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<WRAP centeralign bigger><WRAP bigger fgred>Corning Community College</WRAP>
<WRAP muchbigger>HPC Experience I</WRAP> 
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Specifications for Opus Development
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======Objective======
To indicate the requirements for the Opus that each student will be created as part of their educational journey through the semester.

======Monthly Evaluation======
For each full month of the semester:

  * February, March, April for the Spring (plus a capstone End of Course Experience)
  * September, October, November for the Fall (plus a capstone End of Course Experience)

Your Opus will be subject to evaluation by the following criteria:

=====Sections=====
There are five sections of your Opus, delineated as follows:

  - Introduction/Overview: Who are you, why are you here, etc. This section is meant to provide a personalization of your Opus. [This section must have a title, optionally a subtitle, a minimum of 192 words describing you or your purpose, and an appropriately sized image]
  - Part1: This will correspond to the efforts during the first full month. It has the following sub-sections:
     * Topics: the (at least) 12 topics you will be identifying, defining, and demonstrating.
     * Objectives: the (at least) 3 course objectives you will be identifying, defining, and measuring.
     * Experiments: the (at least) 3 experiments you will be performing and optionally retesting.
  - Part2: Your efforts during the second full month will be located here. It has the following sub-sections:
     * Topics: the (at least) 12 topics you will be identifying, defining, and demonstrating.
     * Objectives: the (at least) 3 course objectives you will be identifying, defining, and measuring.
     * Experiments: the (at least) 3 experiments you will be performing and optionally retesting.
  - Part3: The third full month will be contained in this section. It has the following sub-sections:
     * Topics: the (at least) 12 topics you will be identifying, defining, and demonstrating.
     * Objectives: the (at least) 3 course objectives you will be identifying, defining, and measuring.
     * Experiments: the (at least) 3 experiments you will be performing and optionally retesting.
  - EoCE: Finally, the EoCE will wrap up your explorations of the semester. Its composition will likely be similar to the above parts, but is subject to change. More details as it becomes available.

=====Word Count=====
Each Opus section, with the exception of the Introduction/Overview, must comply with the following specifications:

  * **addition of a minimum of 1200 words** - you can of course add more, but you will be penalized if you do not achieve at least this amount.
  * **information is contained within the appropriately named wiki page** - there will be specific wiki pages in your Opus space that will be used to house your monthly Opus contributions.
  * **includes at least 4 dated entries** - your activities should span a range of time (not just a one-shot entry), and each entry must reside within a level 4 or 5 heading.
  * **identifies, defines, and demonstrates at least 12 topics** - unlike other courses... here you will be deriving your own topics, using the ones listed on the syllabus as a base for areas to explore.
  * **identifies, defines, and measures at least 3 course objectives** - similar to the topics, you must address all course objectives, but each Opus checkpoint will check for a minimum of two.
  * **perform/review and comment on at least 3 experiments** - these are explorations you perform to better familiarize yourself with some aspect of the course; following the scientific method, you will conduct and document the experiment. Each month you must conduct at least 2 experiments, but can review 1. For the first month, you obviously cannot review any experiments, so you must conduct 3 original experiments.

=====Experiments=====
As indicated above, each month you are to undertake a number of original experiments in pursuit of knowledge related to the course; these experiments must be conducted utilizing the scientific method.

  - Define the question you wish to answer
  - Gather information and resources (observe)
  - Create and state a hypothesis
  - Describe the experiment
  - Perform the experiment
  - Collect data
  - Analyze data
  - Conclusions (interpret the data generated and infer conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis or experiment)
  - Retest (for our purposes, you will only be retesting the experiments of others in the class; you cannot retest one of your own experiments and count it as a retest.. if you retest, you're merely enhancing your own experiment)

====Sample Experiment====
To aid you in performing experiments in the course, please reference the following sample experiment following this method and formatted to the Opus specifications:

  * [[fall2011/common/sample/experiment|The value of truth]]
=====Template=====
The template (a copy of which has been already provided to you) for the semester Opus is accessible here:

  * [[fall2011/templates/opus|Opus template]]

Feel free to view the wiki source and copy sections to supplement your local copy.