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Mystery Pastry Reading Project

Mystery Pastry Reading Project

Brigitte Malivert

Hospitality Management

HMGT 1204

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The Mystery Pastry Reading Project is a two-part reading comprehension and critical thinking activity that replaces one of three unit quizzes in the HMGT 1204. Part I is an in-class, closed-note quiz in which students receive five anonymized pastry passages, each describing a product from a curated list (eg. Napoleon, Eclair, Cream Puff, Palmier, Croissant), and must identify each product through close reading and textual evidence. Part II is an out-of-class assignment in which each student creates a single PPT slide for their individually assigned final presentation product, embedding clues through a narrative passage, ingredient list, tools list, and production timeline without naming the product. Part II connects directly to the final presentation: students are already researching their assigned product, and the slide requires them to translate that research into precise descriptive writing. The activity culminates in a class reveal event during the last session before presentations, in which slides are displayed in randomized order, the class guesses together, and the sequence of correct identifications sets the presentation order.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

This activity is designed to develop and assess the following competencies:
• Students will demonstrate close reading skills by identifying key details, drawing evidence-based conclusions, and distinguishing relevant information from supporting context in professional culinary texts.
• Students will apply discipline-specific vocabulary and product knowledge to decode and produce written descriptions of pastry items.
• Students will compare and contrast technical characteristics of multiple pastry products, including ingredient composition, equipment requirements, and production logic.
• Students will practice professional writing by composing a structured, technically accurate mystery passage that integrates culinary terminology, process description, and sensory language.
• Students will connect reading comprehension skills to their ongoing product research, reinforcing the relationship between reading, writing, and practical knowledge in a professional culinary context.
• Students will engage in peer learning through a structured class activity that rewards precise writing and attentive reading.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity is best placed near the end of the semester, after students have had sufficient exposure to foundational pastry products and techniques and have received their final presentation product assignments. Ideal placement is Week 12 or 13, when students have some familiarity with the products on the mystery list but may not yet have made all of them.

Part I in-class time: One class session of 45 minutes. Students receive the five passages and the sample passage for orientation, complete their written responses individually, and submit before leaving. No outside research is permitted. A brief debrief discussion of the sample passage can open the session before timed work begins.

Part II out-of-class time: Students should plan for two to three hours outside of class. This includes reviewing their existing product research, drafting the narrative passage, assembling the ingredient list and tools list, building the production timeline, and laying out the slide. Because Part II draws on research already underway for the final presentation, the additional research burden is minimal.

Presentation: Class session post final exam, dedicated to displaying and guessing slides as a group. The instructor randomizes the slide order before class. Each slide is displayed for approximately five to eight minutes of reading and discussion before the class commits to an identification. The sequence of correct identifications determines presentation order for the following session, which creates genuine engagement with each slide.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Preparation for Part I requires the instructor to compose five mystery passages in advance, one for each product on the list. Passages should be written so that no single passage is significantly easier or harder to decode than the others. Each passage should contain at least three strong, product-specific clues distributed across the narrative, ingredient list, and tools list. The sample croissant passage included in this document is provided to orient students to the format and should not be used as one of the five graded passages.

Part I is administered as a closed-note, in-class quiz. Students will have to review the semester's production thus allowing them to also prepare for the final exam. Students receive the passage packet and a separate response sheet. Annotating the passages is encouraged. Response sheets are collected at the end of the session. Since students must write their own evidence-based responses citing specific language from the passages, the analysis requirement substantially limits the value of guessing or sharing answers.

For Part II, each student's assigned product is the same product they are researching for their final presentation, so no new product assignment is needed. Students submit their slide to Brightspace before the reveal session. The instructor collects all submissions, removes any accidentally included product names from file names, randomizes the order, and prepares a single display deck for the reveal session. Keeping the product names out of file names is important for maintaining the game format.

For the reveal event, the instructor tracks guesses on the board. A simple point tally (one point per correct class identification) can be kept as a group score, or individual students whose slides are correctly guessed can receive a small bonus point as recognition for clear writing. The presentation order for the final session is announced at the end of the reveal event.

This is a medium-to-high-stakes assignment. It replaces a unit quiz and therefore carries real grade weight. Part II is also preparation for the final presentation, making it doubly consequential.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

This activity is assessed using the modified AAC&U VALUE Rubric for Reading included in this document, which evaluates four dimensions: Comprehension, Context, Analysis, and Interpretation. The rubric applies to both the Part I written responses and the Part II slide narrative. A point-based grading breakdown is provided in the document. Part I accounts for 50 points total: 20 for correct identification across all five passages and 30 for the quality of textual evidence and explanation. Part II accounts for 50 points distributed across narrative quality and clue integration (20), ingredient and tools accuracy (15), timeline realism (10), and slide readability with all four components present (5).

The rubric was adapted from the Association of American Colleges and Universities VALUE rubric framework to reflect the discipline-specific reading demands of a culinary and hospitality program. The original rubric was modified to address the inferential and comparative reading required when working with professional culinary texts, including ingredient lists, process descriptions, and production timelines.

This course participates in the college-wide general education assessment initiative. The reading rubric used here is aligned with the college's information literacy and communication general education outcomes and may be submitted as part of departmental assessment reporting.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity was designed in response to two related observations: students in the pastry sequence often had difficulty extracting and applying information from professional culinary texts, and the standard unit quiz format did not give students a meaningful way to connect reading skills to the hands-on and research work they were already doing. Replacing the quiz with this two-part activity addressed both issues by making the reading task concrete, discipline-specific, and consequential in more than one direction. This will be officially implemented in the course in Fall of 2026.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Creating and Journalizing Accounting Transactions

Creating and Journalizing Accounting Transactions

Professor Ionie Pierce

Business

Principles of Accounting 1

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Create a service company and integrate what you have learned in class:
Create transactions for your company, include different types of transactions
Journalize your transactions
Post the accounts to the ledger
Prepare unadjusted trial balance
Create and journalize adjustments
Prepare adjusted trial balance
Prepare financial statements
Prepare closing entries
Prepare post-closing trial balance.
You will be asked to present your work to the class

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

– Develop a clear understanding of the accounting cycle, from initial journal entry to the preparation of financial statements.
– Build skills to prepare accurate and complete financial records, ensuring compliance with accounting principles.
– Understand how accounting entries affect the overall financial health of an organization and the preparation of financial reports.

– Gain the ability to communicate financial data effectively, using proper accounting terminology and methods.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The activity is done towards the end of the semester. Seeing that the goal of the activity is to test students' knowledge of their understanding of what they learn, not much in-class activity is done unless students have questions. Students are expected to devote as much out-of-class time as required to complete the project. After completion, students will do a presentation.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

To effectively perform the activities of journalizing, posting, adjusting entries, and closing entries in accounting, adequate preparation is crucial. The preparation needed for each task are:
1. In preparation for writing journal entries, students must understand the transaction. They must analyze each business transaction thoroughly to determine which accounts are affected and whether they should be debited or credited. And whether the transaction involves an asset, liability, equity, revenue, or expense account, as each has different rules for debiting and crediting.
2. In preparation for journalizing entries, the general ledger must be set up and it must be organized with individual accounts for each asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense category. The debit and credit amounts for each journal entry, as well as the accounts involved must be double-check, to make sure that everything balances correctly.
3. In preparation for posting entries you have to make sure you know how to transfer amounts from the journal to the ledger while maintaining the correct debit/credit balance. And all journal entries must be posted to the ledger in a timely manner to ensure that the trial balance is accurate and up to date.
4. In preparation for adjusting entries you must look at the current trial balance to identify accounts that may require adjustments for example, accounts like prepaid expenses, unearned revenue, accrued expenses. And make sure you can differentiate between accruals, which are revenues and expenses that have been earned/incurred but not yet recorded and deferrals which are transactions where money was received or paid in advance of actual recognition.
5. In preparation for closing entries, temporary accounts need to be identified, because temporary accounts need to be closed at the end of the accounting period. These typically include revenues, expenses, and drawings/dividends accounts. Revenue accounts such as sales, service revenue, etc., and expense accounts such as salaries, utilities, etc. need to be transferred to an income summary account. And understand how the net income or loss from the income summary will affect the retained earnings account. Then transfer dividends/drawings, if applicable to retained earnings/Owner's Equity. After performing closing entries, you must confirm that the temporary accounts which are revenues, expenses, dividends/drawings have been reduced to zero, and the balances have been transferred to retained earnings/owner's equity.
The activity is high-stakes because it is used as a major component of the final grade, in which students' performance is critically evaluated.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The VALUE Rubric helps to assess general education outcomes. It is structured to assess student work on a range of criteria using levels of performance. The VALUE Rubric can be adapted to evaluate accounting tasks, especially in areas like critical thinking, problem-solving, and quantitative literacy. The VALUE rubrics in accounting activities include
Criteria for Assessment and Levels of Performance. The criteria for assessment includes Knowledge of Accounting Concepts, Problem Solving, Application of Skills, and Accuracy of Work. The Levels of Performance includes Capstone/Excellent, Milestones /Proficient, Benchmark/Basic and Beginning/Needs Improvement.
I am not aware that the course is part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity works well in my class. Students were able to do the work and present it with knowledge that they have grasp the concepts taught in class. Yes, I will repeat this in my class next semester because it helps to reinforce the concepts taught. I did not encounter any challenge. What students need clarification on, I explained it to them. Students did well, therefore, I would not make any changes. Students were able to prepare their work and present it so they were glad they understand the concepts not only to put it on paper, but also to present it.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Have example of a rubric but do not know how to attach it or create a link.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Escape the Math

Escape the Math

Julia Rivera

Math Department/New York City College of Technology

Mat1275CO (College Algebra and Trigonometry)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Group Activity: Escape Room game about Factoring. There are 5 puzzles to complete within the hour

Independent Activity: Escape Room game about Quadratics l. They had 5 puzzles to complete within the hour.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

For this acitivity my goal was to get students motivated in learning math while being in groups vs doing the work independenthly. I wanted to observe if students do better when they work independently or when they work in groups

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I used this activity during the beginning, middle and end of semester. I did this acitivity after I lectured giving students at least an hr to complete and discuss.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

I needed to create to different handouts with different exercises. The handout would be given during the group activity and the other handout would be given during independent work. After I instructed the factoring lesson. I told students they had one hr to complete the challenges.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

To assess the students I would walk around and observe how students were as a group vs how they were independently. I noticed students that work in groups were less dependent of me then students working independently. Then after I gave the students 2 surveys to fill out. The surveys asked questions on whether they enjoyed the activity as a group or if they enjoyed the activity when working alone. I asked them how they felt when asked to be put in groups and what they felt when they were asked to do the activity by themeselves.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I believed the acitivity went well. During the group activity, students were able to communicate with each other and also look at other teams to get some advice or motivation from them. During the independent activity students were more quiet but they were in competition with one another since it was an escape game activity. I did provide extra credit for those that did escape on time. However for the students that did not escape on time had homework assignment. Also I noticed from the surveys is that students actually prefer to work alone than in groups. Cons in working groups was that they felt rushed and they weren’t sure if they were able to keep up with their peers. Pros was that they were able to compare answers and it did help them communicate better and they had fun exploring and seeing other peers answers. Also listening to music while working helps motivate them.
I would repeat this activity but instead of an escape game I’ll probably just give them a handout and ask them to work in groups and then another day ask them to work independently. Overall they enjoyed the activity and I would recommend other Professors to try it. It’s just creating the game will take some time that’s all.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GpFfiHfyneEFM3iG7mKFB6-hVcTWNGa0/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14y4mZ1lzMTdmAfIv1GHei5vSMPudWAsL/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ITaQyk2ubHv7yrtk5DzqOIFlf0cSs2mQ/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZXWfN01ZJxv8rZCWorsvJ-UzRUb_-HyJ/view?usp=drivesdk

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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NUR1130 Clinical Assignmemt

NUR1130 Clinical Assignmemt

Kalliopi Parginos

NURSING DEPARTMENT/City Tech

Living lab

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Clinical assignment for students

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Improve the understanding in Diabetes and the administration off different insulins

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Close to the end of the semester

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Study of Diabetes pathophysiology
Difference between Type 1 and Type 2
Administration of different insulins

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Case study and Multiple choice questions

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

No challenges were identified

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

N/A

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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The Process Letter

The Process Letter

JHON SINGLETON

English Department/New York City College of Technology

ENG 1101- E093

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The Process Letter is a formal exploration of the student's personal writing process journal within a semester. Think of it as a "love letter" to self and future composition level 2 instructor.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. Students will be able to reflect and highlight thoughts and perceptions about the course content.
2. Students will express in writing their understanding of, reflections on, response to, or analysis of difficult writing academic concepts.
3. Students will express in writing their understanding of, reflections on, response to, or analysis of difficult writing moments.
4. Students will express a writing paragraph sample completed during the semester, showing editing and revising prowess that adheres to MLA format.
5. To further their academic writing journey, students have the opportunity to contribute to their future professor's itinerary/discussions for future lessons. This continues with Paulo Freire's "non-banking" system.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I introduce The Process Letter activity once the research project has been talked about. It occurred during the 10th week of the semester. We went through the 6-paragraph process step by step using a student sample/ example. this takes about a class session. However, students are encouraged and welcome to discuss the parts of the letter during a 15-minute open forum with the remaining class session. Students are entitled to complete two rough drafts before I grade the final draft. 2 hours is expected over 5 weeks is expected. It is due along with the research project.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The preparation that is required is completing at least 70% of the course material to the student an opportunity to express a full reflection.
As mentioned above, I go through through the 6-paragraph process step by step using a student sample/ example. this takes about a class session.
I will consider this a "middle stakes" assignment because it is worth 10% of their final course grade, Most of the assignment is personalized and only ONE paragraph requires MLA format.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

There is a rubric for this assignment. It is based on a 10pt analysis of the student's presentation. Because of college-wide general education assessment initiatives, I believe a rubric is mandatory.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

My students love this activity. It allows them to have a pow-wow with their classmates about their triumphs and difficulties during the semester. I even learn how to improve the course for the following semester. The challenges were few but there were about 4 students who kept putting the project off until the last minute even with positive encouragement. They thought the letter was an easy A and completed it late.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Coping with Stress

Coping with Stress

Roriann Smith

Social Science

Intro to psychology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This was a two-part assignment where students had to first write a self-reflection essay detailing a personal experience with stress. They were required to describe the specific situation, discuss their emotional responses to the stressful event, and the coping mechanisms they employed to manage the stress, providing details on which strategies were effective and which were not. Additionally, students needed to analyze how psychological theories and concepts discussed in class aligned with or differed from their personal experiences. They were also asked to consider how cultural practices, traditions, and/or historical events may have contributed to their response to the stressful situation.

For the second part of the assignment, in groups of 4-5 students, each group had to select and discuss two anonymous students' stressful experiences from part one. The groups were then tasked with brainstorming a range of applicable coping mechanisms, drawing from both personal experiences and researched strategies, including local resources geared towards stress management. Using the information gathered, students were asked to create a compelling podcast episode, television show segment, or radio show where they engaged in a reflective dialogue concerning the assigned reflection essays, encouraged alternative coping mechanisms, and presented local resources as viable solutions. The show could be prerecorded or live.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The main goals of this assignment were to:
• Understand Stress and Emotional Responses:
o I want students to develop a deeper understanding of personal emotional responses to stress and the factors that trigger these responses.
• Critical Reflection and Analysis:
o This assignment would allow students to cultivate critical reflection skills by analyzing personal experiences and comparing them with established psychological theories and concepts.
• Public Speaking and Presentation:
o Students would improve public speaking and presentation skills through the creation and delivery of the podcast or show.
• Empathy and Support:
o Another goal was to encourage empathy and support within the group by discussing and reflecting on peers’ stressful experiences and suggesting helpful coping mechanisms.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The first part of the assignment was done within the first month of the beginning of the semester. Part 2 was due on the last day of classes. Students were given 30 minutes on three separate days to work with their groups on the project. Depending on the scope of students’ projects, the out-of-class time varied.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Due to the complexity, the depth of knowledge and skills required, and its impact on students' grades this assignment is high stakes. The assignment requires a detailed self-reflection that involves personal introspection, analysis of emotional responses, coping mechanisms, and alignment with psychological theories which requires significant effort and understanding. The second part involves group work involving a collaborative element that requires coordination, communication, and cooperation among group members. Creating a podcast episode, television show segment, or radio show involves content creation, technical skills, creativity, and public presentation abilities which demands substantial time and effort. The assignment integrates various skills such as critical thinking, research, public speaking, empathy, and cultural awareness. The comprehensive nature of the task suggests a higher level of difficulty.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The first part of the assignment was assessed using the Writing VALUE rubric. For the second part of the assignment, I developed a custom rubric by incorporating elements from the Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Integrative Learning, and Oral Communication VALUE rubrics.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This assignment was quite successful in my class, so I plan to repeat it. Although I didn’t encounter any major challenges, providing students with an example to follow could help them generate ideas more easily. Additionally, I would allocate more class time for students to work on their projects, as some groups had difficulty coordinating due to conflicting schedules. Students seemed to enjoy the production part of the assignment, and some groups wished they had been more creative after seeing other groups’ projects.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Hzqc8nbFOwKpua0U1uBd1y1mH1GLwuMR?usp=drive_link

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Group Presentation & Peer Evaluation

Group Presentation & Peer Evaluation

Giovanna Acosta

Social Sciences/ Citytech

PSY 2404- Personnel & Organizational Psychology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Class is divided into five groups at the beginning of the semester. Groups work together on assignments and activities and are given opportunities to problem-solve and collaborate during each class.

For this assignment, each group is tasked with selecting a personnel/workplace-related topic from a list provided and leading a 10-minute classroom “training” on that chosen topic. After the presentations, each team member must also complete an individual peer evaluation to discuss team dynamics and how well they believed the team worked together.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

This group assignment aims to assess the ability to integrate “Organizational Learning” in an applied context. The goal of the presentation is to showcase the group's understanding of their selected topic and help the audience understand it as well.

This assignment also aims to encourage team members to reflect on the general team dynamics they observed as well as the role that they played in it.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This assignment is due after we cover organizational learning (training and development) and Organizational teams. That way, students can utilize the content learned in the organizational learning session to improve their training, as well as use the content learned during the organizational teams lesson to evaluate their team dynamics when completing the peer evaluation. The assignment consists of three parts and the dates are as follows:

– Part 1: Pick a topic out of the list provided- Due: In class, 2/21/24
– Part 2: Group presentation- Due: In class, 4/17/24
– Part 3: Individual Peer Evaluation/Group Reflection – Due: On blackboard end of day 4/17/24

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Teams are tasked with selecting a topic from a list provided. Each topic includes additional sub-topics to help provide guidance.

Additional guidelines include:
– Students must be present during their group presentation to receive credit
– Every member of the team will receive the same grade for the presentation
– Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes long with an additional 5 minutes allotted for questions (For a total of 15 minutes)
– Presentations may use PowerPoint, incorporate handouts, a class activity, videos, or other tasks as appropriate.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Presentation: Max total score- 75%
– Content Knowledge: The presentation exhibits a deep understanding of the chosen topic, with clear connections made to industrial organizational psychology principles.
Max score: 20%
– Presentation delivery- Engagement: The presentation is highly engaging, clear, and well-paced, capturing the audience's attention throughout. Visual aids, if used, enhance comprehension.
Max score: 15%
– Presentation delivery- Organization & Structure: The presentation is well-organized, with a clear structure that guides the audience through the content logically. Transitions between sections are smooth and seamless.
Max score: 15%
– Collaboration & Teamwork: All group members actively contribute to the presentation, demonstrating strong teamwork, cooperation, and mutual support.
Max score- 15%
– Time Management
The presentation stays within the allotted time frame (10 minutes), effectively managing time for content delivery and audience engagement.
Max score- 10%

Individual Peer Evaluation/Group Reflection : Max Total score: 25%
– Completes evaluation: Max score- 15%
– Demonstrates understanding of group dynamics: Max score- 10%

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I enjoyed this activity very much and I think the students did as well. The students got to work together, explore a topic of their choosing, create a visual, and engage in different group dynamics.

I would repeat this assignment next year as teamwork skills are crucial for success not only in the workplace but in the classroom as well. Learning how to work together on a singular goal is a valuable skill for any student to learn. Students enjoyed how this activity let them take the lead and positioned them as the experts on their chosen topic. In addition, I think the students enjoyed the peer evaluation as it allowed them to reflect on their roles, and what could have been improved, as well as express any challenges they may have faced with others in their team.

One challenge I encountered is the timing. Students were allotted 10 minutes to present. Every single group went over except one. In the future, I would provide more time for each group (15 minutes rather than 10) because some groups had five people and, therefore could have used a little more time to fully express their ideas. In addition, I would move the entire assignment to the end of the semester rather than in the middle, so that students have the opportunity to work together for a while longer as the “working together” is where I believe the value is.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Topics students got to pick from:

1. Employee Motivation and Engagement:
Theories of motivation (e.g., Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory) and their application in the workplace.
Strategies for enhancing employee engagement and job satisfaction.
The role of rewards, recognition, and feedback in motivating employees.

2. Leadership Styles and Organizational Effectiveness:
Different leadership theories (e.g., transformational, transactional, situational) and their impact on organizational outcomes.
Case studies of successful and unsuccessful leadership in real-world organizations.
Strategies for developing effective leadership skills among managers and executives.

3. Workplace Diversity and Inclusion:
The business case for diversity and inclusion.
Strategies for managing diverse teams and promoting inclusivity in the workplace.
Addressing unconscious bias and creating a culture of belonging.

4. Employee Training and Development:
Needs assessment and training program design.
Evaluating the effectiveness of training interventions.
Implementing continuous learning initiatives and career development pathways.

5. Performance Management and Appraisal:
Best practices for setting performance goals and providing feedback.
Performance appraisal methods and their pros and cons.
Addressing performance issues and managing underperformance.

6. Workplace Stress and Well-being:
Identifying sources of workplace stress and their impact on employee health and productivity.
Strategies for promoting work-life balance and managing stress in the workplace.
The role of organizational culture and leadership in fostering employee well-being.

7. Job Analysis and Design:
Conducting job analysis to understand the requirements of different roles within an organization.
Designing jobs to optimize employee satisfaction and performance.
Job crafting and its implications for employee engagement and retention.

8. Organizational Change and Development:
Models of organizational change (e.g., Lewin's Change Management Model, Kotter's Eight-Step Change Model).
Overcoming resistance to change and facilitating successful change initiatives.
Building change-ready organizations in an era of rapid technological and market shifts.

9. Workplace Conflict Resolution:
Understanding the causes of workplace conflict and its impact on productivity and morale.
Conflict resolution strategies and negotiation techniques.
Creating a culture of constructive conflict management and resolution.

10. Employee Well-being Programs:
Designing and implementing wellness programs to promote physical and mental health in the workplace.
Evaluating the effectiveness of well-being initiatives and measuring their impact on organizational outcomes.
Addressing burnout and promoting resilience among employees

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19GmUphRsf5ckPESNOv7DW-MczmsORcRde23ZDKtjbHc/edit