Culminating Project Requirements and Grading Scale

This assignment serves as your culminating assignment for the course. Students may work with a partner or group of 3 (maximum) to research and develop an instructional/educational/training curriculum that can be used to inform sport managers regarding the selected legal issue. For example, let’s say that you selected Title IX within collegiate sport for analysis and the educational curriculum is recommended to be used as a component of the already established NCAA coaches and/or administrator training certification process. You would then identify and organize the content for the Title IX training program. Another example could be that you selected drugs in high school sport as your legal issue and the instructional/educational/training curriculum you develop could be used by the athletic director as a pre-season training for high school coaches or athletes.

Throughout this exercise you will research and discuss whether the issue or topic is currently and formally being addressed within the selected sport setting. If there are currently educational/training measures in place those should be critically evaluated, and a revised educational/training curriculum should be developed along with recommendations for implementation. If there are not currently any educational or training attempts being made, then you will develop a curriculum along with recommendations for how the training should be implemented. It may be helpful to think of this assignment as if you are a teacher and are preparing a teaching unit for a class.  Essentially, you are answering the questions of “what do sport managers need to know” about this topic and why, also, “what is the best setting for this education/training to occur.”

This assignment will include a written paper and corresponding power point presentation.  The paper and power point should include the following sections: introduction, literature review of the topic and (if applicable) current education/training efforts, instructional/educational/training content and curriculum, recommendations for implementation, future implications of the curriculum, and conclusion.

Introduction (10 points): The introduction should introduce the reader to your topic. You should provide an overview of your topic. You should clearly state the purpose of your research. The purpose should be one statement and should be clearly defined and outlined for the reader. In a nutshell, the purpose of this exercise is to create an educational, informational, or training (whichever you feel applies best) curriculum regarding said topic with the intent to inform the identified population. Be sure that you specifically discuss and identify a sport setting (i.e., professional sports, collegiate sports, high school sports, youth sports, etc.) and the intended audience (i.e., administrators, coaches, athletes, parents, etc.).

Your introduction should also include the significance of the research. The significance of the research essentially justifies the need to examine the topic. Thus, you must clearly outline the significance of your research. You should review many of the academic refereed journals that you are using in this research for excellent examples on establishing significance of research. You may want to use a source or two in the introduction to assist in establishing significance for your research topic.

Literature Review (20 points): The literature review provides a detailed overview of the academic literature (refereed journal articles) appropriate to your topic and its application to this research.  If available, you should also discuss any current or relevant instructional/educational/training efforts being used. If there are no educational curriculums being used relevant to your selected topic, you may research, reference, and model an educational effort being used relative to another topic. Please limit examples to model to the field of sport law when possible. It is not simply a rehash of what you have read, but rather you are highlighting and linking what you have read to the overall purpose of your research paper.

You will use the bulk of your academic refereed sources in this section of the paper. You may access a few guides for writing literature reviews and some sample literature reviews using the following link http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/library.nsf/3cc42a422514347a8525671d0049f395/46c31e3773d8747b852570ad00700699?OpenDocument (Links to an external site.) I recommend the UNC-Chapel Hill guide, the UW Madison guide, and the UC Santa Cruz guide.

Educational Curriculum Content (30 points): This section should discuss the specific components that will be included in the instructional, educational, or training curriculum. These topics should be discussed, defined, etc. in detail as they relate to the specified population. The rationale for the selected content should be provided in order to justify why they are necessary and/or important. This section should be supported with peer-reviewed citation.

Recommendations for Implementation (20 points): In this section, you should clearly layout how the instructional, educational, or training curriculum should be implemented or utilized to inform practitioners, athletes, or parents.

Future Implications & Conclusion (10 points): This section of the paper should discuss the implications or findings of your research. In other words, what does all the literature mean? How does it or how could it practically impact professionals, athletes, or parents if this issue continues to not be addressed and what are the implications (i.e., importance or effects) of this educational curriculum being utilized? How might this education impact or change the field of Sport Management?

This paper should be presented in a logical format which supports the purpose of your research. It should flow smoothly from section to section. The sections should be linked and build upon each other. Paragraphs should be well-developed and easy to read. You should make appropriate transitions from paragraphs to sections. It should be easy for the reader to follow. You will want to use headings and subheadings where appropriate and as indicated above. You should have at least one concluding paragraph which ties the entire paper together and summarizes what you have written.

Formatting Guidelines (10 points):

• APA 6th edition guidelines and requirements should be met.
• The paper should include a minimum of 10 typed pages (not including the title and reference pages).
• It should be double spaced with paragraph indentions.
• Use Arial or Times New Roman font 11 or 12 point.
• Use headings and subheadings where appropriate.
• Use page numbers.
• Your reference page does not count toward your page limit.
• You should write for quality and clarity rather than quantity.
• You should not have grammar or spelling errors.
• You should submit it using the designated area in Canvas.
• You should include no fewer than 8 academic, peer-reviewed sources