into making Regionals a great experience for everyone — and the judges play a super-important role in make the day a success. Judges comments alone, can help a team better prepare for the next level of competition — or help a team better understand why they don’t qualify for State. Judges will receive on-site training the morning of the event regarding how to score project, what to look for in a good presentation, and how to gauge a team’s preparedness to thoughtfully discuss their project plans and intended impact. Judges are the last to leave because they will be busy recording final scores and comments. If a school does not provide a judge, the entire school is ineligible for advancing to Level 2 at State Championship.