Question: Connecting to the Real World What is Wrong? Can I Improve It? This exercise can be completed by one or two students. Your professor may want to assign another student to work with you on this exercise or you can do all the work yourself. Get approval from your professor before beginning the assignment. The purpose of this exercise is to apply ideas presented in this chapter to improve the quality of a situation that directly affects you and other students. Follow the steps: 1. Select an activity. Select an activity at your college or university that directly affects you. It may be the long lines at the cafeteria or at the bursar's office. It may be the service at the library or some other type of campus activity-such as checking out equipment in a laboratory, using a piece of equipment in a designated area, having computer access, a sporting activity, a dorm activity, and so on. 2. Research the cause(s). You are responsible for researching the cause(s) for the problem. Prepare a list of things you can do to find out why there is a problem, such as interview personnel who are directly involved, conduct surveys of students using the facility, make observations and record the results, or brainstorm with other groups of students on campus. 3. Carry out the work. Based on the list prepared, proceed with the interviewing, conducting surveys, observing, questioning other students, researching the internet for new ideas.