WHAT IS ART? ORAL DISCUSSIONS OFF-CAMPUS

Bob Corbett, instructor
GNST 1200, Summer 2001

THE ASSIGNMENT; PREPARATION HINTS; GRADING CRITERIA

• ASSIGNMENT:   We need to sacrifice four classes to seeing films in class. In making up some of that time, each student must participate an oral presentation group which will meet with Corbett twice in an off-campus location for a one hour period in the first meeting and a two hour period in the second meeting. The topic will be "What is Art?" and the group will make a presentation to Corbett.
  • The first meeting will explore the group's initial sources and idea and the group will come with sources in hand and ideas to present for what they will research and how they will organize the final presentation. Considerable research work will be expected for the first presentation.
  • The second meeting must be a follow-up to the first and students will be expected to have met the suggestions Corbett suggested for the final presentation. separate paragraph.

• PRE-PREPARATION TASKS:
  • The oral presentation will require research. It is unlikely that using the internet along will suffice. You will most likely have to make use of libraries, and probably go beyond the library of Webster University Vienna to find adequate materials in English if that is the only language you can work in. If so, you will need to discuss your project with the library staff to discover where some of the many sources of library materials are in Vienna.
  • Once you begin to come up with your own thesis, then you must search for REASONS for this view. This is a course in the university and the university is the house of reason where views are not dependent upon feelings or intuitions, but upon our ability to defend them with reasons.
  • As you begin to articulate reasons for your thesis, sketch them out and be sure they are reasons for exactly what you've claimed in your thesis statement.
  • The put it all together and meet among yourselves to discuss the form the oral presentation will take. Each person will be expected to participate, however, the group will have a great deal of freedom to decide HOW each person participates.

• THINGS I WILL ESPECIALLY NOTE AND LOOK FOR IN GRADING THE oral IN ITS VARIOUS PHASES:
  • Presence at the oral presentation meetings and on-time. The grade for either of the two session is completely dependent upon being there. Anyone not present will be give the score of 0 for that portion of the oral.
  • Is the oral a coherent and scholarly reply to the question of what is art?
  • Are the sources given and do they reflect serious intellectual scholarship?
  • Is there a clearly stated and significant thesis stated at the outset?
  • Is the thesis well-defended by reasons?
  • Is the position the work of the students themselves?

• THE GRADES THEMSELVES:
  • A grade of A will mean: A significant thesis about what is art is presented and defended after first having presented some serious directions of this work in the first meeting. This would be a very serious thesis, defended by reasons and sources given for the research. The presentation was worked out in a carefully planned manner and was clear and well-delivered.
  • A grade of B will mean: All parts of the process asked for in the above were present, but the oral just didn't match up to the superior quality expected of the A. Perhaps the oral didn't follow the specific guidelines of form; or there were lapses in standard English; or the content was just a bit off from what was promised; or the presentation just lacked the intellectual seriousness of a superior oral.
  • A grade of C will mean: All parts of the oral process were done and on-time. However, the final products were just not in the category of above-average. The oral represented a solid piece of work which should be expected of undergraduates, but nothing above that. It was good, solid, unexceptional work.
  • A grade of D will mean: Some deviations from the criteria expressed above were present in some area of the oral. Perhaps lapses in seriousness of content, or presentation; perhaps failures to adequately express the ideas in standard English; perhaps lapses in following the form required.
  • A grade of F may mean anyone of three things:
    1. The oral was not given at the time appointed. Late work is simply unacceptable for any reason at all.
    2. Significant failures to meet the assignment at the level of reasonable university expectations of thought, attention to detail, significant lapses in the content's accuracy. (Specifics will be pointed out).
    3. The oral's form (rather than the content) was seriously flawed. This could mean the such things as clarity of expression, or use of the English language. All of these would be expected to be used in a reasonable fashion for university level work. However, a grade of F on these grounds would require some quite serious deviation from the expectations listed above.

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