2024 Student Handbook
Student handbook for the ETC class that started August 26 2024
Quarter Reviews
The ETC Project Course is one of the core elements of our curriculum and is a course that drives many students to our program. ETC Students have completed hundreds of projects over the years, and a key component to the success of these projects is feedback. Professor Randy Pausch, co-founder of the ETC liked to state “students at the ETC receive 20 years of industry feedback in 2 years of the program”, and critiques of the projects make up the majority of this feedback.
Last week, students completed their first formal review of the semester, “quarter walk-arounds”. Professor Brenda Harger explains the quarter review process for us in the following way: “Quarters are an opportunity for faculty to see and evaluate the projects in the idea phase. What I especially value is the chance to hear a variety of responses from faculty of all the disciplines. Because it is early in the process, we can help the projects sharpen their focus without throwing too much away within the givens of the project and before too much actual work has been invested. I like to tell the students that no amount of technology can fix a bad idea so by this time, many ideas have been put on the table so it’s time to evaluate”.
With “quarters” complete, students may narrow in on their ideas as well as the feedback from faculty as they move forward in their project development.