Final Project Description Guide.
The final project for this course is an ongoing set of assignments designed to allow you to build a professional quality written and oral project presentation utilizing one topic. Select the project you plan to use carefully since it will form the basis for several assignments culminating in the final project presentation. Ultimately, you will need to write a formal report and make a formal oral presentation that seeks approval of the project, reports progress or problems with the project, or is a final statement at the end of the project with your conclusions, recommendations or call for next steps.
In Week Two of the course, you will submit a project definition statement. This is a brief description (no more than 1 page) of a project that you will use for your final project in this class. The project can be something from work, but you must have permission from your employer to share the content in class and it must be something where you are or were deeply involved in the project. If you are not involved in a project at work suitable for this assignment let me know as soon as possible so we can discuss a topic for your presentation. (Required/Ungraded/HRS 1/LO 1,2&3) Your definition statement should provide context for the final project. What is the nature of the project? Why is it important? Who is the audience for the project? What is your role in the project? Ideally, by reading this definition statement, I will be able to assess if your proposed topic is suitable for the final project. Expect requests for more detail or refinement of the definition statement to assure that it is suitable for the remainder of the assignments.
In Week Five of the course, you will submit a detailed outline of the written project report. This assignment calls for a detailed outline including a thesis statement for the paper, the main points of the paper, arguments, data, and sources you will include in the paper, and your conclusion. (Required/LO 2,3&9/3 hours/50 points)
In Week Six of the course, you will submit a Written Final Project Report and Power Point (Required/LO# 1,2,3, & 9/75 points/ 6 Hrs.). This assignment is a 5-8-page paper that will be graded on clarity of content, writing style, grammar, APA citation, and adaptation to your audience. The paper should be accompanied by a power point presentation that will form the basis of your oral presentation. This should be a formal report that you would submit to your superiors or to a client that describes why the project should be undertaken or progress toward completion, or the need to adjust based on problems, issues with the original project design, or provides a final summary of the project with conclusions, findings or need for additional work.
In Week Seven of the course, you will submit your oral presentation of the project. (Required/LO#4,9&10/100 points/8 Hrs.) This is a 5-7-minute oral presentation simulating a report to your superiors or a client. The presentation should incorporate the power point presentation submitted last week. This is not an exercise in reading your paper or in reading your power point slides. It is a stand-alone presentation that draws on the content of the paper to provide an oral presentation to your audience. The assignment will be graded on the structure, clarity, content and delivery of your presentation and the ability to integrate well designed power point slides into your overall presentation.
