Project Update and Process

Hi readers,

Due to difficulties reaching our audience, our group has recently changed topics for the final project. We are now creating an online instruction with the purpose of improving SoE student’s academic public speaking. The content of our instruction will primarily include speech giving suggestions, such as why swaying should be avoided, but will also include general speech writing suggestions, such as why clarity is important in academic speeches.

In terms of the format of our instruction, we plan to create several videos instructing learners about different aspects of public speaking. These videos will then be uploaded to a private YouTube which will allow users to easily comment on videos and upload their own speeches. We believe learners will become more engaged with the lesson because of the interactive ability to comment and upload their own videos.

Because our time is so limited, I’ve been thinking a lot about the steps our team will employ in order to complete the project. As of now, we have nearly completed collecting interviews, writing the proposal, and performing a basic literature review. We decided the next step was for all members to contribute to a list of topic categories and sub-categories we would like to include. For example, “confidence improvement” is a category that we plan to address in our instruction. Next, we will determine a rough framework to guide what should be included in each category. This framework could include components such as “explaining why the topic is important,” “examples that demonstrate the concept,” “exercises to practice concept,” and “summary.” Finally, our group plans to assign specific categories for individual group members to write in order to share the work load. Having this rough timeline very much helps to organize our process.

-Scott