individual-assessment.html  version 9.0 <p>

<h3> <center>   394/376  Elliott<br>
	Undergraduate projects class. Individual Assessment
</center> </h3> 

<strong> Notes: </strong>

<ul>

<li> This is a take-home assessment/exam. It is worth 200 points
(20%). Although the points will be assigned individually, this is still
primarily part of your project grade because the central theme is
what <i> you </i> did to help your project group succeed. For grading
purposes, consider that there will be a reasonably wide variation in the
scores of this assessment, which reflects your individual overall
project grade averaged over all the 800 points of project scores. E.g., a
student who did almost no work might end up eligible for 650 of the 800
project points, whereas a student who did most of the work might end up
eligible for all 800 points.

<li> Print your name, and your GROUP name, on each submission!

<li> See class schedule for due dates. This assessment must be IN MY
DOWNTOWN MAILBOX no later than the due date. I encourage you to get it
done, and turn it in, early!


<li> <strong> Absolutely no electronic submissions, faxes, or late papers,
considered. </strong>

<li> Your time-reporting file must be frozen at the agreed-upon date, and at
the class web site for others to review, and must also be attached as a <i>
printed </i> document here.
</ul>

<strong> Grading: </strong> Late papers, and electronic submissions, will not
be accepted for credit. Please do not ask. Your work on themes one through
four, along with YOUR ratings in the theme-four sections of your other group
members' individual assessments, will be used in calculating your
grade. Roughly 50 points of your exam will be determined by your other group
members, but their comments might affect your grade beyond this if your
documentation about your own contribution is not subtantial and they tend to
be in agreement about your contribution. I reserve the right to give
additional "group" credit, toward the assessment, to students that are very
highly rated by their peers.<p>

<hr> <strong> General instructions: </strong> Prepare a printed document of
not more than three pages (excluding supporting materials such as time
records), and not less than one page, addressing themes one to three, with
your main focus on theme one. Put your name and GROUP NAME on the first
page, with no cover page, and no binder materials. Then print, fill out, and
turn in, the additional, separate, Cover Sheet for theme four, with your
name, and your group name on it. Staple this IN FRONT of the other three
sheets. Turn your (four-page or less) packet in, along with any supporting
materials, at class, at the CTI front desk with instructions to place it in
my mailbox, at a suburban campus with correct inter-office mail packaging,
or via regular mail / FedEx. YOU ARE responsible that all regular mail /
interoffice mail submissions really do reach me, and arrive by the required
date, in my CTI mailbox.

<hr> <strong> Theme one (MAJOR component your exam): </strong> What did you
do this quarter to help your project group succeed?  Make your case. Be
honest. Do not be bashful but also do not use hyperbole. Use facts, not
opinion, whenever possible, to support your arguments. Give time, dates, and
actions. <p>

<strong> [Required supplement]:</strong> Provide a PRINTED daily record of
your time for this class: what you did, when, and how long you spent. This
cannot be handwritten, but otherwise can be very simple, and direct. (I am
interested in information, not cosmetics!) However, consider that entries
with just a label such as "wrote code" are not worth much as
documentation. Minimal strong entries will have two or three sentences of
detail about what you did on each occasion.  Include ALL time you spent, and
include total time. You can further break down your time totals into
subcategories if you wish (thinking time, coding time, group meeting time,
etc.). This printed log MUST be equivalent to that posted at the group web
and have been reivewed by other group members after the "freeze" date.
See the <a href=../general/time-reporting.html> time-reporting example</a>. <p>

<strong> Theme two: </strong> What group-project principles would you apply
if you were engaged to hire a project team, and complete a project of this
type, in the real world? (Use outline form to list the principles, with
discussion of the principle as needed). Examples of wins and failures in
your own group are encouraged, but not required.<p>

Hypothetical <i> example </i> entry for this theme: <p>
<pre>

"PRIOR PLANNING, and DYNAMIC PLANNING, are ESSENTIAL. I would devote
one senior-level salary to a person that could lay out a schedule for
the completion of the project, could dynamically modify it, and could
make everyone else in the group aware, daily, of what is on schedule,
what is slipping, and what else is affected. This would be a technical
person, skilled in planning, who did not have any personnel
responsibilities...[and so forth]" </pre>


<strong> Theme three: </strong> Review the "frozen" time reporting
pages at your group web site. List the group members, including yourself,
alphabetically by last name (but include the full name of each member), and
next to the name put down the total number of (substantiated) hours OF ALL
KINDS spent by that group member. Total the number of hours. Feel free to
cut and paste, into your text, from this template:
<a href=group-time.html> group-time.html</a>.  (Note: every minute of
class time spent working specifically on the project, every minute of group
meetings, time spent on email, time spent thinking about aspects of the
project on the train, etc., must be included for each member.) Comment on
the time spent by each member. Is the reporting accurate? <p>

Discuss the time spent compared with the product produced. Discuss whether
or not time is wasted in groups over working alone, etc. Discuss
"unofficial" time spent -- is this always required? Is there a cost for it?
How did this amount of time compare with your projections? What advice will
you give yourself about time projections in the future, if any?<p>

All of the group time logs are posted. Are there any that you feel are
inflated, or under-reported? Each group member should briefly discuss
their hours with the group. Groups should dedicate at least a few minutes
for this exercise near the "freeze" date. Bring your log to the meeting! <p>


<strong> Theme four: </strong> Use the <a href=group-rating.html> group
rating sheet </a> to provide your numerical assessment of the
contributions of all group members. Your ability to assess your group,
and group members, is a required skill, and is counted as part of your
exam.<p> Staple this on the TOP of your four-page-or-less individual
assessment.

<hr>

<pre>

Street mail address:

Professor Clark Elliott
CTI
DePaul University
243 South Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60604	  


DePaul Interoffice Mail address:

Professor Clark Elliott
CTI

</pre>