Course Content: Presentations
Twice over the course of the semester you (together with a partner) will lead the class discussion of the assigned research papers. Leading discussion involves preparing a short presentation on the assigned readings, as well as steering the class discussion of these readings. You should expect to do some additional background reading and research to prepare to lead class discussion. Check the schedule for the dates you are assigned to lead class discussion.
Your goal in leading class discussion of a set of papers will be similar to your goal in writing a reading response. You should think about the same issues in preparing your presentation.
However, the presentation is slightly more challenging in that you have to lead the class discussion for an hour and 15 minutes, which will take a little more work and preparation. You should research the context of the paper, figuring out what similar work was being done in the field at the time this paper was published. You should know something about the authors and what else they have worked on. You should also know what work (if any) followed from the work presented in the papers you were assigned.
In your presentation, you should spend some time going over the papers' background and identifying the main points of the papers (e.g., problem, solution, evaluation, contribution). You may find it easier to go over each paper one at a time in this portion of your presentation. You may call on people at any time to contribute to the discussion.
You should then spend most of the presentation time getting the class to discuss how these papers relate to the UI concepts we have been talking about. You will want to have in mind a number of discussion questions that relate the papers to the course material designed to get an interesting discussion started. This task is not easy and will require significant thought and planning.
You should prepare your presentation in advance (Power Point slides recommended, but not required), and practice it with your partner before you present to the class. In addition, I strongly encourage you to come see me with a rough draft of your presentation at least a day before you are scheduled to present.
Like the reading responses, the paper presentations are open-ended on purpose. You will be graded on the following:
- Content: How well did you relate the papers to the central concepts in the course? Did you do sufficient background research?
- Depth of discussion: How successfully did you identify interesting issues to discuss?
- Presentation organization: Was your presentation well thought out and organized?
- Presentation style: How was your speaking style? Did you successfully incorporate other members of the class into the discussion?