INTRODUCTION- The Honors Seminar Convocation

At the end och quarter there is an Honors Convocation at which each seminar presents its findings to other students in the Davis Honors Challenge and other interested parties. The Convocation always takes place on the Saturday after the ninth week of classes at a large venue on campus, from 1:30-4:30 PM. All DHC students and faculty are encouraged to attend the Winter Convocation as it provides students and faculty who will be participating in honors seminars during spring quarter an opportunity to see examples of how seminars solved problems and several different examples of ways to present findings to a large audience.

Goals of the Honors Convocation

DHC faculty members developed the following three goals for the Convocation:

Convocation Format

The Convocations that took place during the 1998-1999 academic year had three distinct parts in an effort to meet each of the three goals.

1. One on One Presentations

Two seminars were paired together for the presentation portion of the convocation. Each seminar had the freedom to utilize 15 minutes to present their findings in any manner they chose. Some seminars made videos, others created dramatizations or PowerPoint presentations. Then for 15 minutes the audience asked questions which they had prepared in advance. The audience was given an executive summary by the presenting group the week prior to the Convocation, then given time in class to prepare questions. Seminar students practiced their presentations before the Convocation in order to familiarize themselves with the technology they used to present and to make sure their presentation was within the time limit.

Executive Summary

In order to provide students additional practice synthesizing their findings and to provide them with real world writing experience each seminar prepared an executive summary for their presentation's audience. The purpose of the summary was to provide presentation partners with enough information to prepare questions about the seminar topic. Each summary was limited to 500 words or two pages, including graphics and charts. The summary was then delivered to the presentation partner the week before the Convocation.

2. Five Minute Topic Introductions

Over the past two years the five minute topic presentations were the place where students showcased their imagination and creativity. During the five minute presentations all one hundred and twenty seminar students gathered in a large lecture hall to watch each seminar recap their quarter or advertise their poster. Last year students produced videos, and performed both humorous and dramatic interactive skits.

3. Poster Session

The poster session of the Convocation is an additional mechanism for each seminar to present its findings to the students in other seminars. After the five minute introductions, students proceeded to a large room where the posters were displayed and engaged in conversations about the topic with seminar representatives.

Sample Poster Guidelines from the 1998-1999 Academic Year

Each poster considered the following questions:

• What was the topic of the seminar?
• What issues did you seek to address?
• What information/data/evidence did you gather that helped you address these issues?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the way you gathered this information?
• What conclusions were you able to draw from your information?
• What are the limitations of your conclusions?
• Where would you go from here with this topic?
• If you were doing this project again, what would you do differently?

Poster dimensions

4' (height) x 8 '(width) bulletin boards were provided for each poster on the day of the Convocation. Students arrived early to set up bulletin boards and posters.

Sample Convocation Presentation Schedule from the 1998-1999 Academic Year

	Seminar	Instructor	Room
1.	Passive Remediation Organic Farming	K. Scow D. Potter	Garrison Room
2.	Rappin the World Industrial Ecology	A. Palazoglu D. Cox	Mee Room
3.	Oil Use in the Caspian Sea Transformation of the Medical Profession	I. Montañez K. Verosub	De Carli Room

Convocation Schedule for March 13, 1999

1:30-2:30 One on one presentations in the Memorial Union rooms

2:40-3:30 Five Minute Introductions in 198 Young

3:30-4:30 Poster Session in MU II with refreshments

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