Fundamentals of Communication

About the Textbook

Stand Up, Speak Out - The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking

Description:  

This textbook provides a broad overview of the various concepts in public speaking, as well as chapter exercises and quiz questions that can be integrated into the pedagogy of the course. From audience analysis to giving a presentation, Stand Up, Speak Out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking will guide students through the speech-making process. We believe that it is important to focus on the practical process of speech making because we want this book to be a user-friendly guide to creating, researching, and presenting public speeches. While both classic and current academic research in public speaking will guide the book, we do not want to lose the focus of helping students become more seasoned and polished public speakers. We believe that a new textbook in public speaking should first, and foremost, be a practical book that helps students prepare and deliver a variety of different types of speeches.

Authors:

• The Saylor Foundation

Formats:  

The textbook is available to read online, as a PDF, or as a Word document.

Supplemental resources:

I use a variety of materials such as TED-Ed, TED Talks, instructor-created videos, many other materials gathered on the course blog.

Peer reviews:

The book has been reviewed by a faculty member from the CCC, one from the CSU and one faculty member from the UC within the California higher education systems. There are also two Accessibility Evaluations (ACC1 and ACC2).

Cost savings:  

For this specific course, a textbook normally costs about $130 dollars. I have about 55 students enrolled annually in this class resulting in an annual potential savings for students of $5,665.

Accessibility and diversity statement: 

I used Adobe Pro to create a fully accessible version of the PDF version of the textbook which is used in the class. A Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) and Braille-Ready-Format(BRF) formats are available from Bookshare.org.

The textbook provides some diversity in terms of examples/scenarios provided to students.

License:

Standup and Speakout: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This means you are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and remix, transform, and build upon the material.  If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

About the Course

COMM 100: Fundamentals of Communication

Description:  Introductory course. Develop oral communication abilities for functioning effectively in various settings. Fundamental communication theory. (GE)

Prerequisites: none

GE credit: 3.0 units - Area A Oral Communication

Learning outcomes:

• understand and apply the concepts of speech making and effective communication;
• develop effective skills in public speaking;
• increase comfort levels in speaking publicly to others;
• critically analyze oral communication in various contexts; and
• develop effective skills in critical thinking both as a listener and as a speaker.

All students must complete this course to graduate from the California State University. Students are typically freshman and sophomores coming in with a wide variety of skills and knowledge.

Curricular changes:

As a result of the open textbook adoption, the course has been more formally moved to a blended format. Students complete reading quizzes and some assignments prior to coming to class as a way for the instructor to evaluate where the learning should begin in the respective face-to-face session. This may include activities such as discussions, watching videos of their own speeches and submitting self-evaluations, and completing two separate online learning modules.  The most significant change is the addition of a class blog, which hosts instructor-authored instructional materials to supplement the textbook. Plans for the future are to increase the blog content and move away from some of the chapters in the textbook that do not meet the topical outcomes.

Teaching and learning impacts:

Collaborate more with others: Yes
Use wider range of materials: Yes
Student learning improved: Yes
Student retention improved: Unsure
Any unexpected results: Yes

The ALS cohort provided community with other faculty who were also working to increase open resources for their students. The sharing of experiences helped provide new and different ideas that I could implement.

Once I began reviewing the textbook, I realized that there were many components that I could either simplify, extend, or re-create in my own methods to be more connective to students' learning. This motivated me to create more of my own materials.

Generally, the text is used for online quizzes to build foundational knowledge in order to be able to apply and practice skills. The open resource nature of the new text has reduced barriers that previous students encountered in regards to not purchasing the textbook for one reason or another.  Students also come to class more prepared. 

The anecdotal feedback from students showed appreciation for faculty who deliberately look for ways to reduce costs for students.

Students find the textbook easy to access online and often 'cheer' vocally upon finding that it is free.

Sample assignment and syllabus: 

Assignment
This is one of the assignments I used for the class.

Syllabus
This is the syllabus I used for the 2015 Fall class.

Textbook Adoption

OER Adoption Process

One of the main motivations to use an open textbook was to reduce the cost of education for students. I have been involved in open educational opportunities for several years and believe wholeheartedly in making education available to everyone.  Having the flexibility of remixing this particular open textbook makes it much easier to integrate it into the learning.

An open course blog is also used to host instructional readings, videos, and audio. 

Student access:  

The open textbook is in PDF format in the course and has an option to view within the browser or download.  A PDF of the open textbook is provided to our campus bookstore so if students do want a printed version, the Bookstore can provide this service for about $20.

Student feedback or participation:

Students let out a loud cheer on the first day of class when I announced that the textbook was provided at no cost.  Throughout the course, I request incremental student feedback on a variety of topics; one of these focused on the course resources. Students were overwhelmingly in favor of the open text resource. A more formalized campus student survey was conducted and these results will be published soon. 

Kimberly Vincent-Layton, M.B.A.

I am a Communications Lecturer at Humboldt State University. I teach COMM 100, Fundamentals of Communication. I have also had the opportunity to teach courses in the Education Department.

Teaching is a cyclical process; I teach to learn and learn to continue teaching. My teaching philosophy foundation is based on building community in the classroom where we all respect one another in our learning journey. The love that I have for teaching is reflected in my passion to make a difference, give back, connect with others, and share knowledge. My teaching subjects focus on technology to enhance learning, communication, and writing, which all support the same objective: students will become and continue to be lifelong learners that contribute to solving real-world problems. This means developing critical thinking skills that support further growth and discovery; ultimately to think like a business person, or a technologist, or a writer! I focus on creating outcomes that are not only measurable and attainable, but also real-life applicable.  

In my public speaking classes, we build community from day one, that is woven into active learning opportunities throughout the semester. Students walk in with a great fear of public speaking, and walk away with what they refer to as a "life changing experience" that includes confidence, knowledge, and a big group of friends.  I strive to bring enthusiasm, value and passion to my students’ learning so that they walk away feeling different than when they arrived. My goal is to equip them with more useful tools and perspectives for future experiences not only in the career world, but in any connections they make. Each time I engage in a teaching opportunity, I not only learn more about others, but also about myself: the cycle. 

My pedagogical methods of teaching include a variety of active learning strategies to build connection and engage students at different levels. My intent is to create a learning environment that supports various learning styles, abilities and preferences.  I believe that when students find value and motivation, they are actively participating in the processes that allow deeper learning. Specific methods include, but are not limited to, collaborative learning, discussions, case studies, debates, peer instruction, and the use of technology in and outside the classroom to enhance their experiences. 

Each student is accountable for his own learning while collaborating with each other is a large component of how we interact in the real world.  I incorporate various instructional technologies to support the fast growing changes in the 21st-century learning environment, with the intention of connecting and supporting millennials.  In my technology classes, I have found that the hands-on component is very critical to learning and applying concepts.  Guiding my students with a variety of opportunities and questions supports an environment in which students and instructor are a building together. 

My research focus has been in faculty development, online and blended learning, mobile learning, and instructional systems and technology.