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Using Student Debates to bring the Real World to a Cooperatives Class

Using Student Debates to bring the Real World to a Cooperatives Class. Joan Fulton Department of Agricultural Economics Purdue University. The Course. Agricultural Cooperation Senior Level 1 Credit (5 weeks) Meeting 3 times per week for 50 minutes Enrollment has ranged from 18 to 32.

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Using Student Debates to bring the Real World to a Cooperatives Class

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  1. Using Student Debates to bring the Real World to a Cooperatives Class Joan Fulton Department of Agricultural Economics Purdue University

  2. The Course • Agricultural Cooperation • Senior Level • 1 Credit (5 weeks) • Meeting 3 times per week for 50 minutes • Enrollment has ranged from 18 to 32

  3. The Course • Evaluation • 3 homework assignments • Exam in week 4 • Debate in week 5 • Topics covered: • Role of Cooperatives in Agriculture • Economic Theory applied to Cooperatives • Emerging Issues for Cooperatives • Game Theory explanation of jnt. ownership

  4. Debate – Objectives • To help students understand the complexity behind business decisions in general and for cooperatives specifically • There are no Black and White Decisions • Different Decisions impact Different People in Different Ways • To bring Real World Problems to class • Experiential Learning makes more of a take

  5. Logistics • 8 Students do “oral” debate • Volunteers • 2 Debates in one 50-minute class • Remaining students complete written report • Both sides of the debate • Is one of the topics for the oral debates

  6. Resources for Students • Suggested Web sites • http://www.columbia.edu/~lry2/debate/club_debates/prepared.html • Background sources for information on the cooperatives • WWW, personal contact with managers and directors • Instructor – office hours

  7. Timing for each Debate • First Affirmative Constructive Speech (3 Min.) • First Negative Constructive Speech (3 Min.) • Second Affirmative Constructive Speech (3 Min.) • Second Negative Constructive Speech (3 Min.) • Break (3 Min.) • Summary/Rebuttal by First Negative (3 Min.) • Summary/Rebuttal by First Affirmative (3 Min.)

  8. Topics over last 2 years • CountryMark merger with Land O’Lakes • Farmland Industry potential purchase if Terra Industries • Farmland Industries merger with Cenex Harvest States • Merger of AgMax and Top Ag (2 locally owned cooperatives in IN)

  9. Feedback and Grading • Evaluation by peers • Evaluation by other faculty/staff • Instructor summarized all feedback and assigns the grade to each team of students • Students who did written report got traditional feedback from instructor

  10. Challenges • 5 Weeks is short • Difficult to get students enough background information in topic areas • The range of quality of the student presentations if large • Need to monitor the teams • Have to work with students to get them to “push” the analysis

  11. Positive Features • Excellent learning tool • Students get experience with alternative forms of communication • Students evaluate each other • Experiential and Active Learning • Mgt. Problems are not Black & White • Direct Real World Applications

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