FEEDBACK THUS FAR

Saskatoon folks are almost finished their field projects. We meet up next week for presentations and we are looking forward to seeing the results of your hard work.

Rochester folks are half-way through. Be sure to drop a line if you have any questions.

Here are some of the feedback comments received thus far:

Some folks didn't quite remember our warning that they were not allowed to "do" a safety audit themselves, because they are not residents/property owners in that neighborhood. (You will obtain your own views during the initial site visit and CPTED review in your site visit logs).

Instead they must facilitate a safety audit with residents themselves. It is the residents own perceptions that the safety audit collects.  

Some groups broke up tasks and delegated to individual members. That's fine. For example, one said "due to my background in human health care, the group assigned me to do the social analysis". Makes sense.  However, be sure your group meets together before the final class to have everyone "teach" everyone else about what they learned. 

The one piece of analysis that it might be important for everyone to attend is the safety audits. That is because you most accurately get to hear the residents themselves. However, sometimes that isn't possible for everyone to attend. Do your best.

PREPARING FOR THE FINAL WORKSHOP

Remember to re-read section in your Instructional Manual, page 6, titled the Group Field Assignment - Your Challenge. Especially read the last paragraph section that says "you must write your plan into a 5 - 10 page report and an interactive and engaging 20 minute presentation. A lecture-style PowerPoint presentation is not acceptable…"

You will recall from class the Instructional Manual provides you with a section by section outline for The SafeGrowth Report. It is located at the end of the manual and has 5 "chapters". That report shows how to tie together the Objectives and desired results, with Problems and Measurements, with your Responses to Causes, and then with your final Measurement to determine whether your work was successful.

Obviously you may not have been able to bring your entire plan to conclusion in the limited time you had. No problem. Just show how your plan will work to measure and evaluate your responses.

THE PRESENTATION

Finally, your presentation should be no more than 20 minutes, so be sure to practice. You also should not rely on lectures and PowerPoints. You want to put all your good work to effective use and actually convince whomever you are presenting to that your plan will work to improve things. That means you must try and engage the audience and actually influence them into seeing how your research and knowledge will make things better.

That about wraps it up. 

Good luck and be sure to drop a line if you have any questions.

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On this page I'll post messages for everyone regarding the project, including another post this coming Friday (May 4) with questions from the class so all can learn from all.

The class from Saskatoon has been using this page already for a few weeks so both classes will benefit from visiting this page. 

I've now added below the Asset Mapping exercise that both classes should complete. Saskatoon has another 2 weeks to complete this and Rochester a bit longer. At this point you may already have data that answers many asset questions about your project area, but nevertheless you need to go through the exercise with your team. Thinking about the positives in an area, and about a vision for the future, is a far different exercise from what you've been doing thus far.

By now you should have had, or are about to have, your first group meeting to map out your research strategy.

Remember to review the "Ideas" discussions in your group. This will ensure the project you selected is a medium sized based on the Risk Assessment Matrix at the end of your manual. That will help you determine if you have properly selected the size and scope that is manageable within the time before our next meeting.

Remember also to review the "What Do You Know" questions and the "What Do You Need To Know" questions so that you know what information you still require. Again, the Risk Assessment Matrix will help you figure that out.

Here is your personal email report that you must send to myself and Shelly (Rochester students) or myself and Elisabeth (Saskatoon students).

Consider what you’ve done thus far on your project. Now, think ahead and consider what YOU might do to implement some SafeGrowth/CPTED concepts. 

Answer to the following question:

What specific obstacles can you see for yourself to  implement SafeGrowth/CPTED in the future?

What will YOU specifically do to help overcome those obstacles?

Some Saskatoon students have asked us a few questions about the assignment. Here are our answers: 

1) Does the assignment pertain to the project or to my workplace in the future (Answer: both! Use your experiences from this project to assess what obstacles you may run into in your workplace in future and then come up with your own tactics for overcoming those obstacles)