General Information

To satisfy the OCAC requirement in the MCSP department the student must execute a specified number of oral presentations on subjects related to their major field. The content and specifications are to be negotiated between the student and a department faculty member. Usually these will be done as part of a class but may be outside presentations e.g., at a club meeting, at a conference, etc.

The usual number of presentations is three, one of which must involve faculty intervention. Faculty intervention means that the sponsoring faculty member will be involved in the presentation preparation process. For example, the faculty member may choose to require an outline or to review slides ahead of time or view a practice presentation or video. The sponsoring faculty member will determine the procedure.

A qualifying presentation is a talk of at least 12 minutes on a topic related to the student's major given to an audience of at least three people. In order to receive credit the talk must be approved beforehand by a member of the MCSP faculty. An MCSP faculty member must also certify that the talk was successfully executed, meeting or surpassing minimal standards or effective communication. (See the form for the specific standards that will be evaluated.) The talks may be given as part of assigned coursework, a non-graded component of a course, or at conferences, seminars, club meetings or other public events.

The spirit of related to the major means that they probably will occur in required/elective courses within the major with at least one in a course with the specific MCSP prefix for the major (CS for CS/CIS, MA for MA/MAED, PHY for Physics or Physics ED and EG for Engineering Science). e.g., A CS or CIS major will give at least some presentations in required CS courses or CS conferences, or CS club meetings and the rest in related settings. A CS/MA double major will split them between CS and MA courses.

Students who have only one major and that one is in the MCSP department

You are required to do at least three OCAC presentations related to the major. At least one must involve faculty intervention.

Students with multiple majors all of which are in the MCSP department

You are required to do at least three OCAC presentations. At least one in each major must involve faculty intervention. e.g., a Math/CS double major does a minimum of three including one in CS with faculty intervention, one in Math with faculty intervention, and a third in either major which need not involve faculty intervention

Students with multiple majors at least one in MCSP and at least one outside MCSP

Students with at least one major outside the department must meet the OCAC requirements of the outside major(s) and give one OCAC presentation with faculty intervention in each of their MCSP majors.

General Procedure

1. The student will approach a faculty member in their discipline and (kindly) request that they sponsor an OCAC presentation. This will usually be an instructor in a major class they are currently taking.
2. After the faculty members agrees, they will negotiate the specifications.
3. The student will fill out the first half of the OCAC form and have the sponsor sign the pre-presentation portion.
4. The faculty member will complete the evaluation portion during/after the presentation, sign it and return the form to the student.
5. If the presentation was rated successful, the student will turn the form to Dr. Breutzmann for recording and storage.

Manhattan Records

Records of successful presentations will be kept by Dr. Breutzmann and uploaded regularly to a manhattan site for student/faculty viewing. Upon completion of the first successful OCAC presentation or ILAC information search, the student will be entered into the database and be given an account and password for the manhattan site or they may request one prior to meeting their first OCAC/ILAC requirement.

Here are some links to the OCAC forms in a few different formats:

OCAC form (rtf)

OCAC form (.doc)

OCAC form (.pdf)

OCAC form (html)