Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ethics And Forensics: There Is A Need, Joel L. Hefling

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

It has been fairly well established that the decade of the '80s is a very competitive one. We are bombarded daily with competition for our attention, for our affection, for our time, and for our dollars. As a result. It becomes increasingly important for us to be able to intelligently make decisions, and to make them quickly. Sometimes there is time to ponder alternatives and to consider options. Often, however, that time is not available. At those moments, it is important to be able to draw upon a broad-based background o! information to assist us in the decision-making process. That …

Looking In From The Fringe: A Need For Commonality And Accountability In Professional Ethical Standards In Forensics, Sujanet Mason

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Our conceptions of honesty, decency, and integrity determine who and what we are. We should ask exactly what is our concept of "right" and "wrong." As we can seldom circumvent the level of our skills, talents, or conscience, our decisions and conduct are the product of moral reference. It is suggested that education and training are the means to earn what is wanted from life, therefore, the educated man, at least ideally, doesn't have the temptation to cheat or steal. Further, it has been said, "One need not be as worried about the multiplication of sinners as with the disappearance …

Ethical Considerations For Forensics Educators, Sheryl A. Friedley

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

In 1984, the Ethics of Advocacy Committee at the National Developmental Conference on Forensics defined forensics as primarily an educational activity. In addition, that same Committee defined "ethical behavior" as that which promotes the educational goals of the activity while "unethical behavior" hinders such educational goals (Parson, 1984, p. 14). With this educational perspective as the focus of this discussion, I will posit three specific ethical responsibilities to which I believe forensic educators should aspire. While these ethical responsibilities do not dictate specific policy, they do provide an educationally-based philosophy from which specific ethical policy may be formed.

Open Discussion From Administrative Support/Publicity

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Discussion from the Administrative Support/Publicity session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Recommendations From Administrative Support/Publicity, Jack Kay

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Recommendations from the Administrative Support/Publicity session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Strategies To Enhance University Support For Individual Events Programs, Edward J. Harris Jr.

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

It is only fitting that we gather for this historic inaugural Conference on Individual Events as we stand on the doorstep of the 1990's. If intercollegiate Individual Events is to prosper in the decade ahead, it must entrench itself in the changing structure of University decision making. Forensics must exist in the context of an academic institution and so must make itself a valued aspect of that institution. In the 1990's that means survival in an atmosphere of budget cutting, concern for accountability and pleas for a return to basics. As a forensic coach, a teacher and a Department Chair, …

Creating A Climate Of Support For Forensics Programs, Larry Underberg

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

This paper offers three recommendations bearing on the general topic of administrative support and publicity. First, I urge the collection and dissemination of information about funding levels, activity levels, and instructional demands in forensics. This information would provide an important data base for directors of forensics who bear the primary responsibility for securing sup­ port for their forensics program and negotiating expectations that influence outside assessments of program quality and instructional performance. Second, a call for increased attention to non-competitive public service programs as a means of enhancing program visibility and reaffirming a commitment to speech as a means for …

The Cultivation Of Administrative And General Suppport For Individual Events Programs: Some Practiceal Suggestions, Robert S. Littlefield

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

In the proceedings for both the first and second developmental conferences on forensics, a number of issues were raised regarding administrative support or lack thereof for forensic programs. Six of the topics discussed in those proceedings are appropriate to the focus of this paper regarding administrative support and publicity: (1) Administrative support needs to be cultivated through enhanced awareness of forensic programs and their benefits for students (McBath, 13; Parson, 42); (2) the forensic community must work together to promote the activity (Parson, 48); (3) professional organizations must serve their members in a variety of ways (Parson, 39); (4) additional …

Earning Support For Individual Events Programs, Robert W. Greenstreet

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

This paper is divided into four areas. The first provides suggestions for the general orientation of the individual events program. The remaining areas focus on the three major functions of colleges and universities in the U.S. today: instruction, scholarship, and service. (Scholarship is approached as undergraduate scholarship, as another conference group is focusing on in individual events.) In each area, I suggest steps directors of individual events programs may take to become a more integral part of the academic communities in which their programs are housed. Those steps take the form of recommendations. Only two of the recommendations in this …

Open Discussion From Standards For Evaluation/Judging

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Discussion from the Standards for Evaluation/Judging session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Recommendations From Standards For Evaluation/Judging, Judy Santacaterina

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Recommendations from the Standards for Evaluation/Judging sessions at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Avoiding The Schism: An Assessment Of Attitudes Toward Performance Of Literature In Competitive Environments, Cindy J. Kistenberg, Paul H. Ferguson

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

The number of students involved, variety of events, and general popularity of oral interpretation competition at current forensics tournaments suggests an activity in radiant good health. But this apparent good health may be threatened by controversy between oral interpretation theorists and those involved in competitive interpretation. Concern about the purpose of oral interpretation is responsible for this controversy.

A Proposal For The Creation Of Uniform Judging Philosopy Statements In Individual Events Competitions: An Attempt To Empower Competitors, Coaches/Critics And The Forensics Activity, Rob Tucker

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

The judging of individual events has long been fraught with difficulty, with critics invoking their own idiosyncratic preferences and biases, instead of some form of consistent judging standard. Students have forfeited the advantage of having detailed information about a given judge's philosophy or criticism criteria. In 1984, forensics theorists produced a set of standards by which speeches could be constructed and subsequently evaluated. There exists little or no evidence that coaches/critics have actually adopted these standards, and so, as before, students are left without a guide. This paper examines the history of theory development concerning judging criteria and advances a …

Everything Is What It Is And Not Another Thing: A Hierarchical Criteria For Evaluation In Informative Persuasion And Communication Analysis, Gary Allen, George Dennis

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

We will focus upon three events that are of particular concern or interest to us -- Informative, Persuasion and Communication Analysis. In doing so, we will discuss problems and trends in evaluation that we perceive in each event, and argue for a hierarchical criteria that ought to be the basis for evaluation and judgement In addition we will present a suggestion for a ballot-form that we believe will help improve the ballots as well as give a boost toward more uniformity of standards.

The Individual Event Ballot: Pedagogical Tool Or Narcissistic Soapbox?, Kevin Jones

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Before developing some standards for evaluating/judging individual events, it is necessary to understand what exactly a ballot should do, and to look at some of the problems surrounding present standards and why new standards are in order. This paper will focus upon the pedagogical aspect of judging by first, examining the educational aspect of forensics; second, exploring the "useless ballot" issue and attempting to identify some causes of the problem; and finally, presenting some possible solutions and guidelines which might aid in correcting this concern. Hopefully, discussion will be generated from this paper and panel which will result in promoting …

Open Discussion On A Rationale For Events To Be Included In I.E. Competition

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Discussion held at the Rationale for Events to be Included in I.E. Competition session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Recommendations From A Rational For Events To Be Included In I.E. Competition, Steven Hunt

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Recommendations from the Rational for Events to be Included in All I.E. Competition session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

A Rational For Events: An Agenda For Change, David Douglas Dunlap

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

This paper takes the position that the maturation of forensics as an activity tends to lead to the institutionalization of internal criteria which do not meet the assumptions others may hold about the goals of desirable programs of speech training. I believe the active pursuit of change for the sake of a dynamic, progressive enterprise is necessary to ensure the continued health, vitality and accepted legitimacy of this educational opportunity. Others may find virtue where I see vice: The continuing value of Individual Events for its participants is made manifest in most participants. However, as more departments decide to cut …

A Developmental Rationale, John Mckiernan

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Michael Kelley, in a 1984 description of the development of individual events competition, claims the expansion of individual events in the past twenty years has been largely repetitive. He felt any experimentation would require "a radical reformulation of what the larger forensic enterprise is about and should be about" (Kelley, 1984). In considering the individual events paradigm, this conference offers the opportunity to develop a rationale for inclusion of events in individual events competition. In this paper, it seems desirable to clarify my presuppositions about forensics competition, then explore some of the problems in the activity, and finally explore two …

A Rationale For Events To Be In I.E. Competition, Norbert H. Mills

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

It has been said that forensics should be viewed as humanistic education. Forensic educators are to provide a wholesome and exciting learning environment where students are encouraged to develop positive attitudes toward ideas, themselves, others, and society at large. Any meaningful exchange regarding which I.E. events should be offered must consider these components. Robert O. Weiss capsulized the importance of these considerations when he said "Events are of more value when they approximate a simulation of what actually goes on in human communication, or when they contribute directly to the public discourse."

With these introductory comments in mind, let's now …

Justifying The Present With One Eye On The Future: Criteria For The Selection Of Event Categories, Kenneth W. Haught

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Why does the typical individual events tournament include the specific event categories that it does? Given the many details that forensics coaches must handle when preparing teams and managing tournaments, this fundamental question is often left unasked and unanswered. Sometimes the "standard" nine or ten or twelve events (depending on the national association to which a coach ascribes) seem to perpetuate simply because of inertia and peer pressure. Only occasionally, when a state or national association asks coaches to select an "experimental" event or when a tournament manager looks for a special extra event that will entice added entries, is …

A Philosophic And Pragmatic Rationale For Individual Events, Steve Hunt

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

To approach this task. I will have three sections to this paper. In the first section I will discuss what individual events are and their current slams. In the second section I will forward a set of questions I consider fundamental to knowing what we are about and the ways in which we go about it in individual events. In the third and final brief division I will comment on what I think are some long delayed research needs that could help us in responding to the questions raised in the second section of the paper and conclude my brief …

Open Discussion On Tournament Management Practices

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Discussion held at the Tournament Management Practices session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Recommendation From Tournament Management Practices, Sharon Porter

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Recommendations from the Tournament Management Practices session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Position Paper On Double Entries, Mike Wartman

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

I'm not bugged by the name writing and nonverbal symbols used in forensics. What does concern me, however, and what will be the premise and position of this paper, is the increasing number of double entries within conflict patterns that exists in forensics competition. While the idea of contestants trying and gaining experience in many events is admirable, I believe the "double entry movement" is potentially harmful and damaging to the quality of forensics competition and the abilities of most contestants. In this position paper I will briefly explain double entries, describe problems that may be caused by double entries …

Integrating Wellness And Forensics: Tournament Management As A Starting Point, Susan Rickey Hatfield, Timothy L. Hatfield, Cynthia Carver

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Though wellness on college campuses has begun to gain recognition and support, forensics activities have yet to be influenced by the wellness movement. Starting from the premise that attending forensics tournaments is essentially an 'unnatural' experience, this paper examines the basic dimensions of the wellness lifestyle as well as provides specific examples of how wellness can be integrated into forensics tournament management practices.

Forensic Tournament Management Via Computer Program, Virginia Fish, Cathy Marine, Charlotte Patrick, James Riley

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

With the increased emphasis on individual events at college forensic tournaments, both high school and college tournaments have become extremely difficult to manage manually. The shift has been to computer managed tournaments, and the reasons for this are as varied as they are valid.

The Gradual Elimination Forensics Tournament, Duane Aschenbrenner

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

As our national tournaments become ever larger it is imperative that we devise a system of gradual round by round elimination rather than our current system of going from over 300 entries in an event to only 24 after four preliminary rounds. I would therefore propose that the following plan be implemented in at least one of our National Individual Events Tournaments during the spring of 1990.

Open Discussion On Use Of Workshops For Training Judges

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Discussion held at the Use of Workshops for Training Coaches/Judges session at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.

Recommendations From Training Judges Workshops, Anthony Schroeder

Proceedings of the National Developmental Conference on Individual Events

Recommendations from the session on the use of workshops for training coaches and judges at the First Developmental Conference on Individual Events.