This will be the only webpage for the week, and it’ll cover your Final Presentations.
Plan for the Day
- Discuss Oral Presentations
- Saras’s Presentation
- Maybe Another…
- Final Exam Stuff
I always try to give students the opportunity to do some kind of public speaking in every class I teach. The pandemic lockdown and post-lockdown facial coverings affected this assignment, so you’re the first class since Spring 2019 to do in-class presentations. Although this isn’t a public speaking class, presenting information to an audience orally is germane to the spirit of the field of technical/professional communication. Most of you will have to do some kind of public presenting in the future, so it’s a good idea to get all the practice you can. You’re welcome.
You can send me your PowerPoint or links to videos before class. We will not have time for everyone to log off, log on, download, present, log off, etc. If you can put your stuff on a flash drive, get here early to transfer files to the main computer.
Visuals
Your oral presentations must have appropriate, effective visuals. We’ve already discussed that appropriate visuals, such as tables, charts, graphs, pictures, etc., enhance the message you’re communicating. Incorporate a few visuals into your presentation. Your visuals and their incorporation will be ranked on the following criteria:
- Visuals Exist–do you have a visual component to your presentation
- Relevance–do the visuals match your research topic
- Enhancement–did the visuals add to the presentation or were they simply outlines you read
- Aesthetics–did you incorporate a decent visual or one of poor quality
- Citation(s)–did you properly cite your visuals if you “borrowed” them from other sources
Remember, the visuals and this oral presentation are your way of showing that you highlighted appropriate areas of your topic to give me a glimpse at what you researched. You can’t possibly show us everything in 4-5 min–be selective. Video clips count as visuals.
Oral Presentations
Although your presentations for this class aren’t the exact format you can expect throughout your careers, it’s important to practice public speaking whenever you can. Let’s discuss some questions about presentations from Elizabeth Tebeaux and Sam Dragga’s The Essentials of Technical Communication (Ch. 11) for more information:
- What are some common presentation pitfalls?
- Why is understanding your purpose so important?
- What are some questions you should ask about your audience?
- What type of delivery method will work best for you or you and your group—memorized, reading (scripted), notes, or impromptu?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages of the above delivery methods?
- What’s important to keep in mind about visuals (which you must use?
- How should you manage your presentation style?
Finally, what should you include in your presentations? Obviously, you can’t discuss every detail of your project, and some parts of a project lend themselves better to oral presentations than others, depending on the following:
- Background information
- Your interest in the project
- What your project explains
Please have an overview. Spend 15-20 secs telling the audience what you’re going to discuss in your presentation. Introduce the topic and give a roadmap of what you’ll be covering.
Presentation Issues
I will score your 4-5 minute presentation on a scale of 1 to 10 for the five categories below (50 pts total):
- Appearance of preparation
- Eye contact
- Voice Projection
- Relevance
- Time—don’t go over five minutes and don’t go under four minutes (practice so you get it just right)
Remember, you can’t possibly convey your entire project in the time you have. Therefore, you must choose your points wisely. You’ll actually be amazed at how quickly time goes. Before we get to our first presentation, let’s analyze a short presentation…
Final Exam Fun
I have almost finalized the Final Exam. It will be a closed book, closed note, closed partner, closed internet (except, of course, for logging onto Canvas to take it). You can do this in 45 minutes, but you have the entire final exam period of 2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) to complete the exam. Although this number may change after I revise a bit, you’ll have 66 questions worth the following:
- 42 Questions @ 3pts
- 20 Questions @ 2pts
- 4 Questions @ 1pt
Some questions might be partially answered by a response choice, but you need to consider the entire question and choose the BEST response based on class readings, discussions, and resources (e.g., the class web page).
How about a couple more example Final Exam questions:
Example Question #1: Although no one can predict the future with absolute certainty, in our class discussions on current hi-tech products/services (self-driving cars, VR headsets, and space tourism), we noticed that many predictions assume that certain technologies will ______________________________.
a) inevitably be created
b) might be 50+ years away, but the will get here
c) continue the linear path of progress
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
Example Questions #2: According to Hugo Neri’s The Risk Perception of Artificial Intelligence., lay audiences (non-technical groups) assess risk based on ______________________________, often formulating assumptions after a hazardous event.
a) careful deliberation of the facts
b) long-standing scientific assumptions
c) perception
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
Example Questions #3: According to Dr. Toscano’s astute observations, he argues that the rhetoric of the inevitable progress of technology conditions many people to assume ______________________________.
a) far-fetched technologies will eventually be a reality
b) one day scientists and engineers will solve contemporary problems
c) super artificial intelligence is inevitable
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
Evaluations
Unlike many English professors, I don’t do the paper-based evaluations because it’s 2024, and we have online tools for that. Please fill out the evaluations online based on your section:
ENGL 4275 (001)
https://charlotte.campuslabs.com/eval-home/direct/5231405
WRDS 4011 (001)
https://charlotte.campuslabs.com/eval-home/direct/5731405
Next Class
Again, we won’t have a new webpage for Thursday. You’ll just come in and do your presentations in rapid succession. I’ll open your Final Exam up on May 1st, and you’ll have until May 5th (at 11:00 pm) to finish it. I think that’s plenty of time to work out any conflicts, so set that reminder now.