Guest Lecturer

This week Warren Buckleitner will be guest lecturing and will ask you to score some of the apps from his recent visit to Amsterdam.

Thesis Proposal Template

Here’s the general outline of your Capstone Thesis Proposal for your review.

Initial Thesis Proposal Components

Project Overview

• What’s your idea?

Project Background

• What inspired your idea? Draw from your Manifesto, History of the Field, State of the Field, Leaders of the Field & Future of the Field assignments.

Target Audience

• User Personas
• User Stories

Team Inky Future of the Field Presentations

Present the information you’ve gathered about the Future of the Field you’ve chosen for your Thesis project.

Assignments for Week 9

One-Time Assignments

Project Prototypes

This week we’ll begin working on our prototypes. Please make a list of the three biggest hurdles/unknowns about your Thesis Project concept, and consider how you might make a prototype to address each. Be prepared to discuss on Monday, 11/3.

Initial Project Proposal – 10 points for presentation; 10 for write-up

Describe your initial ideas for your capstone project. Your Initial Proposal should include three sections: a Project Overview section , a Project Background Section, and a Target Audience section.

The Project Overview is a high level description of the project you’d like to develop for your Senior Thesis.

The Project Background section should be a summary drawing from your Personal Manifesto, History of the Field, State of the Field, Leaders of the Field & Future of the Field assignments. It should describe the environment into which your project will fit, and how it will affect the future of your field of interest.

The Target Audience section should be a description of the user groups you are creating for, and specifically which of needs your project will be fulfilling. Your description should be a summary of your User Personas and User Stories. Create at least three User Personas representing the different groups your project will target. Create a spreadsheet listing at least three user stories for each of the user groups you identified.

Team Blinky will present their Initial Proposals on Monday, 11/3, and Team Inky will present on 11/10. All students will submit their written Initial Proposals before 11/10.

Thesis Proposal Template

Let’s review the general outline of your Capstone Thesis Proposal.

Initial Thesis Proposal Components

Project Overview

• What’s your idea?

Project Background

• What inspired your idea? Draw from your Manifesto, History of the Field, State of the Field, Leaders of the Field & Future of the Field assignments.

Target Audience

• User Personas
• User Stories

The Lean Canvas Single Page Business Model

• Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas (SIngle Page Business Model)
• For more info on Ash’s take on the canvas, see this article

Team Inky Future of the Field Presentations

Present the information you’ve gathered about the Future of the Field you’ve chosen for your Thesis project.

Assignments for Week 8
Reading

• “A Template for Writing Great User Personas”
• “How To Write Meaningful User Stories”
• “How To Document Your Business Model On 1 Page”

One-Time Assignments

Future of the Field – 3 points for presentation; 3 for write-up
Everyone should post your written Future of the Field assignments to the Google Community before Monday 10/27.

Initial Project Proposal – 10 points for presentation; 10 for write-up

Describe your initial ideas for your capstone project. Your Initial Proposal should include three sections: a Project Overview section , a Project Background Section, and a Target Audience section.

The Project Overview is a high level description of the project you’d like to develop for your Senior Thesis.

The Project Background section should be a summary drawing from your Personal Manifesto, History of the Field, State of the Field, Leaders of the Field & Future of the Field assignments. It should describe the environment into which your project will fit, and how it will affect the future of your field of interest.

The Target Audience section should be a description of the user groups you are creating for, and specifically which of needs your project will be fulfilling. Your description should be a summary of your User Personas and User Stories. Create at least three User Personas representing the different groups your project will target. Create a spreadsheet listing at least three user stories for each of the user groups you identified.

Team Blinky will present their Initial Proposals on Monday, 11/3, and Team Inky will present on 11/10. All students will submit their written Initial Proposals before 11/10.

Weekly Assignments

• Daily Drift
• Weekly Wandering
• Reflection
• To Review
• Notes
• Classmate Feedback

Team Blinky Leaders of Your Field Presentations

Present the information you’ve gathered about the Leaders of the Field you’ve chosen for your Thesis project.

Review this Week’s Reading

• “Customers as Innovators” from The Innovator’s Cookbook
• “The Slow Hunch” from Where Good Ideas Come From

Assignments for Week 6
Reading

• “Serendipity” from Where Good Ideas Come From

Weekly Assignments (due before the break 10/13)

• Daily Drift – Google Drive doc, 300 words daily, stream of consciousness to kick start your creativity (share link with me only)
• Weekly Wandering – take a walk, go running, whatever, capture your thoughts in words, pictures, sketches, music, video – whatever helps you express your thoughts, Google Drive doc (share link on Google Community).
• Reflection – at the end of the week, reflect on everything you’ve gathered & pondered. Write 300 or more words in a Google doc trying to organize it into a cohesive whole (share link on Google Community).
• To Review – a list of links in a Google Drive spreadsheet; videos, books, films, etc, you’d like to review later (share link on Google Community)
• Notes – notes in a Google Drive doc on your ‘To Review’ materials for the week (share link on Google Community)
• Classmate Feedback – comment on 2 or more classmates’ posts to our class Google Community

One-Time Assignments

Leaders of Your Field – 3 points for presentation; 3 for write-up
Everyone should post your written Leaders of The Field assignments to the Google Community before the break on 10/13.

Future the Field – 3 points for presentation; 3 for write-up
Looking forward in your chosen field, what changes do you expect to see in the next three years? Think in terms of the “adjacent possible” as described by Steven Johnson — what doors can be opened now, and what rooms might those doors lead to? Present a hypothetical but realistic innovation in your field that will impact the sort of work your future you is doing. For example, if you considered yourself an interface designer three years ago, you could have realistically predicted that multi-touch tablets would have a considerable impact on your work today, even though you didn’t know the details of the hardware or software.

Your prediction should be grounded in observation of recent trends as well as the expectations of current experts in the field.

Members of Team Inky will present their ideas on October 20. Use web sites, videos, images or any other media to help support your vision of the future. Refer to these additional guidelines for an effective presentation.

Everyone in the class — regardless of team — must write things up their ideas about the future as a Google Doc on the Google Community, incorporating or responding to the feedback of classmates, if appropriate. Post your ideas before class on October 27, and assign it to the “Future of the Field” category. This text will inform your upcoming formal project proposal. You’ll be graded not only on the thoroughness of your research, but on how effectively you present your ideas in writing. Use headings or other formatting to lend clarity and organization to your Google Doc, and keep these guidelines in mind. Your post should be at least 700 words.