Three times in a six-week period, British secondary students gave class presentations and they rated their lessons weekly. Most said that student presentations made the lessons more involving and stimulating. The study illustrated a process of collaborative research among practicing teachers. (SK)

In an effort to combat juvenile speech patterns of "mallspeak" and engage students in intelligent conversation, classes in oral communication are appearing among the general education requirements at colleges, and speaking-intensive classes are emerging in all disciplines. Communications faculty feel the skills should be taught within their…

A media training program conducted for faculty and administrators at Seton Hall University (New Jersey) is described. The program has helped participants become more confident in speaking to media, enhanced the university's visibility, and built campus confidence in the public relations staff. Suggestions are made for selecting the target audience…

Describes an eight-hour module the author uses to teach multimedia presentations to students from the school of computer engineering. Focuses on color and animation, and examining overuse of effects, coordinating the chosen effect and the intended meaning, and altering the style to suit the audience. Includes an outline of assignments and of the…

We developed a verbal self-guidance (VSG) training program as a transfer of training intervention (i.e., an intervention designed to enhance the application and usage of skills learned in a training session post-training). We then assessed the impact of this training on presentation performance, self-efficacy (i.e., task-specific confidence) and…

This article describes how the author developed and implemented a course on World War II that has an oral history component. The author describes the format of the World War II course and the oral history component within the course framework. The author uses classroom presentations by veterans to enliven his World War II history class and enhance…

In this article, the author describes how she changed her process for the oral presentation, which involved looking at its placement in the course, the pace, and the preparation. By moving the team oral presentation earlier in the course, the author hoped to solve two problems. One problem was the increased stress both students and the author…

A communicating science module was introduced into an advanced undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory course. The module was integrated into the course such that students received formal instruction in communicating science interwoven with the chemistry laboratory curriculum. The content of the communicating science module included three…

Increasingly community colleges are challenged to improve the basic skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening their students need for success in the business world and for transfer to a senior college. One attempt to meet the challenge has been to incorporate more writing assignments into classrooms across all disciplines. Concurrent with…

The difficulties and the advantages of giving oral critiques of student speeches are discussed. The advantages of using oral critiques are such that many speech teachers will want to include them. It is argued in this paper that the difficulties associated with oral critiques can be overcome by using communication messages that are intended to…

In remarks to members of the NAS affiliate in California, Martin Trow reflects on goals and missions. The push for intellectual diversity does not resonate as did the message of equal opportunity that once drove the California Civil Rights Initiative. Our campaign at the national level to create new havens of serious scholarship is promising, he…

High school biology textbooks feature little coverage of cancer, so that college students are not generally informed about the condition. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of young people who survive cancer, which means that college instructors are likely to have students who have or have had cancer. Instructors…

Self-empowerment techniques are personal growth activities that are used over time to create a sense of self-worth, personal accountability, and power in an individual. Generally, the goal of these techniques is to recognize, accept, and act upon individual hidden reserves of talent, ability, and courage. The techniques are learned experientially…

This book sets out the skills that are necessary for a public speaker to address an audience with confidence and clarity. The book discusses the kinds of speeches a speaker might be called upon to make and gives clear advice on how to prepare, rehearse, and deliver them. It explores the power of humor, helps one deal confidently and persuasively…

This paper examines the impact of traditional and accelerated public speaking instruction on undergraduate-level students' self-perceptions of communication apprehension and self-esteem. Subjects, students at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs were enrolled in the same semester in either a 16-week traditional public speaking course…