The Next Phase of Public Speaking and Classroom Speeches: How Innovations in Public Speaking Preparation Influence Perceptions of Efficacy and Student Satisfaction

Workshop Presentation
Dena Horne,  Caroline Waldbuesser,  Frances E Brandau  

It is an ongoing struggle for instructors to assist students in striking the careful balance between an enjoyable and a successful speaking experience. All too often students choose a topic they know too little about and have too little in-class practice time before speeches are presented for grades. This lack of practice time and poor topic choice creates additional stress and often leads to speech presentation failure. Unfortunately, these failures often increase a student’s dislike of public speaking and decrease their self-efficacy perception. To combat these failures, instructors at Sam Houston State University are engaging in virtual reality research to allow for increased practice time in a low stakes environment. Additionally, a unique and interesting topic list for students has been devised to eliminate topic choice stress. These innovations to the classical approach have already resulted in increased perceptions of student self-efficacy and satisfaction in public speaking.