Oral Communication Proficiency Pilot Project
Description and Request of Instructors
As part of WASC accreditation, SJSU must evaluate students’ graduation proficiency in 5 areas:
oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, information literacy and
quantitative literacy. We do not yet assess Oral Communication in a systematic way, and so this
pilot project is designed to assess how our graduating seniors have advanced their oral
communication abilities beyond the basic skills learned in lower division courses.
For this pilot project, we aim to recruit 100 students from senior seminars or capstone courses.
General Request
We are asking you to recruit and encourage students to record a presentation they are giving for
your class. This recording will be separate from their classroom presentation. Students will then
upload the video to a secure website. These videos will be unaffiliated with student names/ID.
Their videos will be viewed by outside evaluators who will score the video presentations. Their
evaluations will be part of an assessment of SJSU students’ proficiency in oral communication.

Assigned presentations can be at any point of the semester.

Presentations should be 5-10 minutes; students may record part of a presentation to fit
within this time limit.
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Students may present their individual portions of group presentations for this project.

Students will record speeches outside of class: this presentation is in addition to, and
separate from, their in-class presentation.

Many students will be able to use their personal computers to record and upload their
presentations. Campus support is available for students who want support recording their
speeches (see below).

This should be a simple request of students and take about an hour of their time.
Instructor role/responsibilities
1) Recruit students by announcing in class, posting on course website, etc. (invitation to students
provided). Encourage students by direct appeal, extra credit, incorporating into assignment.
2) Remind students to record and upload their speeches.
3) Refer questions to Anne Marie.
All instructors will receive the public speaking guide and rubric that will be used to evaluate the
speech as well as recognition for their participation in the WASC process. Interested instructors
will be able to view the videos.
Student role/responsibilities
1) Familiarize themselves with the project (read provided booklet that includes technical
instructions, public speaking tips).
2) Record themselves giving a presentation. This is in addition to, and separate from, their
in-class presentation. This should be a polished version of the speech, but the project is
envisioned as a practice speech, ideally given before class (but afterwards works too).
3) Upload their speeches to Speech Studio website.
Student benefits

All participating students will receive a booklet that includes a guide to public speaking
with advice on outlining and organization and tips for delivery.

Students will gain experience in recording and uploading speeches, a skill transferrable to
other courses and the workplace.

By agreeing to record their speech, students have an added incentive to practice their
speeches at least once before giving it in class. Practice generally improves in-class
performance.
Technical and instructional support will provided throughout the project

Anne Marie Todd, project lead, will answer student and instructor questions, meeting
with students or instructors as necessary: annemarie.todd@sjsu.edu

Technical support for the website will be supplied by Cengage, publisher of the public
speaking guide and developer of Speech Studio.

The Communication Center (Hugh Gillis Hall 229, http://commcenter.sjsu.edu/) is
available to support students’ recording of presentations. Students will be able to make an
appointment with a trained student coach who will help them record and upload their
speech. The COMM Center is open 10:30-4:30, Monday –Thursday until December 6.