Summary of group projects
Groups
- Four to five students
- Deliberate mix of
Engineering, MBA, and SIMS students
- Your initial group makeup
will be chosen by the instructor to meet the goal of mixing fields and
interests based on the initial course survey. (Initial voluntary groupings
typically do not achieve this mix.) Pairwise exchanges among groups are
permitted, as long as they are between students with similar backgrounds
(both MBA students, both EECS students, both SIMS students, both non-EECS
engineering students). Inform the instructor of any changes.
- If any students drop the
course, the instructors may have to ask students to move between groups to
maintain balance. To minimize this, groups will not be formed until the
end of the third week.
Due dates
The due date and time for projects are noted on the class
calendar. See “grades” for policies on late project reports and
other grading issues on the projects.
Projects summary
There will be two projects:
- First project:
Evaluation of a product or industry segment or company in terms of the
concepts from the course. [details]
- Second project: Consideration
of both sides of a controversial issue, including a class debate. Two
groups will address each issue, taking the two sides. [details]
Group organization
Each project group should designate two people for each project
(it is a good idea to rotate these responsibilities between the first and
second project):
- A group leader, who
will coordinate the group, set up meetings, lead group discussions, etc.
- A group webmaster, who
will the responsibility for gathering and integrating written inputs,
soliciting comments, and formating and posting the final report.
Outcomes
- First
project: written report posted to the web and an in-class presentation of
your key issues and findings of not more than 15 minutes.
- Second
project: short written report summarizing both sides of the debate and a
40-min in-class debate with another group. Debate positions will be
determined by group preferences, or by a coin toss if the groups’
preferences are incompatible.