Portfolio Academy
Turn your daily work into a clear story judges can follow.
This short course helps a rookie team document its engineering and talk about it with confidence. In the first lesson you build a daily logging habit and learn to turn log entries into clear, evidence-based portfolio pages. In the second lesson you prepare for the judging interview: a short presentation, clear speaker roles, practised answers and a full rehearsal. Award criteria, portfolio format and page limits change between seasons, so always check the current official Competition Manual from FIRST.
- 2
- Lessons
- 3 team hours
- Estimated time
- 5
- Learning objectives
Lessons100 min
- 01Documenting Your EngineeringBuild a daily logging habit and learn to turn log entries into clear portfolio pages backed by captioned evidence. 50 min
- 02The Judging InterviewPrepare a short team presentation, assign speakers, practise likely questions and rehearse until the whole team can talk about its engineering with confidence. 50 min
One portfolio page and one interview rehearsal
Choose one real problem your team solved this season. Using your daily log entries, write one complete portfolio page that follows the structure problem, options, decision, test, result and next step, with captioned evidence. Then plan and run a full mock judging interview where every member speaks. Before you start, check the current Competition Manual for portfolio format, page limits and how judging works at your events, because these change between seasons. Good preparation helps you communicate clearly; it does not guarantee any award.
Tick items off as your team completes them.
0/5Learning objectives
- Keep a short, consistent daily engineering log that the whole team can contribute to.
- Structure a portfolio page as problem, options, decision, test, result and next step.
- Use photos, CAD, code and data as captioned evidence that supports each claim.
- Prepare and rehearse a short team presentation with clear speaker roles.
- Answer likely judging questions honestly, with evidence and Gracious Professionalism.
Required materials
- A shared folder (cloud drive or team laptop) for the engineering log and portfolio
- A log template (paper notebook or digital document)
- A phone or camera for photos of prototypes and tests
- CAD screenshots (for example from Onshape), code snippets and test data from your own work
- The current official Competition Manual from FIRST
- Your robot, a charged battery and a printed or digital copy of your portfolio draft
- A timer for interview rehearsals
Expected outcomes
- Every meeting has a log entry with a goal, work done, results with numbers and next steps.
- The team has at least one finished portfolio page that follows the problem-to-next-step structure.
- Every image and chart in that page has a caption that explains what it proves.
- Every team member knows which topic they speak about in the judging interview and who is their backup.
- The team has rehearsed the interview at least twice and improved after each rehearsal.
Knowledge check
8 questions across this week's lessons. Your best score for each lesson is saved.
- Documenting Your Engineering–/4
- The Judging Interview–/4
Completion checklist
Tick items off as your team completes them.
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