Tips and Suggestions: Discussion Participation

Discussion 1 Due: June 21, 2022

20% of your final grade is based on your individual participation in Discussions. There are four individual graded
Discussions in total: Module 3, Module 4, Module 5 and Module 9. Each one is graded out of 25 marks and is worth up
to 5% of your final grade. To be eligible for full marks, you should complete the discussion as follows:

First, create a thread and post your answer to the question.

Then, you will find you have access to other student posts. Find at least three other threads created by your classmates
and post your response to the thoughts in those threads.

Keep in mind that the purpose of the discussion is to interact and share ideas, so you are welcome to post more than
three responses to other students. If you post more than three responses, I will grade every response you make and use
the initial thread mark plus the top three grades you earn for your other posts to calculate your grade for the Discussion.

When I grade your work, particularly the responses to other students, I look for the originality of the idea; how well you
have completed the idea; how you support the idea; and whether you move the discussion forward. Here are two
examples of how I would grade a Discussion question response. The author of the initial thread described what
impression management is and how it can be used in an interview situation.

Response #1,

I agree with your idea about an interview room environment

(This answer would get a very low grade because this response does not take the discussion further – there is no new
idea presented and there is no supporting documentation from other sources, such as textbooks, readings, articles, etc.)

Response #2,

In our textbook, on page 418, it states that Impression Management refers “to attempts by applicants to create a
favourable impression by monitoring interviewer reactions and responding accordingly”. I never thought of it before,
but I can see how an experienced interviewee could try to pick up information from any personal details in the room.
For example, a photo of a family could lead the interviewee to try to change answers to those that a family person
would relate to; or, a golf trophy could lead the interviewee to try to impress the interviewer with answers that would
please someone who likes sports and is likely competitive. It is important to be aware of impression management to
minimize the possibility of it influencing the outcome of the interview with things in the environment. It is also
important to be aware that as an interviewer, someone might be trying to influence the outcome of the interview with
conversations about things that are not related to the knowledge/skills/abilities/other attributes (ksao’s) needed for the
job.

(This response would receive the highest possible grade because it adds another idea to the conversation, and it brings
additional information to the discussion by adding the details from an expert source – in this case it is the textbook). If
you use expert information, be sure to give credit where credit is due. Document the information using MLA or APA
format. Your school library can provide further information about those formats. Seneca College has an excellent free
resource that is open to anyone at https://library.senecacollege.ca/library/Research_Help/Citing_Sources/index.html