Has hell frozen over?, USAD and DemiDec to publish together! Options

[The Evil Dr. Cal...]

USAD® & DEMIDEC TO

WORK TOGETHER...



USAD® and DemiDec are excited to begin collaborating to improve and expand the United States Academic Decathlon® in many ways.



Best known for its student-centered approach to the Academic Decathlon® learning experience, DemiDec will contribute to a range of existing USAD® study materials. Teams will be able to subscribe to DemiDec's popular Cram Kits, Curriculum Wall Map, and select other products directly on the USAD® order form. DemiDec will contribute to USAD's Student Exercise Books in place of publishing its own workbooks for the 2012-2013 season.



USAD® recognizes that DemiDec has been an active part of the Academic Decathlon community since 1994. Working together will help boost the rewards of participation for teams across the country.



NOTE: DemiDec will not be authoring any official competition tests.



NEXT STOP: BANGKOK & CONNECTICUT



For the first time, Academic Decathletes will be invited to travel abroad to take on the world's best.



The top nine (9) Honor, Scholastic, and Varsity students in each division at the USAD® 2012 National Finals in Albuquerque will be invited to represent the United States at the World Scholar's Cup (WSC) Global Round in Bangkok, Thailand on June 21-24, 2012. These "all-star" Decathletes will have the opportunity to meet students from around the world and demonstrate their academic excellence on an international stage.



Later this year, the world will come to us! In October 2012, USAD® will hold the first-ever USAD-WSC Tournament of Champions, bringing together the winners of both programs for an exciting joint event to be held at Yale University. The top underclassmen who participated at any of the Online National Competitions in April 2012 will be invited to attend.

[me194]

USAD® & DEMIDEC TO

WORK TOGETHER...

USAD® and DemiDec are excited to begin collaborating to improve and expand the United States Academic Decathlon® in many ways.

Best known for its student-centered approach to the Academic Decathlon® learning experience, DemiDec will contribute to a range of existing USAD® study materials. Teams will be able to subscribe to DemiDec's popular Cram Kits, Curriculum Wall Map, and select other products directly on the USAD® order form. DemiDec will contribute to USAD's Student Exercise Books in place of publishing its own workbooks for the 2012-2013 season.

USAD® recognizes that DemiDec has been an active part of the Academic Decathlon community since 1994. Working together will help boost the rewards of participation for teams across the country.

NOTE: DemiDec will not be authoring any official competition tests.

NEXT STOP: BANGKOK & CONNECTICUT

For the first time, Academic Decathletes will be invited to travel abroad to take on the world's best.

The top nine (9) Honor, Scholastic, and Varsity students in each division at the USAD® 2012 National Finals in Albuquerque will be invited to represent the United States at the World Scholar's Cup (WSC) Global Round in Bangkok, Thailand on June 21-24, 2012. These "all-star" Decathletes will have the opportunity to meet students from around the world and demonstrate their academic excellence on an international stage.

Later this year, the world will come to us! In October 2012, USAD® will hold the first-ever USAD-WSC Tournament of Champions, bringing together the winners of both programs for an exciting joint event to be held at Yale University. The top underclassmen who participated at any of the Online National Competitions in April 2012 will be invited to attend.

Wow...this is great news to hear. Perhaps they're finally resolving their differences--that, and I think this is leading towards the eventual consolidation of WSC and AcDec that many of us see coming.

How will the October competition work, though, since many (if not most) of the students from the previous year's competitions will have already graduated and started college?

[Autumn Comet]

A pity the October competition is only for people who did online nationals, but I suppose it makes sense.

And wow... *joke about the Mayans being right*

[Herohito]

That's actually pretty cool.
Is this from a public announcement, or a less public source?
I'm hoping that this leads to a bit more refinement in DD materials. No offense to those involved, but it's quite the distraction when a test or workbook has either inane or inaccurate questions/exercises. I know I've suffered quite a bit in the past from inadequate(or even incorrect) explanations for conceptual questions.
In any case, I'd say nothing but good news here.

[The Evil Dr. Cal...]

This was from a newsletter from USAD that coaches received this morning.

[JackLosiStrader]

Very curious about this Bangkok thing. Will it really be an invitation to the top three in each category in each division? D2 then would essentially be just round 4 for Wisconsin state winner.

Also, would this be something that would be paid for by the students or possibly their district? Maybe USAD covers the cost?

[Widget!]

A pity the October competition is only for people who did online nationals, but I suppose it makes sense.

And wow... *joke about the Mayans being right*

I'm not sure; given what came before the blurb about the online kids, it seems like they're inviting them AS WELL, not in exclusion.

[acadecker]

If you check out the official USAD order brochure (now online) they even mention three products that schools can order from Demidec.

They also specify which version of the novel they are using--a critical difference. They are using the most recent translation.

[Widget!]

The Pevear and Volokhonsky version? Good. I trust them more than some dudes in the fifties.

[b0bthecheeseman]

So would the test be tailored after the DD material? Or would the DD material actually be good now?

[AK_WDB]

Are you saying you didn't know about this beforehand, EDC?

[Research Monkey]

I feel like on some level this outcome is pretty ideal, and it's somewhat surprising it didn't happen sooner.

The way I see things, USAD has an interest in controlling as much of the process surrounding academic decathlon as possible and probably receives some additional revenue in this deal. On the other side, I'm under the distinct impression that the WSC project is the primary project that the organization is focused on. In this exchange, they relieve themselves of some of the oversight and marketing responsibilities of their AcDec side, while still maintaining that revenue stream and gaining access to universal marketing for potential customers of that cash cow. In addition, DemiDec gets to promote WSC to the best competitors in AcDec, and that gives them a chance to hook the kinds of individuals that would ultimately be the driving force behind luring any sort of substantial market share for academic competitions away from AcDec and towards WSC.

Ultimately, it's a very logical union. DemiDec's personel and product expertise mixed with USAD's institutional framework and reach. Comparative advantage, ladies and gentlemen.

This post has been edited by Research Monkey: Mar 13 2012, 01:59 AM

[J Eberhard]

I feel like on some level this outcome is pretty ideal, and it's somewhat surprising it didn't happen sooner.

The way I see things, USAD has an interest in controlling as much of the process surrounding academic decathlon as possible and probably receives some additional revenue in this deal. On the other side, I'm under the distinct impression that the WSC project is the primary project that the organization is focused on. In this exchange, they relieve themselves of some of the oversight and marketing responsibilities of their AcDec side, while still maintaining that revenue stream and gaining access to universal marketing for potential customers of that cash cow. In addition, DemiDec gets to promote WSC to the best competitors in AcDec, and that gives them a chance to hook the kinds of individuals that would ultimately be the driving force behind luring any sort of substantial market share for academic competitions away from AcDec and towards WSC.

Ultimately, it's a very logical union. DemiDec's personel and product expertise mixed with USAD's institutional framework and reach. Comparative advantage, ladies and gentlemen.

Nearly everyone involved in AcaDec that bought DD materials already knew what WSC was. AcaDec kids mostly chose not to do both programs. WSC has been successful overseas where 'American schools' have few electives and competitions, but in the U.S. it could never make inroads. Last year maybe 20 schools nationwide did WSC in the U.S. (? numbers anyone), but thousands chose not to. Now the choice has been taken away. AcaDec has lost SQ relay and merged with WSC concept (all subjects and 10,000 pts for example). So we are all going to be forced to adopt WSC whether we wanted to or not.

USAD leadership believes that falling participation is due to the structure of the product. Ask kids and coaches who devote their time to this if the product was bad for the last 30 years. Falling participation is due to poor leadership from USAD. The pt changes on the online site is the most recent example. So USAD leadership will NOT change themselves, but will approach this as a product problem. The competition was NOT the problem. This is not a good day for AcaDec, but it is a great day for WSC.

[Chuck's Back Up]

USAD® & DEMIDEC TO

WORK TOGETHER...



USAD® and DemiDec are excited to begin collaborating to improve and expand the United States Academic Decathlon® in many ways.



Best known for its student-centered approach to the Academic Decathlon® learning experience, DemiDec will contribute to a range of existing USAD® study materials. Teams will be able to subscribe to DemiDec's popular Cram Kits, Curriculum Wall Map, and select other products directly on the USAD® order form. DemiDec will contribute to USAD's Student Exercise Books in place of publishing its own workbooks for the 2012-2013 season.



USAD® recognizes that DemiDec has been an active part of the Academic Decathlon community since 1994. Working together will help boost the rewards of participation for teams across the country.



NOTE: DemiDec will not be authoring any official competition tests.



NEXT STOP: BANGKOK & CONNECTICUT



For the first time, Academic Decathletes will be invited to travel abroad to take on the world's best.



The top nine (9) Honor, Scholastic, and Varsity students in each division at the USAD® 2012 National Finals in Albuquerque will be invited to represent the United States at the World Scholar's Cup (WSC) Global Round in Bangkok, Thailand on June 21-24, 2012. These "all-star" Decathletes will have the opportunity to meet students from around the world and demonstrate their academic excellence on an international stage.



Later this year, the world will come to us! In October 2012, USAD® will hold the first-ever USAD-WSC Tournament of Champions, bringing together the winners of both programs for an exciting joint event to be held at Yale University. The top underclassmen who participated at any of the Online National Competitions in April 2012 will be invited to attend.

To make sure I have this correct. Do they mean the top 9 honors, scholastic, and varsity students in each division as in whoever is in the top 9 of their divisions division goes regardless of where they are from? What about if a whole team wins do they take the team or just the members who qualified in the top 9 of their division's division.

[Widget!]

Nearly everyone involved in AcaDec that bought DD materials already knew what WSC was. AcaDec kids mostly chose not to do both programs.

Right, but not every school buys from DemDec, and therefore you can't expect every school to know what WSC is.

WSC has been successful overseas where 'American schools' have few electives and competitions, but in the U.S. it could never make inroads. Last year maybe 20 schools nationwide did WSC in the U.S. (? numbers anyone), but thousands chose not to. Now the choice has been taken away. AcaDec has lost SQ relay and merged with WSC concept (all subjects and 10,000 pts for example). So we are all going to be forced to adopt WSC whether we wanted to or not.

The change to the SuperQuiz is part of a USAD's plan to force the product of a company with whom they were on bad terms for years down the unwilling throats of schools nationwide? Is that what you're saying?

USAD leadership believes that falling participation is due to the structure of the product. Ask kids and coaches who devote their time to this if the product was bad for the last 30 years. Falling participation is due to poor leadership from USAD. The pt changes on the online site is the most recent example. So USAD leadership will NOT change themselves, but will approach this as a product problem. The competition was NOT the problem. This is not a good day for AcaDec, but it is a great day for WSC.

I seem to recall the Decathlon remaining more or less the same. Still seven objective tests. Still three subjectives. Still the same spread of topics. Now we just don't have to rename a subject every year.

Reason for edit: No flame wars.

[AK_WDB]

We're not going to call each other "batshit insane" and "raging smurftard" in here no matter how incorrect we think each other's ideas are. We're also not going to make snarky comments about "where the kids play", as this board (as well as DemiDec itself) is run by Decathletes and young graduates who contribute a lot. Get out of it.

[tdanderson]

I think there's still a lot of unknown here...for everyone. I'm going to withhold judgement and instead choose to congratulate my good friend Dan on this awesome opportunity.

[Stanley Tree]

It's not going to be a year-long WSC plug- I wouldn't be surprised if WSC does become the same topic as USAD, making USAD the head of the United States program. WSC would be the endgame for the international competition. I think it will also give USAD more responsiveness to the coaches and students. It takes Dan's international clientele, which is fairly staggering, along with manpower he can provide and combines it with the current national structure set in by USAD; I think it makes for a very interesting change. Whether good or bad, we simply don't know at this juncture. Plus, it sounds like it would just have 9 students taking part in it, not whole programs or states, so it's not going to overtake USAD.

[AK_WDB]

I see nothing but good in this development! It will strengthen USAD, which is my main priority, but should also help out Dan and the WSC.

[J Eberhard]

I see nothing but good in this development! It will strengthen USAD, which is my main priority, but should also help out Dan and the WSC.

Have you competed in WSC?