Your Project’s Impact: Depth, Breadth, and Longevity
WLE 2012-2013
Mini Lesson: Depth, Breadth, and Longevity
Term and Definition
Depth: “Depth” describes the complexity of
your project. If your project is deep, it will
require a lot of research and you will
significantly change the actions of people at
your workplace, or the people your workplace
serves.
Real World Example
Joy’s project had depth because it took an extraordinary amount
of research for her to construct. She had to make contacts with
the African Library Project organization and do research on how
to collect and transport the books, then actually put her project
into action. It is also deep because it makes a significant change
in the lives of the children who now have access to books.
Breadth: “Breadth” refers to the size of the
impact you will make. If your project has a
broad impact, it will change things for many
people at your workplace or the people they
serve.
Hundreds of children will have access to the books at the library
Joy helped build, so her project is very broad.
Longevity: “Longevity” refers to length of time.
If your project has longevity, it will make a
long-lasting impact, will be in place for a long
time, or will be used again and again.
The library Joy helped create will be around for many years, so it
definitely has longevity.
Check yourself: Can you identify whether a project has depth, breadth, or longevity?
Project Example
Lily worked as a volunteer in an elementary
school. Her project involved creating a
vocabulary review worksheet for students to
work on once they had finished all their work.
She hoped that this would free up the teacher
to work with struggling students individually.
Fred interned at a youth center. His project
was to create a facebook page that would help
the youth center advertise their events.
Luna interned at a veterinary clinic. For her
project, she researched, created (and
translated into Spanish) a pamphlet that would
help pet-owners administer pet medication
properly.
Lee interned at a physical therapy office. He
found that his internship didn’t really need him
to do much. For his project, he researched the
most common types of ankle injuries and how
physical therapists respond to them.
Does this project have depth, breadth, and/or longevity? Explain.
(Example) Lily’s project is not very deep- it probably didn’t take her
very long to make the worksheet, and, since it’s review, it probably
won’t have a very big effect on the students. It might be broad, if
lots of students use it. It could have longevity if the teacher
decides to reuse it over and over.
Your Project’s Impact: Depth, Breadth, and Longevity
WLE 2012-2013
Reflection: What have you been thinking about doing for your project?
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How deep is it? Explain.
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Does it have breadth? Explain.
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Does it have longevity? Explain?
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