Whose Tube is it, anyway? Using a web site/blog for student oral presentations

Using class time for student oral presentations always presents challenges, not the least of which is managing the loss of valuable classroom minutes that might be used for other purposes instead of being devoted to a series of student talks. Does the web offer an option for having students prepare and deliver presentations that are then viewed online by the rest of the class? This general question prompted me to experiment with two classes, and to have the students do one online oral presentation in each class. One class was taught in the spring 2008 semester, and the other in fall 2008. This talk will offer a summary of what I learned through these two case studies. Some of the main points to be explored are: (1) What are the time and technological investments of this approach for the instructor and students? (2) Does a blog offer a useful device for encouraging students to comment on each another’s presentations? (3) Were the online presentations a meaningful part of the course, or did they become mere cyberspace noise? (4) Do students gain any unique benefit from having to speak online as opposed to speaking in the physical classroom to a live audience? (5) What sort of coaching do students need in order to understand how to speak effectively in an online context?