Author: L4 Contributor

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What Is True/What Is Fake? Journalism Today

What Is True/What Is Fake? Journalism Today

Aaron Barlow

English/Arts & Sciences

Introduction to Journalism

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Relation of a story by the professor about an encounter with an elephant (though it can be any story relevant to the instructor’s life that can be verified to some degree, at least, through research). The students are then asked to determine what truth there is in the story, if any, and to justify their conclusions. After the first class, the students are asked to search diligently across the internet for proof/dismissal of the professor’s claims. At the end of the discussion, students vote on the truth (or lack of it) of the story. If they ask the professor to tell them if the vote is correct or not, the response should be a shrug and the comment, “The question is, can you trust me?” This generally leaves the students baffled for a moment but, as the course moves on to other considerations, they generally start to understand.

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

Students are expected to come away with an understanding of the limits of classroom authority and of research itself.

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 exercise is best done early in the semester. It generally takes a full class period plus a couple of homework hours and then about half an hour of the next class.

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 professor needs to prepare relation of the story carefully, including within it enough clues for the students to be able to research the claims made. Students need to be taking notes while the professor talks and need to understand the use that will be made of those notes in the homework assignment. Before beginning to tell the tale, the instructor needs to carefully prepare the students.

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?

Because of the nature of this activity, which lies outside of assessment structures and can be harmed by them, this is not assessed.

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 have been using and developing this exercise for a decade and in a number of different classes and will continue to do so. It helps students understand the differing reactions, in terms of truth value, to different speakers in different positions. Plus, it introduces them to research tasks of a sort they generally have not encountered in other classes.

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.

As part of a book I edited, I include the story I use for this exercise: https://www.academia.edu/888435/Elephant_Morning. When I relate it, I tell it differently, making sure to include dates, places and verifiable events as a basis for student research. The structure of the essay itself comes out, in part, from earlier uses of this exercise–but it also contains its own inaccuracies, liberties taken for the sake of the story. Every instructor has a tale or her or his own that can be used similarly.

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

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Editorial Illustration Part 1 – Project Research

Editorial Illustration Part 1 – Project Research

Sara Woolley Gómez

Communication Design

Illustration 1

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This activity is the introductory assignment of a scaffolded project, in which students create an Editorial Illustration for use to accompany an article in a magazine, printed or online. The project is broken into stages with peer critique and feedback given at each stage, spanning 4 weeks in total.

Part 1 Editorial Illustration Research:

1- Open with a Collaborative Learning Activity:

Rapid Fire Discussion: What do we care about?

There is a sterotype that young people are unaware or unconcerned with social issues and current events.
• Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
• Are there issues or events which you are particularly passionate about?

5 minute Brain Dump:
• In teams, grab a piece of chalk and fill the black board with a brainstorm of every issue you care about.
• If another student’s answer sparks an idea, draw a line to link the ideas.
• There are no wrong answers, but be sure to read before you write! No doubles allowed!

End with a 5 minute Reflection

2- IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT : Editorial Illustration Research

Research: Find an article from a legitimate news source, online or printed, about a topic which you are passionate about or find particularly interesting, as source material for your editorial illustration. Carefully read and analyze those articles.

Brainstorm: Using the Word Stack method taught in an earlier assignment, students will write down all of the key words they can think of relating to the article. They then build out from those key word forming stacks, and make bridges between any concepts that they find related. For example, by theme, color, shape, etc. This part is entirely personal and represents part of their unique artistic lens.

Write: Students author a blog post on open lab in response to the article. Key stakeholders are identified. Who does this issue matter to and why? Students share the article as well as their brainstorm with their peers.

Discuss: Students prepare a brief presentation of their chosen article and brainstorm.

Presentation: Students present their findings to their peers, showing all related materials through the open lab. 3 minutes per student with an additional 2 minute Q&A.

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

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME
Students discuss / analyze core beliefs and the origins of the core belief.
Analyze content and evaluate evidence
Apply critical thinking skills to make creative inferences
Evaluate different ethical perspectives and concepts
Respect and Use Creativity

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 the introductory assignment of a 4 part scaffolded project, Editorial Illustration. We begin this month long project midway through the semester. It builds upon knowledge gained from two preceding projects, such as illustration professional practices, the revision process, technical skills, and concept development techniques. It also uses a place based learning experience at the New York Society of Illustrators annual show, as a springboard for the assignment.

This activity, project research is an in class activity and purposely designed so to allow opportunity for collaborative learning. It will take the full class session (3 hours) to complete. Students are expected to continue the assignment outside of class during the next three parts of the assignment leading to the final illustration and work process 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?

This activity does not require a great deal of preparation. As previously noted, the art form of Editorial Illustration is previously introduced through a place based learning experience at the New York Society of Illustrators. Students are not asked to come in with any concept of what they would like to work on. Instead they are to identify issues the care passionately about through collaborative learning with their peers. This also allows them to recognize and discuss multiple perspectives. Then they are to inform their opinions through thorough research. Then finally to present the issue to the class, expressing their views on it, and showing their research and an accompanying brainstorm.

This is a low stakes activity. It in an of itself is not graded, however it contributes to the process development of a high stakes project.

Students are given the following evaluation criteria:

Overall quality of your presentation to the class.
Clarity while explaining the topic you’ve chosen and it's significance.
Quality and depth of the Brainstorm created based on the topic.

• Identify the key stakeholders in the issue.
• Describe your perspective on the issue.
• Describe how different ethical perspectives might be applied.
• Explain your brainstorm, and share any creative insights or inferences it may have sparked.

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 uses a VALUE rubric to access the following learning outcomes:

Self Reflect and Identify personal values and ethics
Analyze content and evaluate evidence
Apply critical thinking skills to make creative inferences
Discern multiple perspectives

In addition I access the following outcomes using the same 4 tiered rating system:

Respect and Use of Creativity.
Overall quality and professionalism of presentation.

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 description represents a revision of a current assignment in order to improve upon it. Currently students are coming into class after having researched and chosen a topic on their own.

This new structured in class version allows students to learn collaboratively, and to discern multiple perspectives through evaluating the work of their peers.

Students in the current version of the assignment seem to greatly enjoy presenting the issue and their views on it as well as creative work to their peers.

One challenge I encountered was identifying the difference between a legitimate or false news source. At first I dealt with this on an individual basis, but once it had come up for discussion a second time I stopped the class to discuss the difference as a group, leading them to come up with a set of parameters.

In the future I'd structure in the same discussion and provide some better examples.

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.

Assignment Instructions:

Editorial Illustration (4 part project)

Overall Project Description:

Create an Editorial Illustration for use to accompany an article in a magazine, printed or online. This project is broken into stages with peer critique and critical feedback given at each stage, spanning 4 weeks in total.

The final illustration must be created using a limited palate of black, white, and one other color and should be made using a combination of traditional drawing / inking skills and digital coloring. Final art should be made to fit the real magazine’s specs. (Approx 9” x12”)

Final work will be judged on the clarity and cleverness of the overall concept, thoughtful utilization of composition, the use of value, and of course the skillfulness of overall technique.
_______________________________________________________

Part 1 of 4

Rapid Fire Discussion: What do we care about?

There is a sterotype that young people are unaware or unconcerned with social issues and current events.
• Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
• Are there issues or events which you are particularly passionate about?

5 minute Brain Dump:
• In teams, grab a piece of chalk and fill the black board with a brainstorm of every issue you care about.
• If another student’s answer sparks an idea, draw a line to link the ideas.
• There are no wrong answers, but be sure to read before you write! No doubles allowed!

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT : Editorial Illustration Research

Research: Find an article from a legitimate news source, online or printed, about a topic which you are passionate about or find particularly interesting, as source material for your editorial illustration. Carefully read and analyze those articles.

Brainstorm: Using the Word Stack method we’ve used for earlier assignments, write down all of the key words you can think of related to the article. Be sure to include the actions – what is happening, not just who, what, or where.

Write: A blog post on open lab in response to the article. Identify the key stakeholders. Who does this matter to and why? Highlight particular areas of interest to you. Share the article as well as your brainstorm and any images you may consider using in the future as reference material.

Discuss: Prepare a brief presentation of your chosen article and brainstorm.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME
Students discuss / analyze core beliefs and the origins of the core belief.
Analyze content and evaluate evidence
Apply critical thinking skills to make creative inferences
Evaluate different ethical perspectives and concepts
Respect and Use Creativity

PURPOSE
Identify personal values and understand how passion to fuels your work.
Listen to the values and consider the perspectives of others.
Understand ethical perspectives.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
Overall quality of your presentation to the class.
Clarity while explaining the topic you’ve chosen and it's significance.
Quality and depth of the Brainstorm created based on the topic.

• Identify the key stakeholders in the issue.
• Describe your perspective on the issue.
• Describe how different ethical perspectives might be applied.
• Explain your brainstorm, and share any creative insights or inferences it may have sparked.

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

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/woolley-comd2313sp17/2017/05/03/editorial-illustration-process-book-examples/

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The ethical issue of biomedical engineering

The ethical issue of biomedical engineering

Chen Xu

Computer Engineering Technology

BMET1101

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In BMET1101, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Technology, different subareas of biomedical engineering are introduced. Discuss the new development of prosthetic arm, watch the video of mind controlled robotic arm. Ask students to research about different aspects, such as biomechanics, neural engineering, and biomedical instrumentation, medical imaging. Then move to cyborg (short for "cybernetic organism") in the novel and movies, which is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts, such as iron man, spider man, and Darth Vader. Discuss the ethical issues, such as will the artificial devices may affect personal identity and dignity, can human still be held morally responsible for their behavior when their brain has been engineered by others to function in certain way?

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

Inspire students to explore the development of technology and critically think about the limit of technology.

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?

At the end of semester. Maybe discuss some topics in one lecture, then let students do more research, revisit the topics again after two or three weeks.

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

Show some videos, and introduce the background. It’s an open-ended question, write or present as a project.

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?

Breadth of knowledge, lifelong learning, inquiry and analysis, integrate learning, ethics and value.

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?

Still in course design stage.

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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Where does our steel come from?

Where does our steel come from?

John McCullough

Entertainment Technology/Tech and Design

ENT 2140 – Basic Welding

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

For this assignment, students will answer the question “where does Brooklyn get its steel?” by writing a 3-5 page paper describing some part of the steel supply chain. They could focus on how and where it is mined, how and where it is formed into the shapes we use, or how the finished product gets from its point of origin to the warehouses of Brooklyn steel yards. They can earn up to 5 points on their final grade by completing this assignment.

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

By completing this assignment, students will be able to describe the steel supply chain.

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 will take place in the second half of the semester, when students are mostly working on their lab projects in class and have time outside of class for homework. I would expect students to spend up to five hours on this 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?

This is an extra credit activity.

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?

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?

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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Jeopardy review game

Jeopardy review game

Viviana Acquaviva

Physics

PHYS 1118 (Astronomy II)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

I created a few Jeopardy games to do in-class review for the midterm and final exams; this is an example of them. I split the class in two teams and they play the game by choosing the category and points; all members of the winning team usually get extra credit.

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

There are both course-specific and gen-ed learning goals. On the one hand, we get to review content for upcoming exams. On the other, I hope that students get a chance to improve their teamwork skills, boost their confidence, and just simply see that science can be fun in many ways.

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 have used it before midterm and final exams and usually allocate about 30 minutes of class time.

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 students don't need to prepare besides their usual pre-exam review; there is a small amount of extra credit awarded but I would still think that this is a low-stakes activity meant to increase their confidence and have fun.

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 grading is immediate and it usually just results in an EC point for the winning team.

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 started proposing this activity in class following a student's suggestion on a midterm survey, and after speaking about it with a friend who has been teaching in high school and told me about the website to create the games. It was very popular and I would always do it if I had the time – unfortunately I always feel that time is such a precious resource that I need to also use more traditional review methods (I always give a mock exam) and I am not always able to do it. Students appreciate the novelty of it and the fun aspect – many do enjoy a healthy level of competition.

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://www.superteachertools.net/jeopardyx/jeopardy-review-game-flash.php?gamefile=1429126522#.V9xbrYXM5Ak

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Evaluating a Research Article

Evaluating a Research Article

Susan Phillip

Hospitality Management

Research Seminar HMGT 3502

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Research Seminar Assignment HMGT3502

Perceptions of the Importance and Preparedness of Interpersonal Communication
Skills of the Entry-Level Hospitality Leader: Implications for Hospitality Educators
By Jeff Lolli http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5a7c103b-b208-4719-a5af-4cb9f853a0ae%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4201

1. Read the article provided in the link above by logging into City Tech’s library’s website
2. Why do you think it is necessary to log in to the library to get this article?
3. Read the article and write a 100-150-word summary of the article that accurately conveys its purpose.
4. When was the work published?
5. Who is the audience and how do you know?
6. In what kind of research can this source be useful?
7. Does the work meet the standards to be considered an academic/scholarly source? How do you know?
8. Are the qualifications of the author appropriate for an academic article? Briefly describe the authors’ qualifications.
9. Restate the purpose of the paper in your own words. Do you think it is clearly stated? Why?
10. How can the bibliography of the article be used in research?

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

The goal of the assignment is for students to critically assess the quality of a source and the value of the source to their research.

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?

Information sources are discussed very early in the semester and the assignment follows the discussion. It is an out of class assignment.

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

Students will have library instruction before this assignment.l

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?

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?

It works very well and I will repeat 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.

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

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App Review

App Review

Tanya Goetz

Communication Design

COMD 4900 Internship

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students are assigned the task of reviewing 2 iPad or iPhone apps for the Creative Professional as one of their internship journal entries in this class. As preparation for this assignment, during our class meeting, I present several apps currently in use in the industry such as Paper, Evernote, Flipboard, MyPrice, Pocket, and Neenah Cabinet. I also provide them with time during class on the department’s iPads to work with these apps after we discuss them. I also given them a verbal review of the app Flipboard, an app I use regularly. During class, I also have them read this short review for the Paper app from MacWorld at http://www.macworld.com/article/2107944/paper-review-fiftythrees-sketching-app-gets-ios-7-update-dots-and-brush-sizes.html
In order to help them find pertinent apps to review, I provide them with the following article from the Guardian ” The top 50 apps for Creative Minds” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/22/the-top-50-apps-for-creative-minds. I also allow them to review one of the apps we’ve discussed in class. I give them three weeks to complete this journal entry on their internship blog. I also provide them with samples of a past student’s review of an app such as this one: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/rbayron-eportfolio/academics/internships/week-5-6-apps/

I also the students to present their app reviews orally to the class once the reviews are completed.

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

Lifelong Learning
Writing for Professional Purposes
Thinking Critically
Oral Communication

I want students to realize through this assignment that the tools are ever changing in our field and that, as part of their professional lives, they will be required to use new skills, update their skill sets and find new methods to become more efficient at doing their work. Reading professional journals and technology sections of general interest magazines and newspapers that cover our field are key resources for identifying tools they should be exploring. Along with identifying these new tools, they will often be required to communicate how they are using these tools to supervisors and to colleagues. Writing a review of an apps key features helps students develop their abilities in this area as it necessitates thinking critically about an app’s features and then requires them to articulate their thoughts first in writing and then orally to the class. I want the students to share their experience with their classmates, perhaps inspiring a peer to use an app they hadn’t yet tried out.

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 assign this lesson sometime between week 5 and week 7 in the semester because at that point most of the students are at this point established in their internship. I devote 45 minutes of one class to covering different apps currently in use and then allow the students 45 minutes to explore working on the department iPads experimenting with the apps I’ve just shown.

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

For this lesson, one needs to have available a projector/screen and at least one’s own iPad or iPhone (or Android) and have previously worked with the apps you are demonstrating so that you model for the students how to go about evaluating different features, providing a rationale to them for why this app is useful, etc. In the COMD department, we have iPads to use in the classroom and so in advance of the class, I ensure that all the iPads have the apps I will be discussing during lecture and I also make sure I have reserved the iPads/cart for that particular class with the CLTs in advance of class.

This activity is not graded on its own. Instead, the written journal assignment becomes part of their whole internship blog, which is 30% of their grade for the course. So, in that sense it is part of a high-stakes assignment but just a small piece of an overall package. The oral presentation they do on the app review in not graded at all and so is low-stakes but I hope that this time in front of the class helps prepare them for the oral presentation of their complete blog, which is 10% of their grade for the class.

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 the overall internship journal. I use a rubric that is based on the original ePortfolio rubric that was part of that Title V grant at the college and I have tweaked it for this class.

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 has worked extremely well in the classroom. The students really enjoy evaluating and experimenting with apps on their iPhone or iPad and many of them write detailed reviews and are enthusiastic in sharing these apps with their classmates.

The only challenge one faces in the classroom is when the iPads for the department need updating or one has an app that only runs on IOS and not on Android, etc.

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.

Samples of student App reviews:

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/rbayron-eportfolio/academics/internships/week-5
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sharad/internship-2/app-review/trello-app-review/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sharad/internship-2/app-review/vscocam-app-review/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/a-blog/from-the-field-2/app-reviews/

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

http://www.macworld.com/article/2107944/paper-review-fiftythrees-sketching-app-gets-ios-7-update-dots-and-brush-sizes.html

Posted on

Writing With Purpose

Writing With Purpose

John McCullough

Entertainment Technology

ENT 1100 Intro to Entertainment Technology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This lesson introduces the writing concepts of thesis statements and supporting evidence, and trains students to analyze their writing assignments and prompts.

After a brief review of the five-paragraph essay structure and the definition of a thesis statement, students are asked to write thesis statements in response to questions or topics suggested by the instructor.
Students share their thesis statements, then discuss which ones were stronger and why, offering suggestions on how to improve weaker statements.
Finally, the class chooses one or two thesis statements and brainstorms about what kinds of supporting evidence are appropriate to use to support that statement and why.

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

Students will be able to…
a. analyze a writing assignment to identify if they should be answering a question, persuading the reader, or stating an opinion.
b. define the term ‘thesis statement’
c. write a strong thesis statement for a five-paragraph essay
d. use appropriate evidence to support their thesis statement

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 is an in-class activity for early in the semester, and it takes about 60 minutes for a 25-person class.

There is a follow-up homework assignment which is due the following week.

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 only preparation required is to generate a list of questions and topics for the students to write their thesis statements about. These topics can be discipline specific to reinforce other material from the class, or they can be based in current events, or some other area of interest to the class. They should be accessible enough that everyone in the class can have an opinion.

I have used the following questions in ENT 1100 and gotten good engagement from the students:
o Are copyright laws too restrictive?
o Which is more important, freedom or safety?
o Is technology good for society?

This is a low-stakes activity, and nothing is collected or graded.

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 in-class activity is not directly assessed.

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 worked well, and I would repeat it. I found it helpful to do some in-class writing early in the semester before the first essays were assigned to work on the basics of essay structure. It seemed to have a positive effect on the later writing assignments.

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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