Introduction to Public Speaking
Institution: UWashingtonX (edX)
Date: January 7, 2014 - March 18, 2014
Bio: Introduction to public speaking is a unique course teaching the performance techniques and basics of formal public speaking. It focuses on impromptu speeches, informative speeches, and persuasive speeches performance as well as the ability to critique and analysis speeches. The instructor does a great job at presenting his lectures specifically for the online format, integrating media such as TED talks and historical speeches as examples, and generally has a high production values. Students are welcome to submit videos of their own speech attempts, and to grade other students work using a well defined rubric that promotes both the performance and analytical focus of this course.
Accomplishments: This course does not offer any formal assessment, and I was unable to post any speeches of my own due to lack of recording equipment. This was unfortunate as the class does benefit a lot from putting to practice the material. My initial interest in this course was for more informal public speaking settings (radio/pod cast) and to see how a course on performance could be taught online. Though the material stayed focused on formal public speaking, I found the execution of the course to be exceptional.