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The course format may be a little overwhelming so this page
will help walk you through the process of giving a presentation. There
are a number of stages that need to happen before a presentation can
happen so let's start at the beginning...
First, somebody needs to propose a topic
by creating a new entry on the blog. You don't have to propose the
topic you eventually present, nor do you have to present what you
propose. The purpose of proposing topics is just to get ideas
circulating. But before anybody can choose to present a topic, it needs
to be accepted... 
A new topic needs to be vetted by other
students before it can be accepted. When enough students have submitted
blog comments explaining why the topic would be a good or poor choice
to meet the course goals I will read it over and decide whether it
should be accepted. If not, well, back to the drawing board. But if it
is accepted then...
Signing up isn't as easy as it sounds. I want
you to "self-organize" into teams of up to four. The easiest way to do
that will be through the blog: if you're interested in a topic you
should express your position in a comment and read other comments. Then
discuss and organize into a team with other students who hold a similar
position. If two teams with clearly different positions can organize
then we've got a debate. Otherwise it'll be a defence. Either way, let
me know when you'd like to present and who the team members are (both
teams). Once the topic has been assigned to you it'll be time to
prepare...
This is where most of the work is going to
happen. You're going to need to think about how to explain the topic,
the debate issues, and how you're going to convince the audience that
your position is correct. Think about possible objections to your
argument and how you will handle them. Then the day will come...
It all comes down to a brief half-hour (25
minutes, actually) in which you will show why your position is right
(and your opponents are wrong). If there are two teams then there will
be an organized debate. If just one then we'll pick up to four members
of the audience to be panelists--their task will be to represent your
opposition, to challenge your claims. Once you've presented your
arguments to the audience...
At the end of the 25-minute presentation the
audience will vote, indicating whether they agreed with your position
or your opponents'. I'll collect the votes and translate that into
reward points for good arguments. And finally, you will receive
feedback...
The blog will be opened up for students to
comment on your presentation. The feedback you receive here is
essential to the course--you should take advantage of it to learn what
worked and what didn't about your presentation. In the past I've found
the feedback to be very constructive and kind, even when pointing out
flaws. |
