BELLEVUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Speech 225/B. Larson

Democracy and Equality

Action Project and Presentation

Democracy and equality are the concepts to frame your final projects around for the last five weeks of this quarter. Groups will also decide on a topic or issue related to democracy and equality they wish to explore. This project will develop a plan of action that will be implemented this quarter. Students will present their topic to the class during the last week of the quarter and report on the process and results of their action project.

Requirements:

1. Each team will select and get instructor approval to investigate an issue of importance in their world that is related to democracy and equality. These issues should challenge you to investigate areas you have never gone before, and talk to experts/professionals who have experience related to the topics.

2. Each group will research to discover the multiple perspectives surrounding their issue, who is involved, and how this issue affects them, in order to understand the problem and develop a practical and plausible plan of action to make a difference concerning this issue.

3. Groups will use resources such as the Standard Agenda as well as the Mix It Up Handbook methods of decision making and problem solving, and PERT for implementing their project.

4. Students will conduct interviews, surveys and traditional research of publications and documents to support their ideas and proposals. Three support sources, from a variety of credible and reliable journals, interviews, websites and books are required.

5. Small group symposiums will take place on June 3rd through June 8th, to report on group issue and implementation. Each group member will be responsible for a 4 minute speech, which will include at least three separate sources of information, to be included on their final preparation outline in MLA or APA format. Groups will present a packet containing each member’s word-processed outline on the day they speak. Each member should follow the Outline Template posted on our class website, using proper numbering, lettering and indentation.

6. Attendance is required for each day of class; if you miss class and I take attendance you will be sacrificing at least 10 points per day on regular class days and 20 points per day on symposium days.

7. Students must check class website at least twice a week for instructions, updates, and forms.

Please refer to the following schedule for assignments and due dates:

Schedule:

Week Five 05/05/04: Chapter 6: Developing Effective Teams

Groups meet, and get organized.
Each group decides on a topic/issue.
Groups conduct first Mix It Up type meeting on Friday to get started on their action project.
Members introduce themselves and give a brief (5 min) biographical introduction to their group members.

Assignment: Read Chapter 6 by 05/07/04. Journal #3 due May 14^th.

Week Two 05/10/04: Chapter 7: Defective Decision Making & Problem Solving

We will view a film to analyze how Defective/Effective Decision Making and Methods of Problem solving are used.

Tasks and deadlines:

Groups must have organizational methods in place: and begin keeping track of attendance/participation/preparation and group climate.
Groups will designate a facilitator to receive facilitator training in class and help lead discussions.
Groups will have decided on roles and rules for group members
By Friday, groups will have started their investigations and will begin planning their action project in detail (Standard Agenda and/or Mix It Up framework)., using PERT for implementation guidelines.

Assignment: Read Chapter 7 by 05/10/04.

Week Three 05/17/04: Chapter 8 – Effective Decision Making and Problem Solving

Teams will finalize a Plan of Action and will begin implementation.
Members should be sure to take detailed notes on observations during the process of implementation and how group is operating/communicating within the implementation mode.
Team observations and conclusions on the Action Project will be used in symposium presentations.

Assignment: Read Chapter 8 by 05/17/04. Journal #4 – Due May 28^th.

Week Four 05/24/04: Chapter 9 – Power in Groups: A Central Dynamic

Teams will complete implementation of Action Projects, and begin writing up their evaluation of their project and conclusions. This will become a part of their group evaluation for the Action Project.
Teams will allocate perspectives on their issue for group members to discuss during their symposium presentation.
Deadline: Rough Draft Outlines will be due on Friday, and teams will have completed preparations for symposium speeches.

Assignment: Read Chapter 9 by 05/24/04. Rough Drafts of Indiv. Outlines Due June 1^st.

Week Five 06/01/04: Chapter 10 – Conflict Mgmt. in Groups & Group Presentations Begin

Groups will finalize their presentations this week.
Presentations must include a variety of perspectives on the issue.
Member(s) of each group will be responsible for describing the solutions/action taken, how the process of implementation went, observations and conclusions, what group members learned through the project (in relation to the problem/solutions, and in relation to small group communication), and what questions remain unanswered.
Final drafts of Individual outlines due, word-processed, in brief outline format (no scripts allowed) and including three credible/reliable sources per student in MLA or APA format.
First Democracy and Equality Group Presentation on Thursday, June 3rd.

Assignment: Read Chapter 10 by June 1^st. Exercise to follow.

Week Six 06/07/04: Presentations to Class – (continued)

Each group will consist of three to seven students and will make a presentation to the class which includes:

1. A brief introduction to your group and its Action Project

2. Individual speeches examining the issue from multiple perspectives (who’s eyes are you looking at the issue through?).

3. Two outlines required: a word processed outline with sources to present to the instructor before the speech, and one for you to speak from.

3. Individual Speeches will be a minimum of five minutes each.

4. Presentation will include a summary of the process, conclusions, learnings, and unanswered questions.

Students will speak from brief outlines (see template on website), no scripts allowed.
Each student must have three unique sources listed on their word-processed outline in MLA/APA format. Group members may not have overlapping sources, i.e. sources can not be used by more than one group member. Three unique research sources are required.
Attendance by all class members is required for all symposiums. Attendance will be taken by instructor, and 20 points will be deducted for each symposium day absent.

Assignments:Teams will complete and submit their Group Essay Evaluation (Instructions for essay will be posted on website), Attendance, Preparation, and Participation on __________.

Mix It Up Project Worksheets follow:

Democracy & Equality Project Worksheet Group#______________________

GroupName________________

I. The Research Topic/Problem:

______________________________________________________________________

II. The Overarching Question to be answered:

III. The parts of the question each member will answer during presentation:

Name: Email: Phone: