CEDA-40 is yet another reason that Gordon Stables is my hero. I love Joe
Patrice, in spite of his relationship with Will Baker. And finally, I have
decided to cut all ties with Darren, who has cursed by 10 year old son with
his call to come to KC. While I appreciate and respect the offer, as his
mentor and agent, my job is to make sure he can average 40 hr., 40 steals,
150 rbi, and hit .350 in the majors by the time he is 20, with a rocket arm
behind the plate. As his agent, I'm looking for more than A-Rod money. Our
pitch- Chris has leadership skills...And I'm trying to cut back on the bbq
so that's another reason to avoid Kaufman Stadium.
'nuff said.
>>> Gordon Stables <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 7/19/2007 5:50 PM >>>
If past practice is any indication, once the topic is announced the
discussion will focus on more immediate questions and analysis. Before we,
as a group, make that adjustment let me introduce a significant research and
analysis process to our membership. In just a few years (2011) CEDA will
celebrate its 40th anniversary. One of the primary tasks of the 2nd VP is
to coordinate research conducted at the CEDA Nationals tournament and
through the organization's efforts. It is my belief that my beginning an
organized campaign now we will have a process that will allow the
organization to have acted on those ideas before it turns 40. That project
is something called CEDA-40.
I am not a fan of totalizing historical comparisons about debate, but it
is hard to dispute we do precious little to analyze our own activity in any
organized form and then share those insights with the larger community.
Throughout the history of organized intercollegiate debate a variety of
written forms existed to let the community learn and share from each other.
Some were formal, refereed journals and some took the form of articles in
handbooks. I suspect among many of us learned not only from the people we
interacted with, but also by reading the work of some very talented people.
In order to have a truly proud celebration of CEDA we need to take the time
to apply our impressive analytical and research skills inward, even if just
for a short time.
I do not romanticize the idea that we can, or should, encourage our
diverse community to narrow their efforts into a single rigid professional
discipline. The fact that we all have different professional relationships
to debate does not, however, mean we cannot take time to examine the
activity we care do deeply about and then share those conclusions. When I
first became involved in the topic process I was amazed how much research
and analysis our community produces each year. Last year on the court topic,
for example, dozens of folks contributed hundreds upon hundreds of pages of
research analysis. Ever had that moment where you google a debate subject
and find a wording or controversy paper? I think it is time for the
community to google our practices, institutions, and goals and have the same
success. It doesn't matter if you are a student, alum, professor,
professional coach, volunteer, attorney, parent or just an interested party
– we need to rebuild our collective community knowledge base.
For easy reading here are some questions and answers about this
initiative.
*What is CEDA 40? *
A collection of community research and opinion organized into a strategic
planning document. The document will:
1. Conceptualize important challenges and opportunities confronting
the CEDA community
2. Begin to develop reforms designed to promote the organization's
goals in time for the organization's 40th anniversary (in 2011)
In other words, it is a collection of original perspectives and research
by the CEDA community. This document is an organized means of allowing the
community to learn to the experiences, perspectives and research by other
community members.
*What kind of topics should people research and analyze?***
This is the question to be determined by you as members of our community.
Instead of relying on informal conversation, momentary chats on edebate or
other informal forms, this process gives people the opportunity to take a
more orderly and well-developed assessment. Some of the possible areas for
analysis include:
· The Organizations that make up the community (CEDA, NDT, ADA, AFA,
etc.)
The procedures, practices, leadership structure, schedules, etc.
· Our Competitive Practices
Tournaments, Judging, Argumentative Practices
· Membership (The CEDA Community)
Schools, Coaches, Debaters – Who are these populations? How are
they changing?
*What form should these efforts take?*
· Summaries of current practices
Once upon a time vicious battles raged over debate theory in
journals and other sites. There are occasional posts, but we could
certainly
use some contemporary means of assessing the desirability of
argumentative
trends.
· Statistical analysis (metrics or surveys)
How much debate is there in a given season? Do we know much bigger
or smaller a region is in the last decade? Do shorter topic
wordings produce
greater novice retention? Are there positive or negative trends in
nature of
gender participation? We see lots of opinions, but much less in the
way of
orderly analysis. We have the wonderful tool of debateresults to
allow folks
to build these research questions from several years worth of data.
There
are, of course, earlier records that may provide interesting points
of
comparisons.
· Case studies
There are plenty of occasions where conventional wisdom is
produced by the most basic of information. We have amazing folks in
the
community who have started programs, re-started programs, helped
them
expand, and yes, seen programs wither and die. What happened? What
makes the
difference? I know there are about 1,000,000,000 edebate posts on
the
subject but what about a 5 page detailed explanation about how the
successes
or failure took place by a debater or coach involved in that effort?
· Reaction (editorial) essays
Perhaps you would like the opportunity to write a lengthy defense
of the organizations goals, missions, or trends. Perhaps you have
experiences with teaching, recruitment or recruitment that you
would like to
share. Maybe you just want to rant. Here is your chance.
· Reform proposals
When I witnessed the discussion of NDT redistricting a few years
ago one I was unprepared to appreciate how much of our planning is
directed
at short-term efforts. By necessity we are all worried about the
next topic,
the next season, the next tournament, the next class, the next
meeting, the
next paycheck, time with our family, sleep, etc. There are plenty
of items
that can and should be debated for reform in the near-term, but
there are
also some fundamental questions that cannot (and shouldn't be) done
at the
last minute. Do you think we should fundamentally revisit some form
of how
we organize, compete or teach? We need the type of developed
proposals that
can serve as the foundation for important efforts.
Submitted materials will be organized and included in an edited volume
that thematically organizes the materials. It will be produced as a free,
publicly available e-book. Thanks to the cooperation of incoming CEDA
journal editor Al Louden, outstanding submissions will be considered for
inclusion in a future issue of* Contemporary Argumentation and Debate: The
Journal of the Cross Examination Debate Association**.*
The deadline for submissions in December 15, 2008. This gives everyone
almost 18 months to develop, plan and produce research. This also allows
individuals, or groups, to conduct research at the 2007 CEDA Nationals
tournament. This will allow a number of 2009 events to be influence by this
research product. It will be available in time to influence the development
of the 2009 NCA Panels, the 2009 Summer Argument in Alta (which is
bi-annual) as well as the business meetings of both CEDA and the NDT.
This is a call for everyone involved with the CEDA community to find the
time between now and December of 2008 to stop, reflect and add to the body
of knowledge that makes up our activity. Maybe you like summarizing and
explaining current practices. Great. Maybe you want to analyze the
demographics of a specific tournament or region. Awesome. Maybe you have
some ideas abut how to restructure our organizational or regional processes.
Wonderful.
Tomorrow the topic will be out and the next set of urgencies will fill all
of our lives. I am not asking anyone to write a report this weekend. I am
asking that everyone stop and assess if you can add to the body of knowledge
that our community relies upon. I will regularly post and encourage
participation, but please consider taking part. This is your community and
it needs a small fraction of the research and analytical skills that we
possess.
Thanks for reading.
Gordon
Gordon Stables, Ph.D.
Director of Debate and Forensics
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Southern California
Office: 213 740 2759 Fax: 213 740 3913
http://usctrojandebate.com
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