Boggle's Ideas about finding and starting projects
The first thing I do for the start of year is to get students to produce
a 'wish-list' of all the features they could include within the boundaries of
their topic. Some of these will be pure sci-fi (Virtual Reality interface to
the breeze-block ordering system). This part of the job is best performed under
the influence of alcohol. You then (after sobering up) sort the wish-list
items into order of implementability. The near end consists of perfectly
obvious things that you've got to do to be said to have started such a project.
The far end is just silly. Somewhere along this list you draw a line and say
'this is my project boundary'. You get several benefits from this technique.
You have a flexible edge to your project, so if it's easier or more dificult
than you thought, you can include/exclude a few items easily. It also puts
the work you are doing into a larger context and you consider the possible
future expansion possibilites and write better code. Lastly it stops you
wandering off on new ideas because you've already had them and firmly
chosen not to include them in your project.
You can repeat the above 'wish-list' mechanism for a couple of
shortlisted topics if you are still not sure which to choose.
I also start the year with my project students by trying to determine
a sensible target grade (not necessarily the grade you'd prefer!). If a
student is a borderline Pass, then I/we have to make sure everything is laid
out and they know what to do and I don't let them take on things that are
going to be beyond them so they get lost. If a student is likely to be
getting first class honours, then I have to ensure I push them into
considering the background to what they are doing, or even looking for
surrounding research.
I discuss grades like this because I feel I have let down students in the
past: both by letting a 3rd-type student get lost in too big a project and
by letting a 1st-type student do perfectly good but not stretching work. In
both cases it has led to the student getting a lower grade than they were
capable of.
At some early point we need to discuss the above points so we each get a
clear(ish) picture.