Logistics

Course Schedule
Class meets Tuesdays. Assignments and responsibilities are due Friday of the week listed, with one exception: the Final Presentation is submitted by Monday night of Week 14 and presented in class the next day.
Week
	Main Topic
	Due
	
1
	Course Intro
	Project Application
	
2
	Working With Clients
	Client Email
	
3
	Client Meeting (No Class)
	First Client Meeting
	
4
	Individual Meetings
	Finalized Contract/Timeline, Second Client Meeting
	
5
	Data & Surveys
	Organizational Assessment, Weekly Task Plan
	
6
	Excel & Coding
	Draft Executive Summary, Excel Coding Workshop
	
7
	Graphing & Methods
	Excel Graphing Workshop
	
8
	Fall Break
	Practice Report
	
9
	Individual Meetings
	Formatted Report Shell
	
10
	Professional Materials
		
11
	Work Time
	Rough Draft
	
12
	Individual Meetings
		
13
	Presenting Your Work
	Final Report
	
14
	Student Presentations
	Final Presentation
	
15
	Wrap-Up
	Professional Materials, Final Reflection

Assignments
Instructions for each individual assignment are posted on the assignments page.
Major Assignment Overview
Organizational Assessment: An assignment to help each student learn about their agency and project.
Practice Report: This assignment gives students the opportunity to practice and receive performance feedback on the skills necessary for the final Client Report, including calculations, scaling numbers, qualitative coding, making graphs, and more.
Final Report and Presentation: A report created for each student’s client that has a breakdown of the data collected (through a survey or data files) by the student or organization. The report includes an introduction, methods section, findings, and appendices; the presentation is a distilled slide deck and presentation from the report itself.
Professional Materials: A Cover Letter, Resume, LinkedIn Profile, and draft Reference Letter, intended to prepare students to apply for jobs. Students are required to meet with an A&S advisor for review of professional materials.
Final Reflection: A reflection that ties together the various components of the course and experiential learning experience. You will take findings from your Final Report and consider how they could potentially inform policy-making and organizational change for your client.
Group Projects
The substantial majority of projects in PST 315 are individual projects. However, occasionally a client may request a group project that two or more students will complete together.
Group projects have a single deliverable and final project, but group projects are broader, deeper, and more complex, requiring more hours than an individual project. Those hours get spread across numerous individuals, who must coordinate to shape the final deliverable together.
Individuals in a group must complete their own individual work for the course (workshops and individual assignments), while groups are collectively responsible for production of the final project and deliverable. The table below describes this on a per-assignment basis.
All students in a group must submit all assignments to Blackboard, even when those assignments are identical.
Assignment
	Submission
	
Project Application
	By Individual
	
Finalized Contract/Timeline
	By Project
	
Organizational Assessment
	By Project
	
Weekly Task Plan
	By Project
	
Draft Executive Summary
	By Project
	
Excel Coding Workshop
	By Individual
	
Excel Graphing Workshop
	By Individual
	
Practice Report
	By Individual
	
Formatted Report Shell
	By Project
	
Rough Draft
	By Project
	
Final Report
	By Project
	
Final Presentation
	By Project
	
Professional Materials
	By Individual
	
Final Reflection
	By Individual
	
Professionalism
	By Project and/or By Individual

Evaluation
Points
	Evaluation
	Submit to
	
2
	Project Application
	Qualtrics link
	
3
	Finalized Contract/Timeline
	Blackboard and Client
	
10
	Organizational Assessment
	Blackboard
	
2
	Weekly Task Plan
	Blackboard
	
3
	Draft Executive Summary
	Blackboard
	
2
	Excel Coding Workshop
	Blackboard
	
2
	Excel Graphing Workshop
	Blackboard
	
10
	Practice Report
	Blackboard
	
3
	Formatted Report Shell
	Blackboard
	
3
	Rough Draft
	Blackboard
	
45
	Final Report
	Blackboard and Client
	
5
	Final Presentation
	Blackboard and UCA
	
5
	Professional Materials
	Blackboard
	
5
	Final Reflection
	Blackboard
	
+/- 0
	Professionalism
	Ongoing

Professionalism
Professionalism points can be earned throughout the semester for demonstrating exceptional professionalism to your client, UCA, or Professor Reilly. Taking initiative to go above and beyond basic course requirements is strongly encouraged and will be rewarded. Professionalism points may also be subtracted for actions that are unprofessional (failure to send client emails on time, absence from class, etc.).
Caps
There is a cap of +5 points and -10 points toward your final grade.
How to Gain and Lose Professionalism Points
Attendance
To be considered excused, you must email your UCA before class. Upon approval, your absence may be excused. Students may have one unexcused absence without penalty. Additional unexcused absences will result in the loss of a professionalism point per absence. Repeated lateness will incur point loss.
Class Work Time
Class is primarily a period for work time on your projects. You may not leave class early unless you have completed work on all assignments for the week and there is no more work you could feasibly do on your project. If you have done so, you may ask your UCA for an early exit.
Emails to Client
CC your UCA on all emails with your client, or you will lose one professionalism point per email. Only CC Professor Reilly if your UCA has instructed you to do so. UCAs reserve the right to deduct points for slapdash language or intent in emails to clients.
Emails to UCAs and Professor
Exercise professionalism when emailing UCAs and Professor Reilly. UCAs reserve the right to deduct points for slapdash language or intent in emails to Professor Reilly and/or UCAs.
Deadlines and Meetings
Failure to attend any scheduled meeting — including meetings with your client, your UCA, Professor Reilly, or an A&S advisor — will result in a loss of 3 points per meeting.
Client Presentation
Some clients ask for a presentation of their own. Students who give a presentation to their client earn an extra professionalism point. See the Final Presentation assignment.
Client Evaluation
If a client reaches out with a valid and reasonable complaint about your performance or professionalism, this will result in a loss of up to 10 points, at the discretion of your UCA and Professor Reilly.
Other
Other exceptional or unprofessional conduct not listed here can result in a gain or loss of professionalism points accordingly, at Professor Reilly’s and the UCAs’ discretion.
Late Assignment Policy
All assignments must be turned in on time unless otherwise noted or approved. Each day late will be subject to a per-day penalty unless a prior arrangement for an extension is given. Assignments more than 7 days late will not be accepted unless an exception is granted by the Professor.
Blackboard’s assignment portal indicates whether an assignment is late; UCAs will notify you of points lost when an assignment is submitted late. Late penalties only accrue on business days (Monday through Friday). The late penalty for all assignments is one point per late day, with a maximum of half of the assignment’s points off.
Extensions may only be granted by Professor Reilly.
Grading Scale
Grade
	Grade Point/Credit
	Class Points
	
A
	4.000
	94 – 100
	
A-
	3.667
	90 – 93.99
	
B+
	3.333
	87 – 89.99
	
B
	3.000
	83 – 86.99
	
B-
	2.667
	80 – 82.99
	
C+
	2.333
	77 – 79.99
	
C
	2.000
	73 – 76.99
	
C-
	1.667
	70 – 72.99
	
D
	1.000
	60 – 69.99
	
F
	0
	59.99 or less