# ll-projects

## What’s a project?

At the Learning Lab, a project is any discrete piece of work that:
- is comprised of a series of tasks that supports a specific course, department, or pedagogical goal
- involves one or more Learning Lab folks—fellows, staff, or both—actively producing something (a resource, a workshop, a consultation, a media object, a workflow, etc.)
- and is supported by LL systems for planning, collaboration, and storytelling

All of our work at the Learning Lab should be driven by faculty needs and requests. If you're not sure if something makes sense as a project, talk to Dani and Marlon.

## Types of Projects

Projects vary widely depending on departmental needs, but they often include:
- consulting with faculty on assignments
- designing innovative workshops, assignments, or in-class activities
- consulting with students as they complete multimodal or media-rich work
- creating asynchronous resources, tutorials, or toolkits
- developing or producing media for a course or department
- supporting graduate students in communicating their research using media

Projects may be one-time or ongoing, solo or collaborative. Some span multiple terms.

## The Project Lifecycle

### 1. Initiation

A project usually starts when a faculty member or department asks for support—or when a fellow, staff member, or the Bok Center team identifies a potential opportunity. At this stage:

- Check in via Slack with
- Dani and Marlon if you are an ll-staff member or client
- Marlon and Madeleine and Dani if it's an AI project
- Christine if you are a BGF
- Jordan if you are a LLUF
- If it's faculty-initiated (usually via [e-mail]), we'll often schedule a 30 minute Zoom meeting with them to consult with them and hear more about what they are looking for. During this meeting, we'll help solidfy the scope of support and make a quick plan for next steps (timeline, collaborators, studio needs, etc.).

### 2. Planning

Once we’ve scoped the project with you, we’ll make sure there’s a clear plan in place—who’s involved, what the timeline is, and what support you’ll need.

Behind the scenes, LL staff will also set up the systems we use to organize and support your work—like a record in Airtable, and a project Slack channel with a bookmarked shared Google Drive folder. These steps help ensure there is a container for the work to be visible, supported, and trackable.

### 3. Execution

This is the doing phase—facilitating, designing, building, recording, editing, etc.
As you go:
- Share progress in your `updates` Slack channel and/or the `project` channel
- Post media, reflections, drafts, outcomes—anything that helps tell the story

These updates feed into timelines, galleries, reports, and showcases.

### 4. Reflection and Reporting

At the end of a project (or at key milestones), we'll ask you to:
- Send an update in slack
- Talk briefly on camera about what you did and learned
- Help produce a short written piece or guide (can include media, screenshots, reflections)
- Note what we might reuse, revisit, or share out more widely