Legal/Practical
The Final Affairs in Order project arose from Dr. Sayers’s exploration of other professors’ “death syllabi,” from which he borrowed heavily in order to take advantage of the work that others have done. The teams were challenged to create a list of all the things that one must “take care of” when a loved one dies. This was in part to challenge the students to put themselves in the place of someone who has experienced a loss and in part to demonstrate how complicated the process of wrapping up one’s life can be. The experimental aspect of this assignment related to grading; he had decided to grade this project competitively in order to generate the most comprehensive guide to setting a loved one’s affairs in order. Details of the assignment, as found in the syllabus, appear below.
Students in this class far exceeded any expectations I had for this project, due, at least in part, to my pedagogical experiment. The longest list I found when researching this project included twenty-five items. The shortest list students in this class produced was over forty items; the longest list was well over one hundred. Having reflected on other teams’ lists, teams revised and filled out their lists. In the end the most comprehensive list was selected to be posted and appears below.
Final Affairs in Order Project (FAiO)
This project requires students to arrange a list of all the matters that must be attended to upon the death of a loved one. This project will work in two phases.
- List: Students will research and prepare a list of all the things that must be taken care of to settle one’s estate, in both the legal and social senses.
- Portfolio: Following a class discussion of the completeness of this list, teams will follow through on the preparation of all the documents for ensuring full preparedness for one’s death. This should include a full list of resources used in compiling the project for assimilation in the Webpage Project. I will select the best portfolio and that team will turn their portfolio into a Web Contribution. This portfolio will be subject to the Peer Evaluation process described above.
FAiO List