TechniCity - Syllabus

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class.coursera.org https://class.coursera.org/techcity-001/wiki/view?page=syllabus

Wiki - Syllabus | TechniCity

TechniCity

Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, Ohio State University and College of Urban and Public Affairs, VirginiaTech

Maymester, 2013

Instructor: Jennifer Evans-Cowley, PhD, AICP (Ohio State University) and Tom Sanchez, PhD (Virginia Tech)

Time: May 4-31, 2013 - Anytime each week

OVERVIEW

We are part of the real-time city. The increasing availability of networks, sensors and mobile technologies allows for

new approaches to address the challenges that our cities face. The way we understand cities is undergoingsweeping transformation, right along with the analytical tools we use to design our cities and the communication

tools we use to engage people. Absorbing, studying and understanding the role of technology from a critical

viewpoint allows us to generate creative ideas for improving our cities. This course begins by examining how the

technology in our cities is changing. We then jump into how technology is used to engage with the public to support

decision-making. Students will then examine tools for analyzing the city. And rounding out the course is an

exploration of entrepreneurial urbanism, looking at how creativity can spawn technological innovation. Youll hear

from technological innovators and thought leaders about all of these topics.

OBJECTIVES

During this course, students will:

Gain familiarity with fundamental urban technology concepts.

Increase understanding of how city planners can communicate with the public to enhance cities.

Gain hands-on experience with public engagement and analysis tools.

Generate/collect useful data to support informed public policy decisions.

Describe how key infrastructure technologies shapes cities.

Accelerate the transfer of ideas between entrepreneurs and urban change agents.

Develop a solid understanding of how technology is shaping your own city.

This course offers two levels of accomplishment. To receive a statement of accomplishment students are expected

to fully commit to the four weeks of class work and fully participate in all aspects of the course. If you wish to receive

a statement of accomplishment with distinction you will need to participate in and complete the "challenge" activities.

The challenge activities include a mix of additional lectures, engagement activities, and assignments. Within the

course you will see the word "challenge" included in front of each item that is part of the accomplishment with

distinction track. Of course students any student can participate in challenge activities regardless of whether you

wish to receive a certificate of accomplishment with distinction. Students taking this course for credit at Ohio State

- Syllabus | TechniCity https://class.coursera.org/techcity-001/wiki/view?pa

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University must complete the "challenge activities" in order to receive academic credit for this course. For those

taking this course for AICP Certification Maintenance credit you must complete a minimum of 15 hours of

coursework to fulfill your obligation in order to claim AICP credit.

COURSE FORMAT

The course will be delivered fully online and introduces a variety of technologies, combined with hands-on

demonstrations.

Course sessions will be delivered via online lectures with many guest speakers participating. Participants will need

access to a computer and an internet connection.

A major project and peer review will be required. Challenge assignments will also be provided to supplement

learning.

PLANNING ACCREDITATION CRITERIA MET

The Planning Accreditation Board has a series of standards by which accredited planning programs are measured.

Both Ohio State University and Virginia Tech have accredited planning programs. Below is a list of accreditation

criteria that are covered in this course.

Purpose and Meaning of Planning: appreciation of why planning is undertaken by communities, cities, regions, and

nations, and the impact planning is expected to have.

The Future: understanding of the relationships between past, present, and future in planning domains, as well as

the potential for methods of design, analysis, and intervention to influence the future.

Global Dimensions of Planning: appreciation of interactions, flows of people and materials, cultures, and differing

approaches to planning across world regions.

Research: tools for assembling and analyzing ideas and information from prior practice and scholarship, and from

primary and secondary sources.

Written, Oral and Graphic Communication: ability to prepare clear, accurate and compelling text, graphics and

maps for use in documents and presentations.

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods: data collection, analysis and modeling tools for forecasting, policy analysis,

and design of projects and plans.

VIRTUAL SALON

Given the scale of student enrollment, personalized contact with every student will not

be possible, but we are designing a number of opportunities for engaging with theinstructional team.

MindMixer will serve as our primary tool for engagement. You will be participating and sharing your ideas, as well

as support others in the course.

Check out the Rewards Store to see what you can earn for your participation. Each week we will add new, exciting

rewards.

Weekly in-person/online salons will be offered at various locations, based on where the instructional team is that

week. Students can participate onsite or via Google Hangout.


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We will host weekly live tweet sessions

We will do our best to respond to messages sent via Twitter (dependent on volume) @EvansCowley or

@tomwsanchez. We will also be using the hashtag #technicity.

The online discussion forums will be monitored and you are welcome to post questions there, although this is

principally for technical questions or questions about your projects.

VIDEO LECTURES

Each week you will be provided with two+ hours of core video lectures and additional

challenge video content. These are provided by your instructors and guest lecturers. The

videos are divided into three categories. Context lectures provide an introduction to the key ideas that we will be

exploring as a class in each week. Within each Context lecture you will encounter in-video reflection questions.

These are used to help you reflect on what you have just heard and consider how it might be relevant in your own

city. We invite you to provide your own thoughts and ideas to help you deepen your understanding. Case Study

lectures provide examples that build on what you have learned in the Context lectures. We also provide Instruction

lectures which provide instructions for example on how to complete an assignment.

READINGS

Throughout the course you will be provided with readings and websites that are

associated with the lectures. Next to each video you will find icons related to the lecture

video section you are watching. They link to external resources such as readings, websites, files, and additional

videos for further learning.

GRADING

Project Proposal and Peer Evaluation of Proposals up to 40 points

Final Project and Peer Evaluation of Proposals up to 60 points

CHALLENGE Assignments and Peer Evaluation are worth up to 10 points each

To receive a statement of accomplishment you must achieve a minimum of 85 points. To receive a statement of

accomplishment with distinction you must achieve a minimum of 110 points.

LATE POLICY

Due to the short term of this course we cannot allow for late submission of assignments. Students who miss a

deadline can choose to complete additional challenge assignments to earn credit that will makeup for missing any

deadline.

ASSIGNMENTS

PROJECT PROPOSAL (up to 40 points)

Each student will select a topic with which they plan to research. They should identify a problem in their own city.

This should be a one page assignment. Where possible students should include pictures with captions that describe

the problem they want to study. This could be anything from traffic congestion, to pedestrian safety, to water quality

to really anything. Students are welcome to work alone or you can team up with one more other people in the class.


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On MindMixer we have created a topic for Project Proposals. If people want to work together on a project this is fine,

but please note we will not organize any groups. This would need to be self organized if you wish to pursue this.

See this project proposal page for all of the details about how to complete this assignment.

This project is due by May 14th at 21:00 UTC. This project should take you approximately two hours to complete

(more time may be required for you to come up with an idea). You will be copying and pasting your assignment into

Coursera or submitting it as a PDF file so keep this in mind as you prepare your assignment.

PEER ASSESSMENT

Peer assessment is the process students providing feedback to other students according to a rubric that has been

developed by the instructors. Once the deadline for the the project proposal has passed, you and all the other

students will receive five proposals from other students in the class. You will be using a rubric the instructors will

provide. You will then self-grade your own assignment based on the rubric, along with the projects others have

submitted. Your grade for the project proposal will be viewable, based on the rubric, once you have completed the

peer evaluations.

The peer evaluation of the project proposal is due by May 17th 21:00 UTC. It is very important you provide

constructive feedback so that students can improve on their project. Please be polite, detailed, and fair in your

evaluation of others work. You should expect to take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete each peer

assessment.

You will conduct a similar peer assessment for the final project and for any challenge assignments you decide to

undertake.

FINAL PROJECT (up to 60 points)

Each student selected a project that you proposed in the project proposal. For the final project you will be following

through on your proposal in your city. See the assignments information tab on the navigation bar for more detail.

This project is due by May 26th at 21:00 UTC. This project will take a variable amount of time depending on the

individual project. You are expected to spend substantial time creating something that could have value in improving

your city. The peer evaluation of the final project is due by May 30th 21:00 UTC. It is very important you provide

constructive feedback so that students can improve on their project. Please be polite, detailed, and fair in your

evaluation of others work. You should expect to take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete each peer

assessment.

ASSIGNMENTS

The Challenge assignments are designed to be fun and encourage you to experiment

with different methods for collecting and analyzing information. You can choose to doall of these if you would like or pick those that are of most interest. Please note that each assignment has its own

limitations. For example, the tool may not work on every brower or computer. Or due to restrictions in your home

country you may not be able to access a website.

CHALLENGE: StreetSeen (up to 10 points)

Each student will be responsible for visiting StreetSeen and creating your own visual survey. Where possible it

would be ideal to create a visual preference survey that can be used as part of your course project.


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More details about this assignment can be found in the assignments section found on the navigation toolbar (to be

posted by May 11). This project should take you approximately two hours to complete. To receive credit for this

assignment you will need to submit a link to your survey and prepare an analysis. This assignment is due by May

20th at 21:00 UTC. You will then be asked to evaluate three other students work by May 23rd at 21:00 UTC.

CHALLENGE: Google Streetview Stiching/Hyperlapse Photography (up to 10 points)

This assignment will focus on taking Google Streetview images and Stitching it together to create a video thatnavigates through your city. This project should take you approximately one hours to complete, possibly longer

depending on how you construct the route. To receive credit for this assignment you will need to submit your

analysis.

More details about this assignment can be found in the assignments section found on the navigation toolbar. This

project should take you approximately one hour to complete, possibly longer depending on the extent of the city you

are trying to create the stitching for. This assignment is due by May 20th at 21:00 UTC. You will then be asked to

evaluate three other students work by May 23rd at 21:00 UTC.

CHALLENGE: Scraping Social Media Data (up to 10 points)

Web and social media data scraping refers to the process of extracting the content and metadata of user submitted

activities. This includes information about the author, time, date, location, and content of Twitter tweets, Facebook

posts, FourSquare checkins and other social media sources. In this assignment you will identify a data source and

then scrape a minimum of 100 observations or individual pieces of information that will be suitable for analysis.


project should take you approximately one hour to complete, longer if you have the skills to undertake a foursquare

or jiepang analysis. To receive credit for this assignment you will need to submit the social media that you have

scraped. This assignment is due by May 20th at 21:00 UTC. You will then be asked to evaluate three other students

work by May 23rd at 21:00 UTC.

CHALLENGE: Social Media Analysis (up to 10 points)

This assignment will focus on taking the raw data scraped scraping social media data assignment and performing

one of several types of analysis. Descriptive analyses can be performed to explore the range of tweet topics and

survey responses. Maps can be created for spatial or geographic analyses. Network analyses can be used to

describe the connections between Twitter users or Facebook friends. Sentiment analysis can be used to interpret

the nature of Twitter, Facebook, and survey data content. Quantitative and/or qualitative analysis methods can be

used for this assignment. In some cases statistical analysis will be possible and not in others.

More details about this assignment can be found in the assignments section found on the navigation toolbar. Thisproject should take you approximately three hours to complete, possibly longer depending on the analysis. To

receive credit for this assignment you will need to submit your analysis. This assignment is due by May 24th at

21:00 UTC. You will then be asked to evaluate three other students work. You will then be asked to evaluate three

other students work by May 29th at 21:00 UTC.

CHALLENGE: How To Video (up to 10 points)

This assignment will focus on sharing skills you have. Select a FREE tool that you think would be helpful to students

in this course. Record a step by step how to video showing students exactly how to use the tool. This can be any


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kind of tool you might think of that would be helpful to people interested in improving their city.


project will take a variable amount of time depending on the tool the student develops and their knowledge of video

creation. To receive credit for this assignment you will need to submit your video. This assignment is due by May

24th at 21:00 UTC. You will then be asked to evaluate three other students work. You will then be asked to evaluate

three other students work by May 29th at 21:00 UTC.

INTEGRITY

Plagiarism is passing off as ones own ideas, words, writings etc., which belong to another. You are committing

plagiarism if you copy the work of another person and turn it in as your own even if you should have the permission

of that person. It is critical that you appropriately cite the work of others. The coursera honor code addresses

plagiarism. This course is about using your own creativity to generate unique individual projects. Honor the spirit of

this course!

CLASS SCHEDULE

Week 1: Infrastructure for the Real Time City: Youll learn how sensors and networks are transforming our cities.

Week 2: Engaging the Real Time City: Through social networking and crowdsourcing platforms youll learn how to

engage in city building.

Week 3: Analyzing the Real Time City: From sentiment analysis to mashups, youll experiment with analyzing data.

Week 4: Entrepreneurial Urbanism: Youll explore how open data initiatives, hack-a-thons, and urban prototyping

festivals are creatively innovating our cities.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Which materials are required for course completion? What's the difference between Corematerials and Challenge materials?

To help you make your way through this course, we have created and collected many resources that will be freely

available to you during the duration of this course. We have divided the course materials intoCoreandChallenge**

resources. All of the core resources are essential to your gaining a basic grasp on technology and its influence on

cities. Watching a Core video or demonstration, for example, provides critical information and may include activities

that you need to complete.

Resources identified as Challenge are optional materials that can enrich your understanding of critical concepts,

terms, or practices from the course. You can find a list of Challenge activities for each week in the weekly

walkthroughs, available on the left-hand Navigation Bar through "Week X Walkthrough". Students seeking aStatement of Completion with Distinction should complete the Challenge activities. Students enrolled for credit at

Ohio State University, must complete all Challenge activities. Students enrolled for AICP Certification Maintenance

credit must complete a minimum of 15 hours worth of efforts, which can be achieved through a mix of videos,

readings, engagement, and assignments.

Why do I keep seeing the abbreviation UTC, and what does it mean?

Since our course participants access this site from all around the world, we have chosen to list assignment due

times in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). To calculate the difference between UTC and your local time zone, try


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this web site.

Why are the course videos produced at various screen resolutions and different

backgrounds?

TechniCity is an experiment. As such we have invited a diverse group of guest speakers. We have experimented

with a number of different lecture capture techniques. Some result in spectacular results and others meet a

minimum quality threshold using free and low cost capture methods. We hope that you will find all of these to beaccessible and promote learning.

If you have additional questions, please ask them in the Discussion Forums for this class.


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