What is due

Overview

Group projects can either be glorious or the bane of your existence, and either outcome will generally depend on your group members. Social loafing is usually the cause of negative feelings towards group work. Social loafing is the phenomenon of a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. This is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combined performance of their members working as individuals. In order to combat social loafing, you will be turning in weekly accountability reports so everyone can see what you are working on and what you have completed. This will be used in the assessment, made by your team and professor, of your work. The assessments will be reflected in your grades and it will provide reasons for firing a team member.

Instructions

You are expected to make substantial visual progress on your project each week. You will not be graded on the number of hours you spend each week, but rather if you completed your assignments, the substantiality of those assignments towards your final project, and the quality of the work you produced. Visual production work does not include meetings, brainstorming, reading books, researching, etc. Don’t get caught up with the hours you spend, because you will be reporting and showing what you’ve done at the end of the week.

Submission

1. Your initial post will list the assignments you have accepted for this week, a description of each assignment, and the hard deadlines that have been set for each assignment. This should be posted 6 days before the deadline listed on this discussion board.
2. A comment to your original post will be made before the due date of this discussion board. This comment will include details about your assignments and all the visual work that you completed in conjunction with these assignments.

The Group Project Requirements

Overview

The objective of this project is to create something big which you wouldn't normally be able to do by yourself in one semester. You will work in teams of about 10 on a self-assigned project. The project will need to accumulate 400 hours worth of visual production work between all the members of the team. The project will be self-assigned at the beginning of the semester, which means the class will come up with two ideas, define goals, make a plan, assign work, execute production, and finally put together a case study at that end of the semester to put into each student's portfolio. Individuals will be graded on personal production quality and quantity, and the overall quality of the group project.

Check out this video highlighting a past group's project and their experience: https://vimeo.com/330079863

Minimum

Examples

Here are some examples of what can be done for this project.

• A social change campaign
• A brand redesign
• An animation
• A short film
• Kick starter campaign
• Web design
• App/Game design

Minimum Expectations

The project must be ...

• Approved by your instructor.
• Visual in nature
• Must communicate a message
• A total of 400 hours of visual production work must be achieved by the entire company
  • Production work does not include meetings, brainstorming, reading books, researching, ect
  • Each individual must complete a minimum of 4 hours of production work each week (once the project officially starts)
• A final, well thought, well designed, case study submitted at the end of the semester
  • The case study needs to include:
    • Cover
    • Table of contents
    • Introduction
    • Background & Goals
    • Outcome
    • The appendix which should outline the individual's contribution

Past Student Examples

• Sports Promo Case Study (F18)
• Village Book Builders Case Study (F18)
• Veggie Might Case Study (W19)
• Texas Roadhouse Case Study (W19)
• Breakfast Animation (S19)
• Bandit Card Game (S19)
• Dream Machine (F19)
• Costume for Agnes (F19)
• Potato Hotel (W20)
• Deadly Island (W20)

Firing Team Members

Social loafing is generally the largest offense in classroom group work, but we see less of it in the industry because companies have the opportunity to let these culprits go. In this class, groups can fire team members who are not pulling their weight, arguing, being rude, and so on. Really when it comes down to it, please treat everyone with Christ-like love and respect.

Just like in most companies, teams need to work with HR (in this case that will be the professor) to ensure accurate reasons for firing and that the process is done correctly. If your team sees the need for a termination you must make the decision as a team, and make sure the reason is valid. After you have made the decision as a team, approach the professor.

Those who are fired have the opportunity to either try and join the other group or work on an individual project which will total 400 hours worth of production work. As a warning, if someone is fired, they will likely fail the class.