community information
systems, art projects,
community development and service, policy development, citizen science, media, plan development public deliberation, and many others. 		[image] APSE: A Project Studio Environment

Fall, 2006 through Spring, 2007 @ The Evergreen State College

An 8 or 12 credit EWS Program to work on PROJECTS individually or in small teams

This page (http://www.scn.org/edu/tesc-ds/2006-2007/index.html)
Proposal submission form (http://www.scn.org/edu/tesc-ds/2006-2007/proposal-submission-form.html)
Student interest form (http://www.scn.org/edu/tesc-ds/2006-2007/student-interest-form.html)
Class Wiki (http://www2.evergreen.edu/wikis/apse)
APSE Projects (http://www.scn.org/edu/tesc-ds/2006-2007/projects.html)

APSE is a three-quarter (fall, 2006 / winter, 2006 / spring, 2007) program for students who want to work independently (and collaboratively) as individuals or part of small teams on projects that require at least one quarter to complete. The projects can take virtually any form but community and community technology projects are especially encouraged. Students can join APSE with or without a project in mind. Ideally students should have relevant skills, knowledge, experience and enthusiasm — especially enthusiasm — for working on complex projects. APSE will be run as a "studio" or working environment that provides co-learning, physical and digital spaces, academic credits, and faculty engagement. All students will work with a cohort of other students working on related projects (writing or media, for example). Unless special arrangements are made, students should expect to attend all mandatory class sessions. It will be possible to "trade" agreed-upon project work for class attendance in some circumstances. Students in the 12 credit option will be expected to work on one or more "standalone" projects that will be described in some detail early in the quarter. They also will be expected to provide weekly updated and other periodic reports. Major areas of study include design and project management. Additional areas will depend on project(s) undertaken.

  • Fall: Project planning, design, community development, participatory action research and communication
  • Winter: Implementation, problem-solving
  • Spring: Evaluation, planning for next phase(s)

Interested students should submit a student interest questionnaire via online system before requesting faculty signature for program admission.

Faculty, students or anybody else may also propose a project using the online Proposal Submission form.

Project Possibilities Typical Program Sessions
  • Films about "projects"
  • Seminars
  • Team Project meeting time
  • Workshops on for example, creativity or collaborative problem solving
  • Presentations on theory or practice by students, faculty or guest speakers

We will be reading from a wide variety of disciplines every week. These will be typically be on the order of one or two book chapters. A one-page reflection will be required every week on the readings.

Skill Building will include both "measure and madness" — we need to be creative but we need to be grounded in "the real world" as well. We need to think holistically while also being capable of detail work. We will explore and advance generic skills like visioning, brain-storming, sketching, model-building, budget-making, planning, theorizing, designing, and collaborating and more domain-specific skills as needed.

Depending on the nature of the specific projects, credit will likely be awarded in project planning, group processes, and topic areas that are relevant to student's project work.

Watch the APSE web site for updates: http://www.scn.org/edu/tesc-ds/2006-2007/.

Thank you!

   Doug Schuler, dschuler@evergreen.edu
APSE logo at top of page adapted from image at visgraph.cs.ust.hk.png.