Thursday, April 29, 2010

Making a Contribution to the Community Utilizing Technology

That is the most (and vaguest) direction that I give to the teams of students who are in my Managing Technical Teams class in regards to their group project. Teams form very early in the quarter and are charged with reaching out to the community (as they define it) and making a contribution to that group by using technology to solve a problem or make an enhancement to the sponsor groups processes.

In the past, teams have integrated databases between Pet Ark and the Humane Society of Tacoma, created a data capture mechanism for the Salvation Army to manage volunteers who step forward during the non-holiday season and helped the Save the Bridge group build a web site that could take donations. Those are just a few of the many that have been a result of the efforts of the student teams over the years.

This quarter there are 38 students on 7 different teams. I will highlight a couple of their projects as the quarter comes to a close.

Second Book of Short Stories Out on Amazon

During the last year I wrote four short read collections called the Three Twisted Tales . Today they are available in aggregate as The Clock...