Important! Assessment Detail The assessment has two elements: A team project which will be assessed through achieving the deliverable required by the client and a final team presentation. This element will carry 40% of the module assessment mark. Individual peer reviews of the final presentations, 10% The project diary (team effort), 10% An individual report, a post project review which will reflect and evaluate the project success, 40% Participation and hand in dates will be confirmed in a separate document. The team project 40% You will be assigned to teams and be issued with a project brief from an external client. You will then carry out a series of activities constituting the project: Stage 1: Definition and concept phase leading to presentation of the ‘Business Case’ Collectively understand the project brief Meet the client to determine ‘why’ the project is taking place and ‘what’ the client expects to be delivered. Do test your and their understanding. Negotiate with the client how and when you will communicate. The client will be available to check understanding and will want to know progress. Formally define the aim (benefit), scope (deliverable), boundary and constraints of the project Identify how success will be measured Construct the written Business Case Present the Business Case in a boardroom environment for formative feedback and with the objective of obtaining agreement to proceed to the next stage of the project life cycle. The presentation should be planned and practiced; you may need to ‘sell’ your ideas. You should introduce the team members and propose the business case. Key elements here are the understanding of the client’s requirements and a client communications plan. Make sure the client has a copy of the business case and agrees the scope. The assessment will be formative; permission to proceed or guidance as to rework required will be given. A note about boardroom presentations These should be no longer than 10 minutes. All members of the team must attend but one (or more) member(s) of the team may give the presentation. Questions should be expected. Presentations may be videoed. Hard copy of the presentation together with extra additional relevant documents should be handed over. Stage 2: Project planning leading to the presentation of the ‘Project Management Plan’ (PMP) Once agreement to proceed has been received Plan the project in detail focusing on time, cost, quality and communication together with risk and stakeholder management Develop and write the PMP Present the PMP (and its detail) in a boardroom environment with the objective of receiving permission to proceed to the next stage of the life cycle. The assessment will be formative; permission to proceed or guidance as to rework required will be given. Stage 3: Project Implementation Once agreement to proceed has been received the plan of work should be executed. Do remember that you must achieve the deliverable the client is expecting so continual communication with them is paramount. Through the project, monitoring and control of activities are essential. Team leaders will report to the tutor at set times; facilitation and guidance will be offered if appropriate. Stage 4: Handing over and close out; final presentations to a. the client and b. the cohort The teams will formally hand over the deliverable (project output) to the client. There are 0 marks for this but the clients feedback will be fed into the final presentation marking. The team will also make a presentation to the cohort which should include the aims and scope of the project the details of the project output, the deliverable relevant references/bibliography a brief reflection on the project process, progress and team behaviour a list of team members and student numbers a collective agreement about the allocation of marks amongst the team with respect to engagement and work carried out Presentations may include if relevant research philosophy, methods, ethical considerations an overview of the literature drawn on the sample population, questions asked, the data collected an analysis and evaluation of the data with final conclusions All team members must be involved in this presentation. The duration of each presentation should not be longer than 20 minutes. Clients, tutors and other students will be expected to ask questions afterwards. Presentations may be videoed. Copies of the deliverable, the presentation and extra relevant additional materials should be posted on Moodle. The assessment will be both summative and formative and will be based on meeting the client’s needs, the material presented and the quality of the presentation. Comments on team work Team work, presentations and report writing are a business norm. Gaining experience through team work assignments is a positive employability skill. Team work is a rich experience and often fun. It enables: a large problem to be tackled from multiple dimensions a difficult task to be achieved in a short time period an appreciation that there are many ways of solving a problem the development of skills in leadership and teamwork a shared understanding of professional standards in presentation, group reporting, problem solving, negotiation and responsibility. Students should expect that there may, at times, be turmoil and difficulties in coming to agreement, setting out tasks, agreeing completion dates and collaborating. This is a normal part of any project work and should be worked through as part of the process. All team members are expected to contribute equally although individual tasks may differ. Any discrepancies in activity rate must be brought to the attention of the module leader early in term 2. These will be investigated fully and formally. Peer Review of Presentations 10% You will be expected to observe and review all presentations except your own. There is a prescribed form to complete after each presentation which will guide your thoughts and comments on the presentation (skills, quality, interest), teamwork (cohesiveness) and delivery of customer requirements. The forms will be collected at the end of the session. Assessment will be summative based on the quantity and quality of the reviews. Project Diary 10% A daily diary of project activities should be kept. It should include records of minutes of meetings progress against the plan changes (to be agreed by the client) decisions made with justifications risk events with outcomes and issues. This is a team effort. It should be submitted as a PDF on Moodle. Do remember that group submissions need copies of IDs of all team members. Assessment will be summative based on totality of content and quality of the diary. Individual report – the post project review 40% Individually students will carry out a ‘post project review’ which should be a reflection on and an analysis of the success (or otherwise) of your project. You should analyse your project using both ‘success factors’ and ‘success criteria’ as portrayed by Westerveld 2003. The report should be 2000 words (+/- 10%) excluding tables and appendices. Citations and references (using the Harvard referencing system) should be given where appropriate. The assessment will be formative and summative based on the quality of the reflection and analysis. The report should be submitted to Moodle in the normal fashion. Please make sure there is a front sheet attached. Summary of Assessment Assessment Assessment type Submission date Weighting 1 Deliverable to client Group presentation Formative 10.5.16 0% 1 Final presentations Group Presentation (documents to Moodle) Formative and summative 19/20.5.16 40% 1 Peer review of presentations Individual (in class) Summative 19/20.5.16 10% 1 Project diary (recorded on Pebble Pad) Group Submission (pdf to Moodle) Summative 23.5.16 10% 2 Post project review Individual submission (to Moodle) Formative and summative 30.5.16 40% Feedback Individual report/post project review Name……………………………………………………… Mark out of 100%............ Team name……………………………………………… G Good; Acceptable; W Weak Clarity and completeness of: G A W Comments if applicable Identification of success factors Identification of success criteria Degree of reflection Degree of analysis Referencing Presentation Overall comment PBS Undergraduate Grade Descriptors 2015-16: What does my grade mean? First Class (1st): 70-100% For marks of 85% or above the work will be outstanding, answering the question directly, using exceptionally mature judgment and skilful argument. Your work will demonstrate comprehensive, relevant and accurate coverage, clearly informed by a wide variety of appropriate literature, a clear understanding of advanced concepts, effective choice and use of analytical approaches and perceptive critical thinking, as well as skilful and highly sophisticated communication. Work achieving marks from 70-84% may be considered excellent: it will be critical and analytical at all times, answering the question directly, establishing a coherent set of arguments clearly informed by a range of appropriate literature which is skilfully employed. It will be fluent and articulate as well as clearly and persuasively addressing the relevant issues. Upper Second Class (2.1): 60-69% In the 2.1 class the work may be generally described as very good. You will demonstrate high levels of competence and appreciation of the task as well as mature communication skills. Work will be well written, clearly articulated and effectively structured and presented. There will be evidence of a very good understanding of the issues and a well-reasoned attempt to answer the question accurately and appropriately, capturing relevant issues and debates. There will be evidence of a good range of reading and the work will draw on relevant sources incorporated appropriately to inform a clear set of arguments. Lower Second Class (2.2): 50-59% The standard of work in the 2.2 class is good. Essentially you will have understood the question or task and addressed it competently. For example, relevant theory, knowledge or models will be identified and explained and applied if relevant. However, the ways in which the material is used (analysis or synthesis, for example) will be lacking, perhaps by not explaining the relevance or not applying theory to the question clearly, accurately or effectively. You may also need to improve the quality of your communication skills. Pass-Third Class (3rd): 40-49% Work in this category is satisfactory, but towards the lower end of the marks it will only just be satisfactory. This could also be described as a ‘basic’ answer. For example, a third class answer would show some appreciation of the question set and applicable theory or models, but would be flawed in that it may not address all the issues fully or accurately, or may omit some key principles or apply them inappropriately/inaccurately. There may also be some problems in respect of the quality of your communication skills. Fail: marks below 39% A grade within the range 30-39% means that you did not pass the assessment. In other words, you will not have addressed the question or task in a manner that demonstrates you have adequate knowledge and understanding of the issues raised and relevant theory/ principles. Your communication and organisation of your work may require serious attention. Marks below 30%, i.e. 0-29%, represent a clear fail, which means that you are likely to have made some basic errors in your discussion, have not structured a clear argument, and/ or you have misunderstood or failed to incorporate appropriate information or evidence, and your work may be poorly organised and lack structure and clarity. If you have received a mark below 40%, you should make an appointment to discuss this assessment with your tutor as soon as possible.