Lecture 1-3: Project topic and domain brainstorming

DATA 510: Data Science Capstone

Lucas P. Cordova, Ph.D.

lpcordova@willamette.edu

Willamette University

May 11, 2026

Lecture Outline

• Activity overview (for students and instructors)
• Learning objectives
• Why we do this in week one
• Flow of the activity (no fixed times)
• Conversation norms
• After today

Activity overview (for students and instructors)

This session is a structured brainstorming and networking block. The goal is not to finalize a proposal today. The goal is to surface interests, pressure-test vague ideas in conversation, and collect early signals about who might make a strong project team.

What students submit: One completed document using the course template. The template has three parts: a solo opening reflection (interests and what “impactful” means to them), a log of several peer conversations, and a closing reflection on feedback plus possible teammates.

Access the template file and make a copy of it: template

Learning objectives

Today’s objectives

What this session supports

1. Articulated the kinds of capstone topics and domains that genuinely interest you, and what you mean by an impactful project.
2. Compared your direction with several classmates in short, structured exchanges (not just small talk).
3. Captured themes, pushback, and new angles you heard from others.
4. Noted who might be a strong teammate match (skills, reliability, curiosity, complementary interests), without committing to a team yet.

This activity pairs with early DDS backlog thinking: many students arrive with one private idea; conversation quickly reveals data access, ethics, and scope issues they had not considered.

Why we do this in week one

Capstone quality starts with honest scope

Capstone projects fail gently when teams skip early alignment: mismatched ambition, unclear ownership, or a topic one person cares about and everyone else tolerates.

Today you generate language you can reuse in proposals later: domains, stakeholders, data types, and impact claims you can defend.

Deliverable today: one document, same template for everyone, submitted on Canvas.

Flow of the activity (no fixed times)

Three parts, one submission

Part 1: Solo anchor

Open the Word template and complete the opening prompts before you start circulating. This keeps the later conversations grounded in something you wrote down first.

Part 2: Structured conversations

Talk with at least three to five different classmates. Your job is to exchange interests, not to interrogate. Capture each conversation lightly in the template as you go or immediately after each chat.

Part 3: Reflection

Before submission, complete the reflection: how others changed your thinking, and whether anyone feels like a plausible teammate (with a short why).

If the room is loud, allow students to step into the hall in pairs for one or two conversations.

Conversation norms

Keep it useful and respectful

Do

• Offer one concrete angle (a data source, a metric, a stakeholder, a method) when you can.
• Ask permission before taking detailed notes about someone’s personal situation.
• End each chat with “want to compare notes again after teams form?” if the chemistry was good.

Avoid

• Shooting down someone’s idea in the first thirty seconds.
• Dominating airtime in a pair.
• Promising a team commitment today unless your instructor explicitly invites that.

After today

What happens next

Prof. Cordova will connect this activity to team formation, proposal milestones, and Data-Driven Scrum rituals. Keep the document: many teams reuse the language when they write their first backlog items.

Reminder: Submit the completed template through Canvas before you leave.