Assigning and Grading Group Presentation Outlines

Hey all!

I'm a bit ahead of everyone on the group assignment, so today I would like to share some guidance on setting up and grading students' outlines to guarantee a stronger performance. Please enjoy the guide below as a way to help you think about the outlining process as it unfolds.

1) Assign the Outline Early

It's important to have students turn in their outlines early. Even if you will not have a lot of time to look them over, it holds them accountable to getting it done sooner, and gives you a chance to catch any major problems before they arise. I actually break out the "Outline" points in ELMS and make them due a few days early (or very early, if there's a Spring Break right in the middle):

2) Give students more guidance than the rubric.

The rubrics we have are a little vague on the details of how, exactly, we are supposed to assess them on their outlines.

What are the "requirements?" These actually are not listed in the original assignment description. This is at once a good and a bad thing. On one hand, you have the flexibility and autonomy to decide your own criteria for evaluating these. (I did not have that level of autonomy at various points in my teaching career, and that's pretty stifling.) On the other hand, matters are a bit vague, so if you do not give students examples and clear expectations during class, they will give you some pretty bare-bones outlines.

Here's an example of a not-very-strong group presentation outline from last semester. (I have altered the offending students' names.)

Group Presentation Outline I.          Introduction             A.        Catchy video draws attention to our topic. B.        Names 1.         Our names are Student A, Student B, Student C and Student D. C.        Topic 1.         What are the differences between males and females. communication II.         Physical Differences A.        Differences in Brains 1.         Men have larger brains than women. This is to control larger muscle mass. There is no intelligence difference though. 2.         Males have more Grey matter, and women more White matter.             a) White matter connects processing centers. Grey matter contains the processing centers.                         i)Thus women are better at communicating interconnected ideas.        n             Men like to get to the point 2.         Males use right amygdala, and women more left. 3.         Women use both left and right in language processing, where men use only left.             a) This would hold that women are more engaged in communicating, better than men possibly? 4.         Women are better and quicker at reading emotions.             a) Women can pick up on non-verbal better and therefore adjust. They use more emotion in their communication. 5.         Men have stronger reactions to sexual images.             III.        The Sociological Aspect of Male and Female Communication             A.        “Nature vs. Nurture” Idea: Are we really wired to act a certain way or is it  how we  are raised that influences us?             1. Parents already start “gendering” their babies before they are born                         a) Blue rooms for boys and pink for girls             2. Gender roles are enforced at a very young age                         a) Boys play competitive sports while girls are encouraged to “play nice.” b) Society is sympathetic to a girl crying, while telling boys   to  “suck it up and be a man.” 3. These gender roles shape the way males and females communicate. 4.  Today, it is more accepted for a female to participate in male activities (after the feminist movement).  This allows for a shift in the stereotypical woman, who is now seen as more aggressive goal oriented, like men.   5. However, it is not accepted for men to participate in female activities, which is way gender socialization is still especially strong for boys.   IIII. Male Tendencies             A. What is the masculine gender role?                         1. Men often assume the role as a provider                         2.Men often assume the role as a protector             B. What is the structure of a man?                         1. There are four main “ways of being” men strive for IV.        How Men and Women Communicate in Different Situations            A. Men and women communicate differently when they want something.                        1. Men are usually very direct. They will ask for what they want.                        2. Women have a tendency to be indirect or assume their wants are  known.            B. Men and women communicate differently when in a group setting.                         1. In groups, men are more likely to be impersonal and down to  business.                              a) Men are have a higher tendency to take control of the conversation by force                         2. Women are more likely to be personal and inclusive of everyone.                              a) Women are less likely to speak for others or interrupt.            C. Men and women communicate differently when they are angry or upset.                         1. Men tend to be very withdrawn when they are upset.                              a) When men do start to talk it is in order to find a solution                         2. Women will want to talk about how they feel and what is upsetting them                              a) This talking is not always in an attempt to find a solution.              D. Different genders behave differently while socializing with each other.                         1. Men are more likely to approach the opposite sex and engage an interaction.                         2. Women play the waiting game. They expect men to make the first move. V. Conclusion             A. Here we will play another video that illustrates our topic.

After some initial feedback these students did make adjustments and ultimately produce a better presentation; nonetheless, it has a few problems that I endeavored to head off this semester:

Their outline has no hints of anything but information-spewing. The point of a "Group Lesson" assignment is its interactivity. I want to actually know what students are going to do during their presentation. I want them to describe what they're actually going to do, not just give me a list of topics they will discuss.

This means that student outlines must address the following questions:
Which student will speak when?
What strategies will students use to engage the audience?

The outline does not incorporate any of the evidence that will factor into the presentation. The students did have a bibliography on their PowerPoint, but I wanted actual source citations embedded into the outline.

The outline is sloppy and put together ineffectively. While it follows some formal aspects of outlining, there's no sense of logical organization pattern. There's little sense of beginning, middle, and end. And there are just some grammar issues.

The outline just isn't detailed enough to help me picture the presentation. I want to be able to imagine what the actual lesson looks like by reading over the page. I suppose I can imagine this one being a hot mess, but that's more my mental concoction than information provided by the students. I simply want something more thorough and clear about what will happen.

3) How do you set better expectations?

Obviously, telling students the expectations is important. But sometimes people go overboard on this, inundating students with a million slides. I instead tried to emphasize the main points I wanted to hit into four very strategic PowerPoint slides:

I first led a short discussion about the difference between a lecture and a lesson to help students generate (on their own) the difference in format I was seeking. I then showed them a slide that went over the important concepts I was looking for, with bolded emphasis on the most important things I noticed my students failed to do last semester. I then provided basic citation style information, with a link on where to find it. I probably only spent about fifteen minutes on this entire discussion. I also reinforced the expectations with an announcement on ELMS (where I shared this PowerPoint) and reiterated some of the expectations briefly in class the following period. Finally, I shared with them the outline above, briefly explaining to them its shortcomings and what I expected them to do differently.

I received the first student outline tonight (they're due tomorrow)--I'm pretty pleased with the differences. Again, the names are changed:

Student E Student F Student G Student H Oral Communication Problems: Texting and Relationships I.                    Student E will briefly introduce their chosen problem in communication, which is how texting affects various types of relationships, including professional relationships, peer relationships and the relationship with oneself. II.                  Group members will play a short, group-created video clip (about 1:30 in length) demonstrating the problems with texting, with scenes taking place in a classroom, at the dinner table and within a romantic relationship. III.               Group members will begin a class discussion, with each member asking students a question relevant to the topic? a.       Student F: How many of you have texted at some point during this class? b.      Student G: How many of you have seen someone else texting during this class? During any class? c.       Student H: What are the benefits of increased accessibility to communication? d.      Student E: In your own experience, how has texting impacted your relationship with others? IV.               Group members will begin the lecture portion of the presentation (with Student F introducing this section of the presentation), sharing interesting and relevant pieces of information from studies, articles, etc. a.       Student F will introduce some statistics and facts about teenagers and texting.                                                                i.      A Pew Center research poll shows that most teenagers prefer to text over calling people or talking in person (Lenhart, 2012).                                                              ii.      The average 18- to 24-year old sends about 1,600 texts a month, and that number increases with younger age groups — with the average 13- to 17-year-old sending about 3,000 texts per month (Parr, 2010). b.      Student G will talk about how texting is a distraction that negatively affects our interaction with others during in-person or face-to-face situations.                                                                i.      Students who text less during class are usually the ones who pay more attention to the teacher or professor and received better grades (“Texting in College Classrooms,” 2012).                                                              ii.      A Fresno State poll showed more than 70 percent of students use their phone to text during class (Besser, 2007). c.       Student H will talk about how digital conversations can skew our perceptions of others.                                                                i.      Texting prevents people from developing the social skills necessary for building and maintaining relationships (Kluger, 2012).                                                              ii.      People can spend hours deciphering a text or composing a new one, but they won’t necessarily ever understand the true meaning because non-verbal expressions like emotions are lost (Kluger, 2012). d.      Student E will talk about the psychological impact of texting on human development.                                                                i.      A University of Plymouth study showed that people who texted more than others tended to actually be lonelier and more anxious (Reid and Reid, 2004).                                                              ii.      That being said, texters tended to be more willing to talk about deeper, personal issues — via text — which shows there may be some benefits to texting (Reid and Reid, 2004). V.                  Student H will ask audience members to give possible solutions to the problem in communication. VI.               Student E will sum up the presentation, offering final thoughts on how people can maintain a balance between the benefits of texting and the downsides of being too connected. Works Cited and Additional References Alexander, Anson (2012, May 22). AnsonAlex.com. Retrieved from http://ansonalex.com/infographics/text-messaging-statistics-2012-infographic/ Kluger, J. (2012, September 6). Cnn. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messaging-oms/index.html Lenhart, A. (2012, March 19). Pew internet. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones/Summary-of-findings.aspx Parr, Ben (2010, October 14). Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/10/14/nielsen-texting-stats/ Reid, Donna and Reid, Fraser (2004, February). University of Plymouth. Retrieved from http://educ.ubc.ca/courses/etec540/May08/suz/assests/SocialEffectsOfTextMessaging.pdf “Texting in College Classrooms Common, Distracting” (2012, April 5). U.S. News and World Report Health Day. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/04/05/texting-in-college-classrooms-common-distracting

This outline did literally everything I asked for.

It's not perfect, of course. I think it could go into more detail in a few places; for example, if students are creating a video, I'd like to know more of what they're doing in it. Also, I'd like them to have more discussion in mind about potential solutions to the problem in communication they have selected--they can't just rely on the audience to generate the answers. I want them to actually prepare a list of questions there.

But compared to the stuff I got last semester? Huge improvement. I can form a pretty clear picture, reading this, of what the presentation looks like. It clearly required collaboration among the students. It illustrates who will say what; it tells me what person will participate in what role; and ultimately, I am pretty positive it will be a good presentation.

4) Grading Outlines

I actually don't have much else to add at this point--because once you've done the work of setting up the assignment well, grading is a cinch. Did they do what you asked them to or not? That will dictate how you allocate their point totals. You have created a set of justifications and criteria whereby you can give a firm rationale for a grade, whether it is low or high.

In any case: if you have any further questions about setting up and grading rubrics, outlines, and other materials, please share in the comments! I'd like to know what you are doing, and how you are doing it.