Objectives: Learning to work in a group and set one's own goals. Developing 1) skill at transmitting ideas, and 2) fundamental ethical standards. Acting to innovate and to accomplish things in computer hardware, software, or analytic-models. Enabling students to share their knowledge.

Talks and Reports: Each person gives three or more individual talks to the class: at least two are on the project tasks he/she undertakes. There are many types of first presentations. One can explain a project idea, possibly with the goal of recruiting partners. A book on an issue in the professional development area, a new aspect of computing, or information found from a web site, can be the basis of a talk. Since practice and process are the issues here, a talk can really be about any topic of interest to computer science students: people have used JAVA, registering domain names, CGI scripts, and many other things as subjects. Still most of the talks should describe what you have done in your project design or to develop professionally this quarter. At least one talk must show something you have done. A very good way to do that is focus on preparing figures, graphs or tables before the talk. Then either by xeroxing them or developing film transparencies you can get your peers to look at your results while you speak about them.

Activities and Grades: Developing a personalized ten-week plan of objectives. Selecting reading material. Choosing a project. Preparing documents showing work done and witnessing such items made by others. Creating a common, jointly-prepared/approved work effort culminating in preliminary and final reports and a briefing. Attendance and active participation at course meetings. Contributing to other projects. by comments at talks, and reviews of progress reports and paper drafts. Course grades reflect team results, initiative and work quality; and individual participation.

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Initiating a Project: Teams form and choose projects. A project team is no more than four. Members have to combine different individual visions. Different teams can work on coordinated projects. Two groups can do the same project independently. Projects must have instructor approval. A written description (printed copy) signed by the instructor signals go ahead. The document is a draft of the project report abstract section: it is not an outline or list but consists of complete sentences in a readable form understood with ease by nontechnical people. Some specific deliverable such as a system design, analysis of alternatives, working model, prototype software should be developed on a team basis. The deliverable should meet specifications, technical factors derived from requirements of real or potential customers. Office hours and existing computer files enable significant projects. Trivial work designed to guess the minimum required by the instructor to pass could be graded low or fail. Students should seek to do something of significance.

Requirements:

1. Work with partners to create two high-quality written project reports: Interim and Final.

2. Read, write, and compute. Distill that work into presentation material.

3. As an individual prepare and give presentations to the class.

4. Write an individual weekly progress report. Keep track of reading accomplished. Have work accomplished witnessed on pages of a notebook recording these writings, by fellow students in the class. Be prepared to hand in material from the notebook at all times. Submit a bibliography of work read in connection with the course at the end of the eighth week.

5. At course conclusion submit a letter describing the group experience.