FlorkPal

The FlorkPal assignment contains a mix of easier and more nuanced tasks:

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• The directions are fairly straightforward as are the team roles. 

• The activity requires students to be familiar with defining requirements, iterating on design, describing implementation, and coming up with a testing plan. These tasks may take awhile and may be challenging for students who have only taken a few CS1 and CS2 courses.

• Time management is also paramount, as students need to work on their respective sections and then come together as a team to develop their vision, which culminates in a product pitch ... all in the span of a 60-minute class. This may be of medium difficulty.

• Teams are asked to come up with a "product pitch" they will later present to their classmates. Coming up with a creative pitch and elements such as a commercial script, catchy jingle, viral marketing materials, etc. are a fun exercise and of low difficulty.

• Knowledge of PowerPoint, particularly animations and best practices related to slide design, may be considered low difficulty. Similarly, familiarity with Google Drive is of low difficulty.

• Giving an oral presentation of the team's product pitch can be daunting for some students. This task could be the hardest since it requires some comfort with public speaking.

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Overall, the FlorkPal assignment has a mix of easy and more challenging tasks, and is thus of medium difficulty for a CS3 or higher student.

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How long does the FlorkPal assignment take to complete?

The FlorkPal assignment should take about 60 minutes to fully complete. This includes receiving the handout, working individually and collectively on tasks, coming up with a product pitch, relating team progress and the pitch via PowerPoint slides, and then presenting that work to classmates.