Crunch Time

There are several research projects underway right now for the 8 week summer session and for the 4 week summer session. Most are English or Communications classes which require basic research.  One COMM1201 class has an assignment called a "Symposium" which is described below:



Symposium (Group Presentations).  To be delivered beginning July 22nd.   20 points of total grade, made up as follows: Preparation Outline 5 pts, Peer Evaluation & Presentation 10 points and Annotated Bibliography 5 points.. You will join/form a group of approx. 5 students.  Each group will speak on a global issue topic for 30-35 minutes. That is each group member will speak for approx. 6 minutes, followed by a 5-10 minute question & answer session.You are required to cite your sources not only in your preparation outline, but also in the verbal presentation of your speech.

Each group will approach the topic as a problem-solving project where they will apply Dewey’s Reflective Thinking Method of decision-making as explained in Chapter 20. This assignment requires research and group meetings outside of class.

On the day of the Symposia, each group member will turn in:

1)      A Preparation Outline, worth 5 points out of the 20.

2)      An Individual Annotated Bibliography of 5 sources (no overlaps), worth 5 points out of the 20. An annotated bibliography involves you writing a summary of the source, and how that particular source is relevant to your topic.  The description should be at least a paragraph—which in this case would involve 3-5 sentences.  The annotated bibliography is worth 5 points out of the 20 for this assignment.

3)      Also turn in the Peer Evaluation sheet, which will be handed out on the day you present.  Should a student fail to complete the evaluation, 5 points (from the 20 for the assignment) will be deducted from her/his grade. Note: The points for the peer evaluation and the verbal presentation will be combined to provide the grade of 10 points, thus making the evaluation “blind.”

4)      Visual aids are expected—all parts of the presentation should be on one PowerPoint document.

The professor reports that topic chosen this term are:

• Global warming (air pollution)
• Poverty in Brazil or Zimbabwe
• Immigration in Australia or Italy
• Clean Water

The analysis from the Reflective Thinking Method includes asking:

• What is the history of the problem?
• How extensive is the problem?
• What are the causes, effects, and symptoms of the problem?
• Can be the problem be subdivided for further definition and analysis? 
• What methodist do we already have for solving ht problem, and what are their limitations?
• What new methods can we devise to solve the problem?
• What obstacles keep us from reaching a solution?

from Introduction to Public Speaking, GPC edition, p 214.