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Small group exercises

On Fridays students will respond to questions based on the week’s content in small groups, to be turned in at the end of the hour. This will happen on the first five Fridays of the term (week 5’s will be a prep for the midterm).

100 points possible for small groups (20 pts each, wks 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5)

Midterm exam

The midterm will be held May 6^th and 7^th. You will take the test individually on Tuesday the 6^th, and re-take the test Wednesday in a small group, where you will be able to discuss your answers before turning in one exam for the group (still closed book, though).

The individual portion of the midterm exam will be worth 75% of your exam grade, and the group portion 25%. If you prefer, you can take the test again individually (in the Testing Center) on the second day and average your grades, or choose not to take it a second time and settle for whatever grade you ended up with on the first day. The second day score will only be used if it improves your overall score (class averages usually improve a half to whole letter grade). The point of this exercise is to, hopefully, turn the test into a learning exercise as well as an evaluation tool. Videos we watch are fair game on exams.

We will use the week 5 small groups (on Friday) to review midterm material.

100 points possible on the midterm exam.

Participation (attendance)

There are approximately 50 days of class in a given term. You will receive a point for each day you attend. Absences can add up quickly, and this represents ten percent of the points—a letter grade. And it will be much easier for you to ease into the final term project with regular attendance. In addition, there is the potential for extra credit points—up to 15 in the term. These will be based on the degree of participation in class discussion.

50 points possible, one point per day 

Glossary

There are a lot of terms, concepts, and even acronyms. Such is the expectation of professional life. Our discussions will be more lively if we all follow. So I’ve created a page of terms, and you are responsible for defining them (and citing your sources, so keep track as you go and use credible, reputable sources—inquire if you’re not sure). This can be done any time, my advice would be to get it out of the way sooner rather than later. Grades will be based on 1) effort, 2) thoughtful source material (cited), and 3) providing an example of each glossary term. Use your own words.

50 points possible

Term project: Understanding migration through the eyes of Pacific Islanders

The Compact of Free Association (COFA) is an agreement that allows citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS)—which includes the Federated States of Micronesia (Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk, Yap), Palau, and the Marshall Islands—to live and work in the US without a visa. Not all islands or islanders in the FAS are equally vulnerable to climate change, but for instance, the Marshall Islands are an archipelago of atolls, at sea level. Moreover, even where islands have considerable topography, up to 90% of a population may live within 10 km of the coast, putting homes and infrastructure—and livelihoods—at risk even when there is higher ground.

Project in pairs or as individuals—your choices

Either route is acceptable, but of course two students should be able to make much more progress on a paper topic than one, so keep in mind that I will expect effort to increase accordingly.

Possible topics. The goal of examining the lived experiences of Islanders in some fashion is to better understand both the people who migrate, and the communities where they live. We are witnessing a relatively aggressive policy by the Trump Administration to curb immigration and to deport thousands, if not millions, of those who lack proper documentation. Groups such as Pacific Islanders can be caught up in this moment in time, even though they have every right to be here. And so while thinking about some topic to study—employment, health and healthcare, education, transportation, preservation and/or loss of aspects of home culture and language, religious practices and importance, patterns of migration to and from or even within the US, motivations for migrating, experiences of discrimination or racism in the community, in the school system, workplace, etc., integration into the broader (and predominantly white) community, interactions with other Islanders from different islands and cultures, experiences as students in higher education in the US, etc.

Methods of investigation. There are many possibilities here as well. You could consider doing a survey (online or in person or mixed), doing interviews, analyzing online content (e.g., from social media platforms), secondary data sources (statistics from institutions such as a school district, government office, etc.), a focus group, participant observation. All of these require of course considering the subjects of the research, who much freely give their consent to be part of a study, and also offered the option of having their identities remain confidential—more important these days for reasons we will discuss in the course of the term.

Parts of the project. Students will submit a proposed topic during week 7 of the term, and spend a considerable portion of the remainder of the class engaged in investigating the topic. As a class we will discuss students’ projects. The proposal is worth 20 points. Proposals should be 1-2 pages, should clearly state what you intend to do, justify how it meets course objectives, explain the method(s) you plan to use, and incorporate in some fashion the community. In other words, the study of Islanders is in part an effort to understand their experiences, and identify possible ways in which their quality of life within the community could be enhanced. Call it ‘community development’ if you will. It could be for instance identifying possible resources to help people learn how to start a business. Or become aware of services available in the community (e.g., Islanders were recently made eligible to receive SNAP benefits). Your ‘development’ idea would be based on your project/inquiry, so … nothing to worry about yet. I will provide some structure to think about what a project or initiative might look like after the midterm.

You will also submit a draft of your paper during the last regular week of the term, worth up to 30 points. You will receive points based on the completeness of the draft, as well as the effort demonstrated. This project will go much better if you don’t procrastinate. The draft will be due during week 10, and your paper the Monday of finals week (June 9).

Students will present their projects during the finals block, which will take place Monday morning from 8 – 10 am (sorry ☹). I would expect some sort of visual media—PowerPoint or Prezi, for instance—which describes what you undertook, explains the methods of investigation you used, describes your findings, and briefly discusses your project proposal based on your paper and your work. The presentation is worth 40 points.

The final paper will be due June 9, and is worth 110 points. Some specs:

• At least 7 pages in length, no longer than 10;
• Include an introduction that explains what you set out to do (much of this might come from your proposal topic from week 7), what methods you used (include any instruments at the end in an appendix, like a survey or focus group questions), how you divided labor if you worked with a partner, what you learned from your study, and what kind of project you propose that some subset of Islanders might be interested in taking on. Finally, what did you learn from the process (Conclusion, that is. M
• Make sure you cite your sources in a reference section—you should have at least five secondary sources (in addition to any primary source, such as an interview subject), cited properly and incorporated into your introduction or other parts of the paper where they have informed your efforts.

200 points possible (110 for the final paper; 40 for the presentation; 30 for rough draft; 20 for proposal topic). Presentation is June 9 from 8-10 am; Final paper is due June 9^th  in Canvas by midnight.