BEHN 607 Speaker Evaluation Form
Detailed Program Requirements
General Guidelines for BEHN 607: Seminar in Behavioral Neuroscience
(Updated April 2008)
1. The seminar course (1 credit/quarter; 1 hr/week) will be offered and attendance required of all graduate students during fall, winter and spring terms each year. Students are allowed to register for the course as an “audit” once they have completed 5 years of graduate training. In the event that a student will defend his/her dissertation during the 5th year of graduate studies, he/she can register for seminar as an “audit” for the quarter during which the dissertation will be defended.
2. The general format will be that of a "journal club" and not a content-oriented "mini-course". While specific topics can be the focus of the seminar course, each class should be considered as a “stand alone” class (i.e., the course should not be organized so that each class builds on the information provided in the preceding classes, as is the case for a “mini-course”). The primary purpose of the seminar will be to: (a) give students experience making oral presentations, (b) teach students to think critically about research, and (c) expose students to contemporary issues in behavioral neuroscience. The registration form and transcript will use the generic title "Seminar in Behavioral Neuroscience" without any descriptor suffix.
3. One – two faculty members will be assigned as course organizers during each term. The seminar organizer(s) can ask a 5 th or later-year graduate student, or a postdoctoral fellow, to provide assistance with seminar organization and discussion. This opportunity will afford teaching experience to senior students, which they can add to their curriculum vitae. However, the faculty course organizer(s) will assign grades.
4. Course organizers will identify one (or more) topics or themes to be used in guiding paper selection each term. This theme (these themes) should be clearly relevant to behavioral neuroscience. Organizers are also encouraged to provide an appropriate review paper or chapter in areas where additional general background may be useful.
5. One paper will be presented per week. Students should be given reasonable latitude in choosing the papers they will present from a list of papers that have been chosen by the course organizer(s). The specific criteria for paper selection will be determined by the organizers each term. If a student wishes to suggest an alternative paper for presentation, he/she must meet with the course organizer(s) and provide a rationale for the substitution.
6. One or two students will present the seminar paper each week so that each student will have the opportunity to present a paper once per year (this may vary slightly, depending on the number of students enrolled in the graduate program). Beginning with the Fall quarter, the course organizer(s) will maintain a list of the student who have presented (and pass this list on to subsequent course organizers). Students in their 1st year of graduate training are not required to present in the Fall quarter. Student presentations should not contain an excessive amount of background information requiring weeks of preparation. Presentations should focus on material contained in the assigned paper. Organizers should set and enforce time limits on the presentation itself so that there is sufficient opportunity for group discussion (e.g., 30 min for presentation and 30 min for discussion).
7. Students who are not presenting will be required to prepare one written discussion item/question to be submitted to the organizers before each session. The specific format will be determined by the organizers and will be clearly defined in the syllabus. It is expected that this item will be based primarily on material presented in the assigned paper and will not require extensive reading of additional papers.
8. At the discretion of course organizers (typically the Fall quarter each year, but could be switched to every other year), some sessions may be used to provide an opportunity for advanced students (i.e., in the 4th – 5th year of training) to make presentations of their own research. The format for such sessions and the role of discussants will be determined by the organizers.
9. Students are expected to attend each class meeting and to notify the course director(s) if they are unable to attend. Excessive or unexcused absences may result in a reduction in the grade assigned for the course. Students are expected to turn in discussion items even if unable to attend class, except under extreme circumstances, when this is clearly not feasible (feasibility to be determined in consultation with course organizers).
10. The course director(s) will provide timely verbal or written feedback to students following their presentations.
11. The seminar course syllabus will contain 1 – 2 sentences explaining how grades will be assigned.
12. Paper evaluation forms will be provided at each class for students, post-docs and faculty to give written feedback to the seminar presenter. Evaluation forms can be given directly to the student presenter or left in the student's mailbox.