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Mid-term Team
Assignment
Overview
This is the mid-term assignment for students
working on team projects for three credits.
For this assignment you are asked to form a
team, select a project, contact the individual who suggested the project and
interview an individual with a disability or a senior who would benefit from
the project to better understand the problem, gather information on existing
commercial products and research, determine the magnitude of the need,
brainstorm and evaluate potential solutions, select the top three design
concepts, present your findings, and submit a report of your team's
progress.
Contents
Tasks
For this assignment you are asked to pursue
and report on the following tasks.
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Participate fully in the class including
attending lectures as required, listening actively, posing questions to the
guest speakers and the course instructor, engaging in class discussions,
verbalizing thoughts and analyses, reading and responding to emails from the
course instructor, and communicating team project progress.
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Form a project team of no more than three
members. Select a suitable and appropriate name for your team and pick a
project leader.
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Choose a team project from the list of
project suggestions. Select a suitable and appropriate name for your
project and for the device you will be building.
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Your team's name, project selection,
project name, device name, and list of members are due by 5pm Friday,
January 18th.
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Contact the individual(s) listed who
suggested the project and get information including details about the problem /
need, the disability group(s) targeted, the current solution employed (if any)
and its shortcomings or limitations, the potential benefits of an improved
solution, and the design features / specifications from his/her point of
view.
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Identify and interview at least one
individual who is affected by this problem / need and determine specifically
how it affects him / her, the benefits of an improved solution, and the design
features / specifications from his / her point of view.
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Gather information on other solution
alternatives including commercially available products, research projects, and
previous student projects. Consider why those products, research, and project
have not been more successful. Here are some companies that sell assistive
technology products or have an online database of devices:
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Determine the magnitude of the
problem/need and identify all the populations who may benefit from an improved
solution.
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Brainstorm possible project solutions and
select at least three promising design alternatives. (See
Example Spreadsheet for Comparing Design
Concepts)
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Provide a concise and convincing
statement of how your project might address the need / problem. Outline general
design concepts and new technology that might be brought to bear on
it.
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Present your team's problem / project
informally (8 minutes, with PowerPoint slides) in class on Thursday, February
16th as described below.
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Submit a mid-term report as described
below.
For next time:
In the next
assignment your team will asked to choose a
specific design concept and fabricate / test a functional prototype. Teams will
present their design in class and
submit a Final Report and
Individual Reflection.
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Mid-term
Presentation
Your team will have just eight minutes
for your in-class mid-term presentation covering your project progress on
Thursday, February 14th, including answering
questions.
Your team is encouraged to use PowerPoint
slides in your presentation. Please email your slideshow to Dave by noon on the
date of the presentation so it can be loaded onto his laptop. (Please upload
any videos to YouTube and link to them in your slides.)
Each team member should participate in the
presentation.
The suggested presentation outline
is:
- Introduction of team and its
members
- Brief abstract
- Statement of problem
- Magnitude of problem addressed by this
project
- Discussion of interviews with those who
suggested the project and potential users
- Statement of specific need
- Identification of existing solutions and
discussion of their limitations
- Description of brainstormed design
concepts
- Analysis of considered design
alternatives
- Description of selected design, including
its technical feasibility, engineering difficulty, estimated cost, user
acceptance, safety considerations, etc
- Design visualizations: photographs,
videos, sketches, drawings, models, and prototypes
- Future work and challenges for continuing
the project toward fabrication and testing with users
Be prepared to discuss:
- Project status - what has been done, what
remains
- Problems encountered, resolved, and
pending
- Expenses expected if the project is to be
continued into the Spring Quarter
- Plans for the remainder of the
quarter
Your team will be judged on the overall
quality of the presentation, the effectiveness of your design process, and your
progress toward a design solution using the following metrics:
- Process: problem identification,
research, brainstorming, design selection, fabrication, testing, and
evaluation
- Presentation: clarity,
organization, and completeness of the information presented
- Design: creativity, originality,
functionality of the design as well as the extent to which it meets the user's
needs
Most important - practice your presentation
to maximize the quality of its content, clarity, conciseness, completeness,
understanding of your design decisions, creativity, pacing, and
timing.
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Mid-term Report
Your team's report should be submitted by
email, be at least 5 pages, and is due on Tuesday, February
19th by 5pm. The suggested format is:
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Cover page - include course name
& year, project title, team name, team member's names, and team member's
photos
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Abstract - one paragraph summary
of objectives, approach taken, and results of the project so
far
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Introduction - problem / need to
be addressed, problem / need background
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Objectives - project goals and
rationale
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Design criteria - background
research, interviews with project suggestors and potential users, design
specifications, brainstormed design alternatives (at least 3)
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Methods - what did your team do
and why - include any sketching, prototyping, model building, preliminary
testing, analyses of design alternatives
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Results - discuss specifics of
your design alternatives such as features, benefits, aesthetics, cost, safety,
reliability, usability, test results, feedback from users, etc.
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Discussion - include engineering
challenges and suggestions to further develop and fabricate a chosen
design
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Timetable - provide a timetable of
tasks for the remainder of the quarter
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References - bibliographic
citations and websites visited
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Acknowledgements - mention all
individuals and facilities who helped you
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Appendices - detailed sketches,
calculations, testing notes, relevant vendor information, etc. that are
referenced in the main body of the report
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Presentation and Report
Grading
Project:
Team Name:
Team Members:
- Get information from project
suggestor:
- problem need
- disability groups targeted
- current solutions
- shortcomings of current
solutions
- potential benefits of an improved
solution
- solution specifications
- Get information from person with
disability:
- how problem affects
him/her
- benefits of improved
solution
- solution specifications
- Get information from other sources:
- commercially available
products
- research projects
- student projects
- Get information about need:
- magnitude
- populations who may
benefit
- Provide information about student
project:
- how need/problem is to be
addressed
- outline design concepts
- use of new technology
- Overall quality of design process
employed
- Overall quality of
presentation
- Other comments
- Score xx/25
- Suggested grade
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