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Honors Project Proposal
Jeremy D. Zawodny
Special Note This is the original proposal that I wrote well over a year ago. Since then, a few things have changed. I wanted to leave this proposal un-touched, so I've noted those changes separately. |
In late August of 1992, a bizarre series of events was set into motion. These events have culminated in what I believe is the “College Experience” that many students hope to find during their four (or more) years at a university like BGSU.
Now, four years later, I am part of a group of friends who collectively call ourselves “Prout Table”. Our group is composed of approximately fifteen juniors and seniors, most of whom began their college experience together in Darrow Hall four years ago and were integral parts of that `bizarre series of events'.
I would like to make this College Experience the focus of my Senior Honors Project. Specifically, I would like to investigate (a) what happened, (b) why it might have happened, (c) how it affected us, and (d) where we are headed.
Long before we officially enroll in courses at a university, guidance counselors, teachers, parents, and older friends all tell us that there is more to college than going to class and getting good grades. They tell us that the friends we make in college are friends that we will keep for a lifetime. I certainly hope they are right.
As the majority of the Prout Table prepares for the eventuality of graduation and the fact that most of us will not be seeing each other on a regular basis when the school year kicks-off again in August, we have found ourselves reflecting over the past four years. We ask ourselves, and each other, how we could have all been so lucky--to have met and become friends. We wonder what we would put in a Prout Table scrap book if we had the time to make one.
More than the simple historic issues, we try to figure out why it all happened. What factors enabled us to lead the lives we did [together] at BGSU? This is probably the most difficult of all our questions to answer. With the help of the rest of the Prout Table, I would like to attempt to answer it and the other questions [(a) - (d) above], and present the results as a multimedia, computer-based CD-ROM.
Documenting the evolution of this group over the past couple years is no easy task on its own. To aid in the process, I plan to enlist the help of many of the members of Prout Table. Specifically, I will prepare some simple questionnaires and bibliographic surveys, conduct one-on-one and one-on-many interviews, and make use of previously recorded videos, and photographs.
Dr. Jerry Wicks (Department of Sociology) has agreed to advise me in the creation of the research for this project. Together we will try to determine what information to collect, how to go about asking the right questions, and what to make of the information once it has been gathered.
The presentation of this project will be a computer-based multimedia CD-ROM application. My goal is to make the final product innovative, fun to `watch', and informative while still reflecting what I learned as a result of pursuing this project.
Keith Instone (Department of Computer Science) has agreed to advise me in the creation of the presentation. He will mainly be concerned with the `look and feel' of the presentation. In order for any computer-based presentation to be successful, there are numerous considerations about human/computer interaction that must be weighed. Together we will do exactly that.
In addition, I will work closely with Kim Sebert (Instructional Media Services) to resolve technical (non-people related) problems encountered while creating the presentation. He has a wealth of experience in creating multimedia presentations that I would be insane not utilize.
Due to the nature of this project, I do not anticipate completing before the middle of June 1996. I will not be able to have collected all the information that I want until after graduation in may. After graduation (not my graduation), I will need time to integrate it into the project and then finish-up the presentation.
Updated: August 9th, 1996