Primary Instructor's BP guide

Primary Instructor's BP guide

This guide is supposed to provide Primary Instructors a reference guide to BP related issues the Primary Instructor might not be familiar with.

What is the Beginner's Path?

As on http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/path/ :

It is a list of tasks for new members to undertake that familiarizes them with the Rebel Squadrons and its website. It is available to anyone of a rank under Captain, which is all Cadets and Lieutenants. Once you have reached Captain, you are not considered a "beginner" anymore, and the path becomes unavailable.

The Path is divided into five categories: Basics, Communication, Education, Other, and Advanced. There are 25 possible points on the path, and earning points yields rewards in the following manner:
5 points: "Beginner's Path Ribbon" and promotion to Lieutenant junior grade
15 points: "Beginner's Path Honors Ribbon" and promotion to 2nd Lieutenant
25 points: "Beginner's Path Master's Ribbon", for high-achieving members

A description of each of the tasks on the Path follows.

NOTE: At the time of writing (7 August 2006), 5 points are unavailable on the Path, so there is a maximum of 20 possible points. If you earn all 20, you will be awarded the Master's Ribbon.

NOTE to Primary Instructors: The BP will be reviewed to make all 25 points available. Required point number for LJG graduation will then be set to 10 points, and required point number for 2LT graduation will be set to 20 points.

Basics

Confirm your email address.
1 point. Automatically awarded. (NOTE: When a new member won't be able to get past this point, s/he is not able to continue with the BP. Regular checks of unverified sign ups need to be made.)

• Possible problems:
  • 1) New member didn't receive confirmation email.
• Possible solutions:
  • 1) New member needs to check the spam folder. If the new member didn't receive any email after more than half an hour after signing up, the RS IO Joshua Hawkins should be contacted. (Is that right Josh?)

Edit your RS roster profile.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Send an email using the RS site.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Write your character's biography.
2 points. Automatically awarded.

Communication

Sign up for the forums & link your roster and forum profiles.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Post once on the forums.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Sign on to IRC, join #rs_bar_and_grill, and log in to MrBot.
2 points. Automatically awarded.

Make a comment on a RS news post.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Install Xfire and add rsdale to your friends list.
1 point. Admin approval required.

• Possible problems:
  • 1) New member is a Mac user and is unable to download and install Xfire.
• Possible solutions:
  • 1) Xfire is for PC users only. At the time being Mac users will get this point for free.

Education

Read all five Bylaws pages.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Read all thirteen Operations Manual pages.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Other

Vote on ten quotes.
1 point. Automatically awarded.

Upload one real-life or character picture to the gallery.
1 point. Admin approval required.

Advanced

Write a quality biography of at least 500 words in length.
2 points. Admin approval required.

Participate in one standard gaming activity, as defined by your fleet(s).
1 point. Admin approval required. (NOTE: This point needs to be discussed and eventually changed a bit.)

Post five times on the forums, at least twice with 100 or more words.
1 point. Admin approval required.

Join the RS wiki and make an edit with it.
1 point. Admin approval required.

BP Administration

BP administration page is viewable only by BP admins/ PIs.

• At http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/path/ you can see "Award items that require admin approval" which will lead you to the BP administation section. There you can mark items as complete and check on the BP status of a certain member.

Mark item completed

There are 6 BP items that require admin approval:

• Install Xfire and add rsdale to your friends list.

Currently approved by DaLe. Later on, new members will add their PI to xfire and that PI will approve this item.

• Upload one real-life or character picture to the gallery.

Approved by IO, since pictures won't get uploaded until IO approves it.

• Write a quality biography of at least 500 words in length.

Currently approved by DaLe. Once there will be a fictional RSA background, this will be approved by the LO and/or RSA Fiction CO.

• Participate in one standard gaming activity, as defined by your fleet(s).

Approved by DaLe.

• Post five times on the forums, at least twice with 100 or more words.

Approved by new member's Primary Instructor.

• Join the RS wiki and make an edit with it.

Approved by new member's Primary Instructor.

New member join process

The content of the current automated welcome emails can be seen here. Here is a rough summary:

• New member joins (aka signs up and verifies email)
• The PI on Duty places the new member into the PI's BP squad and checks if the new member has done anything so far
• The PI on Duty sends personalized welcome email (stressing the BP, congratulating on what the new member might have done already BP-wise, and giving a short overview of the RSA game UG instructors for the games the new member signed up for)

Primary Instructor on Duty

The timetable supporting the system can be found here: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/join/onduty

• Primary Instructors will have assigned time periods in which they will act as Primary Instructor on Duty. Every new member that joins during a Primary Instructor's Duty time, will be in the responsibility of that Primary Instructor.
• The duty times of the Primary Instructors will be assigned by the Primary Instructors Coordinator.

AWOL Checks

The Primary instructors will be the persons to do regular AWOL checks on new members and remove them from all roster positions if they are AWOL.

Although it is our interest to graduate as many members as possible, there will be always people who first join but can't then be bothered to do anything or very little. There is no point in spamming them with emails and keeping them on the BP roster for months.

The following serves as guideline.

Primary Instructors should remove from the BP roster:

• an assigned new member at CDT rank who didn't send a single response within 14 days from join date.
• an assigned new member at LJG rank who didn't send a single response within 21 days from join date.
• an assigned new member at 2LT rank who didn't or stopped responding about 2 weeks from the last seen activity

Before a PI marks a new member AWOL, the PI should check the Checklists for the games the new member signed up for, and send an email on the UG Instructors yahoogroup to see if any game UG instructor had eventually contact with that new member.

Note that you can check in any member's profile the last date the member was logged in.
Once a PI removes a new member from his/her BP squad, the PI needs to send an email about it on the UG instructors yahoo group, so that the removed new member can be removed from all roster positions.

Frequency of emails to unresponsive new members should be about one per week. Eg.

• PI sends welcome email on new member's join date. When the new member shows no activity/response at all (aka is still CDT) the PI sends a friendly reminder/enquiry about his/her status after one week from the new member's join date. When still no response, the PI sends an email 14 after join date stating that the new member will be marked AWOL, but may always re-join later.
  

New member's BP graduation

Once a new member completes the BP by achieving all points, the assigned PI should send the new member an email with gratulations, remove that new member from the BP roster, and send an email about it on the UG Instructors yahoogroup.

Please remember that there is no point in forcing new members to achieve ALL BP points. Eg. some new members might stop doing the BP once they achieve the 2LT promotion. PIs should stay in contact with their assigned active new members in order to be aware that the new member doesn't want to complete the BP. However, new members should be always encouraged to complete all of the BP points.

Notes to Primary Instructors

• Use the UG Instructors yahoogroup for specific new member issues. This yahoogroup is your friend, it makes sure you are in contact with all those RS members that might have had contact with the new member.
• When checking on a new member's status, be sure to check his/her profile, the BP status and the game checklists. Use the UG Instructors yahoogroup when doing an AWOL check.
• When you notice and award an admin required BP point for a new member before s/he sends you an email about it, send an email yourself to the new member stating that you updated the point.
• Visit www.rebelsquadrons.org regularly and make sure you are always logged in. Some new members use the RS PM system more than emails.
• Use IMs, especially IRC. Be sure you have logged into MrBot.
• When in need of answers or help, don't hesitate to contact the PIs CO and/or RSA CO.