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Q&A Showcase and Live Symposium

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The following two activities, “A Q&A showcase” and a “Live Symposium” are focused on connecting the asynch final presentation to opportunities for live engagement, honoring PWR 2 students’ final work in a “live” and interactive format with an audience.

In the first step of both activities, students pre-watch peers’ presentations asynchronously and post feedback on a discussion board (e.g. Canvas, Harmonize). The next step in each activity involves a variation of a live Q&A held during class time.  

In Shannon’s “Live Symposium” activity, students are given specific guidelines for how questions might be formed at a professional or academic conference. Each student is responsible for asynchronously asking 2 such questions for each of their peers’ presentations (on a discussion board). Before the Live Symposium, presenter’s select 1 – 2 of their favorite questions and are given 3 – 5 minutes to answer these questions in a live format, during Week 10 synchronous class time.  

In Jennifer’s “Q & A Showcase” activity, students gather together in week 9 over two classes to showcase their final work. Presenters prepare 2 slides for a final, live timed one-minute mini-presentation followed by a 5-minute Q&A; students are permitted to share two slides: one slide encapsulates their argument or take-home message and one slide allows students to share a reflection on the research process or presentation. Before the showcase, we review strategies for facilitating an engaging Q&A (presenter) and participating in one (audience), a skill student will see again in future academic and professional contexts, both in-person and on-line. To facilitate a smooth, short Q&A, the audience is asked to drop their question in the chat (This should be one question from the asynch discussion board post) and the presenter can select, combine or extend audience questions.

These Q&A moments could be incorporated into the oral delivery of argument final assignment or as a separate low-stakes opportunity for students to engage in interactive conversations that help fine-tune their RBAs. In both activities, the integration of asynch and synch components offers various avenues of participation for students with a range of workplace, timing or tech constraints. 

Activity title: Connecting the asynch presentation to live interactions: A symposium and a showcase

Author(s): Shannon Hervey & Jennifer Johnson

Course: PWR 2

Activity length and schedule:

Shannon’s activity: Week 10 (Students watch all peer presentations during Week 9. If you have 15 students, this means about 2.5 hours of asynchronous viewing. I host the live symposium over two class meetings of Week 10 for about 45 minutes each class, though this could be completed in one class session.)

Jennifer’s activity: Week 9 (Students watch all peer presentations in the 1-2 days prior to class. Because the final presentation has a hard cut off of 10 minutes, and recommended range of 8-10 minutes, this means about 2-2.5 hours of asynchronous viewing. I host the showcase over two class meeting in week 9 for about 50 minutes.)

Activity goals

 Q & A session:

  • Offers students an interactive moment of reciprocal learning and discussion that increases the class community’s knowledge on your topic
  • Gives students the opportunity to extend their research project ideas
  • Reminds students of the value of “live” presenting and gives them an opportunity to exercise the skills and strategies associated with live presentation (rather than recorded and edited presentation)

Activity details:

Please find activities/student facing language for each activity here:

View Jennifer's Activity (Download Link from Canvas)

View Shannon's Activity (Download Link from Canvas)

Note: Shannon has provided the activity integrated into her assignment sheet, while Jennifer has presented the activity as separate (though participation is required as part of the presentation evaluation). These activities/student-facing language might be adapted to fit your class needs.