I attended a seminar on plagiarism last week that actually raised NEW ideas about this issue. There was a great deal of information covered, but one question I had at the end was the relationship between plagiarism in written work and plagiarism in oral assignments. Although I eventually convince students of the importance of citing sources in papers, it seems that the ephemeral nature of presentations leaves them believing that it is less important to do so in those assignments. This is coupled with the fact that style sheets never deal with oral citation–and, yet, it seems more and more professors are assigning oral presentations in their classrooms (arts, science, business, etc.). Do you think there are different issues at stake related to plagiarism when dealing with presentations—particularly when students AREN’T using PowerPoint? Should we use different strategies with our students when teaching them about oral citation? I’ve thought about creating a “style sheet” for presentations that includes different examples of ways to note authors and sources. Does anyone out there already have such a tool?
Attack of the Conference-Ready Undergrads
Something noteworthy at the gem that is the MIT OpenCourseWare site: an undergraduate course on Economics Research and Communication. The course description indicates that “primary activities are oral presentations, the preparation of a paper, and providing constructive feedback on classmates’ research projects.”
Constructive feedback involves group peer review at several stages of the writing process. In nine of the thirteen three-hour sessions, students have to: (1) present initial ideas for a paper; (2) present research plans; (3) participate in open forums for discussing project difficulties and questions; and (4) make a presentation based on the first draft. Class discussions always follow presentations.
All these are probably nothing new to many of you. My undergraduate years, however, offered no such communication rigors in my major, no requirements that process be subject to peer scrutiny. How the economics curriculum was implemented at my university implied that economics was a solitary pursuit — you only needed to impress your professor on paper. Any other skills were not the school’s concern.
So I came to the U.S. shy, self-conscious, still somewhat in “I hope I don’t get called on in class” mode. Teaching has helped mitigate some of my reticence; I think I’ve evolved into a self-assured instructor. But addressing peers and superiors can still induce significant levels of apprehension, though I’m finally at the point where academic conferences and presenting at department seminars are inescapable duties. (I’ve hence sometimes bemoaned the deficits in my undergraduate education.) Here’s hoping that university departments are on track to turn out graduates more communication-savvy than I ever was.
Gates vs. Jobs; Powerpoint and Zen
Much has been written about ways in which to use Powerpoint well. It’s so often used so poorly. This article from Glenn Reynolds’ blog Presentation Zen is an analysis of the presentation styles and methods used by Apple’s Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, continuing a series on Gates’s recent presentations that Reynolds started here.
It really caught my attention as something Fellows might share with students working on presentation skills (especially in the Powerpoint-heavy world of business classes). I can see that many of the recommendations are similar, but the sample visuals go a long way in driving the point home that presentation matters, and that with visuals and multimedia, less is often more. Besides comparing the visual styles preferred by Gates and Jobs in their keynotes, Reynolds states that
One thing that would help Mr. Gates is an executive presentations coach and a video camera.
Ouch. See also:
A key tenet of the Zen aesthetic is kanso or simplicity. In the kanso concept beauty, grace, and visual elegance are achieved by elimination and omission. Says artist, designer and architect, Dr. Koichi Kawana, “Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.” When you examine your visuals, then, can you say that you are getting the maximum impact with a minimum of graphic elements, for example? When you take a look at Jobs’ slides and Gates’ slides, how do they compare for kanso?
While business students may wish to dismiss this as so much new agey mumbo jumbo, Reynolds makes a great case for molding our presentation visuals to a Zen aesthetic–one which is natural, simple, striking, and easy to follow.
Also from the site, Reynolds provides Presentation Tips. Click the “Download Handout” button for a PDF, which might also be useful for students. See also Seth Godin’s “Really Bad Powerpoint” (click the “Get it” button in “Step 2″).
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