Early Semester Tasks

These tasks must be completed in the first week or two of the semester.

Class/Lectures for the First 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. Make sure to pass around a sign-in sheet in every lecture for the first two weeks because we get a lot of people wandering in and out of the class, which makes it difficult to try to organize teams.

• Monroe usually gives the Intro to AguaClara lecture, which just gives some background about the project. You should use the demo plant and the model plant to illustrate how water flows through the plant. Consider giving the students a quiz about how the water flows and what the different parts of the plant are called.
• The Intro to Teams lecture is the first chance new members get to hear about the teams. At the very beginning of the semester email the returning members from each active team (you and Monroe will decide which teams will be active before the semester starts). Ask/tell each team to send you 2 slides so they can give a 2 minutes pitch for their team. Have the returning students send you the slides AT LEAST 4 days before the lecture and feel OK harassing them! This is the best way new students learn about each team. Tell them to tentatively decide between design, outreach, and research. Have separate meetings for each of these subgroups where more specific questions can be asked. Bring students interested in research down to the lab. After this lecture the students should all be sent the planning survey so you can chose teams.
• A Trip to the CU Water Filtration Plant should be scheduled sometime during the semester so that students can learn and see first hand how conventional municipal water treatment happens. This will allow students to learn about water treatment processes, and also see the old pilot plant so they can learn a bit more about that too. This trip can be coordinated with CEE 4540. Discuss with Monroe when he thinks this trip should be scheduled. In the Fall semester, it might be wise to wait a little bit so that students have learned the basics of what they are seeing. Email Chris Bordlemay to set this up.
• The Wiki Training Lecture should be done near the beginning of the semester so that students can start updating wikis as soon as they've made progress. It should be after students have settled into their teams a little bit though.
• Lab Safety Training needs to be completed by each new team member if they have not done so before (meaning ever at Cornell). Directions on lab safety training are linked from the syllabus. Lab access requests should be completed after lab safety training and will go to a google doc checked by Paul Charles. This should be checked by the 3rd week of classes or so against the course roster, and those that have not completed training/have not submitted a request for lab access (on the same wiki page linked to the syllabus) should be emailed.

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 aguaclaraadmin account. 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

1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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. Have the team members exchange phone numbers.

Subteam Leaders

When forming teams, it is important to look at continuity between semesters and information transfer. There is a list of subteam leader expectations that should be gone over with the subteam leaders at a meeting (not an email) once the teams are established (at most a week later). It is important to establish an open communication between them and make it clear that while expectations are laid out, they change over time and suggestions are welcomed. It is very important to layout their deadlines and make sure they understand it us their responsibility to be checking them. While we may not expect that from the average student, a subteam leader is expected to do so.

Wiki Access

Give all new team members wiki access. To do this follow the instructions given below

• Follow this link: https://confluence.cornell.edu/customspacemgmt/permissions/docustompermissionsmanage.action?key=AGUACLARA&selectedGroup=confluence-aguaclara-users
• Enter the new team members' netIDs one at a time

Getting Teams Going

It is very hard for teams to digest their task and start working immediately. You will want to encourage them to really take the time to understand their challenges and form them into semester goals. Also encourage the teams to talk with you and/or Monroe about the theoretical points they don't totally understand. This really sets the tone for the rest of the semester.

Class Email List

Establish a list for students who are enrolled in the class. During class throughout the first several weeks ask students to let you know if they are not on this list. Students have differing opinions on how often emails should be sent, so feel free to ask them their opinions during the midterm survey. A summary email of events once a week usually works well with reminder emails for more important things such as assignment deadlines. Include links to anything you want them to read, such as assignments.

Listserv

The AguaClara listserv can be used for general announcements that are not for class. The list has hundreds of students who have been interested in the project at some point but are not necessarily enrolled in the class. It can be used, for example, for events such as the benefit concert or lectures that might be of interest. You can also send emails to announce the speakers for class since students not enrolled might want to attend.