Expressive clarity

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 1	Anna Iñesta Codina	Dirección de Personas y Organización	ENG

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM

Expressive clarity is one of the most important skills in the academic and professional context. It requires mastering a wide and complex range of tools going from the micro (word choice, sentence components and structure?) to the macro level (conceptualization of problems, elaboration of precise thesis statements, supporting arguments with quality sources, considering counterarguments to test the strength of our thesis?).

Knowing how to use these tools strategically is essential to express our ideas effectively and engage people (colleagues, supervisors, partners, stakeholders?) to help us make a positive impact in the world. For, even if we are passionate and charming, even if ours is the best idea to solve a decisive challenge, how will people support us if they are not able to understand what we propose or why ours is a solution worth trying?

In this course you will work on a user research project aimed at fully understanding a real problem for which, as part of the Applied Algorithmic Thinking course, you will have to design and produce a solution/app.

Working on this project in teams will provide you with the opportunity to train on precise problem conceptualization, and to craft clear and well structured pieces of written and oral communication serving authentic purposes as part of a user research process. In a very practical way, you will learn how to use effective word choice, phrasing, sentence structure, and tone, and you will also use evidence and argument along with knowledge of your audience to present information with precision, clarity and rigor.

Working on this project in teams will also provide a context for you to develop expressive clarity in team interaction, where this is an essential factor in effective problem-solving. The project-based nature of the course, with its important autonomous work dimension, will provide an opportunity for you to develop the competences of responsibility and self-awareness, which are key in the communication craftmanship as well as in life.

CONTENT

1. Introduction to research paper writing & project management
2. Thesis statements, research objectives & assumptions/hypotheses
3. Selecting sources and strategic reading to write
4. Characteristics of research paper sections: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions
5. Revising your draft
6. Preparing and improving your presentation

1. Introduction to research paper writing & project management

2. Thesis statements, research objectives & assumptions/hypotheses

3. Selecting sources and strategic reading to write

4. Characteristics of research paper sections: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions

5. Revising your draft

6. Preparing and improving your presentation

Methodology

Blended learning: an approach that includes activities inside and outside the classroom, combining virtual and face-to-face activities, synchronous and asynchronous, on campus or not.

Guided learning: a mechanism that includes activities that are generally carried out outside the classroom, asynchronously wit specific instructions or guidelines indicated by the faculty.

Autonomous learning: activities where the student must carry out readings, studies, visualizations, or other activities autonomously without specific instructions of guidelines.

Assessment criteria

All student work is evaluated based on the specific learning outcomes related to the learning objectives of the course:

Positive and active contribution to learning in clases. Students will be required to show professional maturity and active engagement in the pedagogical activities of the course. Maintaining such an attitude throughout the course presupposes a number of things. First, it assumes that you attend a majority of the sessions. Second, it assumes that you demonstrate interest. Third, it supposes that you contribute to maintaining a positive class atmosphere. Fourth, it presumes that you are prepared, such that when you offer comments, they evidence a previous analysis of the issue being discussed, showing a deep understanding of the corresponding class. Fifth, is supposes that you are a good listener, showing it through comments that are relevant to the discussion and/or linked to the comments of others. Finally, it assumes that you an effective communicator, presenting your arguments concisely and convincingly.

Class activities. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the topics by completing tailored in-class activitites. These may include polls, short exercises, oral explanations of concepts, or short quizzes. In all cases, students will be required to show their understanding of the concepts discussed before, during or after the class. For this purpose, they will have to had completed the readings, come prepared, and made sure they revise contents from previous sessions. The course will follow a continous learning, incremental approach, meaning that you will be required to keep up-to-date with the materials to progress through the semester.

Timely completion and submission of assignments and reports. As part of their autonomous work, students will be required to complete a series of assignments during their independent study hours. In these assignment, students will be asked to deepen their understanding of the topics. Group projects will include peer evaluation.

Type:	OBL	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	4 ECTS

Expressive clarity (2235.YR.014538.1)

General information

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