Lesson 6.5 - Project Implementation¶
Learning Objectives¶
Students will be able to…
Apply the skills developed throughout the course to implement a medium* to large-scale software project.
Realistically evaluate progress during software development and identify when cuts are necessary.
Prioritize features and scenarios and choose which should be eliminated or modified if/when resources and/or time become limited.
Record time taken for tasks, and lessons learned in the process, to help refine estimates.
Record iterations of prototyping.
Emphasize with students¶
Curriculum Competencies - Prototype, Test, and Make¶
From Lessons 6.3 to 6.5 you will be practicing an iterative and incremental project management workflow. Now it’s time to start following your plan. You can finally start “coding”, and testing! Remember that not all tasks involve coding. Take note of the time it takes you to complete each task (this will help you make better estimates in the future). Estimating time for tasks can be difficult to do. This will get better with experience.
Materials/Preparation¶
Pacing Guide¶
Duration |
Description |
|---|---|
Days 1-15 |
|
5 minutes |
Welcome, attendance, bell work, announcements |
10 minutes |
Check-in |
30 minutes |
Lab time |
10 minutes |
Exit ticket |
Instructor’s Notes¶
Check-in¶
Remind students daily to keep their planning documents up-to-date and make edits as necessary.
Point out how many days remain and have students check their implementation plan to ensure they do not have more work than time remaining.
If they do, they will need to create a tentative cut list in case they don’t catch up.
Using previous days exit tickets, questions from students, instructor awareness of trouble points in the project, and/or any other resources to determine what needs covering
Use this time as an opportunity to remind students of previous labs or activities that may be applicable to their project, and/or how far along they should be by the end of the day
Lab time¶
Allow students to work on their project at their own pace
Provide a mechanism for students to ask questions of course staff as needed
Simply having students raise hands often does not work well, as it can be hard to keep track of in what order hands were raised; consider a queue of some kind where students write their names when they have a question
When there are no current questions, circulate and observe progress, stepping in if students appear stuck but are not asking for help
Exit ticket¶
Before students leave, have them answer the following questions on a small piece of paper, or in their daily journal notebook:
What was the last thing you accomplished on the project today?
What is the first thing you will work on tomorrow?
Are you currently ahead, behind, or on track with your schedule? If you are behind, what tasks will you cut to get back on track? If you are ahead, what are some extra features you can add?
What is the riskiest remaining task for your project?
These answers will help you determine which students to visit first the next day.
Any student who indicates they are behind should get a consult with an instructor the next day to help get them back on track.
Encourage students to save each day’s version of their planning documents with a new name (possibly using the suffix “_mmdd”) so they can track progress and recover cut tasks if they make up time.
Accommodation/Differentiation¶
Forum discussion¶
Lesson 6.5 - Project Implementation (TEALS Discourse account required).