MIS 650  Project Seminar

Deliverables

From the syllabus:

Components

Participation

    Participation in this seminar is extremely important.  While there are only four lectures, they are crucial to being able to carry out the course requirements.  Attendance and discussion are necessary in order to get the most out of the lectures.  In addition, students will be supervised by faculty supervisors who will meet with students to discuss their projects and assist them in meeting their learning goals.  While worth only 5% of the grade, participation is so important that students who miss most of the introductory lectures or who fail to meet with their supervisors on a regular basis will be dropped from registration.  Students who participate in class and meet regularly with their supervisors will find the project much easier to carry out and far more rewarding in its results.

Project Proposal The proposal is used as the basis to determine feasibility of the project and to assign project supervisors.  Because the proposal is submitted early in the course it is expected that there will be significant changes before the actual project is completed.  Nonetheless, it is important to submit a formal proposal in order to make the supervisory assignment.  A guide to preparing the format and content of the proposal can be read by clicking on the link above.  The project proposal must be accepted by the course instructor as well as the course supervisor.  The form of the supervisor's acceptance is the project contract.  For more details about the proposal, click here.

Project Report The project report is the criterion measure for this course, worth 4/5 of the grade.  Project reports should be of publishable quality, meaning that they can be technical reports, research publications, or position papers.  The nature of the project report's format and content can be perused by clicking on the link above. For more details about the report format, click here.

Project Presentation No work is completed without a "signoff" meeting.  The project presentation simulates a situation in which the project is "accepted" as a piece of work.  Attendance at the presentation will consist at least of the student, the supervisor and the instructor at a time and place mutually agreeable.  In addition, others, also mutually agreed upon by the student, supervisor and instructor, will be invited as desired.  For more details about the presentation, click here.

Grading

Grading of participation and the proposal is the responsibility of the instructor.  Grading of the project report and its presentation is performed by the instructor on the advice of the project supervisor.  After the presentation, the supervisor completes a Project Evaluation Form.  Project reports are evaluated by both the supervisor (click here for details about supervision) and the instructor and, if necessary and where performed as part of a site evaluation or campaign, by individuals associated with the work as colleagues or clients (to be negotiated with the student).  To see the blank project evaluation form, click here.  Students will complete a companion form as part of the project exercise.  To see that form, click here.

DISCLAIMER

In carrying out supervision and instruction in this course, the academic staff of the School of Business Administration take no responsibility for the activities of students registered in MIS 650 and accept no liability for their conduct while performing assignments leading to the deliverables mentioned above.  No one connected with instruction or evaluation in this course warrants the validity of conclusions drawn or the value or correctness of any product produced or subsequently used in any pursuit.  Our sole role is instruction (with evaluation) in knowledge and methodology.  We do not and cannot take any responsibility concerning the effectiveness of the products of these projects.

BEHIND THE DISCLAIMER

You are on your own if you tell people that you have proven something or developed a software tool or procedure that gets things done.  While we will give you as much help as we can in determining what the truth is and how to uncover and present it, we cannot certify software or procedures that you develop and make available to others.  We can only advise you concerning methodology and knowledge.  So if you develop a piece of software, we take no responsibility in its subsequent use.  If you perform a simulation, we are not responsible for others' actions based on your simulation.  That's as it should be: we are teachers, not testers.  We can help you with academic project management, but we will not carry out any of the project for you.

This webpage last updated on September 12, 2005