Details about the Final Exhibition

Overview

In the exhibition, four students and an instructor (these numbers may change in some scenarios) meet in the Capstone Coffeehouse, where you completed your Tech Check. During the 90-minute exhibition, everyone will have a chance to present various parts of their portfolio and provide feedback to others.

Our exhibitions are based on the design studio concept, which is an opportunity to come together and share the work that you have done, allowing us all to celebrate your accomplishments. Additionally, this offers a last round of feedback before you submit your portfolio to be graded.

As you will read, you will select two pages to share, and your instructor will select a third. We have heard in the past that it would be helpful if those pages were shared with everyone beforehand, so we thought we would offer our rationale for doing it this way: We see exhibitions most valuable conversations, not necessarily presentations. Everyone will have looked through all exhibition members’ portfolios and we don’t want this to feel scripted or overwhelming—we trust that everyone will have feedback and comments to give. By keeping things a little more flexible, we also hope to encourage people to “re-see” pages and share their reactions.

Why Meet Synchronously?

We find that using the Coffeehouse to meet synchronously online allows for issues to be addressed that might not otherwise come up in Flipgrid, D2L, email, or other means of communication. We also hope that you will enjoy getting to talk and share with your classmates while actually seeing them.

In the online format, we have found that having three to four students in a meeting allows for the best quality of interaction and exchange of ideas without needing many hours of your time. Having three to four more sets of eyes (two to three of your classmates and your instructor) help you look at your portfolio will hopefully give you a chance to address any lingering issues and get a range of opinions for future directions.

Where do I go for my Exhibition

Exhibitions are held in the Capstone Coffeehouse. You can get there via the clicking the “coffee” icon on the menu bar at the top of this site. Note that this is the same way you joined office hours and/or completed the Tech Check.

What is the Password?

The password is the same as it is for Flipgrid and for the Coffeehouse during a Tech Check. This password has been sent via email a few times throughout the course. Contact us if you can’t find it in your email.

When should I show up?

Join the Coffeehouse at least 5-10 minutes before your scheduled start time to make sure that you are able to connect and that everything is working fine. One reason we require the Tech Check is to ensure that you had the opportunity to download Zoom and get familiar with the Coffeehouse prior to the exhibition; in that same spirit, it’s a good idea to double check and make sure things are working smoothly before the Exhibition officially starts.

If you haven’t completed your Tech Check, you should read about it here and then try to join the Coffeehouse to test it out (it’s not the same without someone on the other end, but it’s a start).
If you do experience any trouble getting into the Coffeehouse, please check the “Troubleshooting” section of this page.

What Happens During the Exhibition?

For a full answer, please check out our video showing you what an exhibition looks like. In short, the exhibition will last approximately 90 minutes, and will be structured as follows:

Introduction, overview, and instructions by the instructor (5-10 minutes)
Portfolio exhibition—each presenter will take around 15 minutes to present their portfolio to the Coffeehouse attendees, including:
- A brief introduction to you and your portfolio, including a statement about your intended audience for this portfolio (1-2 minutes)
- A walkthrough and talkthrough of the page you are most proud of, with the reasons why you are proud of it (2-3 minutes)
- A walkthrough and talkthrough of the page you would like the most feedback or help thinking about, and the reasons why you would like some feedback or help (3-5 minutes)
- The instructor will pick a page for you to talk and walk through (3-5 minutes)
- Wrap up from instructor, congratulations, and any questions (5-10 minutes)
You can also check out our conversation starters page to think about how to frame some of the topics you’ll be discussing. This page also has testimonials from students who have already gone through exhibitions in previous semesters and can reassure you it’s not too bad.

Troubleshooting

If you are having troubling getting to the coffeehouse, please consider the following strategies (and don’t hesitate to get in touch if these don’t work!):
- Try accessing the Coffeehouse from a different browser than the one you usually use.
- Rather than joining the Coffeehouse from the course website, try opening Zoom and entering the following meeting ID: 876 840 4982.
- See if you can access another Zoom room (here’s one to try: https://msu.zoom.us/j/6396342308). If this works, try going back to the Capstone Coffeehouse.
- Try downloading the Zoom app to a tablet or phone and joining from there.
Here are a few additional tips for what to do in the case of temporary disconnection or other problems before or during the exhibition.
- A successful exhibition is built on communication between all involved. If something goes wrong for you at the scheduled time of the exhibition (such as your computer crashes, power goes out, etc.), please contact us right away. In the rare event that you are unable to contact us during the exhibition, contact us as soon as you are able. We will give you an alternate assignment to complete that requires as much (or more) effort to complete as the exhibition.
- Please note that getting temporarily “kicked out” of the Coffeehouse during the exhibition does occasionally happen. If this happens to you, simply log back in again and, again, contact us with any questions.