Matthew S. Monahan
Students are required to conduct conversations that demonstrate critical thinking skills with diverse partners. These conversations are both informal and formal; they include traditional interviews, both small group and whole class discussions, and the use of social media.
Students are required to keep research logs that demonstrate close observation, analysis of texts and "real world" application of principles taken from readings and critical viewings.
Whether or not students elect to conduct traditional ethnographies or action research, all participants are required to present their findings. Although students will create a number of documents and use social media along the way, the final presentation is based on "PechaKucha," which is taken from the Japanese term for "chit-chat." Traditional PechaKucha (I use the term "traditional" rather loosely as PechaKucha came into being in 2003 according to Wikipedia) as developed by Klein-Dytham Architecture of Tokyo calls for presenters to deliver a script in front of a slide-show lasting six minutes and forty seconds (twenty seconds per slide for twenty slides); however, elsewhere I have found that freshmen English instructors at University of Connecticut have adapted presentations to five slides progressing at sixty-second intervals. Regardless the number of slides and the interval length, the desired result is a fast-paced presentation that is "more than a slideshow, it thrives on new human connections created during each event. PechaKucha can start discussions and relationships, so [students] don't be shy, show your work, make an impact."
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