The 3-Minute Thesis Assignment:
[Note: You can play the video on this page, or if you want to view it in a larger
format, you can click on "YouTube" on the video, and it'll open up a larger
window and play the video for you.]
Option #1 (highly preferred for everyone):
The 3-Minute Thesis
In recent years, it's become popular for graduate students to have competitions to deliver a 3-minute thesis presentation. After all, if you can't say it in three minutes, then maybe you just can't say it. Just saying...
The short video clip at the top of this page illustrates a well-presented 3-minute thesis that would be fairly typical for an accomplished graduate student, and in this case, a doctoral student.
Now, we'll not expect everyone to be as polished as a graduate student who has spent several years studying a thesis topic, but you'll get the idea after watching several 3-minute thesis presentations.
And we also won't expect everyone to stand in front of a video camera for three minutes, as not everyone will have a video camera and working with and assembling different types of video files is difficult to do online.
Instead, we'll take the simple approach of assembling and presenting a narrated 3-minute thesis by using the Powerpoint program, which virtually everyone either has.
You can assemble a powerpoint slide show to illustrate a chosen restoration topic and then use the Powerpoint program to record your talking (narrating) the slide show for the viewer (i.e., a "voiceover"). You do not have to record video.
In fact, I strongly recommend against it as it takes time to deal with all of the technical issues involved, and if people try to post video to an online service, there are usually copyright issues for photos and graphics that we don't want to violate.
The narrated Powerpoint slide show is a much more simple operation that works for everyone.
Grading Rubric for the 3-Minute Thesis:
Grading presentations is difficult. I'll certainly not expect everyone to be professional radio, tv, or news announcers. We all have our own voices, and that's what we're stuck with using!
However, the primary factors taken into consideration for grading the final presentations will be:
1) Does the presentation follow the guidelines (e.g., number of slides)?
2) Is the presentation of the selected restoration issue technically correct and appropriate for a general science audience?
3) Is the visual presentation appealing and well designed? (Note: I don't expect people to be professional graphic designers either, but in broad terms, does the visual presentation support and help convey the technical message?).
4) Taking all elements of the presentation together (verbal, graphic, technical), is the presentation effective in communicating its intended message?
PowerPoint Presentation Guidelines
1) Select a restoration ecology topic for a thesis presentation (and post your topic choice here by Friday, Dec. 4th).
I will ask that you pick a new topic that you haven't yet covered or studied in this class. You might do so by looking at the latest news features of the Society for Ecological Restoration, Latest News or look under their menu item on their web site for Restoration Resource Center and then the submenu for Publications, to see other articles that might give you some ideas for a restoration topic to explore for your final project.
Or you might look at some recently published journal article or environmental news story and use that as a basis for developing your thesis topic and presentation.
2) There are several ways that you might put together a 3 minute presentation, but you'll want to start by carefully outlining your topic and developing a script. However, you don't have to read your script (which always tends to sound a little stiff or artificial), but by having a script or at least some topical notes, it'll help focus your 3 minutes on the most important items.
3) Using Powerpoint (or Apple's Keynote program if you prefer), you can record your voice and narrate your slide show presentation.
If you narrate a powerpoint, limit yourself to 7 total slides as follows: 1 cover slide with title and your name on it; 5 illustrated and topical slides that summarize key materials that you will narrate (discuss or describe) to the viewer; 1 concluding slide that acknowledges and documents your information sources.
We absolutely don't want people putting in dozens or lots of slides, as you'll see that is not the approach or purpose of a 3-minute thesis. The purpose is to keep it short and sweet and focus in on key and critical points.
Option #2:
For those of you who simply can't fathom narrating a 3-minute powerpoint presentation, I'll reluctantly give you an out. You may prepare another restoration ecology analysis and report on a current restoration topic. The paper will be the exact same format and requirements as the first two papers we did, so no surprises there. Just pick a different topic. Contact me if you have any questions. Boring! (just kidding - take this approach if you wish).
Due Dates (2 of them!):
1) Pick the topic of your 3-minute thesis (or paper) by Fri. Dec. 4th and post your topic choice in a comment below to tell me and the class what topic you selected.
2) Final Projects: All final projects (your revised 3-minute thesis or your final term paper if you selected that option) are due Tuesday, Dec. 15th during finals week.
Some Samples of Previous 3-Minute Thesis Class Presentations for Your Review:
Click on the blue title to download the following powerpoint files.
Download Gray Wolf in Yellowstone (Powerpoint file) by Madison Moe
Download Elwha River Restoration by Lacy Ausman-Ditto
Download Restoration of the Florida Everglades by Katie Traub
Here's a list of some topics that students have used before (just to give you some ideas):
Mangrove Restoration
Gray Wolf in Yellowstone
Restoration of Mining Sites
Restoration of Small Mammals in Australia
Ecological Restoration and Arctic Indigenous Peoples
Improving Reforestation Using Drones
Landscape Seed Scale Dispersal
Restoration of Coral Reefs
Restoring Coastal Wetlands
Restoring Haiti’s Ecosystems
Oregon Spotted Frog Restoration
Meadow Restoration and Carbon Storage
Mid-Columbia Salmon Restoration
Oil Spill Restoration
Restoration of the American Flamingo
Restoring an Urban River in Los Angeles
Bahia Marsh Restoration
Reintroducing the Florida Panther
Spotted Owl Recovery
Great Barrier Reef Restoration
Elwha River Restoration
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Restoration
Meadow Restoration
Rocky Mountain Elk in Kentucky
Restoration of Abandoned Coal Mine Sites
Gardening Seagrass Beds in the Atlantic Ocean
Habitat Restoration for Wild Arctic Reindeer
Reintroduction of Fisher in Washington
Soil Microbes and and Native Plant Restoration
Ocean Rewilding
Coastal Erosian and Air Seeding
Climate Change and Arctic Indigenous Peoples
Puerto Rican Parrot
Restoration of the Red-Crowned Crane
Grizzly Bear Restoration in the North Cascades
Giant Anteater Reintroduction and Habitat Restoration
Stream Restoration
Restoration of the Iberian Lynx
Restoration of Mountain Caribou in the Selkirk Mountains
Salmon and Stream Restoration
Keystone Pipeline Spill in South Dakota
Restoration with Beaver
De-Extinction. Is It Worth It?
Red Wolf Reintroduction
Restoration of the Florida Everglades
Restoring the Honey Bee (Oops! It's not native. Now what do you do?)
Directions: How to Create a Narrated Powerpoint Presentation
Powerpoint (or the Apple Keynote program) works well to create a narrated slide show.
1) Map out or design the basic slides that you will use, which should generally consist of a cover slide with a title and your name (or even a very short video clip or thumbnail photo of you inserted into the cover slide. After the cover slide, use only 4 content slides to convey your whole message, and then 1 concluding slide to acknowledge your sources, credit photos, etc.
2) For your introduction and content slides, you may record your narration (voice over) by clicking on the "Insert" tab and then at the right end of the ribbon, "Audio." From the pull down menu, select "Record Audio." (see above screenshot)
Be sure to have your computer's microphone and sound turned up high enough to record good quality sound. Do some test recordings and playbacks to make sure that your voice is recorded well and is easy to hear.
3) When you've recorded and named a sound clip, then click on the "Insert" button and a speaker and sound icon will appear on your slide. You may move this icon around on the slide (see next screenshot).
Next, here's how to hide this sound icon and have the narration play automatically when the slide is viewed during a slide show.
4) Select the sound icon by clicking on it once to show the selection points around the icon (see above screenshot). When you do that, two new tab options will appear at the top for "Audio Format" and "Playback."
With the sound icon selected, select the "Playback" tab and then on the menu bar that appears, "Start > Automatically." Also select the checkbox that says "Hide During Show."
5) If you follow this procedure of recording an audio clip for each slide, and then adjusting the settings for the sound icon on each slide, your narration will play automatically as viewers click on each new slide to go through your presentation.
This approach looks cleaner and more sophisticated than if you just leave the sound icon visible on each slide and force the viewer to click on the icon to play and hear your narration.
Try it. It's easy once you know where the tab and menu buttons are located.
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