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

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

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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

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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

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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.)

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Topics over last 2 years

• CountryMark merger with Land OLakes
• 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)

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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

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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

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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