The Community-Based Experiential Learning Project is a professional development activity that can be rewarding and engaging. The aim of the project is to give you the responsibility to manage a small-scale project. Here are some questions to consider:
- scope the project:
- What is the background of the client (i.e., the community organization)?
- Who are the stakeholders in the project (e.g., who does the community organization serve?)?
- What is the project goal? Project objectives and constraints? Which are negotiable and which are non-negotiable?
- What is the deliverable that the client expects? Is this expectation reasonable given the project constraints?
- plan the project:
- What tasks need to be performed?
- Who is responsible for the completion of each task?
- What is needed in order to perform each task?
- What is the work-schedule for the project?
- Do you need material? Tools?
- If so, where will you acquire the material?
- How will you transport the material?
- Where will you work on the project?
- What is the time-line for the project?
- When will you need to check-in with the client?
- What is the deadline for the deliverable?
- Are there safety issues regarding implementing the plan or regarding the deliverable?
- What are the costs?
- What are the long-term impacts of the project? What are the in-direct impacts of the project? What is the project life-cycle?
- What will you do if things happen that you don’t expect?
- Implement the project plan
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- Are you following the work-schedule?
- Is everyone communicating effectively?
- Are objectives being met? If not, do you have a “plan B”?
- Is the client satisfied?
- Are you going to meet the deadline?
- Do you have a plan if things go wrong?
- Team Dynamics
- Is everyone able to get along so that the work is getting done?
- Who is managing this?
- Team Roles – does everyone know what they are responsible for?
