Strategies to Improve Presentation Skills

http://www.westga.edu/~bquest/2007/presentation7.pdf

An interesting article. It looks at why students oral presentation performances are poor. One reason, which we can all atest to observing in our students, and perhaps ourselves, is oral communication apprehension. McCroskey defined this anxiety as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real oranticipated communication with another person or persons".
The components of this oral communication apprehension have been attributed to learnedhelplessness and learned negative expectations. Again validating the notion on how important it is for us to know our students, not just their preferred learning style. An outdate study, from 1973 was performed which showed that speaking in front of a group of people is the primary fear among Americans.
The article goes on to state that oral communication apprehension can be reduced with proper training, that which people receive in school. In a report, "How Americans Communicate", 25 percent felt their school training had properly taught them to deliverpresentations or speeches. So what about the other 75???
The article goes on to highlight 5 strategies that can be implemented to improve student presentation skills:1) classroom communication behavior influences students’ communication behavior 2) students needs clear expectations regarding format, content, and delivery 3) rubric should be used to indiciate expectations 4) instructors should videotape a presentation to be used as a model for futre classes 5) teachers should tie in-class presentations to actual work-life scenarios, ifpossible
I enjoyed this article because it reiterates the importance of teaching students how to present. I think sometimes we assume that they know how to deliver an effective presentation. If students had to be taught the formula for area of a triangle before they used and applied the formula, so too do students need to be taught the various strategies to effective presentations! A good read!