Please read the announcements I post in the main announcements area on the Team Project as the term progresses :

Please read the announcements I post in the main announcements area on the Team Project as the term progresses :)

The Tech Initiative involves the use of technology to help prepare students for the work force. In line with that, this project uses a narrated PowerPoint as the foundational technology, but you also have access to "Conferences" and the threaded discussion board, among others.

To get you all to at least meet and make an initial connection, there is a mini report (required, not graded in Week 2, but participation this week is part of overall grade ) due in your team's discussion thread this Sunday Jan 20. 

There are some instructions in this week's module, and I will add more info as we progress (especially in Week 2 live office hours which I will record and post) and post some examples.

All you need to do for this week is meet in your discussion area (here where I am posting this is fine, or you can create another discussion but then come back here to post) and discuss the roles and then post a thread, with the words"mini report" at the top, that I can take a look at. That just needs to have each student's name and roles.

Each of you should be "presenter" (as each will create and narrate slides) but additionally it seems to work best if someone also takes the lead in "time manager" for example, or maybe "editor", the person who pulls it all together at the end, or whatever else you can think of. If you are organized and the term looks to be a good one, and you feel you can commit to help things move along, then your skills can be very helpful. If this term looks a bit overwhelming, don't volunteer for a lead role if you cannot fulfill that. Each student should put forth an "equal" effort overall, and everyone has a "voice" but if no one is managing the time and "reaching out" then I have found it can be less effective. If there are a couple of you who feel like you have good time management and leadership skills, that is fine to have two.

The biggest problem last term was students not participating, or waiting until the end, when it was too late. Some students earned "zero" scores on this 100 point project as a result, so try to keep this assignment in your mind and create a good plan for steady work on it. The groups who earned "A" grades last term worked over the course of the term and did not procrastinate. The next few weeks will fly by!

I will show two "sample" slides from former students in this week's live office hour, which will be recorded. In addition to the slides, the students did add some data to their personal connections to those topics. So, for example, on the slide where they discussed social class, in the notes and audio, they explained why social class was important sociologically, defined the income level for "middle class" and what percentage of families in the U.S. were middle class. It's things like that that bump up a presentation to be an A+!