PUBLIC SPEAKING

 

COM 110: Syllabus Sample

COM 110 is an introductory foundational course for public speaking skills and portions of the Communication curriculum at NC State University. 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Critically engage with issues in the public forum as both a speaker and audience member.

• Understand and apply the concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos in creating, delivering, and analyzing messages.

• Create and deliver ethical informative and persuasive messages using rigorous research, a variety of reasoning techniques, and language in order to develop a competent personal speaking style.

• Cultivate a competent personal speaking style using a variety of presentational speaking performance techniques.

• Demonstrate competent critical thinking and listening skills through the writing of self-evaluations, peer evaluation, and speaker evaluations.

• Tailor appropriate, respectful and suitable messages demonstrating ethical persuasive choices to (a) diverse audience(s).

 

Although the COM 110 syllabus is standard across classes, I creatively modified the syllabus of this public speaking course to better serve one of my classes that was comprised of moslty newly arrived Chinese students enrolled in the Computer Engineering program. To make the class more relevant to their needs, I arranged for a series of speakers that addressed specific skills. The topics included how to use the library's online search engines, how to pronunce and ennuciate correctly for a more effective speech delivery, and how to losen up on speech day by employing theatrical improvisation skills.