Group Presentations
General Description of Presentations:
Class will select four topics for Group Presentations and all class
members will be assigned to the group that most closely matches their interests.
In the third and last section of the course, each group will have two days (two
fifty minute periods) to present a power point presentation on their topic to
the class. The groups should save the last 15-20 minutes of the second
class for discussion so that leaves about eighty minutes for the actual
presentations. The Goal is to teach the rest of the class about this
topic so that they can intelligently discuss the questions that will be proposed
at the end.
Types of Topics: There
are essentially three different types of topics. I list all three types
with some examples of each.
1. A General Global Problem: some
examples would be genocide/human rights violations; global climate change;
global crime; terrorism; pandemics; proliferation of WMD; the global
economic crisis. Presenters will want to summarize the scope of the
problem, present current responses to problem, and finally discuss controversies
connected with responses to problem.
2. A Conflict: Some examples
would be Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan, Civil War in Iraq, Kosovo, etc.
Presenters will want to describe the conflict, discuss its causes, and discuss
past and future possible responses.
3. A Country that might threaten the U.S.
Some examples would be Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China. Presenters
would discuss what leads to the potential conflict with the U.S. and what
can/should be done to mitigate the chances of an economic or military showdown.
Duties for Groups:
- The first order of business is to
conceptualize the component parts to your presentation (Dr. Rogers will
assist) and then assign roles. Not everyone has to present. One
person should be designated as your "techie." That person is responsible to
put the entire power point presentation together as one presentation from
the separate presentations that other people have developed and upload it to
PALS/files. That individual might also be responsible to post readings
and group questions (as described below). That individual might also
keep track of the rough length of each segment. Someone else might be
designated to lead discussion.
- The second order of
business is for the group to select one
good summary website or several shorter websites (at least one week before presentation is scheduled) for
general information on topic for class to read on this topic. These must be
posted on PALS/Message Board Under "Links to Group Readings" + send to
jphiliprogers@yahoo.com so he
can post it to schedule page.
- Third, the Group must
prepare a high quality power point presentation that describes important facts.
Do not simply copy/paste from website (e.g. Wikepedia) and do not fill page
with too many details. Fill w/ key facts. Also, keep the slides
legible - be careful of using photos or colors as background that make it
difficult to read the text. The techie should upload their final power
point presentation to the PALS/files.
- The Group gives their
presentation and someone from the group must lead the
class in a normative discussion of controversial issues associated with this
topic.
- The Group must define
some possible essay questions for the final exam and then the techie should send Dr.
Rogers a list of recommended essay
questions to
jphiliprogers@yahoo.com
- Finally, each
member of group will send an email to
jphiliprogers@yahoo.com (1) evaluating the quality of their own
participation in the group presentation, (2) describing their role in
presentation (should send own notes as attachments) and (3) evaluating their
peers on the quality of their participation.