Ag 599: Graduate Seminar

COURSE SYLLABUS
FALL 2012
Monday 5:00-5:50

Instructor: Leah E. Wickersham, PhD, Associate Professor

Office Location: Ag/IT- 229
Office Hours: Mondays 3-5 (on our class days), Tuesday 10-12 and Thursday 10-12/1-2 or by
appointment (these hours will start the week of Sept. 4th)
Office Phone: 214-497-0029
Office Fax: 903-886-5990
Email Address: Leah.Wickersham@tamuc.edu

COURSE INFORMATION

Textbook: None

Student Learning Outcomes:

Learning outcomes are what you are able to do as a result of the activities, readings, instruction,
etc. that have occurred in this course - these are my expectations of you. Assignments/activities
related to these outcomes are described in the assignments and assessments portion of the
syllabus.

Learning Outcome #1: The learner will be an active and engaged participant by analyzing,
constructing/creating, and evaluating information presented in technical and/or scientific journals.

Learning Outcome #2: The learner will examine best practices and implement them for designing,
developing and presenting a quality scientific presentation using a presentation software such as
PowerPoint, Prezi (http://prezi.com), or another computer software- please be sure that your presentation
will load on the computer.

Learning Outcome #3: The learner will conduct a 5 minute video presentation to be delivered via
YouTube based upon the analysis of one journal article for a second seminar presentation.

Learning Outcome #4: The learner will practice critical evaluation of other students’ work.
 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Project and Assessment

This class will have only two assignments - your attention to detail is very important.

For your first assignment, each student will deliver a 15-20 minute presentation with 5 minutes
for questions and discussion that follows the learning outcomes above. Specifically, your
presentation should have:
 A minimum of five refereed journal articles cited throughout the presentation in proper APA
format with at least four published after 2000.
 A presentation that follows best practices of design. Please review:
http://designshack.net/?p=11810 for more information.

For your second assignment, you will conduct a 5-minute presentation via YouTube over the
analysis of one journal article. Your presentation should be succinct and include a brief
introduction to the article, the methodology used, findings and a conclusion. More information
will be provided to the class in week 6.

Grading

Your grade will be determined via a grading rubric – your in class seminar will be assessed by
the audience members and me and an average will be taken. Points will be deducted for
presentations not attended by you. The grading rubric for the presentation is below. I will bring
copies of the rubric each week for you to complete. Rubrics will be turned into the instructor with
comments. These will be compiled and given to the presenter with names removed. Student
comments regarding the talks of others need to be professional and constructive.

Your YouTube presentation will be assessed by your peers and me online and an average will
be taken. The rubric will be made available to you electronically and you are expected to watch
the videos and provide your comments via the online rubric. More information will be provided in
week 4.

Both presentations are worth 100 points each.

Total possible points: 200

200-180=A
179-160=B
159-140=C
139-120=D
119-0=F
*Rubric used for in class seminar. The rubric for the video presentation will follow this
basic outline with a few adjustments.

Presenter’s name: _____________________________________

Your name: _____________________________________________

Organization (20%)
20 Consistently clear, concise, 10 Not always clear or concise. 5 Often unclear and
15 Usually clear, concise, well
well organized. Points were easy Organization was adequate, but disorganized, rambled too
organized. Most of the
to follow because of the weak. Occasionally wandered and much. The presentation was
presentation was easy to
organization. Transitions was sometimes difficult to follow. confusing and difficult to follow.
follow. Transitions between
between sections smooth and Transitions between sections Transitions between sections
sections usually coordinated.
coordinated. weak. awkward.

Topic Knowledge (20%)

20 Displayed an excellent grasp
of the material. Demonstrated
excellent mastery of content,
application and implications.
Excellent research depth.
15 Displayed a general grasp of
the material. Demonstrated
good mastery of content,
application and implications.
Good research depth.
10 Displayed some grasp of the
material. Demonstrated
adequate mastery of content,
application and implications.
Research not very deep.
5 Displayed a poor grasp of the
material. Demonstrated a
superficial handling of content,
application and implications.
Little depth of research.

Creativity (10%)
10 Very creative and original. Imaginative design 8 Exhibited some 5 Routine treatment, minimal
3 Lacked creativity. Very
and use of materials. Novel handouts, visual aids, originality and thought given to originality or
ordinary and mundane.
or methods. creativity. creativity.

Visual Aids (15%)

15 Simple, clear, easy to
interpret, easy to read. Well
coordinated with content,
well designed, used very
effectively. Excellent
example of how to prepare
and use good visual aids
11 Usually clear, easy to
interpret, easy to read. Generally
well coordinated with content,
design was okay, generally used
effectively. Demonstrated some
understanding of how to use
visual aids.
8 Marginally acceptable, too
complex, crowded, difficult to
read or interpret. Adequate
coordination with content. Used
only adequately. Showed little
understanding of how to prepare
and use visual aids.
4 Poor quality visual aids (or
none), hard to read, technically
inaccurate, poorly constructed.
Poor coordination with content.
Used poorly. The presenter did
not seem to know how to prepare
or use visual aids effectively.

Summary (15%)
15 Clear, concise, major points
emphasized, clear
recommendations, strong
conclusion or call for action.
11 Referred to main points, 8 Vague mention of major points, 4 No summary, no
recommendations weak or no recommendations, weak recommendations, no
missing, weak conclusion or call conclusion, weak or no call for conclusions, no call for
for action. action. action.

Stage Presence (20%)

20 Excellent stage presence. 15 Good stage presence. 10 Adequate stage presence. 5 Poor stage presence. Unprepared,
Confident, used notes well, Fairly confident, used notes Read parts, fumbled with notes, awkward, shuffled papers, poor eye
at ease, excellent gestures, fairly well, good gestures, several distracting mannerisms, contact, lots of um’s, turned from
good audience attention, acceptable audience minimal gestures, minimal eye audience to read powerpoint, shuffled
good eye contact. attention and eye contact. contact, too many um’s. feet, fidgeted. Poor gestures.

Comments: (Yes, you have to do this!)

*Rubric credit goes to College of Adult and Professional Programs at Shorter University:
http://www.shorter.edu/capp/PDFs/PresentationRubric.pdf
 COURSE AND UNIVERSITY PROCEDURES/POLICIES

Course Specific Procedures:

Citizenship: All students enrolled at the University shall follow the tenets of common decency and
acceptable behavior conducive to a positive learning environment. (See Student 92s Guide Handbook,
Policies and Procedures, Conduct).

Plagiarism: Plagiarism WILL NOT be tolerated and will result in an automatic F in the course.

Attendance: You are expected to attend each class and provide feedback to your peers. Each class you
miss will result in 10 points deducted from your presentation score.

Scholarly Expectations: All works submitted for credit must be original works created by the scholar
uniquely for the class. It is considered inappropriate and unethical, particularly at the graduate level, to
make duplicate submissions of a single work for credit in multiple classes, unless specifically requested
by the instructor. Work submitted at the graduate level is expected to demonstrate higher-order thinking
skills and be of significantly higher quality than work produced at the undergraduate level.

University Specific Procedures:

ADA Statement

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides
comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation
requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for
reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you have a disability requiring an accommodation,
please contact:

Office of Student Disability Resources and Services

Texas A&M University-Commerce
Gee Library 132
Phone (903) 886-5150 or (903) 886-5835
Fax (903) 468-8148
StudentDisabilityServices@tamu-commerce.edu
Student Disability Resources & Services
 TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE / CALENDAR FALL 2012

This class will meet every other Monday – notice the dates below. Please email me or stop by
my office during my office hours after the first class session to acknowledge your
understanding of the class assignments. You will be expected to arrive at least 20 minutes
prior to the start of the class on the day you present to ensure your presentation is in
working order. We will not take time during the class session for trouble shooting.
Presentations will begin promptly at 5:05! The online presentations will be due on 12/3
with evaluations due 12/7.

Week Activities
1: 8/27 Course introduction – review the class syllabus
and make a contact via email with Dr. Leah.
2: 9/10 Presentation 1 and 2
3: 9/24 Presentation 1 and 2
4: 10/8 Presentation 1
Introduction of YouTube assignment
5: 10/22 Presentation 1 and 2
6: 11/5 Presentation 1 and 2
7: 11/19 Presentation 1 and 2
8: 12/3 Presentation 1 and 2 and videos are due
12/7 Evaluations of YouTube presentations are due.
 Presentation Sign Up Sheet

Please fill out the sign up sheet prior to leaving class the first night.

Date Name Email address

9/10
9/10

9/24
9/24

10/8
Introduction
of YouTube

10/22
10/22

11/5
11/5

11/19
11/19

12/3
12/3