Take Space to Make Space: Moving Classroom Presentations Online

Presenter Information

Brendan SpinelliFollow

Streaming Media

Submission Type

20-minute Presentation

Abstract

While classroom presentations have been a staple in the liberal arts and beyond, new opportunities presented by various technologies both offer solutions to challenges that the in-class presentation entails and create advantages that enhance the presenter and audience learning experience. Recognizing demands due to increased classroom sizes, a focus on objective-based teaching, and a significant quantity of course content cover, dedicating class-time to presentations requires some degree of sacrifice. This talk explores how the use of screencasting tools coupled with discussion-based resources create a space ideal for quality interactions between presenters and their audience that ultimately support the course objectives.

Start Date

5-23-2019 9:00 AM

End Date

5-23-2019 10:15 AM

Description

While classroom presentations have been a staple in the liberal arts and beyond, new opportunities presented by emerging and established technologies not only offer solutions to challenges that the in-class presentation entails, but also create unique advantages that enhance the presenter and audience learning experience. Recognizing the myriad of demands due to increased classroom sizes, a focus on objective-based teaching, and a significant quantity of course content cover, dedicating enough class-time to individual student presentations requires some degree of sacrifice. This talk will explore how the use of screencasting tools coupled with discussion-based resources such as forums, VoiceThread etc. create a space ideal for quality interactions between presenters and their audience that ultimately support the course objectives.

Although different from traditional presentations, this approach can enhance the experience and outcomes for everyone involved. A face-to-face presentation, although often rehearsed, does not typically allow for the presenter to see and hear their finished product. The digital method requires students to review their presentations, guiding them to self-evaluate and pay greater attention to their presentational delivery such as time, tempo and coherence. With their attention drawn to these features, online presentations promote student professional presentational skills in a time when remote communication and virtual interactions are becoming increasingly more common.

The virtual platform also optimizes the active engagement of those viewing the presentations. Through commenting, observing, responding and posing questions, students enter a class dialogue about each presentation, ensuring exposure to diverse perspectives from other classmates. While this can be done in the classroom, limits of time and even attention span limit how students interact with the presentations of their peers. Through this approach, audience members truly hone their inquiry techniques as opposed to raising their hands and asking questions pro forma. Additionally, online presentations strengthen close listening, in which the audience members can refer to specific points discussed by the presenter at specific times in a recording. Furthermore, its visual and auditory benefits increase its accessibility to varying learning styles.

Globally, online presentations support learner growth while also returning class space and time to additional activities that align with course objectives ranging from content review to the development of information literacy. Under this new paradigm, course components no longer compete with each other, but finally can complement each other.