Pre-Kickoff Research

Overview

It's important to prepare for your meeting with your project sponsors in advance of kickoff. Your kickoff meeting is an opportunity to engage, observe, and immerse yourself with your sponsor but it requires preparation to be effective. Performing pre-kickoff research is critical to kickoff success. Being prepared for your kickoff is part of your project grade

Pre-Kickoff Research Guidance

1. Find and go over the project description, Unit Overview, Pacing Guide, Project Specific Rubric, and any other project information located on the project page

2. Develop at least one idea/design (with sketches, concept art, or anything to help better visualize your idea) to take to your kickoff.

  • The idea(s)/design(s) you developed prior to the kickoff will provide a great starting point for feedback from your project sponsor. The goal of this idea/design is (1) to show your project sponsor that you take this project seriously and respect their time by coming prepared and (2) to get the design thinking process started for your team.

  • The more thought out the idea, the better and more specific feedback you can receive from your project sponsor

3. Perform research on these areas:

(a) Sponsor: You should know a lot about your sponsor before you ever meet them. Businesses and organizations will typically have websites with a wealth of information. Some areas you should look into are: How does the company or organization describe themselves? What do they make? Who are their customers? What is their mission? What questions do you have after learning about your sponsor that you might ask at kickoff?

(b) Problem: The PBL unit plan provides information describing the problem you are working on. Use the information on your problem area as Google search terms to learn more about your problem. What questions do you have after learning about the problem that you might ask at kickoff?

(c) Previous Approaches to the Problem: It's likely there are other people who have worked on similar problems or aspects of your problem. Researching these approaches can help you begin identifying possible solutions. However, it also raises some questions you might have for your sponsor at kickoff. Have they tried these approaches already? What concerns might they have about these approaches?

4. Questions: Reflect on what you have learned for each research area. What questions might you ask of your sponsors at kickoff? List those questions.

Evaluation Rubric

The following criteria will be used to evaluate your pre-kickoff research. If the report meets criteria for different evaluation levels, the evaluation will be determined by the lowest met evaluation level. For example, if the group meets advanced criteria for questions but only meets proficient criteria for initial project ideas/design, the overall evaluation will be proficient.

Advanced (100)

  1. Initial Project Idea/Design: Idea/Design clearly demonstrates a strong grasp of the Design Challenge Question and project goal

  2. Questions: Questions asked reflect strong research of the sponsor, problem, and precious approaches to the problem

Proficient (80)

  1. Initial Project Idea/Design: Idea/Design demonstrates a grasp of the Design Challenge Question and project goal

  2. Questions: Questions asked reflect some research of the sponsor, problem, and precious approaches to the problem

Below Basic (50)

  1. Initial Project Idea/Design: Idea/Design fails to demonstrate grasp of the Design Challenge Question and project goal

  2. Questions: Questions asked reflect no prior research