Sentences that contain 2 or more high frequency words (collocation)
The debate statement was, “ That employers have the right to enforce mandatory
overtime for registered nurses” I was assigned to debate the affirmative or pro side of
this debate.
(a) explore why I choose the direction and arguments for the debate; (b) discuss what I
would do differently and (c) discuss my lessons learned from this process.
The debate format was very new to most of us in the class.
It did take a short time to become comfortable with this style of presentation and
learning.
I did participate in debate club in my high school for one year so I did have some
exposure to debate styles.
I enjoyed reading and participating in the discussion of the debates that preceded my
debate presentation.
The debate format is a useful tool to discuss the challenging and often emotional issues
in nursing.
When I first received the debate topic I was very intrigued and interested to get into the
research of this topic.
It was challenging to find credible support documentation and background information
for the pro side of this debate.
I decided to frame the debate around management rights and clarified that my position
was not to debate whether mandatory overtime was a good or bad but rather that
management should have the right to use mandatory overtime in certain situations.
In evaluating what worked well, presenting the information from Chandra (2007) that
indicated a variety of reasons why nurses leave nursing added some strength to my
debate rebuttal.
I realized presenting my debate in a manner that acknowledged the context of the health
care system and competing demands for nursing managers in terms of nurse staffing
would put the situation in a more positive light.
I would still present the information from the management rights position but I would
try to have more supporting research to address the rebuttal of my opponent.
I did not feel that my rebuttal was as strong as my opponents due to lack of information
to refute the arguments on nurse moral and work life balance.
I realized that I was not going to have many cheerleaders or classmates supporting the
pro side of this debate.
The information my opponent presented on patient safety, recruitment and retention of
nurses, nursing moral and work life balance is well documented and researched.
I was presently surprised at the positive comments from my classmates and their support
to me on presenting the pro side of this emotion filled topic.
In summary, having my debate scheduled in the middle of the course provided the
opportunity to review previous debate presentation styles and informed my choice in
style and layout of information.
The lessons learned from this debate reflect the objectives of the course outline.
I have developed increased comfort and knowledge with the following: (a) using the
Athabasca University library; (b) development of logical affirmative debate arguments;
(c) increased skill in analyzing the logic of my opponent’ s arguments and (d)
presenting rebuttal in a positive professional manner.
The debate experience was a positive one for me personally; the debate was my first
project for my first course on my journey of studies for my Masters in Nursing.
In my career I enjoy reviewing lessons learned from practice and look forward to
incorporating my lessons learned from this course and debate exercise for future projects
and assignments.
I really enjoyed using the debates as a learning tool.
When I received my debate topic I was at first “ oh great how am I ever going to debate
the pro side of overtime “ The more I talked about it and researched I began to feel more
optimistic and challenged.
The week of the debates was stressful and putting the info out to the class was a relief.
Reflecting that it was not personal and sticking to the “ issue” helped me proceed with
the process.
This debate process was a good reminder that when discussing issues or scenarios as
nurse leaders you have to take yourself out of the equation and look at what is best for the
client and the organization.
Overall I did enjoy the debates as a learning tool.
The replies to the debates also challenged my presentation and writing skills as I wanted
to present a reply that was intelligent and well thought out.
The debates also allowed the class to gain a comfort level and get to know each other
better than an different kind of forum postings.
The debate format could still be preserved, but by working together and there may have
been an opportunity to bring in more ideas to provide a more comprehensive view of the
associated issues.
I felt that I had a good understanding of many of the issues surrounding of harm
reduction and was able to present the scope, principles, cost benefits and scientific
evidence supporting its implementation.
I found that my presenting arguments, rebuttal and closing arguments were conducted
in more of an instinctive manner, rather than one that was specific within a debating
format or structure.
Curiously, I think had I had the opposing side of the debate, I would have been forced to
explore and employ a specific debating strategy in order to frame my discussion.
I appreciated that much of the content of my arguments focused around the literature
regarding supervised injection sites and felt that I could have provided more emphasis on
other harm reduction strategies and models.
Although I believe the content of the presentation to be sound, the visual presentation
was likely difficult for most to follow because of formatting/software difficulties and as
such would be distracting.
Even though the it was relatively easy to consider the arguments supporting the
affirmative side of the discussion, I found that I was more vigilant about considering the
opposite view and was cognizant of the potential arguments.
This approach of course can present a somewhat myopic view of the issues at hand that
can result in a rigid or closed perspective.
Self- evaluation of the debate process The purpose of the debate process for this course
was to present an issue and present the pros and cons of each side of the issue.
This process was new to this writer and presented a learning opportunity for presenting
issues in a debate fomat and critically examining them.
Through this process, this writer presented a position and also evaluated and rebutted
another person’ s position.
This self-evaluation will examine strengths and weaknesses during this debate process.
Strengths Part of the debate process involves taking a position on an issue and arguing
that particular side regardless of one’ s own personal subjectivity on the topic.
As part of the debate process, the emphasis is on objectively presenting data and arguing
the support of it.
This writer discovered through her research that I was able to develop my own learning
about this issue and present the material effectively to the class to support the coverage
of Complementary therapies in the Canada Heath Act.
This writer felt that it was necessary for my classmates to understand this connection
based on how it could be integrated into the health care system and also see how it could
offset some of the negative arguments that were provided by x (Chin, 2009).
Lastly as arguing the pro side of the debate this writer felt that defining these therapies
was necessary for my colleagues to interpret and understand my position.
This writer provided a strong debate with compelling arguments to promote this
argument.
Data presented clearly demonstrated the connection between holistic care, integrative
health care, ongoing research and the prevalence of chronic diseases with ongoing issues
in quality of life(McGrath-Terry,2009).
The rebuttal to X’ s debate was strongly presented based on arguing her main
premises.
Secondly, this writer realized that cost would be an issue for the system to absorb so took
the position that the cost of acute care and illness care were important factors that were
not being considered in the total costs.
The final summation highlighted effectively the main arguments of the debate and
continued to focus on the main premises to support my argument.
This writer felt that because it was a more difficult point to prove that it should be
covered that multiple sources of data would help promote this side of the argument.
In addition, I felt that the research would promote the validity of the position as
presented to my classmates.
This self-evaluation includes an analysis that the debate had strong arguments
supporting the topic perhaps the debate language defining the main premises could have
been stronger.
Upon retrospection, the debate’ s main premises were less strongly defined compared to
some of the other debates that were presented.
This is something that will be presented stronger in future debates.
However, the rebuttal did have a stronger debate tone to counteract x’ s position.
Conclusion This debate was a learning experience that was creative and thought
provoking for this writer and successfully met the objective by critically examining an
issue without the use of personal biases.
This debate successfully presented the position that the Canada Health Act could
integrate complementary therapies in the health care system.
I first learned we had to do the debate process when I started the course and it was a
little frightening at first.
When I first discovered I had the pro side for complementary therapies I admit I thought
x had the better side!
I needed to approach the topic a little more open to argue the opposite position.
In addition I found that anticipating my opponents arguments helped me to think about
how I could respond and what arguments I needed to counter with.
In my debate and the other debates that other people presented, I didn’ t really find that
there were black/white positions.
I found that as the weeks went on I learned more from how my classmates presented
their debates.
Always found these difficult to do but ultimately a learning experience to understand
how the process can be improved and what was done right.
By the end of course I found I probably enjoyed the debate the best.
It was very interesting to see how my classmates became torn between the pro and con
side of the debate.
I felt both Margaret and I presented equally convincing arguments.
I found the feedback my classmates provided to be very supportive whether they were for
the pro or con side of the argument.
I think I presented my side of the argument very clearly, I don’ t feel I provided
information overload.
This first debate was a learning experience for me and I think the more debates I am
involved with, the more proficient I will become.
Cheers and Merry Christmas In this brief paper I will critique my presentation of the
issue of nursing specialty certification, in the forum of a structured on-line debate.
My assigned stance in this exercise was to represent the pro side of this debate.
I plan to evaluate my work in understanding and analyzing the issue, my approach to
critiquing my own presentation as well as that of my opponent, the rebuttal format I
chose, and my struggle with remaining committed to the stance I was assigned.
As expected, I found ample literature from the certification organizations, including
nursing licensing organization in Canada and the US, promoting certification in peerreviewed nursing journals.
In analyzing the data, I felt I was fortunate in that my own personal views did not align
with the position I was assigned to take, so I was more confident that I would be aware
of the arguments against certification that might be brought forth by my opponent.
Then, to emphasize my point, I went one step further than my assigned position, by
suggesting that certification should be mandatory for specialty nursing areas.
In the rebuttal, I was somewhat surprised that my opponent chose to emphasize the
“ art” of nursing as her main selling point.
Rebutting the “ art of nursing” argument was more difficult, and I rather avoided this
altogether.
Had I been very committed to holding fast on my original point, this approach of
“ upping the ante” on my argument would have likely backfired, as drawing this
criticism weakened my position in the eyes of the audience.
I found it difficult initially to stick to my assigned position, since my personal views did
not support the position wholeheartedly.
I strongly feel that reaching some common ground with one’ s opponent in debates, and
in daily disagreements, is an essential part of resolving issues, and this exercise
confirmed my perspective.
In addition, I think I could have presented a more comprehensive argument had I
broadened my approach to include certification other than current CNA certification in
Canada.
I also think that including a piece on advanced nursing education and its benefits to
patient might have strengthened my argument.
It has allowed me to practice some new skills and approaches and also to recognize some
tactics others may use in debates, enhancing my ability to critically analyze debate
content.
The opportunity to engage in structured debate with a peer in a supportive instructional
setting and the privilege of responding to, and evaluating the debate presentations of my
peers has been a most valuable learning experience, allowing me to glean use of new
techniques and approaches that will undoubtedly add to my repertoire of debating
strategies and critical analysis of debates in the future.
Overall, I perceived our debate development process and implementation were strong.
Evidence was reviewed individually and collaboratively, and consensus decision making
was utilized to identify the underlying themes and explore which arguments most
accurately represented the trends and issues.
As we are both near completion of our degree, we agreed we were suffering with
PowerPoint fatigue and welcomed the opportunity for creative license in the debate
process.
Our introductory, rebuttal and concluding remarks were grounded in evidence as
supported by our reference lists which were inclusive of peer-reviewed journals, current
national experts in the field of immunization, and also local editorials to reflect evidence
in both trends and issues.
Use of debate process and terminology was moderately achieved.
I perceive that we maintained strict debate process.
We were respectful, open to discourse, and differing perspectives on the issues addressed
in the debate.
For future debates, I would ensure that I cited my debate resources utilized.
It would have been pro-active to seek guidance prior to posting the debate process for
the group, but I appreciate your prompt clarification to the group.
We truly enjoyed every step of the debate process: a) Discovery and brainstorming to
find and define our issues.
I must say when I first read about an on-line debate, I wondered how effective it would
be without the spontanaiety or palpable enthusiam of being present in the room as the
debates were being presented.
The feedback and comments from the group kept the momentum of the debate as the
topic of flu this year was a passionate one.
As all the debates were presented, I believe I learned alot about presenting an
argument, making a case, and repeatedly & consistently sending your message.
Thanks for the learning opportunity to engage one another in critical reflection on many
nursing trends & issues.
I enjoyed the implementation of the debate style presentations and discussions as a
learning strategy moreso than individually writing a second paper.
One of the biggest obstacles was simultaneously researching a topic while learning how
to format and structure a debate.
If I had to do the debate over again, I would have spent more time learning about
debate protocol and discussing the construction of the debate with my partner.
I felt our classmates were engaged in the topic and that in the end, both ‘ for’ and
‘ against’ were arguing for the same thing: an evidence-informed plan, with adequate
funding and timelines, to implement a sustainable EHR system.
The debate was well planned and though Lisa and I may have experienced some time
constraints, I do not believe this was reflected in the end product.
opportunity to reflect upon what I learned and how I contributed to the learning of the
class.
However, the debate format forces one to clearly define one's position - there's no sitting
on the fence.
I enjoyed the debate process as a leader and as a participant.
The topic I was assigned to debate, should all registered nurses be credentialed in their
specialty areas, brought forth many discussions and opinions within the class.
I argued the pro side of the topic and felt I was effective and provided relevant and
informative research.
This was the first time I did a debate and the first time I did a power point presentation
for the class to view.
I found there was an extensive amount of information regarding credentials, especially
regarding the positive side of credentials.
I always knew I wanted to attempt the Canadian Nurses Association exam for emergency
room nursing, I know now the process and the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that comes
with the certification.
I think it may have been helpful if perhaps your debate could have started us off, but then
again, the class may of not made their own type of debate.
The rebuttal was fun, it for me was fun because you got to defend your reasoning for
your side.
Trying not to take comments personally was difficult but I felt I did learn how to debate
slightly, would need to do it more to become better at it.
I feel the class all did great jobs on the debates.
Having had an opportunity to reflect on the debate held on the topic: should grade 9 girls
receive HPV vaccine – I have enclosed my thoughts on this experience.
In reviewing the literature early I had numerous lenses to choose from for my podiums
position; in keeping with the structure for a debate I chose three main propositions to
defend.
My presentation strategy played on the recurrent theme of ‘ truth or dare’ throughout
the debate.
As my opponent presented consequences fueling her position I tried to minimize her
position with evidence versus opinion, international trends versus local statistics on
reactions, and reflective narratives that played to the audience’ s emotional intelligence.
This was a strategy to personalize and intensify the importance of my arguments and
sway the audience in favor of my position despite documented controversies.
Playing to my opponent’ s and audience’ s emotions with presentation of facts through
narration and ratio scales, I was able to create the illusion and visualization of evidence of
staggering trends and issues supporting my position.
My hope was to draw them to my position and fracture the virulence of my opponent’ s
position.
I tried to rebut clustered highlights of her initial arguments, which I found conceivably
that in a real debate no one could defend with the time allocated.
My opponent was crafty with her words of “ unjustified” , “ unclear” , “ did not
address” , and “ puzzling” – which I felt affected my rebuttal.
This exercise of debate proved to be an invaluable learning experience for me as it
provoked emotions of healthy conflict, opened my eyes to seeing the art of defense and
the importance of embracing many views, opinions, and experiences drawn from the
audience.
Hello, Having a moment to reflect on my journey through this course work I remember
my initial response to the debate forum was of more curiosity and innovation.
I remember my debate partner and I had a lot going on in our lives so we briefly touched
base and then we entered the 'ring' to debate.
It was interesting because in a non web base debate the participants use their hands,
voice, etc to spar with their opponent - online it was words, sequence of arguments,
pictures, clips, etc.
As the debates were posted I really appreciate the balance of feedback our colleagues
presented - the insight, different experiences, lenses, etc.
Reviewing feedback for the rebuttal was again great as I was able to incorporate my
classmates feedback - and open my eyes to seeing my opponents feedback so I may be
sensitive to the issue globally.
It was interesting because I find that from this course I see trends/issues more differently
- being sensitive again to both sides of the argument, not losing focus on my point of
argument, and remaining professional at all times with the use of my words etc to
negotiate my view to my audience.
My debating position was on the negative or opposition side for the following issue:
“ That all registered nurses must have swine flu shot".
Preparation As I reflect on my preparation for the debate assignment I have to say I felt a
bit intimidated.
I had never participated in an official debate and I felt my debating skills were lacking.
Initially I was perplexed as to how I could successfully debate a topic on the affirmative
side, if I was passionately against it.
Vandall-Walker provided excellent justification for participating in a debate, on either
side of an argument.
I accessed the web site “ Debate Central” and found a plethora of information on
debating.
I felt this was effective in the debate because there was strong evidence supporting all
individuals’ right to choice when it comes to medical interventions.
Now that my main argument was well developed and supported, I needed to consider
other sides of the argument.
Keeping in mind that the rebuttal is one of the most important parts of any debate I tried
to apply the tips provided in “ Tips for Debaters” .
As I look back I think my closing arguments could have been stronger and maybe
should have been directed more at my opponent’ s rebuttal.
In response to all the great feedback in the discussion forum, I felt I just needed to make
some minor adjustments to my argument.
It appeared to cause some confusion for the class as some noted that my position
statement was unclear in the beginning.
What Would Be Done Differently Next Time I find it somewhat difficult to discuss what
I would do differently next time without the feedback from the course expert.
Although most of the feedback I received from the class was positive, I still feel the need
to have confirmation from the course professor.
In view of the fact that I had conducted extensive research on the topic I felt prepared.
Initially my thinking was that you don’ t label the premises in your argument, yet you
build your argument based on your premises.
Perhaps next time it would be beneficial to label my premises and in the rebuttal label
my opponents arguments as fallacies where appropriate.
My first thought was if I’ m assigned the pro side of an issue that I am passionately
against how can I prepare an effective debate in support of that issue.
Virginia very efficiently clarified that the debate should be based on reliable references
and not on passion and debating on an assigned side forces you to look at issues from all
perspectives as opposed to just your own perspective.
I have to say preparing for the debate involved a huge amount of time in researching the
topic from all angles and preparing your stance and supporting argument while at the
same time anticipating your opponent’ s arguments.
As I posted my debate online I felt a little anxious and unsure if what I prepared was
appropriate and acceptable.
I enjoyed preparing the rebuttal because I had an enormous amount of references to
draw on including most of the references my opponent used which was helpful for
refuting some of her supporting arguments.
Nonetheless the debating process in this course was a very effective teaching strategy in
terms of learning debating skills, research skills and as well as learning the pros and
cons to every issue presented.
I’ ve learned so much about the issues facing nursing and health care in general in this
process.
Debate is a broader activity than argument as it is a process that involves argumentation
(The Editors of Idea, 2003).
Debate requires research in order to add power to the arguments.
This debate was my first and has been a tremendous learning experience.
The feedback from the class contributed immensely to my learning.
Taking flu shots has always been at the bottom of my priority list and presenting a debate
on this topic would give me an opportunity to learn more about this issue.
I was assigned the affirmative position on the debate entitled “ That all RNs must have
swine flu shots” contrary to what I would have preferred.
Researching for the topic gave me a better perspective of the issue and was able to view
the topic from both sides.
Before I started my research, I had the opportunity to view for the second time the movie
“ The Great Debaters” while contemplating on my debate topic.
It also provided me an idea as to the research and preparation that would be required in
developing a debate presentation.
Certainly, this movie gave me an excellent example of a debate and prepared me for how
much work I needed to accomplish for my debate presentation.
The main debate presentation was “ messy” as one of my classmates commented
because the text boxes were not removed from the slides.
Although, most gave positive comments about how I addressed my opponent’ s
individual arguments in my rebuttal, I believe that using the thematic strategy would
have been a better option.
Secondly, thematic rebuttal would have presented ideas in a succinct manner and
finally, it would have been easier for the reader to follow the idea being presented.
” I thought this title well-represented the debate topic.
However, one commented that my debate position was not clearly stated in my
introduction.
The division of the arguments into “ premises” was somewhat confusing to one
classmate but gave others a clear organization of the arguments.
While some stated that the information provided added to their knowledge on the subject
others noted that some of the information was new knowledge.
This background information also contributed to the strength of the arguments.
Although this was my first debate, the strategies that I used in the debate preparation and
in the presentation itself proved useful and effective.
However, I realized that not everyone was convinced to take my side of the debate.
Regardless, the general comments indicate to me that the class learned from my
presentation.
When I first found out that we were going to engage in debates, I felt nervous at the
same time confused.
I hate engaging in debates as I always seem to lose in arguments at home with my
children!
Then I realized this is different as we don’ t have to debate each other in front of the
class.
I felt some relief when I realized that this is not a spontaneous debate and that I have
time to prepare my arguments.
I had to learn how to present a debate topic and once I had the idea of how debates were
presented, I was faced with the daunting task of preparing for the debate!
After watching the movie “ Great Debater” I came to the realization that I did not have
much time left to research for the topic (considering I have full time work).
When I finally posted my debate, I felt relieved that the comments I received were
generally positive.
Do I address my opponent’ s arguments one at a time?
I finally decided to use the long version; address each argument in my rebuttal.
When data is lacking one seemed to resort to using fallacies to try to prove one’ s point
and position on the debate.
This phase of the process put everything in perspective; I learned from everyone many
ways to improve my presentation.
Researching on a topic or an issue is an essential component of a successful debate.
The nursing profession has always been confronted with many issues and nurses must be
able to view them from different perspectives in order to appropriately address them.
I found that one will fail in arguments and debates about an issue if that person is not
armed with data and other tools to validate his position.
This whole process has provided me an effective way of presenting an issue.
For me, this has been an effective and enjoyable teaching and learning strategy not only
on issues but also on other topics of interest.
The only thing I would have preferred was a sample PowerPoint debate at the beginning
that could have helped in the organization of my debate.
I feel very pleased with the learning that occurred during my debate topic of “ Should
Nursing Faculty Participate in Relevant Clinical Practice.
My opposing argument provided a history of our topic using our course text and journal
articles as references.
My rebuttal received tremendous feedback from the class.
In my conclusion, I included salient points that classmates had made that had enhanced
my position in the debate.
Humour was also used to lighten the heavy topic and inject some fun into our learning.
I felt that my partner’ s argument focused primarily on faculty in the clinical setting
where our definition was aimed at teachers in the classroom as well.
However, I don’ t believe that my debate partner fully discussed the classroom teacher
in her argument.
In spite of this, I continued my debate based on our definition which allowed me to offer
excellent arguments, rebuttals, and a robust final conclusion.
I truly enjoyed the debate process.
I appreciate the respect and open dialogue that the class showed each debate along with
all of the hard work that everyone put into this.
I was glad to have the topic of clinical practice and teaching because I had been debating
this topic in my own career.
The debate helped me to clarify the issue and I now have a strong stance on it and can
back it up with research.
The class input was a valuable resource to use for the rebuttal.
This helped me to solidify my position and form my arguments.
Athabasca University course 609, Advanced Trends and Issues in Nursing is a master
level course designed to assist the student in learning about issues and situations in
nursing.
One of the assignments within this course was an online formal debate.
The topic I chose to debate was the pro side to the statement that health care is best
managed through program management.
In this paper I will self-evaluate my debate in relation to the debate content, the rebuttal
to my opponent’ s debate and my interaction with fellow students during the week of my
debate.
Prior to researching my debate topic, I contacted the professor to ensure I had an
accurate understanding of the topic for debate.
In reviewing the structure of the debate, I did present a debate that was within the
requested slide limit number.
I saw the value of a specific outline and page numbers from previous debates and I
incorporated those into my debate.
There were headings to assist the reader in understanding the information presented in
the debate.
I did not include any graphics in my presentation so that the slides would not be
crowded, but several students said graphics would have made the presentation more
engaging.
In gathering information for my debate, I included references from thirteen articles.
In my summary I highlighted some key points from the debate presentation to leave the
reader with a positive view of program management.
I may have presented a stronger case for the use of program management if I had
presented more quantitative data relating to program management specifically rather
than generally related to interdisciplinary practice.
In the rebuttal portion of the debate presentation I used elements of my opponent’ s
argument to determine my rebuttal argument.
I argued using information from my debate and references that the priorities were and
should be best practice which could be provided in a program management structure.
During the week of my debate presentation, I presented my debate and rebuttal on the
days required.
By presenting this topic in a debate format, I better understood the necessary arguments
that were crucial to my position and also understand the arguments my opponent could
present in her debate.
This allowed me to review and understand both viewpoints of a nursing issue and forced
me to articulate my position clearly and succinctly.
I believe I presented a strong debate and was able to rebut convincingly but respectfully
to my opponent’ s statements.
This is a valuable skill to learn and this debate helped me to gain skills in presenting an
argument for a particular viewpoint.
I want to highlight a situation I have been in over the last 2 months and how learning to
debate and articulate a clear position has been invaluable.
During the many weeks of interviews and debates and writing of the report, I have been
able to ask questions that have uncovered other issues and helped to create plans that may
help to solve some of these issues.
Being able to articulate a position in a constructive and professional way is very helpful
in my role and I have learned skills in this course that will be helpful in the future as I
continue to negotiate with this service.
1- My first feelings when I realized I would need to participate in a debate, was
uneasiness and uncertainty as to how I would be able to conduct a debate.
2- When I was preparing for my debate, I was frustrated as I couldn't find much
information on my topic.
I thought that I should have picked a topic which was easier to gather information about,
but I suppose others probably felt the same way.
I felt more confident once I posted my debate as I felt I understood my topic and could
then articulate an appropriate rebuttal.
The review and preparation of the rebuttal felt very rushed and it was difficult to have
the rebuttal prepared by the Friday deadline.
Actually completing the rebuttal though was easier than the initial debate as I only
needed to address the statements made by my opponent (I didn't need to think of all the
possible arguments as I did when I was preparing the debate).
Preparing the rebuttal helped my to better understand how to debate.
I would have appreciated more information on what specific criteria I was to use in
evaluating my debate.
I believe this is an effective learning strategy for this course.
In this course the student must be able to understand and articulate the trends that have
affected nursing and be able to speak to them.
The debate helped with that learning.
The debate assignment was a great learning experience for me.
I have been thinking of why registered nurses (RNs) had to learn about debate as soon as
I read the course outline on September 8th, the first day of the course.
When I looked back, I realized that I had not slept through most of the nights since early
September until the debate was over on November 10th, the day I completed the closing
presentation.
On day one of the course, I printed the Course Withdrawal Form and kept it in the front
pocket of the binder.
How did this assignment support the title of this nursing course?
The assignment was about using debate format to deal with issues.
Yes, I had to deal with clinical issues and management issues on the daily basis.
Debate could be an excellent tool for me to learn how to articulate issues and to deal
with issues effectively.
Reading all the articles related to debate, I was very confused during my first attempt to
understand the terminology of debate.
How could I label the terms such as premise(s), conclusion, argument, and fallacy, to the
information from the article, The press discovers a nursing shortage (Idelson, 2001)?
The strong sense of uncertainty was overwhelming during the process of completing the
practice assignment, formulating debate arguments for the claim: Recruitment strategies
will solve the nursing shortage.
I realized that the challenges were to apply the abstract concept of debate into actual
practice of debate, and to demonstrate the logical reasoning process of an individual’ s
internal thinking process to the audience.
Yes, indeed debate was at the advanced level of nursing practice and the debate
assignment answered the last two questions above.
In the fourth week, I continued to explore how the debate process related to the
advanced issues of nursing practice.
Reviewing the five required core courses of the program, Master of Nursing, I realized
that NURS 603, NURS 607, and NURS 611 were courses focused on knowledge inquiry
and nursing research.
I had developed my personalized philosophy of nursing and internalized the nursing
values that have been guiding my clinical practice since the completion of NURS 608 last
fall semester.
This course has been providing me opportunities to learn about nursing history,
advanced trends and issues, debate process, trend paper outline and annotated
bibliography, how to critique classmates’ debate presentations, and how to support
classmates’ pursue of developing their trend paper.
This online learning environment created numerous learning opportunities.
The debate process and responses to the classmates’ comments could accelerate the
learning process to the peak of its intensity!
When I was reading the required readings for debate in week three and week four, at
least two to three authors mentioned about philosophers liked to debate in certain ways.
Yes, I found my own discovery: debate would be a form of borrowed theory from the
discipline of philosophy, a typical example of applying pragmatism into nursing
practice!
It demonstrated my logical reasoning that encouraged me to take the challenge of the
debate process.
There were four debates presented before my turn.
Each time I read the class’ power point (ppt) presentations; I thought to myself that they
articulated so well that I could not do a better job than theirs.
I have to struggle with it from time to time.
I was not only losing my mental strength but also struggling to learn how to research
online, and how to use the ppt presentation program for the first time!
Working eight to ten hours overtime a week for almost two years plus full-time work
schedule and family commitments, I did not have much time to keep up with the course
demand.
All these factors made my learning of the debate assignment a challenging and
rewarding journey.
Firstly, pro side and con side could find many references to support their position
statement.
This finding generated my conclusion that references might not be the most important
information during the debate process.
The two significant learning objectives of debate were the flow of logical reasoning that
demonstrated the individual’ s internal thinking, and the ability to articulate the flow of
logical reasoning into powerful and vivid messages to convince the audience supporting
the individual’ s position statement.
Based on these two learning objectives, I provided feedbacks to classmates’ debates on
how to present the position statement, premises, and arguments by thematic approach,
and grouping ideas into three main themes rather than a list of six to seven points.
The first debate in week five was an example that pro side of hiring full-time nurses was
almost “ attacked” by many classmates based on their personal experiences of working
part-time.
Learning knowledge from the discipline of psychology was another way to advance the
debate process.
The debate topic, that all nine-year-old girls should receive the HPV vaccination, was a
good one to demonstrate the dynamics of debate.
The ppt presentations demonstrated how to frame and to present arguments, premises,
and conclusions, to convince the audience to understand and to accept the presenter’ s
logical reasoning, and to support the position statement!
Secondly, the thematic rebuttal and the strategy of “ attacking` the tree truck, not the
branches and twigs” (Greenwell, Driscoll, Byrne, & Moss, 2001) were the two main
strategies in debate.
In the latter debates, I could recognize patterns of thematic rebuttal in some
presentations and that made me feel a sense of accomplishment and encouraging in my
learning of the debate process.
Week Nine: My Debate Week The peak time of learning the debate was the five to six
hours that I spent on organizing classmates’ comments and wrote up the eight pages to
respond to the class.
Completing the opening presentation and the rebuttal, the information of the debate
topic, program management, was like puzzle pieces of references in my mind.
This mental exercise facilitated my learning as the professor had described in one of the
online posting dated September 18, 2009 at 4:09pm, “ One of the reasons is that to
engage successfully in a debate, student must become immersed in the entire range of
facts surrounding an issue – the facts from both sides of the issue.
Reflecting on the experience of responding to the classmates’ comments of the debate
topic, I realized that debate is a methodology to deal with issues by looking at the big
picture from different perspectives such as pro side and con side, and by zeroing into
those main factors causing an issue, i.
Week Ten: My Reflective Thinking Process When I was preparing the annotated
bibliography for the trend paper in week ten, I read an article described the participants of
the first international symposium debated on many issues of places of death (Mpinga,
Pennec, Gomes, Cohen, Higginson, Wilson, & Rapin, 2006).
It was another interesting discovery in my learning journey of the debate process.
In the past ten weeks, I learned that debate was the advanced level of clinical practice to
deal with issues.
I had to examine an issue from pro side and con side, different perspectives, to
understand the complexity of an issue.
Using thematic approach to zero into the central theme(s) of the issue, I could look into
options of dealing with an issue more effectively.
Despites my high anxiety level, and the demands from work and family, I managed to
complete the debate assignment and learned how debate related to clinical practice.
During that week, I identified my working overtime as an issue and applied what I had
learned from the debate process to deal with this issue!
Examining the pro side and con side of the issue, I listed the main causes of the issue and
came up with some strategies to deal with it.
I learned how to identify issues and how to apply the principles of the debate process in
real life!
After the completion of the debate assignment, I realized that I have been able to identify
clinical issues more efficiently and to apply the principles of debate process mindfully.
The above is the outcome from my learning of the debate.
The following is my reflective thoughts of how I have gone through the debate process
from week one to week ten, the week I completed the self-evaluation assignment.
How did this assignment support the title of this nursing course?
Reading all the articles related to debate, I was very confused during my first attempt to
understand the terminology of debate.
I realized that the challenges were to apply the abstract concept of debate into actual
practice of debate, and to demonstrate the logical reasoning process of an individual’ s
internal thinking process to the audience.
Yes, indeed debate was at the advanced level of nursing practice and the debate
assignment answered the last two questions above.
From Week Five to Week Eight: The Fours Weeks Before My Debate Week There were
four debates presented before my turn.
Each time I read the class’ power point (ppt) presentations; I thought to myself that they
articulated so well that I could not do a better job than theirs.
I have to struggle with it from time to time.
I was not only losing my mental strength but also struggling to learn how to research
online, and how to use the ppt presentation program for the first time!
All these factors made my learning of the debate assignment a challenging and
rewarding journey.
Firstly, pro side and con side could find many references to support their position
statement.
This finding generated my conclusion that references might not be the most important
information during the debate process.
The two significant learning objectives of debate were the flow of logical reasoning that
demonstrated the individual’ s internal thinking, and the ability to articulate the flow of
logical reasoning into powerful and vivid messages to convince the audience supporting
the individual’ s position statement.
Based on these two learning objectives, I provided feedbacks to classmates’ debates on
how to present the position statement, premises, and arguments by thematic approach,
and grouping ideas into three main themes rather than a list of six to seven points.
The thematic rebuttal and the strategy of “ attacking` the tree truck, not the branches and
twigs” (Greenwell, Driscoll, Byrne, & Moss, 2001) were the two main strategies in
debate.
I had tried to apply these strategies to my own debate and that made me feel a sense of
accomplishment and encouraging in my learning of the debate process in week nine.
Week Nine: My Debate Week The peak time of learning the debate was the five to six
hours that I spent on organizing classmates’ comments and wrote up the eight pages to
respond to the class.
Completing the opening presentation and the rebuttal, the information of the debate
topic, program management, was like puzzle pieces of references in my mind.
This mental exercise facilitated my learning as the professor had described in one of the
online posting dated September 18, 2009 at 4:09pm, “ One of the reasons is that to
engage successfully in a debate, student must become immersed in the entire range of
facts surrounding an issue – the facts from both sides of the issue.
Week Ten: My Reflective Thinking Process When I was preparing the annotated
bibliography for the trend paper in week ten, I read an article described the participants of
the first international symposium debated on many issues of places of death (Mpinga,
Pennec, Gomes, Cohen, Higginson, Wilson, & Rapin, 2006).
It was another interesting discovery in my learning journey of the debate process.
Conclusion In the past ten weeks, I learned that debate was the advanced level of clinical
practice to deal with issues.
I had to examine an issue from pro side and con side, different perspectives, to
understand the complexity of an issue.
Using thematic approach to zero into the central theme(s) of the issue, I could look into
options of dealing with an issue more effectively.
Despites my high anxiety level, and the demands from work and family, I managed to
complete the debate assignment and learned how debate related to clinical practice.
After completing this debate process I realize there does not have to be a right or wrong
answer, but more so a choice of “ the best answer” for the individuals involved.
This could even mean that the side of the debate you agree on today may not be the side
you will agree with tomorrow.
For our debate on “ Should Nurses be Credentialed in their Specialty” I was assigned
the Pro side of the debate.
I do think I was successful during my debate in regards to gaining agreement from the
observers that credentialing is a worthwhile endeavor for nursing.
At times I found myself feeling somewhat ambivalent about the topic and wanting to
provide points to strengthen my opponent’ s side of the debate.
This was awkward and I realize most debate participants pick their topic and their side
to present, not have it assigned, so this was part of the challenge of this debate process.
In this debate and in most of the debate cases presented, I could find pros and cons for
both sides and found it difficult to pick one side or the other and stick with it.
Now that I am a little more comfortable with the debate process, I would like to come up
with a more innovative debate format.
Although power point is a useful presentation tool, it can be boring and with a little
more time and creativity, I would try to develop something that would intrigue the reader
but at the same time not lose any impact of the debate conversation.
I would also add some real life examples and/or personal experiences as I think they
present the realty side of a debate and can be successful in gaining support for your
argument.
I don’ t think I have participated in a formal debate structure ever, so a great learning
opportunity.
I was a little worried about the forcefulness of my debate and didn’ t want to come
across as pushy, but still wanting to get my views and research across in relation to
nursing certification.
It was a pretty easy topic to research and presenting in a learning environment provided
me a little confidence that others would support additional learning for nurses.
A review of the debate process from the information contained in the unit was used to
provide me with a basis for the debate format.
As this was my first debate, a lot of time was spent in gathering information on the
topic of relevant clinical practice for this debate.
From the information acquired, from various nursing and education journals, such as
Nursing Leadership Forum, Journal of Nursing Education and Nursing Education
Perspectives.
These resources were used to identify three themes from which I presented my position.
From the initial information gathered, I quantified the information into three categories.
Evidence-based articles from within the last five years were chosen to support my
affirmative position in the debate.
One article from 2002 was used because the information acquired was favourable for my
stance in the debate.
Competency was a main focus because as nurses we must always have the knowledge of
the most current relevant nursing practice in order to provide a high degree of safe
nursing care for our clients.
A lot of my slides in the initial presentation, the rebuttal and the summation were spent
on reinforcing the expectation surrounding nursing competency from either a nursing
instructor or a nursing student.
Role modeling was a focus because the nursing educator is seen as possessing expert
knowledge in the field of nursing.
Nursing faculty, as role models must demonstrate the current knowledge in the provision
of nursing education to nursing students.
Nursing students need to know they are paying for an education that is reflective of
current and relevant nursing practice.
These sections were the initial debate presentation, the rebuttal and the debate
summarization.
In the initial debate presentation, I wanted a strong presentation to set the tone for the
initial and the following two components of the debate.
As I was writing the initial debate presentation, I consciously looked at the information
provided in order to anticipate potential rebuttals from my colleague.
On the topic of working full time and maintaining a relevant clinical practice, I felt that
my colleague may have challenged me on finding the time to do so and this was an area
that she did challenge me.
In my rebuttal, I identified that there was no difference between the time needed to
complete a PhD by a full-time nursing educator versus the time needed for a full-time
staff nurse to complete a PhD.
The rebuttal was an easier presentation to conduct because my opponent had identified
her position clearly.
In developing my rebuttal, I used evidence based information to support my rebuttals.
I found the rebuttal to be an easier aspect of the debate as my focus was to refute what
my colleague had said.
It is important for nursing educators to know the current relevant practice as they are
educating nurses for future nursing practice.
With regard to a quality university nursing program, I would have used the 2002
information that I had accumulated concerning accreditation of nursing programs.
This information was found on the Online Issues in Nursing Education.
Throughout the three components of the debate, initial presentation, the rebuttal and
the summation, I did not veer from my stance.
My presentation was definitely information provided on a still background.
I also must be aware of current advances in computer technology which would require
me to take course and increase the professionalism of my presentation.
Debates are strategies that require in-depth research to support your position.
Even though you may not always agree with the position that you are given, it is
essential for the debater to stick to their position and not to back down from the given
position.
If you back down from your position, it leads the public with a question in their minds as
to whether you really do support the position.
In this debate, I strongly defended the position that nursing faculty must provide
relevant clinical practice.
For example, my opponent said that a full-time clinical nursing educator requires time
for further PhD but I stated that a full-time staff nurse who is also pursuing a PhD has
just the same time constraints as the nursing professor.
I have also learned that each issue has affirmative and negative sides but also how the
position is presented and what evidence are they using to support their positions.
I also realize that I will re-evaluate my position on a debate subject based on the
information provided by each debater.
This may or may not result in changing my personal opinion on a debate topic.
When I requested the topic “ Magnet status should be recommended for Canadian
hospitals” as one of my choices for the class debate assignment, I had never really
considered the fact that there was a negative side to magnet hospitals.
I feel fortunate to have been assigned the Con side in the debate because I have learned a
lot more about this topic.
As I read more about debates, I realized that I could make a stronger argument and a
more informative debate by approaching it from the “ no magnet in Canada” position.
I had also not been aware that nursing unions (in unionized facilities) were largely being
excluded from the magnet process.
As nurses and administrators wait for outcomes data on magnet, I do hope that the JONA
article will lead to more critical debate and greater awareness of emerging issues related
to magnet status.
I was glad that the class seemed to favour magnet and yet they also seemed wary of
jumping into such a resource intensive process in Canada, given the differences between
the US and Canadian healthcare systems.
However, I also presented an argument in support of the Canadian Nurses
Association’ s collaborative efforts to plan for nursing’ s future position in healthcare.
I felt that the debate as a team effort was successful and that my partner and I planned
well so that both sides of the key issues were effectively presented and class discussion
was constructive.
When we started to plan the debate, the arguments initially drifted away from the
assignment topic because of inattention to the wording of the motion.
We clarified the topic and were able to re-focus the debate arguments.
Clarifying the topic permits a clear debate, and it is important to pay attention to the
wording of the case statement because it frames the discussion and determines the
relevance of the arguments presented (Branham & Meany, 1998).
In presenting the arguments against recommending magnet hospitals for Canada, I feel
that I was able to support my position and the class discussion indicated that this was the
case.
I felt that I provided sufficient references to support my arguments and I made use of all
available resources including both scholarly and non-scholarly materials which were
relevant to the debate.
I was able to anticipate the strengths and weaknesses of opposing views presented by my
partner as well as those presented by the class.
For example, I anticipated that nurse satisfaction would be an important argument in
favour of magnet so I presented a nurse’ s description of an experience that did not
reflect satisfaction with working for a magnet employer.
As it turned out, the class did feel that descriptions of nurses’ actual experiences were
very relevant to the debate.
My goal was to present coherent and relevant arguments on one side of the topic, and
class comments indicated that I achieved this.
In presenting my rebuttal, I believe that I challenged my opponent’ s arguments while
increasing the class understanding of the issues relevant to the debate topic.
I presented arguments to establish the fact that it is aspects of the magnet process (and
not magnet qualities) that should not be recommended for Canada.
Magnet is a complicated issue but I felt that the class was very engaged in the topic.
If we had presented fewer arguments on both sides in an effort to focus discussion,
class participation may have been a bit easier, given the fact that the class has limited
time.
However, I think that the number of arguments was a factor in presenting an informative
and thought-provoking debate to facilitate class learning on the topic.
In fact several class participants contributed further issues related to the topic, for
example, one classmate brought up the issue of accreditation and commented that magnet
resembled the often criticized JCAHO Accreditation process in the US.
All in all, I thought that we were able to use the debate format very creatively for an
effective class learning experience on the issues surrounding magnet status.
Thanks X, for the opportunity to provide feedback on the debate process.
I felt intimidated by the assignment of a debate format because I had no previous
experience with participating in formal debate.
I dealt with my initial response by reading about debates and thinking about how the
debate process would facilitate online class learning.
Since I was assigned the con position, it was a great learning opportunity.
I think this class helped to create awareness of a variety of trends and issues, and the
debates helped with developing skill in presenting and discussing some relevant issues.
The use of the debate format highlighted the importance of being acquainted with the
opposing side if you are going to take a stand on an issue - if you are going to effectively
argue your position, you should be prepared for the objections.
This paper will address my self-evaluation on the debate topic “ All nine-year old girls
should receive the HPV vaccine” .
The author felt that the content of the debate on was well researched.
The difficult part was narrowing down which articles to use to make my argument
succinct without missing key pieces of information.
I felt that using these photos to my advantage was acceptable as it was presented by x as
content in her debate, leaving the door “ open” .
I learned much from my peers on the debate process.
One of the main things I would change for a future debate would be to clarify which
fallacy was presented by the opposition.
The debate process was certainly interesting!
In the end, I really enjoyed the debate process.
To debate the negative side or against implementation of Nurse Practitioners (NP) in
Canada initially presented me with a real challenge.
Initially, I thought the pro side of the debate was far more straightforward and my
opponent had an advantage because there is so much information to support integration
of the role.
I decided to contact my worthy opponent prior to the development of my argument and
we were able to discuss debate positions and share resources.
We engaged in dialogue that eventually formed our arguments, and I believe this
process made the debate much more informative and relevant to the audience.
Not only was I leading my own debate I was learning from the audience and my
opponents’ responses; and with these responses structuring and generating my replies.
This process was a learning experience for me and fascinating to witness its evolution.
To debate the negative side or against implementation of Nurse Practitioners (NP) in
Canada initially presented me with a real challenge.
Initially, I thought the pro side of the debate was far more straightforward and my
opponent had the advantage because there is so much information to support integration
of the role.
I decided to contact my worthy opponent Lisa, prior to the development of my argument
and we were able to discuss debate positions and share resources.
We engaged in dialogue that eventually formed our arguments, and I believe this
process made the debate much more informative and relevant to the audience.
Sometimes, I just wanted to jump in and provide my own account of what really happens
behind the scenes; but the debate process taught me remaining objective is the only way
to truly appreciate another person's ideas.
This process was a learning experience for me and a very positive one personally and
professionally.
X and I began sharing and discussing sources, debate arguments, and presentation
approaches at the very beginning of the debate preparation.
As partners, we acknowledged that this debate process was about learning, not winning.
After reviewing debate process resources (Branham & Meany, 1998; Quinn, 2005;
World Debate Website, 2006), X and I decided to use a cross between a university and
parliamentary debate style, where Professor X and fellow classmates were our audience.
Our introduction, arguments and rebuttals were presented in the form of a word
document speech, where each member was allowed to address ‘ the house’ without
interruption.
The particular arguments of my opponent were carefully addressed in the pro rebuttal,
again illustrated with pictures and humour.
The presentation components were posted in a timely manner, allowing classmates
adequate time to digest and respond to each presentation.
X and I agreed upon presentation posting times to ensure a coordinated process.
This was my very first debate experience, so not only did I learn about current issues in
health care, but learned how to prepare and conduct a debate process.
I saw value in both sides of this argument, however I do feel it was a little easier to
support the pro side because of personal bias.
Overall, I feel that the Magnet status debate was well understood, raising current health
care issues to the forefront.
This was my first debate experience, so a learning experience in itself.
The online piece of the debate was quite ok for me, as after 4 years of online learning
this was just a new experience in a familiar environment.
Allowing the participants to have some say in topics created diversity in the course
content, allowing us all to learn about issues that we may have never have been aware of.
It will review the positive and negative aspects of the debate as well integrate proposed
changes for future debates on this topic.
Working collaboratively with the opponent strengthened the debate by creating a holistic
presentation and developing an expanded literature review.
The addition of participants’ comments into the conclusion supported the pro argument
viewpoint and demonstrated to the participants their involvement in the debate.
Some participants became confused as to who was leading which side of the debate
despite clear labelling of each slideshow and discussion forum.
It is believed that encouraging discussion on the rebuttal was the correct course of
action.
It may have been useful to interject the pro argument discussion with a suggestion to
move the discussion to the rebuttal section.
Facilitation of the debate is the most significant critique of this debate.
Finally, the one attempt to encourage discussion in the rebuttal forum was deemed the
correct course of action despite its minimal effect because further interruption may have
disrupted the successful discussion.
I felt prepared for the class and assignment expectations.
Although I realize that debates do not usually involve collaboration with the opponent, I
found this aspect of our debate essential to creating a comprehensive debate.
Reviewing the debate process made me realize how important facilitation and
communication is during the discussions.
The goals of this course address the students’ ability to analyze an issue and understand
ways to present issues; thus in consideration of Schnurer and Snider’ s (2002) view of
the debate, it is an effective means of learning these skills.
Upon completion of the debate process, it is important to reflect upon the strategies
utilized in the argument and their effectiveness in promoting the writer’ s stance.
The topic of the debate being evaluated is “ All nurses must have flu vaccinations as a
condition of employment” , for which I argued the pro stance.
With the presentation and backing of three founding arguments, I provided the
rationale behind my stance.
The second argument presented in this debate is that the vaccine is a valuable means of
minimizing the effects of influenza.
Backing to this argument was provided by the use of several government and scholarly
references, ultimately pointing to the fact that the immunization of health care workers
will reduce the spread of influenza to vulnerable clients, and minimize effects on the
nursing workforce.
Finally the process of deductive reasoning is used in summarizing the three main
arguments, concluding that they support the stance of mandatory vaccination for nurses.
I believe that I presented a strong opening argument and this was reiterated by the
feedback of my classmates.
As I prepared my presentations I was aware that there were many possible approaches to
this debate, and I was sceptical of my own debate tactics at times.
Fortunately as I predicted, the debate process brought about this point as my opponent
and classmates looked beyond the data reinforcing the importance of vaccination and
searched for the human rights arguments.
The rebuttal phase of debating involves disputing points brought forth by one’ s
opponent, predicting possible objections from the audience, and making concessions of
weaknesses in the original argument.
As the final stage of this debate, I presented my conclusions which incorporated the
input of both my opponent and classmates.
I must admit that this was the concept that I was fearful of since receiving my debate
assignment, I felt that ultimately the human rights card would win.
In consideration of the fact that I have never before been involved in a debate, I think I
presented a strong, logical argument.
Perhaps next time I would explore the issue more and debate to the actual root of the
issue.
In this debate, perhaps I could have responded to my original feelings that human rights
would ultimately be the base of this argument.
On another point, I chose to utilize graphics in the Power Point, though I believe this can
add intrigue to a presentation, perhaps some were too “ cute” and detracted from the
scholarliness of my presentation.
In conclusion, I felt my opponent and I presented the concept of mandatory vaccination
in a well researched and logical manner.
I also believe that the course goals for NURS 609 were augmented by this process of
debating.
I learned from both the method and the ends of this debate; gaining knowledge and
experience in analyzing and presenting an issue.
I have had many different forms of learning in the preparation of the debate that “ All 9
Year Old Girls Should Receive the HPV Vaccine: CON position.
This learning included understanding the construction of logical and valid arguments
using a wide range of research material, the identification the different forms of invalid
arguments, the application and appreciation of formal debate technique, adapting this
debate technique to a power point presentation and an on-line course forum, and
“ experimenting” with rebuttal strategies.
The very first step in my learning process was to access the Nizor Project (2009)
website to scour the basic information on the construction of logical valid arguments
and the identification of fallacious arguments.
The opportunity to participate and critically appraise my classmate’ s debates and read
other’ s feedback did provide me with an advantage in that it reinforced my learning of
both effective and ineffective argument construction.
What I came to observe is that there is always one debate position that is more difficult
to promote as there is often an inequity of “ data” in the form of statistics and expert
opinions to utilize.
I felt that I had the larger burden-of-proof for this position.
I found very little evidence-based or authoritative material to create any deductive
arguments with so it was challenging to use mostly “ presumptions’ and linking many
logical premises to add weight to my inductive arguments.
An additional learning that I experienced was about debate technique and strategy.
As I stated previously, I was challenged to create valid arguments due to the lack of
scholarly articles on this position.
I had to “ ration” the meager amount of information that I could locate and had to
choose strategically to withhold some of this so that I had sufficient and strong
information to use in my rebuttal.
Did I succeed in choosing wisely what information to use for my primary argument
versus for my rebuttal?
It was obvious from the responses from the class that they were dissatisfied that I did not
refer to actual examples of potential future “ harm” and “ side effects” from the HPV
vaccine during my rebuttal.
I responded to the class by adding this to my final debate summary and I think I did so in
a way that again provided balance on the current status of side effect reporting systems.
Continuing to use my “ potential harm and risk” from the HPV vaccine premise as an
“ abstraction” in both my initial debate presentation and rebuttal likely weakened my
position.
According to Snyder, 2009, part of the debate process is to identify and capitalize on
your opponent’ s and audience’ s bias.
Based on class feedback from the swine flu debates in particular, I made an assumption
that the audience was not in favor of supporting “ conspiracy” theories rampant on antivaccination websites and so I aligned my initial arguments with those values of my
opponents.
I felt that this would prevent alienation of my opponent and audience and provide the
best likelihood of them to move from their position to mine.
The other reason that I chose not to use information from sensational periodicals is that I
felt professionally and ethically bound to promote evidence-informed presumptive
arguments as best as I could.
I felt I needed to argue from my principles and not introduce fallacious arguments
intentionally.
Duffy (1983) asks rhetorically to what degree does the debate process make students
aware of the ethics of their choice of argument and intention?
The debate topic “ all nine year old girls should receive the HPV vaccine” is a serious
and emotional topic and one which I felt needed to be addressed in a rational,
responsible, sensitive and respectful manner.
I chose a more conversational style in my debate language to demonstrate this and the
class did acknowledge this positively.
I wonder now whether I truly did explore the “ truth” by challenging the “ existing order
and assumptions” of preventative HPV vaccination arguments or did I manipulate
“ safe” information to merely advance my chance of “ winning” the debate (Snyder,
2009).
This ethical debate dilemma is described by Snyder, 2009 and this was extremely helpful
in assisting me to articulate the angst I felt at times in creating arguments for this
debate.
This debate process has completely altered my perspective in the need to critically
analyze the basis of new and any alterations to existing immunization programs in the
future.
I was actually excited to start preparations for the debate and particularly because I was
given a position that I did NOT align with (at least initially).
I needed to set aside my preconceived position and be open to what I uncovered in my
research for both sides of the debate.
I realized during this research stage how easy it is to become intellectually "lazy" as I had
never put this amount of diligence into understanding a topic in along time.
During the self reflection exercise, I felt some shame in that I noticed that over the past
few years in particular, time constraints, complex work demands, and information
overload have left me "glancing" over research and reading "short" briefing notes on
complex issues and little time for conscious open reflection on the information and truly
critically appraising the premises and conclusions presented in this material.
Responding to everyone's feedback was curious for me as I would have liked to have said
that "I am not my debate" and that I stayed disconnected from position and focused on
the debate process.
As much as I wanted to stay in a neutral emotional position, I couldn't help but feel
incredible gratification when someone agreed or supported my arguments during the
feedback portion of the assignment.
It is always so easy to only select out (either consciously or unconsciously) feedback that
supports your debate position.
THis will have a real positive impact on my next course ( I just got my textbooks on
Nursing Philosophy!
There is a phenomenal amount of information and research contained in these debates
and papers.
Issues are topics of discussion or debate which are sources of disagreement or
complaints among the general public (Microsoft Word dictionary, 2007).
In nursing, as in any other profession, there are many issues that can instigate
arguments or heated discussions among nurses.
As part of Athabasca University course 609- Advanced Trends and Issues in Nursing, a
debate was chosen as an assignment to present our position concerning a nursing issue.
In this paper, I will share my personal journey, challenges and accomplishments as I
prepared and presented my debate topic through three power point presentations that
were shared to eighteen students in this online course.
These nursing issues were primarily chosen because I felt I was able to debate both
sides of all these topics.
In other words, I would need to start early with the research component of my debate
topic to avoid last minute stress.
I then searched on the College of Nurse’ s website and also found many articles and fact
sheets that espoused my debate topic.
This was an unknown topic to me, yet this tip proved to be a strong argument in my
defence.
As I read and commented on classmate’ s debate presentations, I became more and more
anxious for the preparation of my own debate.
I have never participated in a face to face debate or an online power point presentation
style debate; therefore, I visited the websites suggested in the debate unit of this course.
This increased my knowledge of how to debate; however, as the weeks went by and my
presentation week approached I felt more anxiety as I could not decide on the outline
and content of my presentation because I had found so many articles and documents.
Then, I needed to decide which arguments were priorities from my debate.
Once the arguments were selected I was able to write my outline and start my debate.
This may have slowed the writing process of the presentation; nonetheless, once all the
information was inserted in the presentation, it was all done which I believe helps me
keep my papers organized.
I posted my debate presentation on Wednesday November 18th and patiently waited for
my opponent to post her presentation.
Once her debate was posted I printed the power point presentation but did not start to
analyse her arguments and supporting data until the Friday afternoon.
Due to the lack of time, I struggled to find strong supporting articles to disprove my
opponent’ s arguments.
I did my best to present a strong rebuttal, though I had presented most of my evidence
in my initial presentation I did not have any new facts to put forward.
I believe having a strong initial presentation was favourable to me; I came back strong
with my closing arguments.
Was I surprised when the first debate started and I realized all the research and reflection
that goes into preparing an online debate?
I felt some panic because I had lots of work to do to present a strong debate.
I felt lots of fear and anxiety as I prepared my debate.
Since so many classmates had presented interesting angles and strategies to their
presentations, I didn’ t want to copy someone else’ s debate so I struggled to be original.
As I posted my debate I felt relieved that part of the work was done, however, I feared
what my classmates would ask or comment on.
I believe the rebuttal was my biggest learning curve.
It was interesting to find out how everyone felt about the topic and where they stood.