Combat Veterans: Course Contract

During the first week of class, many students are provided a syllabus and asked to read through it. In order to make this initial week less-like a traditional course, I designed a military-themed contract agreement between student and design/instructor team to fully understand, experience/feel and accept what they are about to embark on throughout the course. The contract language was modeled/satirized from earlier armed forces contracts I found during the research phase and, while serious in tone, it also provided a slightly playful feel as an introduction to the course. This contract was added to the end of the syllabus and students were required to sign and turn it in as part of their ‘oath of enlistment’ in the course.