Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Phone: 302-857-6566
Email: ablake@desu.edu
I. Required text: A Speakers Guidebook by Dan OHair, Rob Stewart, and Hannah Rubenstein,
sixth edition
NOTE: All students MUST have a working Delaware State University email account.
Correspondences will only be sent through DSU email. Do not send emails to the professor from
another email account.
II Course Description
This course provides students training in the fundamentals of diction and effective oral presentation with a
focus on a variety of different types of speeches. Emphasis is placed upon preparation and delivery.
Techniques of interviewing will be explored. Prerequisite: English Composition 101 &102
Communication is a lifelong activity and process in a persons professional and personal life. This course
gives students practice and experience in different types of communication to gain confidence in their abilities
to speak; however, communication can be unproductive without effective listening skills. All communication
is based on information gathering, processing, transmitting, and decoding. Each activity will require
information from sources such as libraries, computer databases, printed materials, and interviews. The course
will also focus on receiving and decoding messages with respect for the diversity of the senders, their
messages, and their cultures.
IV Course Objectives
The following objectives are in alignment with the General Education Program
1. Students will learn that communication is a lifelong, ever changing process (GE-OCD, GE-R)
2. Students will present two special occasion speeches, one informative speech, one persuasive speech,
and one mock interview in their field of study (GE-OCP, GE-L, GE-OCD, GE-W)
3. Students will employ electronic data gathering in at least two speeches GE-CC, GE-W, GE- CT)
4. Students will analyze and evaluate the content and delivery of other speakers (GE-L, GE-CT)
5. Students will evaluate the appropriateness and credibility of their research materials GE-SE, GE-CT)
6. Students will learn to listen, respect, and analyze diverse points of views GE-L, GE-CT, GE-MC)
V Pedagogical Approaches: Course information will be conveyed to the student through instructor
chapter outlines/notes and forum discussions, videos, and Blackboards integrated systems, such as
Collaborate.
Learning Activities: The following activities have been chosen to achieve the above listed objectives:
1. Chapter Readings: All students will read and engage in chapter discussions using discussion
forum on Blackboard. Weekly chapter activities will be posted under course documents, and
students will also be required to listen to and watch video-taped speeches that they will critique.
3. Interview: All students will participate in a mock interview (in their field of study) using
4. Speeches: All students must submit four videotaped speeches of themselves though Blackboards
Collaborate. Students will also peer-critique their classmates speeches. Details of this will be
In accordance with the Center for Teaching and Learnings stipulations and the General
Education program, all assignments and activities must be aligned with the departments
SLOs. The following chart maps the learning activities to the SLOs:
VII Grading/Evaluation
A: 90-100%
B: 80-89%
C: 10-79%
D: 60-69%
F: Below 60
VIII. Decorum
In full accordance with DSUs Student Handbook, all students are expected to comply with Items 1 to 5 on
pages 3 and 4. Students who violate these codes of conduct, ethics, and behavior are dealt with according to
DSUs judicial policy.
IX Temporary Course Outline. This is aligned with chapter outlines and activities in course documents
1. Course Orientation
Exam