Public speaking creates discomfort for many students. Instead of seeking to avoid this inevitable discomfort, six speech-variation activities explained in this paper are intentionally designed for, a little bit at a time, embracing momentary discomfort in public speaking. By embracing the inevitable discomfort of public speaking head-on in a fun…

This research scrutinises the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) participants' experiences, with a focus on the incorporation of visual rhetoric in the presentations. The study employed a mixed method with an explanatory sequential design. The participants were seventeen students ranging from bachelor to doctoral programs joining the Training-of-Trainer…

Traditional academic communication practices tend to be jargon-heavy jargon and lack public relatability. Thus, it is paramount that scientists learn to develop effective communication skills. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is one avenue to refine and build science communications skills. Using one static slide as a visual supplement,…

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for instructors who wish to develop a course associated with student participation in the College Fed Challenge (CFC), an academic competition designed to test students' knowledge of current economic events and monetary policy. We eschew a lecture-only methodology and use small-group and…

Trying to learn the names of students is a challenging semester ritual for many professors and graduate students. In support of this endeavor, research suggests that learning students' names promotes greater student participation and engagement (Auster and MacRone 1994; Pearson and Lucas 2011). However, both research and practical pedagogical…

College students who enroll in a public speaking course are able to define speech making concepts in formal assessments, but become challenged to effectively transition speech making conceptual learning into practice. Research has shown that creating a professional vision affords a practical guideline, a refinement of practice, and allows for…

Three online courses at the authors' institution have successfully used an extensive guest lecturer format (N = 22-30) for almost 10 years. The course design facilitates networking within the relatively small but diverse and global field of aquatic animal health. In this study of students' learning experiences, students perceived the courses as…

Oral presentation assessments are commonly used in higher education. This paper conducts an exploratory study and investigates student perceptions of oral presentation assessments on two aspects, the benefits of oral presentations for presenting students and the engagement of non-presenting students during presentations. A mixed method with both…

This paper offers a systematic review that follows the PRISMA protocol; its aim is to offer a compendium of intervention programs and strategies that have been developed in the university context for promoting oral competencies and public speaking skills. After a blind pair selection process, 23 studies were included, analyzed in depth, and their…

This paper introduces generative AI for the graphic design of student presentation aids in a university public-speaking classroom. Students learn to use generative AI as an efficient enhancement to the creative process while preserving the integrity of the content. Students' slide presentations show improvement resulting from the activity, and…

This article investigates the usage of an AI bot app called RNMKRS PitchPerfector to teach the sales skills necessary to deliver a successful elevator pitch. In particular, we wanted to know if the use of this app could increase student self-efficacy toward this critical selling skill. To analyze if RNMKRS had a real impact on students' elevator…

This article explores the nature of the construct underlying classroom-based English for academic purpose (EAP) oral presentation assessments, which are used, in part, to determine admission to programmes of study at UK universities. Through analysis of qualitative data (from questionnaires, interviews, rating discussions, and fieldnotes), the…

The ability to communicate effectively is a crucial aspect of education. For college students, learning how to speak in public is essential for their academic and professional future. However, many students report fear of speaking in public, the so-called Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA). This study aims to implement a training program using Virtual…

This article communicates a methodology for and benefits of including online student presentations in an on-campus research symposium named Scholar Day at A (SDA). The authors provide an account of how SDA was structured to allow participation of online students; and how, during an aggressive outbreak of COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020, the event…

Recent literature supports using an awareness training treatment package to decrease speech disfluencies for college students delivering short speeches. This package includes identifying speech disfluencies first via a video recording (video training), then during in vivo speech practice (in vivo training). However, the literature lacks an…