VIP - PROJECT LABS
INFORMATION FOR FACULTY
Project Labs allow faculty to build an experienced, interdisciplinary team of students to further their research agenda, community outreach, or passion project. Students and faculty earn course credit over multiple semesters while engaging in public-facing work. Georgia State’s Project Labs are based on the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) concept and form part of the VIP Consortium.
Project Lab faculty have access to:
- Start-up resources (e.g., course buyout, student funding, or supplies)
- Professional development through interdisciplinary connections, mentorship, and support
- Models, templates, and other resources to create a Lab
- Students across multiple disciplines
- Integration with other Georgia State programs, such as Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni (CASA), Honors College University Assistantship Program (UAP), Humanities Inclusivity Program (HIP), Work-study student support
Interested in starting a Project Lab?
Answer these questions to get started. Do not worry if you do not immediately have answers to all of them. Be sure to look at the current Project Labs below. We can provide examples and further explanation. Contact us at [email protected].
Lab Goals
- What is your lab working to accomplish?
Lab Deliverables
- What “products” will your lab produce?
- How will these products change/develop between the short-term (1st semester) and long-term?
Student Skills and Outcomes
- What skills will students gain from participating in the Project Lab?
- Are there skills that your ideal student participant might have before starting in the project lab?
- Are there particular disciplines from which you would like to recruit students?
Lab Organization
Leadership and Recruitment
- What leadership support is needed in your lab?
- Who can/will you be recruiting to assist in leading your project lab?
- Faculty/staff partners?
- Undergraduates (e.g., from your other classes, Honors UAP students, Work-study students)?
- Graduate students (e.g., GRA/GTA funding, course credits)
- How will you develop leadership in your Lab over time?
Subgroups
- How will the components of the Project Lab activities be divided (i.e., subgroups)?
- How many subgroups and students per subgroup will be ideal? How will your lab leaders interact with your subgroups?
- What are the roles of each subgroup? How will each subgroup contribute to the overall lab?
- Will groupings allow for specialization (refining a skill), rotations (exposure to new skills), or something else?
Communication
- How will your lab communicate outside of “lab time”? (e.g., GroupMe, Slack, Zoom, Email, etc.)
- Who will be responsible for coordination and communication within subgroups? Overall?
Place/Format
- What is your ideal format – face-to-face, online, hybrid – for the project lab? Will regular or more flexible meetings be ideal for your lab or subgroups?
- What type of room would be ideal for your Lab? What technology is needed? What kinds of spaces (i.e., small/large tables, workstations) would facilitate the types of collaboration you envision?
Motivation
- What will excite or interest students in your lab? (e.g., public-facing products, partnerships, meaningful work/topics/goals)
- How can you keep students motivated and engaged in their work?
Assessment and Feedback
- How will you assess progress over the semester?
- What are realistic expectations for students? How can you communicate these expectations?
- How will you be checking-in with students over the semester?
- How will you solicit feedback from students and leaders?
- When and how will you identify and make changes in your lab, as needed, throughout the semester?
- How might you measure “success” within your lab?
Marketing
- What marketing will my project lab be doing by itself? (e.g., social media postings)
Thinking Ahead
- What challenges do you expect to encounter over the first semester?
- Are there new skills or roles that you will be taking on in this lab?
- What support would you like to see from the EPIC Leadership?
- How will your Lab be sustainable over time? Growing it large enough to sometimes get a course release? Or keeping it small with a few key students so you do not need much support after the first year? Grants or other funding?
