Oral Presentations

[Ruralguy]

We have a lot of this sort of thing going on at my school (undergrad only), but it's very limited in most foundational courses.

[WidgetWoman]

In my field (applied basketry), our capstone project builds to a giant presentation at the end of the semester that they've worked toward. To that end, they're practicing with mini talks weekly (at least). Here the idea isn't necessarily a paper, but talking through the design work they did on their specific basket. The audience at the final capstone presentation is a mix of students, faculty, and members of public who have never read about the students' basket work and aren't particularly basketry-literate, students who have been listening and helping all semester with the presenter's presentation, basket sponsors who have been updated (orally) weekly and have a final paper presented, and applied basketry faculty and staff who are listening with a critical ear.

Is it stressful for students? You bet. Pedagogically necessary? Indubitably. And again, we build in the confidence with all the practice. We often tell our students that the best basket design isn't necessarily the best design, but the design that was communicated to best fit the needs. Most of our basketry students go on to have non-basketry-literate bosses or uber-bosses; those folks need to be convinced.

[apl68]

Effective public speaking seems like one of those skills that anybody and everybody who gets a college-level education needs to acquire somewhere along the way.  I don't remember getting a lot of chance to develop those skills at either undergrad or grad levels, apart from an elective class on public speaking that I took.  That helped me a good bit.  I didn't become a truly confident public speaking until many years later, though, after I became the city librarian here and had to start speaking to civic groups, etc. now and then. 

All of which is to say that professors in any discipline are doing their students a favor by requiring the occasional presentation of some sort.  Looks from the above like there are several potentially effective ways of doing that.

[eigen]

1) the students in your particular program could reasonably be expected to be intellectually mature and professionally knowledgeable enough to handle the material in question, and 2) taking significant class time to do this sort of thing does not substantively detract from the professor's ability (and responsibility) to actually spend the time teaching and evaluating the students' learning of the key professional concepts the class is supposed to cover (now that I thinks on it, this is a reason we do not do that much of this sort of thing when teaching classics  undergrads, too, since so much time needs to be spent on translation).  So the professor in any class like this, whatever discipline, has to patiently, and respectfully, intervene to correct ignorance when he sees it, even if he gets pushback from the kids.

I don't know if this is based on field, where you are now, or where you have been in the past, but in my opinion you consistently infantalize college students on these fora far more than is appropriate for current college students.

Many of my entering students will have already done research projects in HS, some at colleges during the summer and some as part of IB programs. Every single one of them will be required to do independent mentored research and write and defend a thesis to graduate. All will be expected to be mature, capable professionals able to walk into a job or PhD program on graduation if that's the path they choose.

Being able to capably speak about your work in front of an audience is a basic competency that anyone with a college degree should be able to do. In my opinion, questioning why public speaking is a critical competency is like questioning why writing or reading is a critical competency.

I can tell you our classics department embeds speaking and writing from very early courses as a core competency.

[Antiphon1]

Breaking cover here.  I've taught those entry level public speaking courses for many years in addition to in my primary discipline.  Ideally that class should provide a platform for students to communicate the information they investigate in other classes.  In other words, the class is an avenue for learning how to explain and defend their research in a controlled setting guided by an experienced faculty member.  It's intended to reinforce research methods, critical thinking, and expiriential learning to lay the foundations for using the skills in subsequent classes.  And, yes, the class is required in the core curriculum. 

As to how to get better at the performance, there is no substitute for practice. It's very much like running multiple repetions of the same experiment to check for mistakes or duplications.  The more times you set up the lab, the better you get at spotting the potential for variation and/or mistakes.  You can identifiy and correct mistakes because the prescribed steps are more or less automatic.  It's also much like muscle memory.  The more times we repeat an action the more likely our body learns mucular and nervous responses to familiar stimuli.  You don't have to think about walking because that action is more or less an automatic response because you mastered it long ago.   

 

[AmLitHist]

I completely agree, Antiphon - when in my F2F comp classes, I always include an oral presentation (process analysis) assignment. They can demonstrate any process they want: playing a card game, making cookie batter, braiding hair, whatever. They can have note cards, must use props, and no part of their grade is related to nerves/anxiety; I grade only on the accuracy of the process they explain, and their engagement of the class. I also tell them, repeatedly, to PRACTICE before class:  explain it to your mom, your sister, your cat, the mailman, anybody who'll hold still long enough. Even the shyest students end up doing well on it: after the first person does theirs, they loosen up and actually have fun with it.

When students complain upon first getting the assignment, I challenge them to tell me one major/credential at our CC where they won't need to be able to speak to the public. Auto mechanic? You'll have to explain and defend the repairs to the customer/insurance adjuster. Child care? You'll have to articulate your business plan to a banker, your procedures to state regulators, and so on. And so on.

[kaysixteen]

You all have given me much fodder for thinkin', and I am cogitatin' on answers.  Will get back to y'all.  Thank you kindly.

[MarathonRunner]

I'm in the health sciences. Students need to be able to communicate with patients, superiors, subordinates, peers, community groups, etc. No surprise that oral presentations are required in our third and fourth year courses. If students can't get comfortable with that, their likelihood of success in our profession is small. Possible? Yes. Unlikely? Also yes. Even had a blind student (legally blind, but some residual vision, needing extremely large fonts and high contrast) succeed. Anxiety about presenting? Refer to student health services. Speech impediment? No problem, no marks deducted for having one. Need notes? No problem, unless you just read off your notes with no audience connection/interaction. I don't need you to memorize your presentation. I don't want you just reading your notes, even if on the autism spectrum, unless you have accommodations to do so. I know autism is a spectrum, but if you can't have basic interactions with others, you are going to fail our licensing exam. I'm trying to prepare you for that exam. (I'm high functioning on the spectrum myself).

[AmLitHist]

I'm in the health sciences. Students need to be able to communicate with patients, superiors, subordinates, peers, community groups, etc. No surprise that oral presentations are required in our third and fourth year courses. If students can't get comfortable with that, their likelihood of success in our profession is small. Possible? Yes. Unlikely? Also yes. Even had a blind student (legally blind, but some residual vision, needing extremely large fonts and high contrast) succeed. Anxiety about presenting? Refer to student health services. Speech impediment? No problem, no marks deducted for having one. Need notes? No problem, unless you just read off your notes with no audience connection/interaction. I don't need you to memorize your presentation. I don't want you just reading your notes, even if on the autism spectrum, unless you have accommodations to do so. I know autism is a spectrum, but if you can't have basic interactions with others, you are going to fail our licensing exam. I'm trying to prepare you for that exam. (I'm high functioning on the spectrum myself).

This reminds me of one of ALHS's many orthopedists/surgeons at a teaching hospital/my grad institution. The guy was a wizard, and fixed his back very efficiently and far less invasively than anyone else had even dreamed it might be done.

He was about our age, very pleasant, and could make small talk and joke, but when he went into "doctor mode" to examine and poke and prod and explain x-rays and models and such, the man could NOT handle it. It's like someone else took over his body:  he was awkward, inarticulate, and - what we still joke about sometimes - a "close talker" (remember the Seinfeld episode with Judd Nelson? He was THAT guy who would stand nose-to-nose with you while he talked)!

At first, it almost put us off going to him, and I'm glad we stayed with him and got used to him, but he definitely could have used some communications training along the way.

[Langue_doc]

Students in language and ESL courses are required to give oral presentations. When I taught ESL courses, students would have to present oral book reports which they would subsequently revise and submit as a written assignment. I would also send students to museums; I show them the various collections and also a list of tours for the week. The tours were intended for their oral comprehension skills, whereas the presentations were to showcase their speaking skills. I still recall one of the students pausing in the middle of her presentation on the Greek and Roman section as she was talking about the marble head of Marcus Aurelius, looking slightly embarrassed, as she let the class know that she thought he was so very handsome. The next time I went to the MET, I looked for the head (which I'd seen before) to see why it had such an impact on the student.

[Minervabird]

Students in language and ESL courses are required to give oral presentations. When I taught ESL courses, students would have to present oral book reports which they would subsequently revise and submit as a written assignment. I would also send students to museums; I show them the various collections and also a list of tours for the week. The tours were intended for their oral comprehension skills, whereas the presentations were to showcase their speaking skills. I still recall one of the students pausing in the middle of her presentation on the Greek and Roman section as she was talking about the marble head of Marcus Aurelius, looking slightly embarrassed, as she let the class know that she thought he was so very handsome. The next time I went to the MET, I looked for the head (which I'd seen before) to see why it had such an impact on the student.

well, Marcus Aurelius is very handsome, and his Meditations have been of enormous help to me.