Case study presentation details

Preparation: Presentations are on a given, assigned date (tbd based on student preferences). Prior to that date, everyone reads all the sections (if a section is >1 page you can skim). Those presenting read their whole section (even if longer than a page) and also finds some outside sources to tell us about the issue; with your partner you'll identify one or more relevant specific case (hence "case study") that isn't in the reading, to tell us about (or, go substantially more in-depth into a case that's merely mentioned in the book). To prepare for the presentation, you'll identify the stakeholders (people affected) in your case(s), and the particular choice or action that was made (or that could have been made) that you want to analyse. You'll talk to your partner about the five "workable" ethical theories and what an analysis under each might look like—but then you'll narrow down which of them seem most applicable, which you'll decide to present. You can in general flip a little forward or backward in the book from your assigned section to find other similar issues, including some where the book has performed the kind of ethical analysis you'll need to do here.

Content: We've all read the section, so a quick summary is fine (to remind us) but shouldn't take up much time. Some readings include a specific incident, but all presentations should include at least one relevant specific case (hence "case study") to tell us about, that isn't in the reading. Some personal experience is fine, but it should not dominate the presentation or be the primary case discussed. Probably no video unless it's extremely important to the case (and also very short), but pictures are good. The presentation should spend significant time on ethical analysis of the choices or actions, and should explicitly reference ethical frameworks to support your arguments (but need not and should not present a laundry list of all five frameworks—choose one or two that apply best).

Logistics: Each presentation should be about six minutes (plus a couple minutes for questions and feedback). The division doesn't have to be 50% but both partners should speak. Visual aids (e.g. slides) are permitted but not required; if you will have any technical needs you should talk to me before the class to double-check and/or transfer files or whatever. Your last slide (if you do slides) or a separate piece of paper should list the sources you used for anything you present as fact. (Wikipedia is a great place to learn about stuff and you're welcome to use it and similar sites, but it should not be the source of record for any citable facts.)

Rubric: This is the rubric I plan to use, and may help you plan your presentation. In general I will start by assigning the same score to both partners in a group, but if I have reason to assign separate scores I can do that too. This is a 10-point analytic rubric, and most items are either yes or no (what computer scientists call "boolean"); some items have a breakdown for full vs partial credit.

Content:

• Summary of section is brief. 1/0
• Presents case study using outside material. 2/1/0
  • ✓: Clear and complete recounting of relevant story; substantial content is from outside reading; source is mentioned and reliable and references are listed (either in final slide or in email after class).
  • ✓−: Story is presented and relevant but: outside content is minimal; or important details are omitted; or source is not mentioned; or reference list is not given.
• Addresses question of ethics. 2/1/0
  • ✓: Identifies clear issue raised by case that leads to a challenging decision, explains who is involved, how they're affected, and draws clear conclusion based on ethical reasoning.
  • ✓−: Relevant issue is raised and attempt is made at ethical reasoning (e.g. one of the ethical frameworks is mentioned) but effects of decision are unclear and/or conclusion is not well-founded.

Form:

• Both partners speak with reasonable balance. 1/0
• Speaks confidently and fluidly. 1/0
• Prepared with notes (or memorisation) without directly reading from notes or slides. 1/0
  • You don't have to memorise your speech, but that means you should probably have notes in front of you.
  • Checking notes is totally fine, and encouraged!
  • If you have (short) exact quotes from a source, those are fine to read; also if you are quoting percentages or other statistics, it's good to refer to your notes to get them right.
  • Tip: Avoid using full sentences in your presentation notes or on your slides (if any). If they have full sentences, you'll tend to read them, but if not, you'll speak more naturally and in your own words.
• Prepared with bibliography page or slide; tech (if any) is ready to go. 1/0
  • If you use slides (not required), put citations on the last slide. If you don't use slides, have them on a sheet of paper to give to me in class.
  • If you have slides (not required), work out in advance how you'll be displaying them without taking multiple minutes to get them loaded up on the screen (e.g. load from flash drive, project from laptop, get them on the classroom computer before class, whatever). We don't have much time to change over between presentations!
• Time management 1/0
  • Aim for 6 minutes; a little over or a little under is fine.
  • Tip: Practice your talk, with your partner, out loud, and time it!

Strikes (i.e. things not to do!):

• In the course of the presentation, present notably false or irrelevant information. (each) −1

What happens if my partner doesn't show up? In general, the presentation will run even if only one of a pair is in attendance. If your partner is absent I will make allowances for the fact that we're getting "half a presentation", either by letting it run short or by filling some detail in myself (or both). (My goal here is to try very hard not to penalise one partner if the other is missing, though I can't deny it might be a bit more stressful.) If there is time in the schedule I might reschedule the presentation instead, but don't assume in advance that I will do so.