Assignment Instructions
This semester's formal class discussions will be interactive Journal Clubs facilitated by the instructor and selected students. There will be two parts, figures will be presented in Panopto by figure leaders and our discussions will be held in Canvas and will be similar to our Round table discussions. All students must post in our Journal Club Discussions. Typical posting deadlines, requirements, and rules will apply to the discussion. As usual, each discussion will be partitioned into two windows: a first-half window (the first four days of the module) and a second-half window (the final four days of the module).
Discussion Guidelines
Your assignment submission should be 100-250 words in length. It should contain proper grammar, be free of spelling errors, and reflect critical thinking.
You are required to make two posts.
You are required to make two content-based posts to each Journal Club discussion – one during the first half of the module and one during the second half of the module, as follows:
- You must contribute substantive input about two different figures.
- Any single post must be text-based and not exceed 300 words.
Quality & Points
Each Journal Club discussion is worth 10 points. All of you will be evaluated based on the quality and depth of your two required posts (2 posts x 5 points each). Content-based posts must be meaningful and explicitly focus on the material within the assigned original research article. Everyone is expected to read and critically evaluate the published research carefully. Your posts must reflect this effort. Input should focus in detail on the figures/data, experimental design, use of controls, and conclusions made by the authors. I will evaluate student performance based on these criteria/objectives. As usual, any given post should be finely focused on content.
In addition to the 10-point J-Club discussion grade, assigned student leaders will also be evaluated (20 pts total) based on their figure assignments and facilitation.
Leaders and Non-leaders
A “non-leader” is any student not formally assigned to a figure for that module. As described above, each non-leader must make two content-based posts during that discussion.
A “leader” is a student assigned to facilitate the discussion of a figure or table from the original research article. Each leader is required to (1) make two content-based posts, as described above (same requirement as non-leaders, to figures other than their own assigned figure), and (2) complete an assignment and facilitation, as described below. To this end, leaders are exempted from any posting caps within their assigned figure topics.
Leaders Responsibilities
You will be required to narrate your figure through Panopto, and then facilitate the discussion of their assigned figure(s) from one of the research papers within the Canvas Journal Club Discussion forum. Figure Assignments will be listed in the table below.
Schedule of assigned leaders:
You must complete one figure assignment (and facilitate the discussion of that figure), as follows (assigned figures subject to change, notification will be given if the change occurs):
Assigned Leaders | ||
Module | Paper | Figure Leader |
M6 | Hervieu et al. (2020) | Figure 6 – This is the article https://www-science-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/10.1126/scisignal.aba8627 |
All articles can be found in eReserves using the left-side menu. Bring any questions to the Coffee House forum.
Each leader must:
Make a one to two-slide presentation of their figure(s) in PowerPoint and upload it to Panopto. You must narrate the slides. (10 points, due Monday the Module opens)
- Narration must clearly and explicitly address the following questions:
- (A) What question(s) were the authors asking?
- (B) What general approach(es) did the authors take to answer those question(s)?
- (C) What conclusions did the authors draw based on the data generated in the figure?
Submit two questions for discussion by posting in the Canvas Journal Club Discussion forum (due Monday the Module opens). Facilitate the discussion through the Canvas Discussion Board (10 pts) of your assigned figure for the duration of the unit.
- Questions should be critical and thought-provoking and generate lively and in-depth discussion.
- Questions must be directly related to the research described in the figure: focus on experimental design, methodologies, controls, interpretation of data, conclusions, and critical evaluation.
- Consider the entire unit’s discussion when formulating questions; two initial questions must be submitted (per figure), but leaders must post additional questions near mid-unit and/or at other appropriate times as the discussion unfold.
(5 pts) Each leader must facilitate their figure topics for the duration of the Module and monitor the discussions regularly, providing any necessary input.
- Provide additional questions around mid-unit and also as needed.
- Prompt classmates to reply or participate.
- Respond to classmate input as needed.
- Steer the discussion in the appropriate direction.
- (5 pts) Each leader must create a closing comment (300 words max) about his/her figure posted in Canvas one day after the unit closes. Closing comments should not be summaries of what’s already been discussed. Instead, they should address open questions/issues about the figure. In other words, use this time to discuss new information or perspectives
Please write what to say on the presantation