Social and Legal Environment of
Business

:
 Juniors, Core Course; 35-40 students
 Subject matter: Legal System, relationship of business, social environment, law and public policy
 Several Subject Areas:
Requires lots of new vocabulary, foundation material;

 Basic understanding of structure and mechanics of legal system
 Recognize connections: business, stakeholders, legal system
 Develop skills:


Finding and Integrating sources
Written organization and expression


Verbal organization and expression
Group work

 Getting beyond the basics
 Time needed to lay foundation before moving on to “higher level” tasks
 Class Size
 Class time taken by presentations; faculty time required for structuring, guiding, and evaluating student group and individual work

GROUP PRESENTATION
BASICS:
I considered the following to be critical to ensuring that presentations were relevant and informative



TOPIC SPECIFIED; KEY
ISSUES GENERALLY
IDENTIFIED
PRIOR INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN
RESEARCH REQUIRED
 Individual research paper or outline reviewed and discussed in advance of presentation
CHECKPOINTS TO
DETERMINE PROGRESS
(Some class time devoted to checking progress; drafts required)

GROUP PRESENTATION
CHALLENGES
1) CONTENT QUALITY:
Informative and Accurate
Well Organized
Relevant Issues Addressed
2)
STYLE:
Colorful, Interesting, Clear
3) WORTHWHILE FOR AUDIENCE

Initial Changes:
(To better focus the research, and to make the presentations more interesting and helpful to the audience)

SOURCES PROVIDED ON
BLACKBOARD
 Students required to add 3-4 of their own

MORE EMPHASIS ON
STYLE
 Examples of prior presentations were shown to class

Results Were Mixed
 Content decent overall
 Style improved somewhat
 Took up MUCH too much time
 Group dynamics a continuing problem

GOALS FOR BRIDGE
PROJECT
 Better Integrate Presentations with Lecture Material

Time Pressure a huge problem
 Make research/group presentation less burdensome
 Engage audience to greater degree

BRIDGE REVISIONS
1)MORE STRUCTURE
MORE SPECIFIC ISSUE IDENTIFICATION
2)REDUCED PRESENTATION TIME
Approximately 5 minutes per person instead of 15 minutes
3)MODIFIED OR ELIMINATED OTHER
ASSIGNMENTS WHICH WERE NOT
RELATED TO THE PRESENTATION
Homework assignments and exam essay questions were focused on the presentation topics.
Homework assignments required summaries of research sources and outlines of progress on the paper.

BRIDGE REVISIONS
(CONT’D)

“Group” Presentation
With Individual Grades
 Seveneight general “group” topics identified


Each topic had up to six separate issues
Students “select” general topic within first two weeks of semester – no more than 6 students per “group”
 Class meeting time still provided

“Group” Presentation
 Students may choose to present as individuals or with the group
 Groups may use one powerpoint or individual powerpoints
 Each Individual is responsible for his/her issue, but must also coordinate with the group to make sure there is no overlap.

RESULTS
(MY IMPRESSION)


CONTENT AND QUALITY OF
PRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE
SAME
SLACKER PROBLEMS
VANISHED!
 GROUP ACTIVITY: Despite the option of working individually, most students chose to work together.
Several presented a completely coordinated group presentation.

PLANS FOR FUTURE
 STRUCTURE IS CRITICAL
 Identify AND ORGANIZE issues, provide foundation research
 POWERPOINTS HELPFUL:
 Will require for all
 TOUGHER TIME RESTRICTIONS, GREATER
EMPHASIS ON STYLE
 MORE EXPLICIT DISCUSSION OF DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN WRITTEN RESEARCH AND
PRESENTATION

Next Challenge to Work on….
 Engaging the audience – questions and critical thinking…