Working on the Research Project

At the start of each class period, project teams will give ten minute status updates on their individual projects. A single team member, alternating each week, will do the update. These updates should highlight the past week's activities and progress, problems overcome, anticipated progress for the next week, and any potential issues that pose a risk to the team's future progress. Half the teams will report on Monday, and the other half report on Wednesday. You can present your progress with or without slides, use the board, include a demonstration for everyone to see. Whatever will explain your progress during the last week on this research project.

After these oral reports, I will spend time meeting with each team. For teams that gave their status report, it will be a longer meeting to discuss details of that report. With the other teams, it will be a quicker meeting to check in with the team.

During the course of the research project, there are three documents that are important to you.

Decide if this is what I really want the teams to do, or follow a looser approach to keeping track of their work. Create a rubric that matches whatever is decided.

Project description

After you receive your topic area assignment and team, you will first write a project description using the project description template. The project description is a half-page description of the project that you envision. Select a project within your topic area that will be interesting and challenging for you. Remember that there is an expectation of dilligent work on the project and not fixed goals. Your project selection should be based on the topic area information provided to you when you were deciding your preferences, and any additional ideas that you may have received in conversations with the instructor. Submit the project description in the dropbox by the start of the class session when indicated in the course schedule.

Feature list

Once you have settled on a project description, identify all the project features that you would like to incorporate into the project. Use the feature list template. Identify all the tasks which your team must do to complete each feature. These tasks should be small enough that one team member can complete it in a few days work. On a weekly basis you should review the feature list. As you learn more about the project and its features, tasks will be added and deleted. It is less likely that there will be churn in the features themselves, but there may be if a feature proves very easy or hard to implement. As the project progresses, mark assignment and completion of tasks in the feature list. Deposit the updated feature list in the Research Project Activity Reports dropbox on a weekly basis by the start of Monday's class.

Individual weekly activity report

In a weekly activity report file, each team member will plan his or her activities for the next week, and estimate the time to accomplish each activity. Use the activity report template spreadsheet for reporting your activities. Through the week, note the time you actually worked on each activity. Getting your estimate "right" is not the point of this execise. Trying to learn how to estimate your work activities is a goal. This time reporting is also the basis for claiming your due diligence working on the project. Deposit your updated individual activity report in the Research Project Activity Reports dropbox on a weekly basis by the start of Monday's class.

Grading

Your work will be evaluated using this grading rubric.