Final Project / Paper

SPRING 2019

Research Paper or Creative Project (300 pts)

Students examine a specific research topic by writing a research paper or develop a creative media project that is of interest to the student and integrally connected to the themes and issues explored in this course.

With the approval of the instructor, you may choose to work with a partner from this class.

As a culminating activity, all students will be required to compose an Ignite video presentation (pecha kucha) that describes your paper or project and post it online. Learn more about preparing an IGNITE PRESENTATION here.

FINAL PROJECT CHOICES

OPTION 1. RESEARCH PAPER. You can compose a paper that could be presented at an academic conference. You acquire knowledge on a topic of interest to you by reading deeply and widely and then you offer your unique interpretation of what you’re learning in the  written form of an academic paper. A research paper enables you to acquire real expertise by digging deeper into a topic that we’ve explored and write a scholarly paper (15 – 25 pages) describing what you’ve learned, making connections to the course readings.

OPTION 2. CREATIVE PROJECT. If you choose to develop a creative project, you’ll produce a video, podcast, or other substantial media production and post it to your blog. There, you’ll also provide a short reflective essay that describes the stages of your production process.

OPTION 3. CURRICULUM PROJECT. If you choose to develop a curriculum project, you’ll submit a set of lesson plans, materials, sample student work product and other resources needed to create a complete unit or inquiry project. You post these resources to your blog.

OPTION 4. THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER. Yes, choice matters to adult learners. If you want to analyze some of the teacher-created work from the Summer Institute, we’d love to support this work. If you would like to dig into some other project of your own design that doesn’t fit into the categories above, email me or schedule time for a conversation.

FINAL PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Intermediate deadlines enable you to use the whole month of April to develop your project, ensuring that it is a strongly conceptualized and professional work:

• APRIL 12. Email a Creative Brief to the instructor. Learn more about the format of a creative brief on page 28 of Create to Learn. 
• APRIL 19. Talk with the Instructor about your project.  Schedule time to talk by phone with the instructor here. 
• APRIL 26. Develop a Scope of Work document. Learn more about the format of a Scope of Work document on page 85-86 of Create to Learn. 
• MAY 3. Talk with a peer about your project.
• MAY 10. FINAL PROJECT + IGNITE VIDEO DUE. 

Criteria for Evaluation

1. My work substantially relates to the topics, ideas and issues explored in this course and I am able to make connections to course readings, discussions and activities to show direct relevance. The content and format are appropriate for graduate-level work.

2. My work enables me to develop one or more of the core learning outcomes for this course.

3. The work has strong content and is coherent, creative and complete. It uses conventions of the genre/form appropriately and is professional and polished. I have tweeted a link to the final paper /project using the #EDC534 hashtag.

Worked Examples 

• Curriculum Project – Radio Star Wars for Struggling Readers – Mark Davis IGNITE
• Research Paper – Summer Institute in Digital Literacy  Data Analysis, Stephanie Viens IGNITE
• Action Research Paper – Students Use Cell Phones for Learning Amanda Murphy and Kara Clayton IGNITE