Editing Innovation Communities (Fall 2017) (section)

== Projects ==

There will be three assignments and each will build on the previous toward a final project. The "Writing Rubric" section of [https://mako.cc/teaching/assessment.html my detailed page on assessment] gives the rubric I will use to evaluate these projects and your written papers.

=== Domain/Problem Identification ===

;Maximum Length: 600 words (~2 double spaced)
;Due Date: October 9<sup>th</sup>
;Deliverables: [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1115755/assignments/3904750 Turn in on Canvas]

In this assignment, you should concisely identify an problem or thematic area you are interested in — and that you hope to pursue in your final project. I am hoping that each of you will pick an area or domain that you are intellectually committed to and invested in (e.g., in your business or personal life).

You will be successful if you describe the scope of the problem and explain why you are interested in using community innovation methods to find innovations in this domain and/or solutions to your stated problem.

I will give you feedback on these write-ups and will let you each know if I think you have identified an area that might be too ambitious, too trivial, too broad, too narrow, etc.

=== Project Proposal ===

;Maximum Length: 1500 words (~5 pages)
;Due Date: October 30<sup>th</sup>
;Deliverables: [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1115755/assignments/3904752 Turn in on Canvas]

Building on your problem identification assignment, you should describe a method for finding innovations or solutions in the innovation or domain problem you have identified.

To do this effectively, you will need to have evaluated each of the four methods introduced in the first half of the quarter. That said, the primarily goal of this assignment is not to test your comprehension but to have you to tell me what you will do in your final project. You will need to understand the course material to construct a relevant and effective proposal. As long as you successfully use the course material to argue for your proposal's appropriateness, it is absolutely fine if your proposal is for a combination of, or even an elaboration or extension of, the methods we cover in the course.

A successful proposal will (a) describe clearly what you plan to do to find innovation and (b) use the course material to make an argument that your proposal is the most effective and appropriate way for you to go about finding innovation given the resources at your disposal.

I will give you feedback on these proposals and suggest changes or modifications that are more likely to make them successful or compelling and to work with you to make sure that you have the resources and support necessary to carry out your project successfully.

=== Final Project ===

;Presentation Date: December 7<sup>th</sup>
;Maximum presentation length: ~10 minutes (''to be confirmed'')
;Presentation deliverables: [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1115755/assignments/3904753 Turn in slides on Canvas]
;Due Date for Slides: December 7<sup>th</sup> at 3:00pm (Slides are optional. If you miss this deadline, you'll have to present without slides.)

;Paper Due Date: December 15<sup>th</sup>
;Maximum paper length:  4500 words (~18 pages)
;Paper deliverables: [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1115755/assignments/3904756 Turn in on Canvas]

For your final project, I expect students to build on the first two assignments to describe what they have done and what they have found. I'll expect every student to give both:

* A short presentation to the class
* A final report that is not more than 4500 words (~18 pages)

I expect that your reports will include text from the first two assignments and reflect comprehensive documentation of your project. Each project should include: (a) the description of the problem or domain you have identified, (b) the community innovation methods you have used to find a solution and, (c) the results.

You will be evaluated on the degree to which you have demonstrated that you understand and have engaged with the course material and not on the quality of the innovations you have found. If you do not find great solutions to your problem in the communities you've identified, that's fine. Whether or not your proposal is successful, I want you to reflect on why the methods worked (or did not work) and how they might have worked better. What did you do right? What would you do differently in the future? What did the course and readings not teach that they should have?

A successful project will tell a compelling story and will engage with, and improve upon, the course material to teach an audience that includes me, your classmates, and MCCN students taking this class in future years, how to take advantage of community innovation more effectively. The very best papers will give us all a new understanding of some aspect of course material and change the way I teach some portion of this course in the future.

=== Grading ===

I have put together [https://mako.cc/teaching/assessment.html a very detailed page that describes the grading rubric we will be using in this course]. Please read it carefully I will assign grades for each of following items on the UW 4.0 grade scale according to the weights below:

* Participation: 30%
* Problem Identification: 5%
* Project Proposal: 10%
* Final Presentation: 15%
* Final Paper: 40%