Discussant

Last revised date: 10/05/2025

Overview

Leading a discussion of papers. Make use of small group discussion.

Competencies

When you turn in this homework, also turn in these competencies

• Accessible Presenting

Optionally, you may want to turn in these competences as well:

• Accessible Documents
• Plain Language (requires writing up a paper abstract in Plain Language)

To complete this assignment, please do the following (heavily borrowed from CSE 510 and James Fogarty.

1. Read the papers assigned for that week and prepare slides

Read over the assigned papers and prepare slides. This will usually include one framing paper, and up to one specific paper per person leading the discussion

• Discussion Leads are required to submit a near-complete PowerPoint of the combined presentation deck by 5pm two days before class (Saturday 5pm for a Monday class; Monday 5pm for a Wednesday class). Discussion Leads may continue to iterate on any portion of the presentation prior to class, further improving upon this draft before class.
• If a student in a presentation group is unexpectedly unable to deliver an in-person presentation, other discussion leads are expected to be familiar with and prepared to deliver the presentation.
• In the case of shared presentation of papers, after each class is complete, discussion leads will be asked to provide brief confidential feedback on contributions in group preparation for presentations and discussion.

2. Read over discussion posts and update slides if needed

Student discussion posts may be helpful in setting up the class discussion.

• Discussion posts are by 5pm the day before classroom
• Discussion Leads may want to prepare these slides after the discussion post deadline

2. Present in class

Each class will begin with approximately 25 minutes of student-led presentations of the readings.

This should be organized as:

• Less than 1 minute to introduce yourself, the day’s research topic and any research guest.
• Approximately 7 minutes for each assigned reading:
  • Brief acknowledgment of the authors and any notable background: You will not have time to share the background of all authors, but should briefly research each author and concisely share your most important findings (e.g., background that other students might want to know if they encountered a prominent author at a conference).
  • Primary research method and population of focus (as defined in What do we mean by accessibility research in section 4.1.1 and 4.2.1).
  • Key additional details of contributions and methods (e.g., system details, study design, theoretical insights): Additional details needed for a high-level understanding of the presented research activities.
  • 3 key findings, ideas, or takeaways from the reading: Present what seems most important about this reading.
  • Your thoughts on the three questions:
    • Is it ableist?
    • Is it informed by disabled perspectives or is it a disability dongle?
    • Does it oversimplify disability?
• Approximately 3 minutes introducing a range of key connections and opportunities for discussion: Briefly introduce at least 5 distinct directions people might explore in small-group discussions. These should be based on observations in or across the assigned readings, and we encourage you to draw upon insights shared in discussion posts. This presentation is not a substitute for small-group or class discussion, and it is not intended to exclude other potential opportunities for discussion. Your goal is to help people see multiple opportunities for meaningful discussion.

Student-led presentations will typically be followed by additional comments from the instructor (or possibly a research guest).

2. Facilitation of small group discussions

The class will break into groups of 3-5 students to discuss the papers for about 20 minutes. Students should try to join different groups each class

• Small-group discussions will be facilitated by discussion leads and by additional facilitators as needed. Facilitation counts as a participation credit.
• Groups should explore topics that benefit from deeper discussion. Examples:
  • a question the group is unsure how to approach
  • a compelling topic that might benefit the class to to hear about
  • something interesting from the Ed discussion
  • an interesting comment by the instructor and/or research guest

Facilitators additionally should do the following:

• Write down who is in their group
• Take notes in a shared document
• Present a summary of their group’s discussion to the class

Assessment & Handin Process

The only required handins are

• The slides (prepared by the assigned presenter or presenters)
• Facilitators should record information about the discussion and their group

The remainder of this handin is broken up by competency

Accessible Presenting

• Tell us which video you want to be assessed (from the class videos including discussion leads; and AT around us presentations)
• Timestamps for places in the video where any of the following best practices are demonstrated.
• Introduce and describe yourself
• Verbally describe images and videos so that someone who cannot see the screen can understand them
• Repeat questions for clarity and member checking (even if on zoom)
• Note that your presentation must have positive examples of at least seven of the ten best practices to be assessed as excellent on this competency.

Optional Information to hand in

In addition, you may choose to hand in the following optional information. Please ask the instructors if you're unsure what additional work or materials might be needed to complete these.

Accessible Documents

• Your writeup (Microsoft word) or PowerPoint
• A list of images and the ALT text you wrote for each of them
• Which best practices are demonstrated in this document or PowerPoint
• A screen shot showing the accessibility checker results for your document or PowerPoint

Plain Language (requires writing up a paper abstract in Plain Language)

• Original text (unsimplified)
• Simplified text
• A list of the guidelines you wish to be assessed on, and an example of something you changed to meet each of them. You need at least five to be assessed as "excellent"