Overview
The idea behind the Research and Reflections Journal
is two-fold. First, we want you to use it as a
research journal where you document the approximate
amount of time you worked any day where you worked
on the project, with a brief note about the work
you were doing.
At the end of wach week you will add a brief summary
of your sense of that week's accomplishments and/or
surprises you encountered, especially with reference
to your target timeline and to your project goal.
You should incorporate images, drawings, schematics
etc. when appropriate.
In addition to being a part of our regular communication,
this journal's contents and your status reports could
prove to be very useful when you are writing your final
report as well.
Second, for each of the first six full weeks of the semester
we will provide (below) a "reflection prompt" upon which
to write.
These prompts (with the exception of the 6th one) will
be designed to be fairly open and you are free to write
about whatever you like so long as it is related to the
prompt and reflects on your project.
Each reflection should likely be around 500 words in length.
I'll note that a reflection that is crisp and well formed
is probably going to be better than one that is long yet
aimless.
Weekly Prompts
A new prompt will be added here for each of the
first six full weeks of the semester.
Remember, you don't need to address every bullet point
within a week (except the 6th one).
We provide multiple ideas to inspire your reflection.
It's not a quiz.
| Date Range |
Prompt Ideas |
| 03/27 through end of semester... |
Each week, we now expect you to provide us with updates on your
project's progress and while we encourage you to continue to
reflect on your experiences, we will no longer require such
reflections to be added in the remaining weeks. Please continue
to indicate the week for each new entry.
|
| 03/06 through 03/17 |
This is your mid-semester reflection, and the last reflection.
We'll still be expecting your weekly research/progress updates
but I don't anticipate posting any new prompts.
Please answer the following:
- How far have you progressed in terms of your
original timeline? Do you need to provide me
with an updated timeline to discuss?
- How do you feel so far about the experience of
undertaking a project of your own design?
- Are there and questions and/or concerns that
you would like to talk about during an individual
meeting either some time on 3/15 or during class
time after Spring Break? If so, mention them here
and send me e-mail so we can find a time that works.
|
| 02/27 through 03/05 |
- Read
quoteinvestigator.com/2014/12/16/no-mistakes
and say whether you think any of these sentiments apply
to your project so far. Have you made any mistakes?
If so, what did you learn from them? If not, do you
think that's somehow a bad thing?
- Discuss how you've applied iteration in your work
and whether you see the iteration as a powerful tool
or a side effect of unexpected problems.
- Have there been any major conceptual or technical
changes to your project or approach?
|
| 02/20 through 02/26 |
- Watch
vimeo.com/29684853
and discuss whether information visualization
will apply to your project presentation or
final poster.
- Do you think the idiom that "a picture is worth
a thousand words" is accurate? Is "look" a better
word to use there than "picture" and if so, how
do you think that would apply to your capstone
fair demo?
- If a picture is worth a thousand words,
how many words is an infographic worth?
|
| 02/13 through 02/19 |
- Discuss a reading from your proposal's
bibliography that you think has been most
helpful or inspiring so far, and why.
- Have you done additional reading on or
related to the topic of your capstone?
If so, what lead you to do so and what
do you feel were the outcomes of it?
- What research went into the design of
your stakeholder questions?
- What research went into the design of
your task scenarios?
|
| 02/06 through 02/12 |
- What does "iterative design" mean to you
and how does it apply to your project?
What forms might the iterations on your
project take?
- Discuss an researcher, designer, industry
personality, or artist who you feel has
inspired or influenced your project.
- Pick an existing, designed, object that
you feel has some connection to your project
and discuss whether (and how) that type of
object has changed over time. If it has
changed, has the change been for the better?
|
| 01/30 through 02/05 |
- What is the importance and impact of good time
management and project planning?
- Describe an instance in the past three years
where in retrospect you feel you managed your
time poorly.
What were the consequences and did you adjust
your approach in the future?
- Consider time from a more conceptual standpoint.
Are there different "types" of time, and if so
how would you describe them?
Do you think time can "change" based on
perception or context?
|
Deliverable
This is due weekly every Sunday by midnight.
You need to share a single Google Doc with me at
egolubUMD@gmail.com
and give me permission to add comments.
Each week should start at the top of a new page with
a simple heading indicating the time period
(such as "01/30 through 02/05").
As you add new weeks, have the most recent week be
the first thing that I see (so think of it like a stack
where the newest thing pushes all the old ones down a
little).
|