Creating+Groups+for+the+Group+Oriented+Projects

There are two assignments for this course that ask you to form and work in groups. These are generally larger, more time consuming assignments and I felt that working in groups would have at least two advantages – one from a practical point of view - many hands makes the work lighter - and one from a pedagogical point of view – discussion, interaction, clarification, etc. are all valuable ways to engage with new material.

The two assignments are:

The instructions for both of these assignments indicate that I would like you to work in groups of no more than 4 students. A number of you have asked how the groups will be formed and whether each group needs to be constituted by 4 individuals. Regarding the number of people in the group – it has been asked if you can work alone – my answer to that question is yes – you may work alone – but recognize that these are relatively large, time consuming projects. Indeed, they are projects that you couldn’t even begin until you had some background in the material. For those who do not wish to work alone you may create groups of your own convenience i.e. students in the class who are geographically close to you or that you have worked with previously or whose interests are similar to your own. You may work in groups of 2, 3 or 4. These groups will be self-selected. On the URCourses site you all introduced yourselves by creating a forum discussion. I suggest that each of you peruse those introductory statements to try to find partners for these projects. I have ‘exposed’ all of your email addresses in my emails to you so please feel free to contact other members of the class either through the wiki site or directly by email in an effort to establish a working group. THE TWO ASSIGNMENTS MAY BE COMPLETED BY THE SAME GROUP OR THE GROUPS COULD BE DIFFERENT FOR EACH ASSIGNMENT – YOUR CHOICE. However both assignments require that you inform me of the members of your group and that I approve the topic of your project by a certain date.
 * 1) ** Evaluation Report Review (15%) Due **** June 15, 2009 **
 * 2) ** Evaluation Plan (25%) Due: **** June 18, 2009 **