IPRO 339 is responsible for coordinating with the IPRO Office to
plan and execute IIT's Spring 2004 IPRO Projects Day Conference. We
have focused on making the event more rewarding to students, faculty,
and guests through revised judging forms and training, enhanced advertisement
and visibility on campus, a revised awards scheme, and some exiting
guest presentations.
IPRO 339 has created revised judging forms and instructions for the
IPRO Day conference. In doing so, we are trying to ensure that all
teams receive fair and adequate feedback by maintaining consistent
scoring within tracks, as well as between tracks. In past semesters
some judges found the judging forms to have too many criteria. They
had difficulty keeping up with what the team members were presenting
and at the same time checking off the criteria that were being met.
This semester we have reduced the number of criteria from over 30
to 10. The criteria are broader and easier to score and understand.
Examples of excellent, average, and poor performances were added to
the forms. In addition to this, the first ever judges training will
address several questions that judges had in past conferences.
This year we have also boosted awareness of IPRO Day on the Main
Campus and on IIT’s other professional campuses. Helpers and
judges have been recruited from some of IIT’s graduate schools.
Advertisements were also included in their newsletters. Mass emails
and flyers have been coordinated.
Another change from previous years is the award scheme and the prizes
given. In the past, a top winner was acknowledged from each track
and from the group overall. This year, we are recognizing the top
3-5 winners in the following areas, some with cash awards being given
to the top winning team: website design (cash award), business plan,
presentation, exhibit, presentation and exhibit for each track (6
cash awards), presentation and exhibit overall (cash award). The prizes
are to be incentives for the teams to create exciting, dynamic, and
thoughtful exhibits, and to raise the profile of the IPRO program
to the community of IIT and possible sponsors.
Finally, another exciting addition to this spring’s event is
the special guest speakers that we have invited to speak on a variety
of topics, focusing on new and exciting technologies in industry today.
The IPRO Program is bringing these speakers in to talk about new technologies,
in order to spark interest in creating future projects around these
fields of study or application. Additionally, it is our hope that
these speakers and other invited guests will be inspired to invest
in the IPRO Program—possibly sponsoring a project or becoming
involved in another way.
