Educational Technology & Public Speaking

1. Educational Technology & Public Speaking Robinson, James, Turner, Jeanine, & Watters, Kathleen

2. Measurement Issues: PRCA • The identification of appropriate measures for the assessment. • PRCA – Personal Report of Communication Apprehension • 6 item measure of public speaking anxiety • PRCA used in 1,000 published studies. • Reliabilities reported in the .80 range

3. PRCA Items • “My thoughts become confused when I give a speech.” • “I face the prospect of giving a speech with confidence.” • “Certain parts of my body feel tense or rigid while giving a speech.” • “I get so nervous I forget facts I know.”

4. Measurement Issues: SPCC • SPCC – The self perceived communicative competence measure. • 3 item measure of public speaking competence • SPCC widely used in research & assessment of public speaking courses. • Reliabilities reported in the .75 range

5. SPCC Items • On a scale of 0% to 100% how competent are you at the following: • “Present a talk to a group of strangers.” • “Present a talk with a group of acquaintances.” • “Present a talk to a group of friends.”

6. Pilot Study • Measures were tested in class (n = 109 Ss). • Internal consistency PRCA = .86* for public speaking items. • Internal consistency for SPCC = .79* for public speaking items. *Cronbach’s alpha

7. Assessment Website • An assessment website was constructed. • An introduction & explanation on the assessment process was included. • The measures were then turned into forms using Microsoft FrontPage

8. The Assessment Website • Reduces time spent generating & distributing assessment materials. • Reduces the money spent reproducing the materials • Reduces the time spent analyzing assessment data. • No scanning & importing ASCII files. • No reproducing variable labels.

13. Additional Technology • Ss typically make two speeches in this course. • Both are made in class – utilizing 45% of all class time. • Ss typically give a variation of the same speech.

14. Additional Technology • To alleviate this problem, Ss are required to tape their speech outside of class and bring it to the instructor • Ss may practice and record the speech as many times as they like. • This forces Ss to practice the speech before they present it in class.

15. Additional Technology • Ss receive more instruction & less time listening to speeches that are not well prepared or are redundant. • Instructors can pour over the speech and look back and rewind speech. • Instructors can point out specific problems and shoe the Ss.

16. Discussion • Putting Ss in charge of solving the technology problem, empowers Ss. • Taped speeches reduce Ss complaints about differences in perceptions of the speech. • Vocal segregates, eye contact, note of finality, transitions.

17. Discussion • Instructors perceive speeches to be much improved. • Ss report feeling more clear about what the instructor “wants.” • Ss watch their speech and realize there are many things they could do to enhance their performance.

18. Future Projects • Stream the speech on assessment website instead of using transcript. • Provide Ss with firewire webcams for public speaking courses. • Submit the speeches to their instructors as video attachments on the new media server system.

19. Future Projects • Create a video speech library for Ss. • Identify the most common Ss errors to improve future speech education. • Provide instructors software to embed comments in a second audio track.

20. New Instructional Website • Fractionate speech into components. • Attention • Purpose • Preview • Main Points • Evidence

21. New Instructional Website • Conclusion • Closing summary • Note of finality • Efforts at credibility • Message adaptation • Ss provide each component online to instructor.