Author / urdms

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Tuesday’s Plan

Thanks for those pitches, every group made improvements from their original problem statement!

Please come to class on time Tuesday, we’ll make a few general announcements in the beginning about progress reports and then be meeting with groups to go over over grading.

 

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Designing your Career

What’s the processes for job searching? How do I begin the grad school application process? Get these questions answered and more in tomorrow’s class! Learn about the tools you’ll need to start the next steps of your career from our resident expert, Elaina B. McKie (she, her), Career Advisor and College Advisor.

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Revised proposals and leaving your group

Thank you for meeting with us and for considering our feedback.

Your projects are moving toward feasible scalable well-designed capstones. Proposal revisions are due at the end of our next class. We are looking forward to seeing your updated ideas.

Having hesitations? Wondering if you made the right choice? It’s not too late to jump ship and start a new capstone or join an existing one. Please email us if you think this might be the right choice for you and we will help you navigate a path forward.

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Peer Review

Instructions: Please upload your proposal per Nancy’s instructions in class so they can be easily shared with your peers.

As a reviewer, please remember to…

Concentrate on your own response to the paper rather than rendering judgment. Use the first person (e.g., “I hear…”, “I didn’t understand…”, “I’m confused about…”, “I’d like to hear more about…”, “I couldn’t follow…”).

Avoid using the second person (e.g., “you should”, “you need to”, “you ought to”). Responses are a clear guide because they enable the writer to rethink the issues on his/her own. Your responses (1st person) are easier to listen to and accept, and in thus in the end more effective, than your judgments (2nd person).

Peer review questions to answer:

  • Is the first paragraph an adequate statement of the problem statement? Did you know from the first paragraph clearly the gap they were trying to fill?
  • Did each paragraph/section add to the argument/ the need for this in the world?
  • Did the writer support this in a convincing manner?
  • Is there sufficient detail in the schedule to convince you that this project is feasible?
  • What was most effective about the proposal? What needs the most revision?

Please submit your revisions to Blackboard one week from today!

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Preliminary Proposals – due for peer review next class

The Written Project Proposal is your initial constitution and framework stating your design goals, planning, and implementation strategies collectively determined as a team. It should give you a solid foundation to embark from, but your project will almost certainly change as you actually develop and construct it. The best written project proposals will be comprehensive, specific, and well thought out, addressing the many design elements and considerations you discovered in your research. The written proposal must also include each student’s role in the team, a clear specific statement indicating each individual contribution to the project.
Written Preliminary Proposal will include:
  1. a capstone name
  2. define the need or problem this capstone addresses (consider including problem statement graphic?)
  3. Describe the design basics: Why(it matters)/What (it does)/Who (will use it)/How (it works)
  4. Project Plan: What are the steps that will allow you to complete the design you’ve described above? When will each of these steps be completed, and how will you gauge your progress? How will you reflect on your project experience and share those reflections with others? What form will your final product take, and how will it be shared with the URcommunity/the world?
  5. identify currently existing similar products that you could draw from or improve upon. Make sure your capstone is NOT redundant.
  6. identify your users and stakeholders (based on your research so far) and describe how you will proceed to work with your users (i.e. researching user needs, preferences, and level of interest; expectations and timeframe for deliverables) (POVs, Empathy Maps can be included here)
  7. a detailed work plan going forward, identifying 1) the specific skills and resources you will need to acquire, 2) how you plan to acquire them, 3) roles and responsibilities of individual team members and 4) a realistic six-month schedule for research, design, production, and marketing/promotion/launch. (include October, November, December – and generally Jan, Feb, March, April)

Please post to Blackboard before the start of the next class.

Here’s a link to the slide deck: Proposals

A reminder that the community partners also provided their slide decks.

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Just breathe. Then…

Ask yourself, do I want to devote the next seven months working on this project?

Yes, then you are ready for Thursday.

Maybe, then you need to schedule a meeting with your potential group and flush out details.

No, then send Nancy and I an email. Better to get separated now than divorced in March (trust me).

On Thursday: We will talk about research and how it applies to the capstone course and proposal – focusing on citations, navigating our website and databases, keyword searches, and just generally setting up appointments!

The we will take pictures of the capstone groups to appear in the fall newsletter and at graduation, so be sure to attend!

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Capstone Groups are forming!

Wow, this is so exciting. Your passions and skills are coming together this week to form the capstone groups you will commit your entire senior year of study to. Here are the next steps (due before class starts on Miro):

  • If your capstone idea appears on the YELLOW board: rewrite it and paste this new improved version on Problem Statements Moving Forward. (Fiona, Tasheem, Suman and Liam, that you)
  • If you have a Community Partner, then add your bio (3-4 sentences) to the Community Partner Bio board. This explains to your community partner who you are and what skills you bring to the table. This is a shorten version of your personal statement. More info here.
  • If you are a free agent: You are looking for a project to join and should complete the free agent card. Use Yassine’s as an example.

Tomorrow we will help you co-create capstone groups for our formal announcement on Thursday!

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Community Partner (recap) + Tuesday

Thank you for your attention and thoughtful questions to our community partners.  Please find their pitches linked below:

For Tuesday: If you think you want to join a community partner for your capstone experience, you do not need to write a problem statement for Tuesday. If you want to pitch a capstone of your own design for your peers to join, then please translate that idea into a problem statement and post to Miro (linked below):

  1. Post your problem statement in MIRO. (by 9/13)*

Everyone complete the readings in module 1. Understanding the Design Process.

Tuesday IN CLASS we will vote on whether problem statements are a viable capstone.