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These tasks must be completed in the first week or two of the semester.
Class/Lectures for the First
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Weeks
When you look at the syllabi from recent semesters you see that they start to take on a common look. We like to take the first 2 weeks to train students about the project as a whole to make sure that they understand our scope and they can make smart decisions about which teams to join.
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You will want to keep emphasizing to the new team how although they are coming to class, 95% of their time in AguaClara will be spent with their teams so it is important to make an educated decision as to where they might be able to fit in and learn well.
Forming Teams
After the students have been introduced to the project and potential teams, the team leader will send out a planning survey. Remember that all surveys we use are GoogleDocs on the CUAguaClara account with username and password. Double check that the survey has been updated for this year before sending it out! All surveys need to be updated every year.
Take into account the following points when forming teams
- You always want to try to have at least one returning member on each team, otherwise the learning curve is pretty steep and the teams without returners tend to get a lot less accomplished in the semester
- Try to get a good array of older and younger students on each team, that way there is a good chance that you will have at least one of the younger students stick around next year to provide continuity for that team.
- Think about how many people each team really needs. Some times it is better to cap a team at a small efficient size (2 or 3 is great!) depending on what they need to accomplish.
As soon as you and Monroe finalize teams send each team an email and encourage everyone on that team to start reviewing their wiki space. If you can schedule it into the syllabus, immediately host a Team Meeting lecture, which is where you tell everyone its required class as usual, except you only talk for five minutes and then have everyone split into their teams and start introducing themselves. Tell them to pick a weekly meeting time right then and there, and make sure they know that every team is required to meet in person at least once per week and turn in detailed meeting minutes of their weekly activities.
Wiki Access
Give all new team members wiki access. To do this follow the instructions given below
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