Lab: Project Intro

Final project introduction and mid-semester survey

Due today

The only thing to submit today is the mid-semester survey. Complete it before you leave. It is anonymous, and it replaces today’s exit ticket.

There is no Gradescope submission today.

Introduction

Today we will get introduced to our final project. You will read the project description, talk it over with your group, and bring your questions to the whole class. In the last half hour, you will fill out the mid-semester survey.

The project description

Final project: instructions and rubric

Part 1: Read (20 minutes)

Read the whole project description on your own.

As you read, write down:

anything that is unclear;
anything that surprised you;
the date and contents of the first milestone;
one or two project ideas that interest you.

Part 2: Discuss with your group

Sit with your project group. Use these questions to guide the conversation:

What is due at the first milestone? When is it due?
Which project ideas interest each of you? Which two will your group propose, and in what order?
What did each of you find unclear? Can the group answer it, or does it need to go to the whole class?
How will your group communicate?

Before the group discussion ends

Your group has a communication channel that everyone has joined: a group chat, a shared channel, or something similar. Make sure every member is in it before you leave the room.
Everyone has the others’ contact information.
You have picked a time to meet before the first milestone is due.
If your group would like to use GitHub to work together, let Kat know.

Part 3: Whole-class discussion

Bring your group’s questions to the whole class. By the end of the discussion, everyone should be able to answer these questions:

What is the first milestone, and when is it due?
What does “everyone contributes to every part” mean in practice?
What is shared within the group, and what is individual?

What must be clear before you leave

Everyone contributes to every part

Every group member contributes to every part of the project: design, collection, analysis, and checking. Do not divide the project so that one person only collects data and another person only writes code. Each person should understand the whole investigation and be able to explain any part of it.

Reports are individual

Each person writes and submits their own final report. Your group may share data, code, tables, and figures, but you write all the narrative and figure captions yourself. Each report ends with a contribution statement describing the work you did. Keep a contribution log from the start, so that writing that statement later is easy.

First milestone: Saturday, October 31

Milestone 1 (two proposed project ideas) is due Saturday, October 31, at 11:59 p.m. Submit one file per group that covers both ideas. See the project description for what each proposal must include.

Write down your two projects early

Once your group has chosen its two projects, add them to the project sign-up spreadsheet on Canvas before you start writing Milestone 1. Take a look at what other groups have entered first. That way you won’t find out that another group has already claimed your project when you are almost done writing.

Part 4: Mid-semester survey

Use the rest of class to complete the mid-semester survey:

Mid-semester survey

The survey is anonymous. Please be honest. We read every response and will use your answers to adjust the rest of the course.
It replaces today’s exit ticket, so there is no paper exit ticket today.

Once you have submitted the survey, you are free to keep talking with your group about project ideas.