ASSIGNMENT FOR GROUP ORAL PRESENTATION ON A COFFEEHOUSE

GNST 1400: SPRING (II) 2001

Bob Corbett, instructor

MEETS: 1 - 3 PM, TUESDAY - THURSDAY

Each student must participate in a group which will study, learn about, and research a particular assigned coffee house. This work will culminate in a major in-class oral group presentation. This assigment will count as 50% of your total grade for the whole course. The project will involve:

First: Students will meet with Bob Corbett at the coffee house itself for a very first planning session. This will be on: Thursday, April 12th.
Second: Students will meet with Bob Corbett at the coffee house itself for a second meeting at which time students should have viturally completed all plans for the oral presentation. This will be on: Thursday, April 26th.
Third: Students will make an in-class presentation on their coffee house. This will be one of four given on the same day and all group members must participate in the oral presentation in some manner. These oral presentations will be open to the general Webster University community and others. The two days set aside for these presentations are Thursday May 3rd and Thursday May 10th.

The grading procedure for this assignment.

There will be three different grades given:

A grade for the first meeting.
- Students will meet with Corbett at the coffee house. It SHOULD NOT be anyone's first visit to the coffee house.
- It would be rude and embarrassing not to order something. Each person should plan for this and budget accordingly. Each is responsible for his or her own bill.
- The presentation should include:
  - The basic history of the coffee house.
  - Interviews with the present owners, managers or employees and, if possible, regular customers.
  - Special focus on important and or famous people who used this coffee house as a "Stammkafe" at the turn of the 19th century.
  - Any other noteworthy or relevant details.
  - The presentation should probably include some graphic material as well as words and descriptions.
- Some SIGNIFICANT progress should be made on each of these areas by the first meeting.
- Corbett will grade the first meeting on the basis of progress made and this meeting will be 20% of the HIS final grade.

A grade for the second meeting. Here the gaps or weaknesses or further plans discussed (and promised) after the first meeting should be fully completed and the presentation ready for finally organization. Corbett will grade HIS portion of this grade at 30% of HIS grade for the whole project.

A grade for the oral presentation itself.

The oral presentation must be a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 25. This is a SUBSTANTIAL time and a substantial report is expected. Anything shorter than the minimum would not be in any way eligible for a grade of A, and unless the content were exceptional would probably be significantly lower. At 25 minutes I will be forced to conclude the presentation to make time for other groups and discussion, thus excessive time would suggest irresponsible planning.
Students may organize the oral presentation in any way they choose, but every member should in some way participate as the group thinks best.
The presentation must in some way touch upon the basic history of the coffee house, the important figures of our period (turn of the 19th century) who worked and visited there on a regular basis, and any other useful details of this coffee house's role in turn of the century Vienna. Corbett's grade will be based on how well, accurately and clearly those items are presented, and on the aesthetic quality of the presentation itself.
Corbett will grade the oral presentation itself as 50% of HIS oral grade.

The students who did the oral will also participate in their own grading.

After the presentation Corbett will give a grade that will be the sum of his three grades, 20% for the first meeting; 30% for the second meeting; 50% for the in-class presentation itself. This will be from a total of 1000 possible. Thus, for example, were his grade 90%, then the score would be 900 points.
This grade of Corbett, however, will only count for 60% of final grade for the oral presentation. The students who did the presentation will assign the remaining 40% in the following manner:
- The group as a whole will grade EACH individual member of the group on the basis of how much he or she contributed to the group. This must be a total group decision and if it is not arrived at by the group unanimously, then Corbett will grade each student with the exact same grade for this section. This grade will be 20% the total grade for the oral.
- Lastly, each INDIVIDUAL student must grade the portional value of each student's grade he or she would assign for the value of the participation in the group presentation. This will count for 20% of each student's final grade for the oral presentation.
- PLEASE NOTE: This means that Corbett will not at all assign any individual grade himself to students in the group, but his grade is IDENTICAL for eacha member of the group. The only differentiation among the group members will come from the student grades.

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