See our Course Calendar for assignments & due dates.
Note that this Course Element requires attendance at SCCUR (Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research) on Saturday, November 21 at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont (about 90 minutes from the CI campus). Class is cancelled on Tuesday, November 24 (The Tuesday before Thanksgiving) so as to help defray the time commitment of attending the conference.
Follow this link if you are unable to attend SCCUR and need alternative events to attend to complete this Course Element. You will need to attend two alternative events unless you attend the entirely of the Disaster on the Delta Conference on October 16.
Element Overview: For this Course Element, you will be exposed to the vast and diverse array of undergraduate research projects taking place at Southern California Colleges but participating in SCCUR as either a presenter or audience member (or both).
The goal of this Course Element is to introduce you to the conventions and expectations of academic conferences, including submitting an abstract of your own research from the class for possible inclusion in the conference program (details forthcoming). Students whose work is accepted for the conference will rehearse their presentations for the class, present at the conference, and write and present a self-evaluation of their presentations. Others will study the conference program, identify presentations that are of interest to them, attend those presentations, and present what they learned to the class. Ideally, you will be inspired to later present your own work at CI’s SAGE Student Research Conference in May 2016.
Element Time Frame: Weeks 12 – 15
Writing Tasks – SCCUR Roundtable: You will write an abstract of your research from our class that you will submit for consideration in the SCCUR conference program. If your submission is accepted, you will write notes to help you rehearse and deliver your presentation. Otherwise, you will study the conference program and write a proposal of presentations you plan to attend and why they interest you. After attending and/or presenting at the conference, you will share your experience with the class. Presenters will write and present a self-evaluation of their presentations, while attendees will create a handout that highlights the important “takeaways” from the presentations they attended (or the experience as a whole). Peer feedback will be provided at each stage.
Speaking Tasks – SCCUR Roundtable: You will deliver several presentations throughout this Course Element. These presentations should be prepared but have an “extemporaneous” tone. The first will ask you to rehearse your presentation (if your submission is accepted) or present your plan for presentations to attend (5 minutes). After the conference, you will present your self-evaluation of your presentation or your handout that details the “takeaways” from the presentations you attended.
Assessment: This Course Element will be evaluated holistically, taking into consideration the quality, thoroughness, and timeliness of your submission abstract, presentation notes or proposal for attending the conference, self-evaluation or takeaways handout, presentations, and feedback to your peers, as well as peer assessments of your work.
