Frequently Asked Questions

Questions

Answers

General

Can students participate in more than one group within the same activity?
No, a student cannot participate in more than one team per activity. However, one team or one individual can submit one entry per category within the same activity.
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Can students submit as an individual and as a team within the same activity?
No. They can only enter as an individual or a team per activity.
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Can staff put their names down as part of a group or create their own TRIO Quest entry?
No, only students are able to enter the DigiMedia, DigiSites or DigiText competitions. Staff/Coaches cannot work on the entries directly - their role is to provide support to the students.
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Can I (a coach) create a Google Site to test it out?
Yes, we recommend creating a test site so that you become familiar with the process of Google Sites in order to help your students use it.
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Considering that most TRIO students are off for the summer, when and how do programs typically gather students to work on this project?
Most TRIO students, even college, are around for summer, if even for a program workshop, etc. If students are not around in the summer we encourage programs to ask the students to bring in a paper or project they worked on during the academic year and adapt it into a DigiSite to submit to the competition. Upward Bound and Talent Search usually work with their students during the summer, so they can have the students work on DigiSites entries as a part of a class. Saturday workshops are also a great way to bring students together and to collaborate on an entry, One wonderful feature of Google Sites is that members can collaborate directly online; they do not have to be present at the same place.
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Is there a standard permission form, especially for students under 18?
Yes, you can find it at the DigiMedia resources page.
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What if the students have a a topic that can fit in more than one category?
We ask that students choose one category that best fits their topic.
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Does a coach need to apply for separate coach codes for the different competitions?
No. A coach can use the same coach code to submit their students' entries into all three competitions. However, we do ask that a coach who belongs to multiple programs register for coach codes for each program and submit entries accordingly.
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Can we use a different web hosting service other than Google?
No, all of entry pages must be created in Google Sites or we will not judge the entry.
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Will all of students who participate in TQ need their own Google account?
Not necessarily. Please refer to our Google Guide for DigiMedia, DigiSites, and/or DigiText.
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Does each student need to have a Google Site?
If it is an individual entry, then yes. Otherwise, a team needs only one Google Site for the entire team.
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Does the name of the Google Site need to match the title of the entry?
Yes, we recommend the two to match so the entry will be easy to identify, especially for judging.
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How will the entries be used to spread the word about TRIO?
All of the TRIO Quest entries are available for viewing online and you may share your students' Google Sites' URL to those who are interested. All of the DigiMedia entries are also uploaded to YouTube, so people across the country will be able to view these videos. You can direct others to watch TRIO students' videos by sending them the YouTube video URL.
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To what extent does TRIO Quest affect the learning process in TRIO programs?
TRIO Quest activities are closely associated to the guidelines within the National Educational Technology Plan, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and portions of the Common Core Standards. TRIO Quest's goals are to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences using technologies that are at the core of our daily lives. Specifically, TRIO Quest focuses on activities that help TRIO students to learn through the development of skills in research, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation, and proficiency in using technology.
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When is the last day to apply for the competition?
Application is open until the deadline. However, we recommend you register as a staff and coach as soon as possible.
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When will winners be announced?
Winners will be announced in October.
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I'm a TRIO staff interested in judging TRIO Quest entries. How do I sign up?
You can sign up by emailing us at tquest@u.washington.edu, or if you are registering as a coach, you can indicate that you are interested in judging on the Coach registration form and we will contact you.
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DigiMedia FAQ

Do students need to use pocketmedia to create DigiMedia entry?
No, students are free to use any video camera and/or software to create their entry.
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Are there separate winners for each of the DigiMedia categories?
We always aim at putting winners forward for each category, but it depends on how many entries we get per category and the quality of those entries.
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TRIO Live seems to be more of a collaboration piece than a normal student entry. What is your vision from a staff/student development ratio?
With TRIO Quest DigiMedia, we want the staff to assist the students as a coach/instructor. The staff should not work on the entry directly as one of the "team members", but only to give students guidance with their work.
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Do you have any examples of winning entry?
Unfortunately we do not have one because this is the first time we have done a DigiMedia competition. We do, however, have entries from the old Media Quest competition from previous years. Keep in mind that there are differences between DigiMedia and Media Quest - especially with the DigiMedia emphasis on preplanning this year.
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DigiSites FAQ

Is there a time limit for videos posted on the site?
No, but we recommend keeping each video to be under 3 minutes because then students can also submit the video for the DigiMedia competition. However, keep in mind that people will be more likely to watch a 1 minute video as opposed to a 10 minute video, so it is best to keep the videos very short and brief.
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Are there three different levels of competition?
Yes, entries are separated into middle school, high school, and post-secondary.
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Is there a minimum number of pages an entry needs to have?
The minimum would be to have the homepage, the about us page, the reference page, the storyboard page, and the content page(s). There is no minimum for the number of content pages. It all depends on how the pages are organized and how many the individual or team needs to sufficiently complete/fulfill the purpose of the entry.
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DigiText FAQ

Is there a bulk submission for DigiText?
No, the entries will need to be submitted one by one. Since we do not request an upload of your DigiText entries, the submission form becomes a very simple process to fill out and submit using the entry's Google site url. NOTE: we do provide a "large class option" on our site for programs that are submitting a large number of DigiText entries.
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Are the students required to submit their DigiText entries as a Google Site, not as a word document?
Yes. The DigiText entries need to be within a Google Site, and the Google Site URL must be entered on the submission form.
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