Training in presentation skills: an innovative method for college instruction

Presenting is an essential skill in the social sciences (Shaw, 1999). In my classes, I provide opportunities for students to practice and improve their presenting skills in a wide range of content presentations: topic presentation, theme presentation, chapter presentation, fieldwork presentation, and research project presentation. To make presentation an active learning experience for students, I adopt a “face the audience, they are the judges” format. Background Presenting is itself an exercise in active learning: Students develop, organize, and present ideas and materials on an issue (Bonwell 1991; Adams & Hamm, 1994). The effect of active learning, however, can be minimal when students are not properly involved in the presenting process. In my experience, a presenting student may just come behind the podium making jokes or reading a text to a laughing or not-care-at-all class when presentation is not evaluated by either the instructor or the class. The situation does not improve much when presentation is only graded by the instructor. Rationale A presenting student speaks to the class. He or she is supposed to be concerned enough with his or her public image to do an impressive job (Janis, 1982). The class listens to him or her. It is supposed to be polite or serious enough to give him or her a positive reaction. Why does the natural link between a presenter and his or her audience become so often weakened in the classroom setting? Obviously, there is a need to engage both speaking and listening students in the presentation process through a new evaluation or accountability system. In the spirit of active learning, if a speaking student is held accountable for his or her performance by the audience, he or she would make an effort in researching an issue and presenting his or her research in a clear, informative, and convincing way. If students in the audience are charged with the responsibility to evaluate each presentation, they would listen and respond to the speaker with attention, critical comments, and judgmental decisions. Most important, as students rotate between roles of presenter and evaluator, they will be able to take the instructor’s perspective. Specifically, they internalize class requirements and use class requirements to not only guide their judgment on presentation by other class participants, but also direct the preparation and delivery of their own presentation (Angelo, 1991; Morgan-Fleming, 2000; Speicher & Bielanski, 2000). Procedure First, in the syllabus, I provide clear statements about presentation requirements, what they present on, how long it lasts, how they evaluate and are evaluated, and how much it counts toward the total class score. Regarding evaluation standards, I generally say “your presentation will be evaluated by other class participants according to (a) the relevance of your presentation to the theme of the course; (b) the theoretical depth, empirical richness, and/or practical significance of your presentation; (c) the length of your presentation; and (d) the manner and style of your presentation.” I then attach an evaluation form for students to duplicate for use in each presentation meeting in the semester. In the form, they can give each presenter A, B, C, D, or F for his or her presentation in terms of content, organization, clarity, manner/style, and overall performance. Second, depending upon the level, schedule, and size of a class, I arrange two to five presentations in one class presentation meeting. Each presentation lasts from a minimum of ten minutes to a maximum of thirty minutes. Presentations by the whole class are evenly spread out through the semester. Third, during a presentation meeting, I introduce each speaker, direct questions from the audience to the speaker, and thank the speaker when he or she is finished. To avoid any interference from the instructor in the evaluation process, I refrain from making any comments on each presentation.