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Foundations of the Course

Dr. Rick Huff

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Topics

• Course Web and Blackboard Sites• Course Purpose/Value• Course Realities• Course Format/Structure

– Project Assignments– Team Assignments– Reading Assignments– Logistics/Timing– Instructor Responsibility– Client Responsibility– Team Lead Responsibility– Student Responsibility

• Comments/Questions/Response• Assignment

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Course Web and Blackboard Sites

• Course web site is on my web site– Information posted to the web site may be amended at

any time– Changes in due dates will be emailed to participants

AND reflected on the web site

• Participants are responsible for reviewing the web site on a weekly basis for changes

• Course Blackboard site– Link to web site– Announcements

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Course Purpose/Value

• Capstone CIS experience • Experience complete development life cycle• Provide “real world” IS experience • Provide service to the community• Facilitate evaluation/improvement of the CIS

curriculum• Demonstrate level of participant knowledge to

recruiters/hiring organizations• Develop/enhance team work skills and

communication

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Course Value - Client Sponsors and Hiring Organization Comments

• “No other college program in the state offers students or the community what CSU-Pueblo’s CIS program does through the Senior Professional Project class.”

• “Very few of our hires have full development life cycle experience. The Senior Professional Project class gives students this valuable experience.”

• “CSU-Pueblo’s CIS students are so well-prepared, we prefer to hire them for our fast-track development program.”

• “The Senior Professional Project class creates the kind of linkages between the university and the community that are essential. CSU-Pueblo should sponsor more programs like it.”

• “The Senior Project team developed software that we could not afford to have custom developed. They performed an important service to the community.”

• “The students did an outstanding job. We wish we could hire all of them!”

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Course Value - Student Comments

• “ I learned that it is important to listen to other people’s opinions even though I may not agree with them.”

• “I like the fact that I was pushed outside the realm of my comfort zone…I learned to depend on my team members.”

• “…I learned more from the mistakes I made rather than a pre-planned class schedule.”

• “I really enjoyed working on something that had a real affect on people.”

• “Being a phase two project,…we have realized the importance of good documentation of the work done by the previous group.”

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Course Realities

• Client sponsors/organizations provide no monetary compensation to course participants

• Client sponsors/organizations assume 100% of the risk

• Project results are owned by the client sponsor/organization; participants retain no ownership, copyright, patent, etc. over project results

• Client sponsor has limited/no budget for the project; in some cases commitments to purchase technology exist

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Course Issues

• Time Commitment: Expect 15-20 hours per week– 6 credits (9 contact hours) + 6 prep hours = 15 hours

(1 hour for each course credit)

• Managing expectations is critical• YOU develop your own learning experience in the

course; YOU are responsible for the quality of the course

• Senior Manager does NOT resolve group conflicts - the team does

• Project leaders are learning too!• Each individual participant is responsible for their

own success in the course and in the project

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Course Format

• Unlike traditional courses– No grades until end of semester/individual performance

is determined by the quality of the team output– Steady feedback on project progress/deliverables– Project teams have direct control over success– No new technical knowledge is “taught” in the course– There is NO textbook solution

• Success depends on– Team ability to identify and fulfill client sponsor

requirements– Team ability to demonstrate knowledge gained from a

wide variety of CIS courses and other experiences– Team ability to learn and apply new technologies– Team ability to meet all requirements for the project as

established with the client sponsor AND provided by senior management (detailed on course web site)

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Course Structure

• Scheduled 9 hours per week• Prior to class start and first week – combines online

and classroom– Establish knowledge base– Review reading assignments– Prepare for team project work

• Remaining weeks:– Project work time (eliminates scheduling issues)– Team meetings - team members– Team meetings – senior manager (per schedule)– Team meetings - client sponsor

• Sessions meet as scheduled on web site– NO meetings with the client should be scheduled on days

when class is scheduled to meet – check syllabus

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Participant Evaluation (See Learning Objectives in Syllabus)

• Peer Evaluation- Keep Commitments- Meet Deadlines- Attend Meetings- Complete Individual Tasks- Quality of Task Performance

• Client Evaluation- Professionalism- Identification of Requirements- Technical Knowledge- Quality of Work- Communication/Follow Through- Overall Project Results

• Quality of Reflective Learning Effort- Clarity and depth of experience- Level of critical thinking/analysis

• Work Performance Evaluation - Attendance at scheduled meetings- Participation in discussion/online activities - Meeting all deadlines - Working as an effective team member- Cooperation - Openness to Learning/New Experiences- All deliverables

- Other activities as assigned

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How to get a poor grade or fail

• Not attending meetings or class will get you a D• Low amount of participation in the project will get you

a C or worse• Failure to work as a team will get some of you a C

and others a D• Not participating in the project will get you a D• Not listening to the customer will get you a D• Causing the customer to complain about

unprofessional or poor performance will get you a D• Being fired by the customer will get you an F• Not doing the work will get you an F

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Course Tools

• All knowledge/content of CIS program courses• Independent research and learning abilities• Campus computing laboratories• Communication/Interpersonal Skills• Technical Writing Capabilities• Tact and Diplomacy

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Project/Team Assignments

• Based on availability of projects/client sponsors• Based on input from participants (survey)• Based on career interests of participants• Based on strengths/interests of participants• Include experienced/inexperienced client sponsors

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Logistics/Timing

• Project/Team assignments made during first week of semester

• Contact client sponsor no later than January 18th• Schedule first meeting no later than January 25th

• Each team will make a specific project plan with due dates/deliverables

• Project must be completed, installed at client site, and support turned over to sponsor organization no later than 5pm, Friday, April 11th and handed in to instructor

• Final project presentation during Final Exam period on Monday, April 28, 8 am

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Instructor/Senior Manager Responsibility

• Identify challenging projects and suitable client sponsors

• Assess participant qualifications and assign participants to teams and projects

• Provide guidelines for project deliverables• Provide each team with timely, appropriate

feedback on project progress through meetings with project teams, review of weekly project status reports, and review of partial/complete project deliverables

• Coach project team leaders and project teams as they fulfill project requirements

• Evaluate participants and synthesize evaluations of all parties to arrive at final semester grades

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Client Responsibility

• Identify a client contact person to work with the project team

• Be available to the project team to respond to questions/inquiries

• Provide access to the client organization data/personnel essential to the project

• Work in conjunction with the project team to:– define/approve the project scope and requirements– prepare a client representative to assume

support/responsibility for the project results– make personnel available for training during project

implementation

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Project Team Responsibility

• Develop a workable project plan• Use client sponsor time WISELY• Plan, organize, monitor and control all project

tasks• Meet/exceed all project deadlines• Produce high quality project deliverables• Timely report issues critical to the success of the

project to the project coach• Meet the requirements of client sponsors• Meet the course/instructor requirements as stated

on the course site and discussed in class

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Project Team Lead Responsibility

• Be key point of contact for client and during the project

• Bear ultimate responsibility for getting weekly status reports and all deliverables to project coach on time

• Spend 30-40% of work time on the project on status reports which include tracking and reporting project status and member performance

• Spend 60-70% of work time on the project on direct project work tasks

• Alert project coach of critical issues/problems as they arise AND in time for resolution

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Individual Participant Responsibility

• Recognize your responsibilities to yourself, your project team, your client, and the instructor

• Abide by all policies established within your team for performance• Meet all project task deadlines as assigned by instructor• Attend all scheduled project meetings• Accurately represent your skills and abilities to the team• Volunteer for/complete your fair share of project tasks as

determined by the team• Offer fair/constructive criticism to your team members• Graciously accept criticism of your work product by your team

members• Strive to do your BEST work on all assigned project tasks• Assist other project team members whenever possible

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Comments/Questions?