This paper has four forms of assessment - quizzes; oral presentation; essay outline, and an essay.

1. Online Quizzes (5% for each quiz = 10% total)

There will be a short online quiz after each Block based on the readings and content covered in sessions. Each quiz has 10 questions and will be worth 5%. Students will have at least a week following the block course days to answer the quiz. Please note that there is a 20 minute time limit with answering the quiz.

This is an individual assignment. Time allocated is up to 10 minutes per presentation followed by 5 minutes of class feedback and discussion. Time management is essential! Please ensure you practice so that you know that you will all keep to the time limit.

Making an oral presentation and facilitating discussion is an important skill for community psychologists and many other professions. These sessions are an opportunity to gain experience in these skills, integrate your learning from the year, and apply what you know about community health psychology issues. During Block 1 (Session 4) there will be a discussion about possible presentation topics to help you choose a topic and think about how you might narrow it down.

Ideally, your presentation should work at two levels - it should encourage your audience to explore the topic on a personal and professional level, as well as help them understand the topic in the context of its broad organising theme. For example, under the theme of community health psychology, you might present a seminar on sexual health that could look at how assumptions about heterosexuality that affect access to health information for gay and lesbian people. Or, you could look at the role the Kohanga Reo movement has had in relation to fostering whanau and community health and well-being.

Please bring a USB with your PowerPoint presentation on it to the class so it can be uploaded to the class computer.

Planning and presenting your class session

The following guidelines will be helpful in preparing your seminar. These guidelines are not definitive, but merely mention some key points of presentation which are sometimes overlooked. The principles discussed here apply equally to the presentation of lectures, tutorials, or to less formal modes of presenting information to others.

Most people feel a bit nervous when they are about to present information or ideas before an audience and this can intensify if the audience consists of one’s peers. Even very accomplished and acclaimed public speakers report that they are nervous before making a presentation, so it is normal to feel this way. The suggestions which are made below are designed to reduce that nervousness as well as to enhance the presentation.

Preparation

1. Make sure that you have thoroughly prepared the material you intend to cover in the session, to ensure you understand the concepts, ideas, theories and/or data that you intend to talk about. Do a practice run through of your presentation, preferably in front of another person. If this is not possible practice in front of a mirror or record your presentation and then listen to yourself (yes, this can be hard to do!) You can start by reading the material you have prepared, but aim towards speaking the presentation without reading.

2. At the start of your presentation, it is useful to have a simple discussion plan consisting of 3-5 headings which you intend to follow and could include the main concepts, ideas and arguments.

3. Arrange the material that you intend to cover in an order that will make sense to the audience. That is, you should begin with material which will help orientate your audience, and organise the discussion that it will move smoothly from the beginning - through the main body of the material on to a conclusion. For example, you might move from some general point to more specific material - from theories or concepts to specific illustrations and examples. On the other hand, you may wish to adopt an inductive approach and start with specific examples, using these to develop a theoretical framework. Either way, it is important that you still begin with a clear overview of what you plan to cover and have a clear structure to your presentation.

   Focusing

4. Rather than trying to present all of the ideas and information you may have explored in your research into the topic, it is better within a session to focus on just 1 or 2 key ideas or concepts, and explore these in some depth. This avoids the possibility that the audience will become confused with a flood of new information. If you avoid overloading the audience then it is more likely that they will make some active contribution to the discussion.

5. Choose core concepts and ideas that you can explain succinctly, and which are most likely to elicit interest and reaction. Present them as issues and ideas, rather than as facts and findings - this approach is most likely to encourage people to venture their own interpretations.

6. Ensure you have a clear structure. Include the following:

   1. Introduction: Welcome the audience. Then have a brief statement of what your presentation will be about and perhaps a statement that will grab the audience’s interest.

   2. Body: The main part needs to outline your argument, make conceptual links and develop the narrative of your presentation. In 10 minutes you will only be able to cover 4-6 points. Work through these points in a logical way. Have some way of tying the various points together into an overall argument or framework.

   3. Conclusion: Briefly summarise what has been covered. Try to end with something strong or positive. Invite questions from the audience.

      Manner of presentation

7. It is essential that you present your ideas in a clear way. Remember your audience probably does not know as much as you about the topic, and will need time to become familiar with the concepts and ideas before they can evaluate what you are talking about. It is useful to put yourself in the shoes of a naïve listener as you plan what you are going to say, and try to imagine whether you would be able to understand it. Avoid using long sentences and jargon.

8. If complex terms are essential make sure that you take time to clarify them. Do not assume that people will understand something when it is presented to them.

9. Do not read out information unless it is essential - and then use only very short passages (e.g. quotations, definitions). If you are going to do this, it is useful to have the passage written as well, so people can see it (e.g. on a handout or an slide). Try to keep your voice intonation varied - monotonous or very low soft voices tend to lull people to sleep!

10. Break up your presentation of information by asking your audience for their reactions, ideas and opinions about what you are presenting. The purpose of the seminar is to share ideas - this can only happen if you limit the amount of information you cover and actively solicit people’s ideas. The audience in turn will only be able to contribute if they understand what you are talking about. Audience feedback can be a wonderful source of new ideas if your seminar is focused and you are open to input.

11. Try not to be too nervous or worry too much about making a mistake. Other people are often a lot less bothered by our mistakes than we are ourselves. If you make a mistake during the presentation simply acknowledge it and move on.

    Engaging the audience

12. Maintain eye contact with the audience where ever possible. Try to look around the room. Try not to read your talk, you can however, have some notes with the key points which you can glance at.

13. Be selective with the material you include. Try to include examples and illustrations of the topic which will have relevance to the particular audience, so they are able to relate to your argument.

14. If you are intending to use visual aids make sure that:

• they are clear, simple and easy to read;

• you avoid having too much text. List main points. You can also use relevant pictures, charts, cartoons and diagrams to emphasise points;

• the images and text are sufficiently large and clear enough to be seen from the back of the room (think about how your ppt will look on a bigger screen);

• there are not too many slides;

• you are clear about the information the slides contain and can explain it.

1. If possible practice your presentation in front of another person using your visual aids, so you know whether your presentation has any gaps, is interesting, and makes sense. Practicing will allow you to judge your timing, and will also allow you to modify slides and the content or order of the presentation. It will also help you to feel more prepared and less nervous.

2. You may decide to use handouts as a supplement to highlight the main ideas/points of your presentation. Avoid putting too much information in the handouts as people may end up reading rather than listening to you. Stick to a list of headings for the topics or ideas that you intend to cover and perhaps list your sources. The handouts can be used to make notes on by the audience.

   Please ensure you keep to the time limit. The block course is on a tight schedule, and you will not be popular if you take up other speakers’ time slots.

3. Essay Outline - due at Block 2 (10%)

Students are expected to bring a 1-2 page outline of their essay to the second block of the course. This outline is worth 10%. The marker will be looking to see whether you have made a clear plan for your essay, have given your topic sufficient thought and have searched literature for your topic. Bullet points and mind-mapping can be used to present your ideas. You do not need to provide a full reference list, but do try to demonstrate that you have started researching the topic and give the marker a sense of the academic literature you might draw on.

4. Essay - full essay is due Monday 18 October (60%)

Overview

The aim of this assignment is to give you experience in researching a community health issue and communicating a particular set of arguments about the issue from a community health psychology (CHP) perspective. The assignment requires you to review literature (relevant to your chosen topic) on the type of work undertaken by social scientists working in community health psychology, and related areas such as public health, social policy, Maori and indigenous studies, education and sociology. Consideration should be given to the contexts, norms, values and ideologies that surround the health issue, and how these impact on the formation and focus of community research and interventions. Remember that your essay needs to have an argument that ties the different parts together and that this argument must relate to issues, concepts and ideas that are relevant to PSYCH582. In this essay you do want to demonstrate how a CHP perspective can extend our analyses of issues in psychology.

Guidelines

1. The essay should be 4000 words (excluding references).

2. Prepare your Essay following either one of the scenarios below, or one which you have devised yourself. Alternative scenarios must be of the form of those below (a clearly defined issue and context) and need to be approved by the course convenor (check this out in plenty of time.)

• Select a specific community health issue [e.g., crime; lack of access to appropriate health services; Maori health issues; housing; high levels of unemployment and underemployment; street prostitution; disabilities and social inclusion; participative community health initiatives] and discuss what community health psychology has [or might] contribute to our understandings of this issue.

• How might the application of community health psychology theories and research enhance community health in Aotearoa/New Zealand?

• Critically review the potential benefits of participative health promotion in community settings.

• The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has asked you to recommend the position it should take in respect of work-based health promotion [or] the management of organisations as communities.

• The Minister of Internal Affairs has asked you to prepare a critical review of the literature on disparities in health. The review may suggest possible policy interventions to address health inequalities.

Points to remember as you write:

Write in a form that is accessible for your intended audience. Simple language and sentence construction are important. It will be helpful to start with a statement of the issue you are considering. Your essay needs to draw on academic scholarship, but make sure that your essay is not a list of studies. You cannot cover everything written on a topic, so will need to summarise and make decisions on what to put in and leave out. Your essay also needs a clear structure and a narrative flow to guide your reader.

Additional considerations are as follows:

• Presentation: The General Guide for Psychology Students sets out School policies regarding the general style and format of assignments. You should get a copy (obtainable from Psyc Café on Moodle under Forms and Guides or from the School of Psychology office) and follow its general guidelines, except where these conflict with more specific information contained in this paper outline. Assignments should be typed, 1.5 spaced, and in a clear font (at least 11pt).

• References: You must include a list of references at the end of your essay, and citations within the body of the work, including page numbers if direct quotes are used. You should be consistent in the use the APA or another referencing system; please see the School’s ‘General Guide for Psychology Students’. The library has resources and tutorials for referencing and for using Endnote software.

• Revision: After you have revised your document, have someone else go through it in detail to note any points which are not clear and any errors which need correction. Proof-reading your own work can be limited by a tendency to “read” what you intended to write, not what you have actually written. Do a final check on a hard copy.

• Student Learning Services: In this course there is a strong emphasis on essay writing. Investing some time to work with a Student Learning tutor is advisable for most students. Even if you think you can write well, Student Learning can help you plan your essay and help you to improve your writing – this can be a vital skill in the job market and in graduate study. You can access the Student Learning service in person, by email slsadmin@waikato.ac.nz or view their website https://www.waikato.ac.nz/teaching-and-learning/student-learning