HSEP 301 (POLI 367/CRJS 367)

Class Presentations

This semester’s presentations will operate a bit differently from those in the past. Because of the virus, we can’t have in-class presentations. Many of you will be treating this class as online and presenting together becomes logistically difficult if we want to maintain social distancing.

Here’s how we’ll do it.

1. Each student will create a PPT presentation based on their paper.

2. You will be limited to five slides. That doesn’t mean a title slide and five slides; that is six slides. It does not mean five slides and a works cited slide. You don’t need a works cited slide. Five slides is the limit.

3. Your PPT slideshow will include audio embedded in each slide. If you have not done that before, it’s not hard.

a. Boot up PPT.

b. Along the top of the page, you’ll see “File” “Home” then “Insert.” Click “Insert.”

c. The next level menu will include “Media.” Click “Media.”

d. You’ll get a new menu, Click “Audio.” That gets you a new menu.

e. Click “Record Audio.”

f. Click the orange dot to start recording. Click the blue box to stop recording.

g. Click “Okay” to get out of the menu. You will then see a speaker icon appear in the middle of the slide. Move the cursor over that and you’ll get an audio bar where you can start and stop playback of your audio. That is how you can review your presentation and how you will listen to everyone else’s PPT presentations.

h. Hint: Save the file after each slide is recorded.

i. If you listen to the audio and don’t like what you said, you just record over what you had for that slide. You should never have to rerecord every slide just because you made a mistake on one slide. You can record over the old audio by simply going back through the above instructions.

j. I’ve recorded PPT this way for entire classes. After you do it a couple times, you’ll be great.

k. Any questions, just ask.

4. The trick here is timing. You have five minutes of audio time across five PPT slides. Each slide’s audio doesn’t need to be the same length. Some will be longer than others. You’re the expert. You decide how much time you need to explain the material on each slide. The slides just need to add up to something under five minutes. A good length for all the audio totaled up is between 4:30 and 5:00. You’ll be able to keep track of the length of each slide by using the audio bar on each slide. The audio bar shows the length of the audio.

5. The way to do this is to rehearse it. Then you’ll get an idea of how much you can say in five minutes (not much) and how much you want to say for each slide.

6. You will not be giving these presentations in front of the class. You will be emailing the PPT file to me by a specific deadline. That deadline will be set later in the semester. I will then link the PPT presentations to the syllabus so the other students can use them.

7. Normally, students present their slides in class for the rest of the students. A schedule is set for each group’s presentation and on the day your group is set to present, students will present their work in order (Origins, Leadership, Support, Strategy, Counterterrorism). Because we can’t really do in class presentations this semester, I will assign each group a day for its “presentation.” I’ll make your PPT presentations available and the class will be expected to watch and listen to the PPT presentation for that group on that specific day. It’s not a big change. Instead of sitting in class and listening to the presentations live, the class will listen to the PPT presentations on their own at home.

8. That means that for at least a couple days, there will be no in class session or lectures. Your class on those days will be watching the PPT presentations and taking notes just as you would during one of my lectures.

9. Take this seriously. Don’t blow this off. There will be a question on the final based on these presentations. If you don’t watch and listen to the slides, you will have an unhappy final exam.

The Presentation

A good class presentation is like a good paper -- be organized and straight forward.

The presentations will be five minutes long. You don’t have much time. All you can do in five minutes is essentially give a beefed up version of your introductory section of your paper. What is your topic? What were the three or four major findings of your research? What are your overall conclusions?
To organize, think as a journalist would. What is the topic and issue at hand: who? what? where? when? why? Let the audience know immediately what the question you are addressing is and what the main topic of your presentation will be. For example, if the topic is al-Qaeda’s leadership, you want to start off by saying that. "My topic is al-Qaeda’s leadership.” If the specific issue is the difficulty of penetrating foreign terrorist networks say that. "The issue I'd like to address is the difficulty of penetrating foreign terrorist networks."
In spite of what many might have taught you, the trick is not to sound intellectual and complex, but to be clear and simple when you speak. Another example: "My topic is counterterrorism efforts against the al-Shabab organization in Somalia. Three groups have been fighting al-Shabab. The local government, the African Union peacekeeping forces, led by Uganda, and US and Ethiopian efforts to isolate and defeat al-Shabab. These efforts have largely been unsuccessful because no stable government has emerged to really challenge al-Shabab’s. It remains the only organized political force in the nation.” Then you can have five PPT slides. The first three can be one each on the three main counterterrorism efforts you mention above. The fourth can be on the reasons why they have failed and a fifth can be on what might be done to fix the problem. You don’t have to explain who al-Shabab is or who their allies are or what their goals are because the other PPT presentations of your classmates have already explained all that.
Above all else, be organized, just like you were writing a paper. Put your presentation into an outline form and then as you speak simply go through your outline, item by item. Or say, "I want to discuss three reasons why AQ will not be able to develop and sustain a long-term presence in Southeast Asia. First, the nations in Southeast Asia are much more prosperous than nations in other parts of the developing world. This will deny AQ a critical mass of recruits. Second, the nations of Southeast Asia are democracies or are moving in the direction of democratic institutions. The ability to freely criticize governmental policy creates an outlet for political dissent and reduces the likelihood that large percentages of the population will radicalize itself to the point where it may fund and support terrorists even passively. Three, these nations have secular traditions, separation of church and state is a basic ideology of these nations’ institutions. Factors that might change this, however, could be a long economic down turn or a failure of public education to maintain a viable alternative to religious education, which can often be militant in nature.” Then talk about each one in turn.
Use the organization of your paper. If your paper had five paragraphs that fits nicely with five PPT slides.

The PPT Slides

Powerpoint is required. Sample PPT slides for al-Shabab, based on the al-Shabab Origins Executive Summary. You must use Power Point in your presentation. Each student can use at maximum five slides. They are due on the day of your presentation.

PPT slides must be emailed to me by a date I will set later in the semester. It will be after your paper is due. Once you turn in the final draft of fhe paper, I would begin working on the PPT.
If anyone has any questions on how to use PPT, please let me know. I can help.
The criteria for grading the presentation is based in the rubric below. This is what I will use to grade your presentation and PPT slides. I’ll fill out one for each of you and hand it back to you along with a grade.

Grading Rubric

Name____________________________________ Group______________________________

Issue_________________________

Basics

PPT Style

Content

Presentation

· 5 minutes, not longer?

· PPT loaded onto the classroom computer before class starts?

· 5 slides no more?

· Bulletpoint subject headings, not text?

· Illustrations?

· One concept per slide?

· Are the important elements of the issue-area covered?

· Is there enough depth, but not too much depth (Big picture issues rather than small details)?

· Analysis of the key questions?

· Focus on assigned issue only?

· Pace

· How well does student seem to know the material?

· Reading PPT slides?

· Reading notes or using them as a reference?

· Lecturing based on knowledge of material?