End of Semester Responsibilities
The end of the semester is usually very hectic for the project because that is when teams really scramble to finish their data analysis and reports.
In Class
Remember to constantly remind students about upcoming assignments and class schedules towards the end of the semester. Things get hectic and it is easier for team members to lose track of time.
Make sure to accurately explain all of the components of the final: wiki report individual contribution, the Final Wiki Update itself, challenges for future semesters, final peer evaluations, and the final presentation.
Office Hours
It is a good idea to hold a few office hours the week before the midterm and final wikis are due. This gives students a chance to come in and ask for help on anything from formatting the wiki to debugging code.
You will want to send a detailed email explaining the end of semester work to the team at least 2 weeks before the first draft of the final wiki is due. Explain to them that there are several components to the final, as listed above. Give them links to the assignments and remind them of due dates and your office hours. Also reiterate why the wiki is important as a database and how their work is very valuable. You want the team to remember that AguaClara is not just a class and their hard work can only be useful if it is precisely and accurately written up.
Final Presentations
It is your job to book a good room for the final presentations (try for McManus Lounge in Hollister). You should also come up with a good order for the presenters to go in so that projects and presentations build off of one another. We have changed the format several times for these. The current format is to split the team in 2, have half the teams present in the two hours before dinner, have a pot luck dinner for an hours, then have the other half afterwards. Students are only required to be there for their half. You should encourage students to invite friends that might be interested in joining.
Lab Clean Up
Organize a lab clean up for the end of the semester and tell every team that they need to have everything labeled and organized or put away or else it gets thrown away. Get at least one person from each team to come and help tidy up.