Final Project

Public Presentation due in Module 9; Executive Summary due in Module 10.

Refer to the course calendar or Syllabus page for exact due dates.

Project Description
The final project requires that you compile, analyze, evaluate, reflect upon, and ultimately
apply the most important elements of your learning experiences in your internship and
coursework. The project is organized around the four themes of our course: Personal,
Institutional, Professional, and Future Leadership. While these themes can be examined
separately, they can also overlap and interact in ways that are unique to you and your personal
experiences. Thus, everyones final project will be different within the requirements of the
project. You are encouraged to directly incorporate elements of assignments compiled over the
entire course, and to synthesize, analyze, and reflect upon them in relation to the four course
themes.

Project Structure
1. Public Presentation (due in Module 9)
This short (5- to 7-minute) presentation is worth 30% of your Final Project score. It should cover
your most important and interesting findings from the course, about yourself and your
experiences, for the purpose of sharing them with the rest of your classmates. You will expand
on these findings in the Executive Summary.

You may choose to do a video, a PowerPoint presentation (with or without audio) and/or a
Prezi presentation to be uploaded to the Prezi website for public viewing. Be as creative as you
wish, have fun with it, and choose your medium so that its the most effective for you and your
message and engage your audience.

2. Executive Summary (due in Module 10)

This written summary is worth 70% of your Final Project score. In it, you will present your most
important findings about the Personal, Institutional, Professional, and Future Leadership
themes of the course (see a description of these themes below). You summary should include a
written introduction and conclusion (1-2 pages each) and an essay body (5-7 pages) that
discusses your key findings.

Four Course Themes and Possible Talking Points

You are required to cover all four of these themes, drawing from your experience, and a
combination of the course readings, cases and analyses, and your assignments, including your
before and after values assessments, journal reflections, career interview insights,
interaction with teammates in discussion forums, textbook theories, cases and analyses, and
module lectures and exercises, among other possible elements. While you are not expected to
answer all the specific talking points within each category below, you should address the one
broad question listed for each topic. The talking points are provided as optional guides to help
you formulate your best analysis and reflections.

1. PERSONAL: What have you learned about yourself from participating in the
internship and this course?
Your prominent personal and work values and goals

Change in personal and work values due to internship and course experiences
Influence of internship on future career plans: reinforced or challenged them
Relation between your personal values and preferred frame/s of analysis

Workplace skills and experiences, and level of confidence

Examples of specific skills you developed during the internship/course and how internship
has stretched you beyond your comfort zone
Skills for future development and why
Impact of internship on your confidence in your professional success beyond college

2. INSTITUTIONAL: What have you learned about your internship workplace

and larger career sector that you would not know if you had not completed
the internship and/or the course?
The four frames as a way to better identify and evaluate

Most useful two frames for you to better understand your workplace and its dynamics and
why
Frames influenced by factors such as organizational size, history, mission, or purpose
Recommended changes to any aspects of the four frames in your organization and rationale

3. PROFESSIONAL: What have you learned about the meaning and relative
importance of professionalism in the workplace?
Universal vs. contextual standards of professionalism

Expectations of professionalism are universal or they depend on variables such as types of

workplaces, cultural contexts, or geographical locales
Professional expectations in your workplace as conducive/not conducive to productivity
Ways in which some or all of the four frames can be applied professionally or
unprofessionally

Professionalism and ethical choices

Case examples presented in Reframing Institutions most relevant for your understanding of
possible ethical dilemmas that may arise in your workplace or larger career sector
 Standards of professionalism you apply to help you make good choices when dealing with
ethical conundrums

4. FUTURE LEADERSHIP: Taking into account the wide range of potential

approaches to effective leadership presented in the course, and your values
and experiences, what type of leader do you aspire to be?
Current and future approach to leadership

Most important methods and styles of effective leadership presented in the course that will
help you most in the future
Personal or work values, leadership orientations, and/or preferred frames of analysis most
helpful to you in adopting a leadership style?
Your preferred style of leadership to date and how it confirms/doesnt confirm your Myers-
Briggs results from Module 1, and/or your Leadership Orientation results from Module 2
An example of a leadership style you admire, or, conversely, a leadership style you dont like

Leadership to affect change

Positive attributes your generation can emphasize as it moves into higher-level

management and leadership positions, while also adapting to and utilizing norms
established by previous generations

Grading Criteria
Public Presentation
Criteria Description
Format (25%) Effectiveness of your chosen format(s) in communicating your
experience and key findings to your audience
Content (50%) Clarity and adeptness in conveying the most essential findings about
personal experience; ability to focus on whats important and may be
useful to share with others
Creativity (25%) Ability to engage your audience and retain interest
Executive Summary
Criteria Inadequate Basic Competent Exemplary
Self-reflection Demonstrates Demonstrates some Demonstrates Demonstrates high
on internship little or no self- self-reflection on thoughtful self- level of self-
reflection on internship reflection on reflection resulting
internship experiences, internship in thoughtful and
experiences, challenges, and/or experiences in honest insights
challenges, achievements in most applicable about personal
and/or some areas but areas, including experiences,
achievements. No could be more fully findings from challenges, and/or
application of developed. Some self-assessment achievements in
self-assessment application of self- and other course the internship in all
findings and/or assessment findings activities. applicable areas,
other course and/or other course well integrated
activities to self- activities to self- with findings from
reflection. reflection but at a self-assessment
superficial level. and other activities.
Application of Little or no Some application of Effective Highly effective and
key concepts application of key key course concepts, application of appropriate
to personal course concepts but has missed key course application of key
experience to help convey obvious concepts for concepts to course concepts to
and reflect upon application and/or personal personal
personal has applied them experiences in experiences in all
experiences. ineffectively. most applicable applicable areas.
areas.
Content No evident Rudiments of an A clear A clear
analysis and organizational organizational plan organizational organizational plan
organization plan. The are evident but plan that that conveys key
sequence of flawed. The conveys key findings in a highly
information is not sequence of findings is effective way is
logical. Key information is evident. The evident.
findings are not somewhat logical sequence of
identified. but not effective to information is
convey key findings. logical and
effective to
convey key
findings.
Writing Insufficient or no Introduction and/or Effective Highly effective
quality introduction conclusion not fully introduction and introduction and
and/or aligned with body of conclusion that conclusion that
conclusion, summary, and/or align with the fully align with the
and/or flawed some flaws with body of body of the
grammar, usage, grammar, usage, or summary, and summary, and
or paragraph paragraph only minor flaws polished writing
construction. construction. with grammar, with no flaws in
usage, or grammar, usage, or
paragraph paragraph
construction. construction.