The class will be organized into as many as 4 teams of no more than 5 students each to collaborate together on a semester-long oral and written project. The oral presentation for this project will be completed at the end of the semester during the final class meeting – Wednesday, April 24.  Note: it is essential that all students be in class both of these days for all four team presentations. Failure to be present without instructor permission will result in a 50-point (5%) deduction in your final grade.

The deadline for all teams to submit their slide presentations is April 24. Team papers are due no later than midnight May 1. All teams will be expected to work together to complete the oral and written aspects of the project. Teams will also be expected to complete several team assignments during the semester that will generally relate to helping teams complete their semester-long project.

Team Project Details

  • Each team will choose a local non-profit organization (not a national NPO like Red Cross, United Way) whose work is as closely aligned with team members’ attitudes and beliefs about public service as possible. The website Great Nonprofits has a very comprehensive list of local non-profits in Syracuse which can be filtered by issue/cause. It would be worth checking out while making an organization decision.
  • Each team will research their respective organization’s history, mission, programs, and activities in order to better understand the organization. Teams will also develop a project for this organization that aids in additional revenue, creates a new program that aligns with organizational goals, or comes up with an improved or enhanced version of an existing program.
  • Each team will submit an (approximate) 4500-5000 word paper formatted in APA style (double-spaced, 1-inch margins all around, 12 point Times New Roman font) that covers all aspects of the team activity, complete with citations of sources used in completing the presentation and report.
  • Each team will create and present a 30-minute multimedia presentation based on the written paper’s content in order to inform and enlighten the class about this organization as well as each team’s proposed organizational project. (Note: the order in which teams complete the presentation and paper is up to each team, as long as they are completed by their respective deadlines.)
  • While cited sources will not be required for the presentation, you MUST include a minimum of 10 sources for the written paper. A portion of these sources must include books or peer-reviewed journals.
  • The team presentation is worth 100 points, and the written paper is worth 150 points.

Notes on the Team Project

  • These are a major portion of your grade in this class, so it will require a major effort on every student’s part. While team members are typically graded identically for all team assignments, each team member will complete an evaluation form after the completion of each team activity. You will rate your fellow team members on various aspects of their contribution to the team effort.  I will take these evaluations into consideration when I assign project grades for each team member.
  • The team project will have several team assignments, with each assignment designed to be a “building block” for teams to complete various aspects of the activity. These assignments will typically occur every 2-3 weeks.
  • The goal this project is to get your team to work together in different ways with different goals and outcomes. It will be a challenge to work over a long period of time on a single project with a group of people that you must depend upon for their contributions and collaborations.  Yet it is that challenge that will aid you and your team in skills to manage time lines, availability of team members, key milestone dates, etc.
  • There will be time built in nearly every week for teams to meet (usually with me for a brief face-to-face progress report), it will be crucial for teams to determine when and how to meet outside of class. Virtual meetings will probably be a reality for many teams but try to work out times when you can all meet face-to-face.  It is likely that you will make more and better progress in those settings.