Public Speaking Students Create ePortfolios
Faculty Directions, Spring 2003
by Barbara WeaverEducational Technology Services
Editor's Note: Fall 2002, all freshmen and sophomores in the College of Engineering and Science and all freshmen and first-year MBA students in the College of Business and Behavioral Science arrived on campus with laptop computers as required by the new laptop mandates. Fall 2003, the mandate will expand to include all freshmen in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities and the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Science. The College of Health, Education and Human Development will also implement a laptop mandate soon.Many faculty members are experimenting with pedagogy that integrates the laptops to enhance their teaching and their students' learning.
Having used e-portfolios with students since 1997, I thought the assignment would be standard in any course I taught, until I began teaching public speaking in fall 2000. We used laptops in class for a variety of tasks such as sharing files, submitting and grading written assignments, taking and grading tests, and researching topics for speeches. Students effectively used multimedia for projects with Habitat for Humanity and the SC Botanical Garden sculpture program. But I could not figure out how to incorporate e-portfolios until fall 2002.
We began our experimentation with their last two speeches. CLE staff members David Sharpe and Matt Garvin and electrical engineering graduate student Jitesh Shah, who works part-time for the Laptop Faculty Training Program, helped us. By digitally recording their speeches, we were able to use QuickTime to make movie files of their speeches. The students then created Web-based portfolios that included their self-critiques, movie files, and slides they used when delivering their speeches. Students helped me evaluate the success of the assignment. In general, they see the assignment as beneficial, but they need easy access to a CD-RW, which most of their laptops do not have, or the ability to put their portfolios on a streaming server. Their comments will guide my continuing experimentation with my students this semester.