Projects Not Lectures

In our SMART program Students do Media, Art and Research projects individually or in Teams. The entire program is project driven and there is never a regular lecture class. When we do a lecture it will be filmed and edited by a student team. Supporting our students require us to be more efficient and effective than the traditional academic standard. The only regular courses are English as a Second Language (ESL) training, media production and basic farm-to-table food systems in first year. Everything else is assigned / decided by student solo projects and specialized roles in teams. All projects (media, art and research) evolve through the following process:

Open Request For Proposal (Open RFP): To the extent it is feasible our staff and students will interact with the public for input on projects. This starts with setting the guidelines for a proposal, defining what is to be accomplished. Anyone is welcome to submit short RFPs to us and any results will be documented to share with all.
Development Roadmap RFPs: Staff and students are engaged in designing, refining, creating and operating all systems on a campus. Our development roadmap gives an overview of these core projects.
Direct Proposals: These are in house ideas from students, staff and our close supporters like members of the Champions’ Club. Those ideas will be directly developed into student proposals – though students will have options to modify them as we do not eliminate the agency or creativity of students.
Goals & Objectives: Students always map out the specific goals and objectives of a project. Even if these are constrained by practicality students are always required to interpret, communicate and establish clear metrics back to staff at the outset. This establishes clear common understanding.
Documentation: We produce a minimum of long-form reports and avoid bureaucracy in favor of doing photo-essays and audio-visual content. Every project is self documenting in the form of lightly edited content published on the web. Projects produce their results and we share the process, data and results with you, the public.
Results: Our first priority is student achievement. Every project is something to count as a milestone. Their portfolios of practical work, real results, will be credentials they can proudly present.

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International Teamspaces: Workshops, makerspaces and laboratories are some of the most expensive per capita student environments on our campuses. Our international study programs will fund these facilities. Local student teams host visiting researchers and artisans during the course of projects that make extensive use of these resources. Leadership of the team is always local as international students are short-term team members. In case any given campus is experiencing financial difficulty the project mix for local students is adjusted to make use of less expensive resources. This never applies to our core Foodplus and space science projects. In the long term dedicated bioscience projects will also become core on a campus by campus basis as every experimental farm has a wealth of in-vivo research possibilities.

Project Mix: In general students will spend their first year on projects that emphasize the English as a Second Language immersion nature of the program and train the farm to table shelf stable food vertical on campus. As they make videos, stream and podcast media production skills will be acquired. Beyond first year students will decide on team roles, effectively specializing in media, art or research. Depending on available equipment and budget some students will be “hardware lean”, i.e. they will not be allocated a large amount of time in a workshop or laboratory setting – though all students will be trained in the basics of those settings. Specific projects may also be supported by donors and sponsor, which changes the hardware options. Lastly the program can be considered in fifths:

1/5 Foodplus (Farm to Table Shelf Stable, Robotics, Solar Energy)
1/5 ESL (English as a Second Language Immersion, Communication**)
2/5 Specialization (Media / Art / Research; Astronomy, Robotics, Space Science)
1/5 Business Studies (Innovation, Marketing, Project Management)

Note there will be a mix of solo and team projects, with an emphasis on teams after the first year. Agile / scrum / kanban methodologies will be taught as part of the project development cycle above. Our robotics projects will encompass a range of mechatronic elements. Every student team will also have experience with product development – digital and physical.

** Communication focused studies are open only to students who begin the program with a high level of English speaking and listening ability. These students effectively receive a 3/5ths specialization in their project mix as they will not be tasked with many of the ESL activities as other students. Instead, they will be communicators in video and on podcasts.

Kaizen Projects: Kaizen is a concept referring to operating activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all members of an organization. In the course of campus operations students and staff will learn, evaluate and improve what we do – specifically the Foodplus system. Foodplus is the vertically integrated, farm to table value chain that serves campus meals, operates the campus cantina / bistro-café and produces shelf-stable products for distribution. As students and staff operate this system projects in process improvement, marketing, product development and more will be explored. Kaizen projects can apply to any operating activity and thus occur for any student or team.

SRG Commercial Opportunities: Students who complete a full five year program in good ethical standing will be offered contracts (or employment) based on their level of expertise. We at the Sunhaven Research Group (SRG) are looking for motivated individuals and our own students already have first hand experience – a natural fit. This is also incentive for consistent, high quality performance during the program. Our organization, like the SMART program on local campuses, is also project driven. SRG is an international social enterprise so contracts with our central group will have excellent compensation packages that local non-profit campuses may not be able to offer. Whether a local or international opportunity, qualified students always have right of first refusal.

Stronger Together: If you are a donor, STEAM educator, space exploration advocate or represent an organization working to build a brighter future – please contact us.