Term Papers into Textbooks - iNews - Fall 2008

An interesting article that describes the work being done by graduate students at the Information School, University of Washington as part of the Global Text Project appeared in the fall edition of iNews.

Students of my IMT 581, Information and the Management of Change, class have collaborated with consultants and managers at BearingPoint, a global strategy consulting firm, to create a book on change management for the GTP. Students interacted with consultants and executives at BearingPoint, sought ways to contribute to the book or an individual chapter, and then arrived at a statement of work. The goal of this assignment was to give the student (1) a chance to examine a concept in change management in a detailed manner, (2) an opportunity to contribute to an external product that will impact the lives of future students in the field of change management, and (3) a chance to work with members of a leading management and technology organization to co-create a valuable product. Based on the feedback, both students and the practitioners enjoyed the project, the interactions, and each group learned about course-related topics that enhanced their knowledge bases. The model of collaborating with industry on student assignments for a global cause was an innovation that I prototyped, and, based on the positive response from both students and practitioners, I am currently considering how to scale this model to involve a wide array of industry participants into similar projects.

To read the entire issue - http://www.ischool.washington.edu/events/newsletter.aspx