Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting

Grant:
Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching
Academic Year:
2018 - 2019 (June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019)
Funding Requested:
$6,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
barrypj
Overview of the Project:
One of the most important skills professionals of all kinds need to develop is also, unfortunately, one of the most undertaught: the ability to speak clearly and compellingly.

Good with Words is designed to address that problem by turning what was a very successful pilot course on public speaking into an innovative suite of digital, print, and in-person resources.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

 

  • Turn a successful pilot course on public speaking into an innovative suite of digital, print, and in-person resources
  • Create interdisciplinary spaces where students from across the university can practice and get feedback on effective ways to present material to a wide variety of audiences
Project Achievements:

 

  • We created a interdisciplinary workshop series that won the Provost’s Innovation in Teaching Prize
  • We published a book called Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting that collects the concepts and exercises from the pilot course and workshop
  • We created a 4-part MOOC for Coursera and Michigan Online 
Continuation:
Yes. We continue to put on “Good with Words” workshops, and we also regularly add content to the MOOC.
Dissemination:
The book version of Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting will be published in the summer of 2021, which is also when the MOOC will launch. These are the two principal channels through which the project’s activities will be disseminated. A third channel involves individually scheduled workshops.

Advice to your Colleagues:
Students seemed to really appreciate the 30-minute “pop-up” workshops. Too often I think we default to 60 minutes as the optimal meeting or learning slot. But keeping the sessions short helped everyone stay focused and engaged. It also forced the faculty members to prioritize the most relevant material.

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