New Guidelines for Group Presentations

1. For students to discover new views of their own worldviews and others.
   
2. To counter the ethnocentrism of US educated students
3. To compare multiple emic views and bring a slice of it to the week's conversation.
4. To bring Baruch's diverse cultures into the mix--consider using your own cultural backgrounds as a starting point for the discussion.
5. To present a group view of the subject in 20 mins or less in a way that expands or disturbs our social constructs about the week's subject.
6. Before or immediately after your presentation, create a group post to further the discussion and capture what your presentation was about.
   

Next week's subject in the Kottak and Conformity&Conflict readings is Families, Kinship and Marriage. Here are some great suggestions (NOTE: SUGGESTIONS) for each group's preparation. Delegate tasks so each group member contributes more or less to the project in a way that works for them.

1. BLOG & BLACKBOARD
   Review the video Did You Know 2.0 (8 mins) and checkout our blog's tag cloud, videobar, and newsfeeds. Use your group's email/discussion board on Blackboard.
2. THE CONTEXT IS DECISIVE
   Explore how the U.S. and your home country have changed using gapminder.org. Watch the gapminder.org tutorial first to quickly understand how to use it.
   
3. FIND A KEY CULTURAL CONSULTANT
   Skim the articles on Anthrosource and/or Lexis-Nexis through the Baruch Library DATABASES page or search current news videos from NYTimes, Associated Press, PBS and/or National Geographic. Also look at the bibliographies for the chapters of our weekly reading.
   
4. THAT WAS OUTTA CITE!!
   Cite or keep track of all the sources used (urls, books, articles, videos) and create a bibliography as a group post on the blog for our class and the next to use for the week's subject. Oral communication requires documentation, too.
   
5. TO POWERPOINT OR NOT TO POWERPOINT?
   Despite what I've said before, you CAN use powerpoint (see a great example about water). Instead of talking, use only visual or sonic communication (photography, hypertext, music, film, audio). How about dancing to learn about courting practices in mating??
   
6. SOCIAL COLLABORATION 101
   Consider creating a slideshow, a social bookmarking account with Digg or Delicious, a youtube channel, or a Flickr or Tumblr account that can be used and built upon next class (ask Prof. G to create an acct for long-term use).
   
7. DANCE IN THE CONVERSATION
   Get us out of our seats, if possible. Use polling or taking a stand, etc. http://www.activetraining.com/active_learning/WeaveCourseContent.pdf
   
8. K.I.S.S.
   Keep it simple, stupid. The best stories and presentations are simple. Think Chris Abani in his TED Talk.

IDEAS FOR FAMILY (or another chapter):

• Compile family photographs or Google images for the week's subject and create a slide show that reflects the members of your group.
  
• Choose a provocative video (e.g., on Shakers) to create a panel of experts discussing the pros and cons followed by Q&A.
  
• Choose a familiar word related to the subject (monogamy). Create a slide with a definition from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. Then show other slides comparing same word or idea defined in other ways, from other sources, famous or indigenous people's sayings, jokes, or other dictionaries, such as a French, Swahili, or slang dictionary.

THE BEST PRESENTATIONS
What makes the best presentations the best, you ask? Hmm. I decided to search the web on that and found a few interesting links:

• http://www.knowhr.com/blog/2006/08/21/top-10-best-presentations-ever/
• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/09/winners-of-worl.html
• Use the 10/20/30 rule of powerpoint. No more than 10 slides in 20 mins at 30 point font.
• http://www.slideshare.net/contest/
  

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Another Ted Talk video!


What point is Professor Gosling making with his finale? Does it work? Why or why not? And for whom might it work? Why or why not?