| ASSIGNMENTS | DESCRIPTION | ADDITIONAL INFORMATION |
|---|---|---|
| Individual assignments | ||
| Progress reports | Periodically throughout the class, you will write brief progress reports to reflect on your learning and the development of your project. Each report will be approximately 1 page (250-300 words) in length, use an informal professional style, and will be submitted electronically. A total of eight progress reports will be completed (nine are assigned, but we will drop your lowest grade). |
Progress report 1 (PDF) Progress report 2 (PDF) Progress report 3 (PDF) |
| Oral project briefings | During weeks #8, #9, #10, and #11, the Friday session of class will begin with oral project briefings. One student from each team will make a ten-minute presentation updating the full class on progress to-date on their team project. Each student in the class will make one ten-minute presentation over the course of the semester. You will be required to use Microsoft® PowerPoint®; other visual aids, such as handouts, will be optional. Students making an Oral Briefing will not have a written progress report due that day. A practicum on public speaking and guidance on using Microsoft® PowerPoint® will precede these briefings. | Oral progress report (PDF) |
| Energy systems reflection papers | You will apply class content to your developing team projects in three papers during the first eight weeks of class. Each paper will be approximately 2 pages (500-600 words) in length, use an informal professional style, and will be submitted electronically. In the final reflection paper of the semester, students will discuss how they individually, and their team collectively, performed during the class. They will use the team code of conduct created in the second week of class as one basis of comparison, and their design notebook as another. This assignment will also ask students to comment on the class and its impact on them overall. Reflection papers will be assessed both in terms of accuracy of content and clarity and effectiveness of argumentation (clearly stating their claims, providing compelling supporting statements, clear organization). |
Reflection paper 1 (PDF) Reflection paper 2 (PDF) Reflection paper 3 (PDF) |
| Unit 2 reading highlights | During the second unit of the course, you will gain speaking experience by making a brief presentation for a discussion group of your peers. Each of the eight two-hour class sessions of this unit of the class will begin with a guest lecture/Q&A (first hour). For the second hour, at least two students will be assigned to make informal, five minute presentations of key aspects of the reading for that day's topic and key questions that arose from them during their reading. TAs will check in with you before this presentation. On the day you are scheduled to give Reading Highlights, you will be expected to serve as a resource for the group discussions that follow, but you are not expected to lead or facilitate those discussions. | |
| Thermodynamics practice problems | A set of practice problems will be assigned to be completed after the lecture on thermodynamics. | |
| Personal energy calculator | You will be assigned to fill out the personal energy calculator following Ses #2. | |
| Team assignments | ||
| Design notebook | With your project team, you will develop and maintain a Design Notebook in an electronic format. The Design Notebook is intended to develop your skills in careful documentation of each step of project design, and should include materials from meetings with community mentors (questions asked, notes, responses to mentor questions/suggestions), brainstorming, notes on data collection and methodology, references, and the like. The Design Notebooks will be reviewed regularly by TAs to maximize their completeness. There is no specific page requirement for the Design Notebook. | |
| Project proposal and management plan |
Each project team will prepare a Project Proposal and Management Plan (PPMP) to lay out how they will approach the project. The PPMP assignment will be 4-5 pages (1000-1500 words) and will follow a standard structure. The proposal component (approximately 1-2 pages) will address: 1. The main issue/task of the project and its importance The management plan component (approximately 2-3 pages) will address the team's planning for data collection and analysis: 1. What data are needed This assignment will begin during week three by submitting a rough outline to TAs for review at the end of class. Draft PPMP's will be due about a week later and will be reviewed by the instructional team as well as the writing advisor from MIT's Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program, who will also conference with the teams on this document and grade the final PPMP. The draft will form the basis for the teams' first meetings with their community mentors during week 5, and then be revised and final versions submitted during week 5. |
PPMP style (PDF) PPMP grading rubric (PDF) |
| Final project report | The final project report, a 10-12 page (2000-3600 words) assignment, is a technical document that will provide community stakeholders with the information they need to apply the students' work to their energy management need. Specifically, the report structure will concisely address the project rationale and methods, summarize and analyze project data, and discuss implications of project findings for community activity. The draft report will be submitted in week #12 in electronic format. The writing advisor from MIT's Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program will review the draft reports and conference with each project team. The instructional team will review and comment on draft reports, and review and grade the final reports. |
Final report style (PDF) Final report rubric (PDF) |
| Final oral project presentation | The team will be responsible for the final presentation for the class, which will be made to a public audience at MIT (during regular class time) including community stakeholders and interested members of the MIT and local communities. Each team will make a 10-15 minute presentation using Microsoft® PowerPoint® and field questions and discussion for 5 minutes. Students will prepare for this final presentation by giving a "dry-run" of their presentation in class at the end of week #12, and then by participating a full dress rehearsal spread out over two class sessions to facilitate discussion and critique among the full class. The dress rehearsals will be videotaped, and each team will review and discuss the videotape with one or two members of the instructional team. The final presentation will receive a team grade. | Final presentation rubric (PDF) |