echoes is a credit-bearing student-led, student-run project exploring how developing and playing games can cultivate shared understanding and foster meaningful connections. Each semester, students will engage with members of our broader community and study their work & motivations. Students will then collaborate in cross-functional teams to develop games that convey the impact these individuals have had on them. Note that a semester's work will always follow some theme, and themes may cover multiple semesters.
echoes leverages the Vertically Integrated Projects’ model, meaning students can:
Over the course of the semester, students explore:
Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) engage undergraduate students in long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary project teams led by faculty. VIP courses are project-based, team-based courses that directly support faculty research and scholarship. VIPs under the GCCIS course numbers (GCIS-210/410/610) have a particular focus on computation and computing applications.
Each VIP team has large-scale and multi-faceted objectives in research, design, entrepreneurship, and/or community outreach & service, advised by VIP faculty. New VIP students learn from and replace those who graduate by engaging in peer-to-peer learning and mentorship, which sustains each VIP team beyond any one student.
VIP teams are:
There are three VIP courses within GCCIS. After applying & being accepted to the project, students are enrolled in one of the following courses for 1-3 credit hours, depending on the experience level and role on the project:
Assume that one credit hour will require ~3-4 hours of effort per week. The goal of the variable credits is so that students can potentially stretch their work on a project over many semesters. Slowly becoming mentors and leads. “Part-time” students are just as welcome and valuable as those taking on 3 credits worth of work.
For NMID and GDD undergraduates, GCIS-210 will count as a free elective; GCIS-410 and GCIS-610 as advanced electives. For MS GDD students, GCIS-610 can be used as an advanced elective. Students in all other majors should consult with their advisor and/or program coordinator about how this project can apply to their graduation requirements.
The project will leverage methods and technologies in a variety of areas, including (but not limited to):
You will items-center need regular, reliable access to all of the following:
Much like a real-world team, individual members work on different aspects of the project. Team members range from early undergraduates through graduate students, from first-time participants to students who have been involved for four or more semesters. The number of credits for which a student is enrolled is considered in grading. Although each student contributes in different ways, you must demonstrate achievements in three major areas:
Grades reflect your current understanding and skills at a specific moment, not a fixed measure of your potential. If your performance isn’t where you’d like it to be, view it as an opportunity for growth rather than a setback. Let’s work together to identify areas for improvement and develop a plan to help you reach your goals.
Feedback is intended to guide your learning journey. Take time to reflect on the comments provided and consider how they can inform your future work. Remember, feedback is an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve.
When receiving feedback, start by thinking about:
Because grading in this course is subjective, only whole letter grades will be used. Everything is graded holistically according to the following rubric:
Engaged Excellence (As) | Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the required responsibilities, executed with exceptional organization and engagement. Any areas needing improvement are minimal. I approached the task with curiosity and openness, seeking to deeply understand and thoughtfully execute my work. I am proud of my progress and recognize the small areas where I can still improve. | 90-100% |
Growing Proficiency (Bs) | Executed all required responsibilities with a clear understanding but may need refinement in organization or quality. Shows a strong foundation with potential for growth. I’ve made solid progress in thoughtfully executing my responsibilities. I acknowledge areas where I can refine my work and am motivated to continue growing. | 85% |
Developing Competence (Cs) | Executed most of the required responsibilities but may miss some elements or have noticeable areas needing improvement. The effort is apparent, with room for further development. I’ve made a meaningful effort to engage with the team & fulfill my responsibilities, even if some areas still need work. I see this as a learning opportunity and am committed to improving further. | 75% |
Emerging Understanding (Ds) | Work is in progress, with missing content and areas for significant improvement. Shows the early stages of skill development, with clear potential for growth. While there are gaps, I recognize where I need to focus my efforts and am ready to learn from this experience. | 50% |
Opportunity for Growth (Fs) | Assignments are incomplete, missing substantial content, or not submitted; this is a valuable opportunity to reflect, revisit the material, and strive for better understanding and completion. This is an opportunity to step back and reassess my approach. I understand the importance of my role and am committed to taking the necessary steps to improve and grow. | 0% |
In addition to project-specific documentation that you maintain with your team, you will be expected to document & track your progress over the course of the semester via 4 main deliverables:
In the first two weeks of the semester, you'll work with your faculty advisor & team leads to write a plan of work (POW) for yourself for the semester. This is NOT a detailed list of tasks. Instead, it is a description of your role & responsibilities on the project as well as your personal learning objectives. You will also define the criteria that you will use to assess your performance & progress towards your learning objectives.
For team leads, the POW will also include goals you have set out for your teams and your responsibilities in helping the team achieve these goals.
While this is a highly interactive course and we'll be speaking 1on1 with teams frequently, it's difficult for us to routinely talk with everyone individually. Still, just as any manager would want to have regular individual updates from their team about their progress and concerns, we want you all to have a way to consistently update us on your progress. To that end, you'll submit weekly updates to me about your progress, plans, and any concerns or problems via a quick survey once a week.
These will be graded based on the % of weeks the survey is submitted, rounded up to the closest 5% increment.
Approximately week 7 & at the end of the semester, you'll revisit your plan of work and submit a written self-assessment of your progress towards achieving the goals you set out for yourself. At this time, you'll also complete self-assessments related to the other two grading criteria for the course:
You'll submit individual and peer evaluations at least twice during the semester. Individual evaluations are like individual retrospectives. The goal is NOT to rank, criticize, compete, etc. The goal is personal growth. Self-evaluation (and critique) is an important part of this.
Via these evaluations, you'll also give detailed, anonymous feedback to your peers. Please be honest with all feedback. Learning to give and receive constructive feedback is an essential professional skill, and this class is an opportunity to practice it.
While we reserve the right to adjust an individual's grade on a team assignment in the event of clear imbalances in participation, we will never do this based solely on peer evaluations. (I.e. issues have to be supported by our observations & other project artifacts.)
Don’t overthink your written responses (it's not meant to take hours), but please do take the time to reflect and write more than quick bulleted lists. There's no need for paragraphs of details, but we do expect:
At the start of the semester, your team lead will establish procedures for:
Participation will be graded holistically based on our observations of your engagement in the project (in person & via meeting notes, task logs, etc.) as well as your own self-assessment & the evaluations from your team lead and peers.
(Required for GCIS-610, Optional otherwise)
A core expectation of graduate students involved with any VIP is the ability to articulate & disseminate their work. While not all students enrolled in GCIS-610 will be in leadership positions, you are expected to take on complex tasks and be able to share your approach and results with a broader audience. This can take the form of papers, posters, talks, workshops, etc. The exact format is up to you, your lead, and the echoes’ faculty, but at least one external presentation of your work is required sometime during the semester.
Undergraduate students are strongly encouraged to also present their work & will be supported if they choose to do so, but it isn’t required.
The bulk of your course grade will be based on a holistic assessment of the completeness, relevance, and quality of your personal contributions to the project. This will be graded based on observations of your work products (via meeting notes, documentation contributions, feature development, etc.) as well as your own self-assessment & the evaluations from your team lead and peers.