FAQ for COSA 2024 | Celebration of Student Achievement

What is the Celebration of Student Achievement?

This is a showcase for student scholarly and creative work, providing an opportunity for students to share their work with TCNJ’s community. Students will present their work in papers, posters, performances, panels, and other forms of scholarly or creative activity. The day of COSA will be Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

To present your work, complete the registration form here.

Deadline: March 8th, 2024

What kind of student work will be presented at the Main Event?

The Celebration is appropriate for significant work that results from deep engagement in the scholarly or creative process. For the most part, students will be presenting work that they have already prepared or presented for another purpose such as Independent Research, a Senior Design, Thesis, or Capstone course, a conference presentation, or some other outstanding scholarly/creative experience. In many cases, this will be work done in collaboration with a faculty mentor, but the student must be the primary author and presenter of the work at the Celebration. Grading on COSA day is strongly discouraged.

Types of possible presentations include:

Poster Posters are presented together in 1-hour blocks where people can walk around to view, ask questions, and have discussions. See further down in the FAQ for information on how to create and print posters.
Oral/Paper Oral/Paper projects are presented in assigned classrooms and include projects such as research papers and presentation slides. Are scheduled in 20-minute blocks with 15 minutes meant for the presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A. Panel Similar to Oral/Papers, but for presenting multiple projects together. Panels can also use more than one timeslot if needed (i.e. 40 minutes instead of 20) What would qualify as an appropriate panel for COSA? Group/collaborative projects with multiple student authors. Projects on a singular and interconnected topic that are directly tied to each other. This would not include just similar topics from being for the same course (i.e. a capstone course). If your project falls under these categories, please have your students note in their registration forms and reach out to us at cosa@tcnj.edu to help us schedule your panel.
Live Performance Live Performances can include a number of types of work such as plays or musical performances. Are scheduled in 20-minute blocks, so please note in your registration or contact us if you need more time than that.
Digital Performance Involves showing a video in the Kendall Hall Screening Room or in Mayo Concert Hall. Are scheduled in 20-minute blocks, so please note in your registration or contact us if you need more time than that.
Exhibit Art exhibits in the AIMM building. These do not have a scheduled presentation time and can be viewed during the entire day.

Keywords:

In addition, we will have integrated sessions, where presentations from different schools will be organized according to common themes and better connect the amazing work of TCNJ students. To facilitate this, we are including a new “keyword” dropdown menu on the COSA registration form. Students must meet with their faculty mentors/instructors before registering for COSA to identify one or more keyword categories that apply to their project. Below is a list of keyword categories:

Effective Organizations, Management, Business, Finance, Communication, and Pedagogical Innovations
STEAM Innovations (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Visual, Digital, Multimedia, Literary, and Performing Arts)
Environmental, Public Health, Medical/Physical Health, Mental Health and Wellness Impacts
Social Justice (Anti-Racism, Anti-Bias, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Belonging)
Global Perspectives on Cultures and Languages of the World
The Human Experience Across Time and Place (works about Politics, Philosophy, History, Ethics, Language and Literature)

Where do I go if I have questions about participating?

If you have questions, see your faculty mentor. For questions that they are unable to answer, please contact John Leonard and Tracy Kress at cosa@tcnj.edu, or email Annemarie Sanders at sandersa@tcnj.edu.

How do I register to participate?

Students determine participation in COSA with their faculty mentors/instructors
Students work with faculty mentors/instructors to determine title, presentation type, and identify keyword categories
Students register for COSA
Registration link for 2024: https://tcnj.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6xveSeKCBf2O2Xk
- Deadline: March 8th, 2024
Faculty mentors/instructors confirm student registrations in late March

How should the form be filled out if there is more than one author or presenter?

The first author or presenter should fill out the form and serve as the contact person for the group. The other presenters’ names should be listed in a later question in the form.

What if I have more than one presentation?

In the registration form, there will be a question that asks if you will be in more than one presentation. We will make sure to have your presentations scheduled at different times.

What happens if I have special scheduling needs?

If you need to make your presentation at a certain time or are unavailable at specific times, indicate this on your registration form and also let your faculty mentor know.

Separate events (i.e. departmental events) should be scheduled during the 1.5 hour lunch break on the day of COSA or outside of COSA’s day/time (please note that no program/department-specific events can overlap with the plenary keynote address).

How will the times and locations for presentations be announced?

A copy of the full schedule for the Main Event will be available online by April 25th.

How do I make an effective poster?

Guide to Preparing a Poster Presentation

Please carefully review the guidelines in the document above when creating your poster, especially how to change the size. The suggested sizes are 36in x 48in or 36in x 54in.

Also note that different disciplines may have their own standards and approaches to creating and presenting posters.

After creating your poster, you can have it printed with the COSA 2024 Poster Printing Request Form. Plan as far ahead as possible for printing to ensure getting your poster on time for your presentation.

How do I set up my poster?

When published, review the preliminary schedule and search for your poster’s session time, location, and number.
We suggest arriving to your poster session early to ensure you have enough time to set up.
Find your poster number, which will have an easel and posterboard set up for you.
Each posterboard will have a baggie pinned to it containing the poster number and thumbtacks.
Please pin the number to the top left corner of your posterboard.
Using the remaining thumbtacks, you can mount your poster on the posterboard.
Extra thumbtacks will be available in containers to the side of the room.
After your session is over, please take your poster down and place the thumbtacks either back into the baggie or stick the side of the posterboard.

How rigorous is the 20-minute limit on papers and other presentations?

Because presentations are scheduled on a 20-minute basis (15 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions and answers), if you take too long, you are taking away time from the students who are scheduled after you. Therefore, please prepare your presentation with the time limit in mind.