2026 spring changes

capstone-project-advisor.md

@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
 # Project advisor
 
-Capstone projects require one or more project advisors. You should meet with this advisor at minimum three times throughout the development of the capstone project. A project advisor can play a crucial role in your project's development. While your instructors are often able to provide insight into the majority of your project's challenges, having feedback from someone working in the industry can give you more nuanced and accurate perspectives, more up-to-date expectations, and pointed notes for improvement. You can also use this opportunity to start building your professional network, which makes future employment in the your creative field of choice far easier.
+Capstone projects require one or more project advisors. You should meet with this advisor at minimum **three times** throughout the development of the capstone project. A project advisor can play a crucial role in your project's development. While your instructors are often able to provide insight into the majority of your project's challenges, having feedback from someone working in the industry can give you more nuanced and accurate perspectives, more up-to-date expectations, and pointed notes for improvement. You can also use this opportunity to start building your professional network, which makes future employment in the your creative field of choice far easier.
 
-Seeking out professionals in the field who are open to working with students can be challenging. Often if students are not successful, the capstone instructor will provide an introduction connection through their own professional network. Sometimes students have someone already in their own network, and sometimes students reach out to people they do not yet know (LinkedIn.com is a great place for this). DMD faculty are often available to act as project advisors as well, though they should be thought of as a last resort. 
+Seeking out professionals in the field who are open to working with students can be challenging. Often if students are not successful, the capstone instructor may be able to provide a connection through their own professional network. Sometimes students have someone already in their own network, and sometimes students reach out to people they do not yet know (LinkedIn or social media are great places for this). PSU faculty are often available to act as project advisors as well, though they should be thought of as a last resort. 
 
 While it would be nice to assume the everyone in the professional world will be respectful and trustworthy, communicating with strangers that have not been vetted can come with some risk. Please let your instructor know of any issues that might arise. Some project advisors will give you very honest (sometimes brutal) and direct feedback. Being able to listen and receive, interpret, and apply feedback to your own work is part of the job of being a design professional.
 
+For students creating work for a realworld client, **your client should not be your advisor.**
+
+A non-designer subject matter expert could potentially work — for example a biologist if you are making a zine about marine animals — but a designer in your field would be preferred. 
+
+Synchronous meetings over video chat or in person are preferred, but asynchronous chats or emails can also be acceptable.
+
+## Notes and Reporting
+
+You will be required to show evidence of your meetings later in this class, so keep notes for each meeting and be prepared to show evidence of your correspondence to your instructor \(e.g. screenshots, shared files, etc.\)
+
 ## Places to search for a project advisor
 
 * [The DMD LinkedIn Alumni Group](https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12200300/)
@@ -16,6 +26,7 @@ While it would be nice to assume the everyone in the professional world will be
 * Capstone instructor's professional network
 * DMD or other Penn State Faculty
 * Communities of practice (Facebook groups, forums, ArtStation.com, Behance.net, core77.com, etc.)
+* Social Media connections or accounts you admire
 * Professional membership community chapters
  * [AIGA](https://www.aiga.org/)
  * [ACM SIGGRAPH](https://www.siggraph.org/)

capstone-project-document.md

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Documents should be created in **Adobe InDesign** if possible. Documents produce
    1. Acknowledge anyone who has had an impact on the success of your project. Typically this would be advisors, mentors, family, and friends who have helped you along the way.   
 4. **Table of contents** <-- Only include everything after the table of contents. Do not include the table of contents page in the table. 
 5. **Project overview**
-   * Describe what your project is, what it's about, how you approached it, and what the outcomes were.
+   * Add your Exhibition Statement here.
 6. **Concept development**
    * Describe main issues, themes, and ideas explored during concept development.
    * Include relevant images, quotations, diagrams, figures, etc.

capstone-project-production-report.md

@@ -6,31 +6,42 @@ A production report is a comprehensive update about what progress has been made
 
 Reports will be due regularly throughout the course to document your progress.
 
-## Production blog
+## What to include:
+
+### Timesheet
+
+Include an approximate breakdown of how much time you spent on your classwork. This is good practice for tracking your time in professional settings and helps your instructor assess your work. Aim for 8 hours each week, for example:
+
+- Researching website platforms: 1 hour
+- Writing content outline: 1 hour
+- Collecting visual design inspiration: 1 hour
+- Figma mockup: 3 hours
+- Writing blog post: 1 hour
+
+You can get more specific if you want. Free apps like [Toggl](https://toggl.com/track/automated-time-tracker/) let you set timers on your computer and generate timesheets. 
+
+### Reply to Feedback
+
+Write a short response to recent feedback you received from your instructor, advisor, or classmates. \(Aprox. 100 words\)
+
+### Open-ended writing
+
+Describe your research, process, goals, and so on for the bulk of the post. Include images and screenshots to document the state of your project. 
+
+Make sure to include links to any online files or websites you've created. The more you share the better!
+
+## Platforms
 
 The production blog can be hosted anywhere. If you already have a blog created, you may use your existing blog to track progress for this project.
 
-Hosted blog choices include:
+Recommended blog platforms:
 
-- [Medium.com](http://medium.com)
-- [Wix](https://www.wix.com/)
-- [WordPress.com](http://wordpress.com)
-- [Blogger](https://www.blogger.com)
-- [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/)
 - [sites.psu.edu](https://sites.psu.edu)
-- [Github Pages](https://pages.github.com/)
-- [Squarespace](http://squarespace.com)
-- [Weebly](https://www.weebly.com/)
+- [Notion](notion.so) \(a nice option to [create a public blog](https://www.notion.com/help/guides/build-a-website-with-notion-in-seconds-no-coding-required) alongside private notes\)
 - [Adobe Spark](https://spark.adobe.com/)
 
 ## Submission details
 
-Reports take the form of blog posts or post updates, and should be published on the production blog by the due dates indicated on Canvas.
-
-## Grading Rubric
-
-*These assignments are Pass/Fail.*
+Post a link to the relevant blog post in each week's Canvas discussion.
 
-**Passing:** In order to get a passing mark, you will need to show significant progress in research and production through documentation. Significant progress should demonstrate 30 hours of work. The overall project will require 100-130 hours of work.
 
-**Failing:** A failing mark indicates that you have not achieved confidence from the capstone course instructor that you will be able to complete the capstone project in the current pace of progress. If you have three failing progress reports, you will be asked to withdraw or drop from the capstone course. If you are unable to complete the project to the level indicated in your project proposal, your project will be assessed as incomplete, and you will have to retake the course.

capstone-project-proposal.md

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ The following must be included in the proposal:
    * What production tools will be used?
    * What topics and theory need to be researched?
    * Who is the intended audience?
-4. **Advisor** (If you are unable to acquire a project advisor by the due date, please contact your instructor and list "TBD" in this section.
+4. **[Advisor](/capstone-project-advisor.md)** \(If you are unable to acquire a project advisor by the due date, please contact your instructor and list "TBD" in this section.\)
    * Project advisor name and job title
    * Advisor area of expertise
      * The advisor should not be a project client you are working with to develop the project. Find an industry professional that you will have at least three meetings with in order to facilitate the development of your project. This should be someone who is expert in the technical area of your project. If your project includes field specific knowledge outside of the digital arts, you may also want to find an expert in this field (IE – if your project attempts to teach about ).