Course Project: Team Project

Objectives

This capstone course concludes with a research Team Project that starts during the first week and continues throughout the duration of the class. It culminates with the submission of a formal team report and an oral presentation by each team during Week 7 and Peer Evaluations in Week 8.

Each team will identify and explore an emerging technology. This will be a technology that may already exist but is drawing attention because of new applications, anticipated impacts, or potential controversies. Examples could include

• nanotechnology in manufacturing;
• genetically modified organisms;
• remote or robotic surgery; or
• wireless electricity.

The team will explore the technical, social, cultural, moral, and ethical issues presented by the technology.

Guidelines

Teams

All teams will be assigned at the start of the first week. The first deliverable is due on the Sunday of Week 1, so students must get organized and into the project immediately. Each team will select a team leader who will be responsible for the coordination of the research and the submission of assignments. Team members will remain on the assigned team throughout the duration of the class (in the project world, project managers seldom have the opportunity to select their own team members). It is highly recommended that each team develop its own team contract to clearly define expectations, strategies, and timelines.

Emphasis is placed on both individual contributions and the team's final product. You will communicate with your team through team meetings (online) and team discussion threads. Team members who fail to participate in an assignment will not get points for that assignment.

With the parts of the Team Project where a group grade will be assigned, all team members must submit a copy of the team’s work. When an assignment is completed, the team leader will distribute the finished product to all team members, and each team member must submit this copy to the Dropbox.

The Task

The primary focus of the team is to research and assess the issues associated with a specific emerging technology. The team will produce a formal research paper in APA format, with each team member contributing 10 pages of text. The paper will provide the basis for a 20-minute Team Presentation.

The following required elements must be researched and included in the Final Project:

• A brief description of the technology and an explanation of the associated science
• The historical development and context of the technology
• Political and legal influences
• Economic questions and considerations
• Psychological considerations and sociological effects
• The technology in its cultural context, media influence
• Implications for the environment
• Moral and ethical implications

To properly analyze the various elements of the project, research will cut across disciplines and include academic, scientific, and industry sources. Complete project guidelines and suggestions can be found in Doc Sharing.

Deliverables

All students submit the project individually, not just the Team Leader. With respect to graded group work, the Team Leader must distribute the finished project to the team, so that each member may submit it individually to the Dropbox. With respect to individually graded segments of the project, each team member is responsible for compiling his or her own assignment and submitting it to the Dropbox.

Week 1

• Research topic and outline (possible 50 points, group grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
• Each team will select a topic for research and a team leader. Using the list of required elements for the project, each member of the team will take responsibility for researching specific aspects of the technology. The team will then produce a detailed outline for the project, noting each team member’s research sections. Please note, the list of required elements is just that—a list—and does not constitute an outline.
• Although this assignment will result in a group grade, each person is required to submit a copy to the Dropbox by the due date. The team leader will distribute the finished product to each team member, whereupon each team member will submit the same assignment to the Dropbox.

Week 2

• Resource review (90 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
• Each member of the team will assemble at least five scholarly academic references that will be used to write the paper (refer to Week 1’s tutorial on Scholarly References). Each student will list his or her references using APA format, and provide a brief explanation of each resource indicating how that resource will be used. The focus should be upon the student’s specific research assignment. An approximate length of this bibliography is between two to three pages.
• Each student will submit his or her assignment to the Dropbox by the due date and provide a copy to the team leader.

Week 6

• Submit individual rough draft portions to TurnItIn via WK 6 dropbox (no points, but required).
• Each team member will submit their individual sections to Turnitin this week, leaving enough time for team corrections. This is mandatory, and no paper section will be accepted into the final draft without having been submitted first to Turnitin. This process will take place exclusively through uploading their paper portion to the WK 6 Rough Draft dropbox, which is linked to Turnitin. Students will not be visiting or utilizing the Turnitin website directly. Following submission, the review information provided by Turnitin will be found within each student’s WK 6 Outbox. Turnitin will only be utilized for this student draft review - the final Team Project papers will not go through this process.

Week 7

• Final draft of the paper (200 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
• All written sections will be compiled into one cohesive Team Paper. All students should review the paper to ensure that the transitions are smooth, that the sections fit together, and that the bibliographies are compiled correctly.
• The table of contents should clearly indicate each student’s assigned sections. An introduction should clearly state the paper’s thesis, outline the scope of the investigation, and comment on any challenges the team faced with respect to research sources. Report sections should be clearly identified using level-1 and level-2 headings. The paper should conclude with recommendations for further research or possible solutions that could be evaluated. A complete list of references, in APA format, should follow along with any appendices.
• Although this assignment will result in one cohesive Team Paper, each person is required to submit a copy to the Dropbox by the due date. The team leader will distribute the finished product to each team member, whereupon each team member will submit the same assignment to the Dropbox.

Week 8

Team oral presentations (150 possible points, group grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing. Each team will conduct a live Team Presentation with all classmates present.

Important note about attendance: If you fail to attend, you will not receive credit for the presentation. Exceptions to this policy will be made only for the following unique emergency situations:

• In the event that the area in which a student resides experiences an extended power outage due to a natural disaster (hurricane, flood, storm, etc.)
• A student is on active military duty and cannot complete coursework
• A student has a verifiable (documented) medical or other personal emergency

One hour before the presentation, the team will post their PowerPoint slides and test their microphones. Every member of the team is expected to participate and will be individually graded by the instructor. The Team Presentation is expected to be professional, with each team member expected to speak as if he or she was a speaker at a DeVry graduation; informal and slang language is not acceptable. Each team should rehearse its presentation so that the transition between each speaker is smooth and to ensure that the use of the PowerPoint slides is appropriate.

Online students: You will be using a Web conferencing tool. In order to give your presentation, you will need a computer microphone. Please plan ahead and be ready for this.

Each presentation should begin with an introduction of the team members, and then move to a discussion of each of the elements of the team assignment using PowerPoint slides. After the slides are presented and the sections have been discussed, the team members are to ask the class two to three questions about their technology that will promote discussion among the other class members. The presentation should end with recommendations for further research or assessments pertaining to the technology.

Peer Evaluation (30 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.

• Students will find a Peer Evaluation form in Doc Sharing. Each student is required to fully complete the evaluation of one other team’s presentation. The team to be evaluated should be clearly identified, and all questions should be answered using full sentences with correct spelling and grammar. Each student will submit this assignment to the Week 8 Dropbox by the assigned due date.

Grading Rubrics

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Rubrics for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.

Best Practices

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The following are best practices in preparing this paper:

• Begin working with and getting to know your team as early as Week 1.
• Teams will be up to five to six students who each will contribute to the development of the project. To manage within a team environment, draw up team contracts outlining expectations, strategies, responsibilities, timelines and a Gantt chart. Use team meeting tools as soon as possible, perhaps to work out their team contracts.
• Routinely check in on the team discussions
• Control the scope of a proposed project to find an angle that is not too wide or too narrow. Consult with your professor to help determine the most appropriate scope. The Week 1 outline and thesis statement provide an early opportunity to test the scope.
• Don't overlook the content of weekly readings and related course requirements which are assigned to help you assess the cultural context and the various social factors that drove the development of the technology.
• Team projects are challenging and require time and patience. Work with your professor, try and listen more than you speak, ask a lot of questions, show respect for differing viewpoints and experiences, and remember you are an interdependent unit.
• If it can go wrong, it will. Because time is tight with the Final Presentations, be sure to practice with the Web Conferencing tools.
• Take advantage of peer review assignments to help you improve your project presentation.
• You will be graded individually and as a team. Review the project rubric to understand how you will be assessed in this class.

Science and Technology (graded)

If the scientific test of a scientific theory is accepted by the community of men and women who are called scientists, does that mean that anything is acceptable as long as enough of the right people agree with it? Does that mean there is no such thing as scientific truth? How, if at all, does science differ from politics, art, or religion, in that case?

Technological Revolutions (graded)

Baase states that it is not just technology that changes so quickly, but also the impacts which they have upon society. Do you agree? How does that align with the assertion in the lecture that we are now living in a third great technological transformation called the Knowledge Revolution? Have computers truly changed our lives so much that we can call this a revolution like the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century?

week 2 discussion

Technology and Social Change (graded)

In what way (or ways) is the current Knowledge Revolution a child of the Industrial Revolution? Is this a new revolution or simply an extension of the 18th-century revolution? Given the history, is it perhaps more appropriate to call the current revolution a Communications Revolution?

Technology and Determinism (graded)

Why do the soft technologies open more opportunities for women? To what extent have these technologies impacted the perceptions of men’s and women’s roles in the economy, within marriage, and in society as a whole?

Technology and Modern Culture (graded)

The availability and even dependence upon computer technology is brought to task by Baase in Chapter 8. What are some of the ways that the ease and simplicity of our current technological devices also lead us at times to surrogate our daily responsibilities onto these devices? Please include examples, and be as specific as possible.

Engineering Our Future (graded)

A kind of genetic engineering happens in nature, with naturally occurring mutations and the dominance of certain strains. What is different about today’s processes? What makes them potentially dangerous? What should we consider naturaland what is artificial?




week 4

Technology and Art (graded)

We normally think of the arts as very different from technologies in spite of the fact that art (with perhaps a few exceptions) is practiced with the help of technology. This practice creates interdependence between technology and art. To what extent does art respond to, or is shaped by, the technology that enables it? To what extent have advanced and accessible digital technologies, such as websites, digital photography, and YouTube, changed the relationship between art and technology? Are these technologies reshaping our attitudes toward artists?

Digital Technologies (graded) With the introduction of computer-generated animated films (CGI), there has been much discussion of the impact on the movie industry. For example, illustrators need to have different skill sets. Have story lines and musical scores changed in these films? What impact does the emphasis on special effects have on plot and character development?

The Politics of Technology (graded) Baase discusses freedom of speech and censorship in light of the modern digital landscape, especially given the dubious ways in which technology can sometimes be utilized. Superior expertise about how technologies work does not guarantee superior judgment about how they should be used, regulated, or governed. As technology becomes more sophisticated, how can citizens and political leaders judge and understand whether a given technology offers great perils or great promises? When great technological projects, such as venturing farther into the galaxy or developing new life-extending medicines, are proposed, how should government officials make decisions about how tax dollars should be spent? Technology, Morality, and Ethics (graded) What are the ethical questions raised by cloning? Is there any moral difference between applying genetic engineering technologies to humans and applying them to animals and plants? What role should governments play in making policies regarding ethical issues? week 6 What Is Reality? (graded) Why do we pursue technologies, such as those associated with virtual reality? Going back to one of our definitions of technology, what problem are we trying to solve? What are the risks associated with these technologies? Technology, Morality, and Ethics (graded) What are the ethical questions raised by cloning? Is there any moral difference between applying genetic engineering technologies to humans and applying them to animals and plants? What role should governments play in making policies regarding ethical issues? week 7 The Energy Crisis (graded) Given the current state of energy use, which continues to grow exponentially in such countries as China and India, what measures can the United States and other Western countries take to produce more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly fuels? What other sources of energy could be developed to solve the energy crisis? What can the individual do to alleviate this crisis?

Globalization and the Threat to the Environment (graded)

Before we decide what to do about the environment globally, let’s see what we can do locally. What environmental problems are you aware of in the area where you live? What solutions, from among those proposed by the authors of the essays, do you think would be the most appropriate to solve these problems?