Author: Stephanie Janet

Open letter to participants:

Can I address this letter to both participants and organizers of this seminar?  Allow me to start by saying that I feel I have learned a lot– though I am sorry I was not able to take full advantage of the seminar since this was a very busy time for me. I want to give a special thanks to my fellow group members (Yeah! Go group 1!) and especially to Molly and Tamara for their excellent suggestions, their positivity and kindnes!!!

(I hope this does not count in the 150 word limit for this exercise!!)

• My artifact was a live oral presentation by students of their research project. Now it will likely be a 2 step project with step 1: students recording their “draft presentation” with VOCAT (so asynchronously) and  step 2 students presenting their final work “live”. [thanks for Molly and Tamara for this great idea]
• For step 1: students will get feedback from others — I am thinking about having students work with their small group for step 1 (I divide up my classes in pre-set work groups of 4-5 students).  Also step 1 might be a slightly different presentation than step 2; it could be a summary/discussion of a specific key readings (key for their project)… Still thinking about that idea though.

Lingering questions: will the students be ok using Vocat? Am I competent enough to assist them with it?

Draft of the Revised Artifact:

For this class, students are expected to carry out a research project on a topic of their choice.  The project can be done individually or as a group. The project will be presented orally in class both asynchronously (using VOCAT) and synchronously.

Key Deliverables:

1. Oral presentations using VOCAT. (practice presentation OR presentation of key materials for your project (week 4-5) 3-5 minute long.) Presentations will be peer reviewed.
2. Draft of PowerPoint presentation or written summary of your presentation. 7 days before your presentation.
3. In class presentation of your project 8-10 mn with Q and A. Presentation must include at least 1 question to ask the class for discussion
4. Final PowerPoint presentation.

Key steps for this project.

1. Choose research topic (list of possible topics to be posted on BB; other topics allowed with permission from me). Date: by week 3.
2. Decide whether you will work individually or in group. by week 3
3. Oral presentation vocat
4. Give feedback to students in your group
5. send me resource list (between 4 and 6) + your intro/conclusion if ready
6. send me draft
7. oral presentation
8. send me your PowerPoint

The artifact I propose to modify is a class project I have assigned in the past for other courses. I intend to use it for a course I will teach in the Spring on Communist Political Systems.

1. Current artifact: Research Project to be presented orally in class.

I currently require students to carry out a “research project” on a topic of their choice.  The project can be done individually or as a group.

For this project, students are expected to give an oral presentation in class using PowerPoint or similar software. The presentation lasts about 10 mn and should be followed by a Q&A session. As part of this project, students are also expected to deliver an early draft of their work7 days prior to their presentation date forwhich they receive feedback.

• Problem with this current artifact:
• Though students tend to do a good job researching for this project in terms of content, I have found that their oral presentations have not led to much students engagement.
• As a result, students attending the presentation are not engaging with the materials that is presented.

• Proposed Modifications of the artifact.

Option A:

• Students present their artifact through VOCAT
• Students are asked to comment on each other’s presentations.

Option B:

• Students send the draft of their presentations to a platform that can be accessed by all other students (maybe a discussion board on BB?) so that all students will comment
• Students still present their draft orally in class (maybe with the option of using VOCAT for those who prefer??)

• Remaining questions:

For Option A: One of the goals for oral presentations is to give students the opportunity to develop their competence in presenting their work in front of others.  Using VOCAT obviously does not allow for this.  Could any of these discussions take place in class (zoom or in person)?

For Option B: (1) will this solve the problem of lack of engagement during the oral presentation?  (2) should the option of presenting with VOCAT be offered?

Annex: Artifact as it is currently presented in the Syllabus:

Individual or group project (20%): students present a topic of their choice orally in class.  They can decide to do this project individually or as part of a group.  For this project, students are expected to give an oral presentation using PowerPoint or similar software at some point during the semester. The presentation should last about 10 mn and the class will have 10 mn to provide feedback and ask questions.  As part of this project, students are also expected to deliver an early draft of their work for which they will receive feedback.  No credit will be given for late submission.  

1. Hi! Nice meeting you! Could you introduce yourself? What department are you from? What courses are you teaching or have been teaching? What are the classes you teach like, such as format or class size? Is there anything you want to tell us about your teaching, research, or other projects? 

My name is Stephanie Janet and I am from France originally! I received a PhD in Political Science in Paris and I have been teaching at Baruch in the Political Science department for a few years. I have taught/currently teach/will teach courses on the United Nations, International Organizations, Communist Political Systems, the French and the American Revolutions, etc.

I will be teach a course on Communism next term, a course I have never taught online. I am currently teaching an intro course on political science and a UN course.

My classes range from 18 to 50 students and I currently teach online both synchronously and asynchronously.

I love teaching and trying to engage students. I used to be quite successful at that in person and I love the challenge of doing this online! I am looking forward to learning more with this seminar.

(2) Could you talk a little bit about that course you’ll be working on during this seminar? 

I will be teaching POL 3368 Communist Political Systems.

I must admit I was surprised when I was asked to teach this class. I wondered–do we still teach this in the US today?? I had asked myself this question too when I was asked to teach the class on the UN (I think it is great they are students wanting to know more about the UN even today!).

More seriously, I used to teach class on comparative politics and I have a specialty on the Soviet Union/Russia so my course will focus on the theory of communism through a close reading of the “Communist Manifesto” followed by a study of 2 communist countries: the Soviet Union and China.

(3) What are the listed learning goals of your course? They could be ones provided by the department, or ones that you have written for your syllabus? Please list them (pasting is fine!).

 By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Do a close reading of the Communist Manifesto and understand the main theoretical tenets of communism as a political and economic system;
• Describe the specificities of communist political systems and explain how they differ from non communist political systems;

• Develop a thorough understanding of two communist political systems, (in the former Soviet Union and in China) which includes gaining a understanding of these countries’ political institutions, political culture, and political ideology.
• Discuss why Soviet Union disappeared in 1991 while China has become a world power.
• Use critical thinking and evidence to evaluate theories and interpretations.
• Formulate and express both orally and in writing a well-organized and formulated argument supported by evidence.

(4) .What class materials are you planning to develop? What goals do you have for them?

Class materials will be provided for free on Blackboard. I will use YouTube videos, newspaper articles, and academic articles.