Hi all,
As always, I'm on the hunt for some feedback! I'm interested to know your thoughts on the Word of Mouth programme that we listened to today for our first listening assessment (of two).
Maybe you agree with some of the points raised by the experts, perhaps you feel PowerPoint is an unhelpful aid to speaking, do you think PP has (had) a damaging effect on the art of public speaking?
Interestingly, it could certainly be argued that many of the great orators and keynote presentations over the last hundred years or so were delivered without any visual aids of any description. That said, when you log in to the TED website, often some of the more illuminating talks tend to use a variety of visuals (but not always).
When I first learned the art of oral presentation delivery at University some twenty (plus) years ago, visuals to anchor the spoken word generally came in the form of OHPs / acetates. I remember in my final year at University giving a wrap up presentation on my dissertation 'Music as Communication' and I was making reference to two high profile theorists - Wolfgang Iser and Stanley Fish. To my horror, I realised that I had spelled the latter as 'Fisher' and despite me having prepared the talk some weeks before and looked at my slides scores of times, I just hadn't noticed the error! Fortunately I had time to get to a design shop in Morningside to rework the slide and delivered the talk as I had intended. But I never forgot the importance of that lesson.
One thing is for sure in this WOM Programme, that there are a lot of interesting arguments offered by a variety of different analysts and could provide the basis for some further discussion.
So, over to you, the floor (cyberwise) is yours...
Monday, 30 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Added extra should you have a spare 30 minutes
In line with TED and 'Word of Mouth' that we have been looking at, here is an interesting link to the show from Friday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019fx9q#synopsis
Michael Rosen explores the new wave of public-speaking events including Ignite and TED, and asks if the culture of 'Show & Tell' in American classrooms produces better public speakers.
He visits the American Museum in Britain and speaks to their Head of Learning, Laura Brown about what's influenced the nation's approach to public speaking, and how a sense of optimism drives their passion to share ideas.
He also speaks to Chris Anderson about how he attracted such big names to speak at the TED events, and how it's grown into a global community of public speaking. Plus there's an interview with Amanda Timberg from TeachFirst about the way 'Show and Tell', 'Hot Seat' and TED talks all feed into their working practises.
Ignite has been described as a "gig for speakers" and event organiser Andy Kervell describes the challenges of both putting together a five minute talk backed by twenty slides, and then delivering it to a rowdy and excitable crowd. Some of the speakers including Sky at Night presenter Dr. Chris Lintott explain why they enjoy taking part in these events.
This isn't part of our assessment programme (formative or summative) but is definitely worth a look (or should I say LISTEN!)
Cheers!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019fx9q#synopsis
Michael Rosen explores the new wave of public-speaking events including Ignite and TED, and asks if the culture of 'Show & Tell' in American classrooms produces better public speakers.
He visits the American Museum in Britain and speaks to their Head of Learning, Laura Brown about what's influenced the nation's approach to public speaking, and how a sense of optimism drives their passion to share ideas.
He also speaks to Chris Anderson about how he attracted such big names to speak at the TED events, and how it's grown into a global community of public speaking. Plus there's an interview with Amanda Timberg from TeachFirst about the way 'Show and Tell', 'Hot Seat' and TED talks all feed into their working practises.
Ignite has been described as a "gig for speakers" and event organiser Andy Kervell describes the challenges of both putting together a five minute talk backed by twenty slides, and then delivering it to a rowdy and excitable crowd. Some of the speakers including Sky at Night presenter Dr. Chris Lintott explain why they enjoy taking part in these events.
This isn't part of our assessment programme (formative or summative) but is definitely worth a look (or should I say LISTEN!)
Cheers!
Monday, 23 January 2012
Thinking about listening
Today we moved away from presentations and started to look at another aspect of communication: listening.
Although we are looking at something different, the same features of communication analysis arise. We've talked a lot about structure, purpose, audience, point-of-view in relation to presentations (and in my blog PP information, essays). Then, you were the producers of communication "texts". Now, you are not producing texts - you are "receiving" information. In this case you are receiving information aurally (ie. via your ears) in the form of radio and television programmes.
We are now interested in how other people structure a piece of communication. We're interested in working out their purpose, intended audience and point of view. When we analyse these aspects we are in a position to judge the quality of the piece.
And hopefully we learn from what is good (and not so good) about the way they've put the piece together. We should be able to apply the principles that make a good piece of oral communication (like a presentation or programme) to a piece of written communication (like an essay or report).
Students in university and college spend a lot of time listening (or should). It is one of the main, and most traditional, ways of communicating information and ideas to students. That's not to say that it's always a good way to learn. One lecturer transmitting information to a lecture theatre of 150 students may be cost-effective for a university, but does it make sense educationally? Maybe pod-casts are the way ahead?
The point is that students will do a lot of listening and we need to spend a bit of time practising that skill.
So we have now listened to the documentary on BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth series on "borrowing" in language.
Any thoughts you have on the programme or the issue of listening always welcomed by way of feedback on the blog!
All the best,
Mark
Although we are looking at something different, the same features of communication analysis arise. We've talked a lot about structure, purpose, audience, point-of-view in relation to presentations (and in my blog PP information, essays). Then, you were the producers of communication "texts". Now, you are not producing texts - you are "receiving" information. In this case you are receiving information aurally (ie. via your ears) in the form of radio and television programmes.
We are now interested in how other people structure a piece of communication. We're interested in working out their purpose, intended audience and point of view. When we analyse these aspects we are in a position to judge the quality of the piece.
And hopefully we learn from what is good (and not so good) about the way they've put the piece together. We should be able to apply the principles that make a good piece of oral communication (like a presentation or programme) to a piece of written communication (like an essay or report).
Students in university and college spend a lot of time listening (or should). It is one of the main, and most traditional, ways of communicating information and ideas to students. That's not to say that it's always a good way to learn. One lecturer transmitting information to a lecture theatre of 150 students may be cost-effective for a university, but does it make sense educationally? Maybe pod-casts are the way ahead?
The point is that students will do a lot of listening and we need to spend a bit of time practising that skill.
So we have now listened to the documentary on BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth series on "borrowing" in language.
Any thoughts you have on the programme or the issue of listening always welcomed by way of feedback on the blog!
All the best,
Mark
Word of Mouth programme (Monday 23rd January)
Hi all,
I hope you enjoyed the Word of Mouth radio programme we listened to this morning. I really liked the observations and discussion that ensued afterwards. I think we learned a new word today - 'Ponglais' or was it 'Ponglish'?! Anyway, for those members of the class who were unable to make the session, we listened to a Radio 4 transmission on the process of "borrowing" in English and other languages and heard from a variety of different sources.
For those students who weren't in class today you can listen to in the college using Click View (which should be on the desktops of all the PCs) and use the search bar typing in 'word of mouth'. You are looking for episode 3.
On Wednesday we will work in small groups and work through the questions for this unassessed exercise. Remember, we will be looking at four distinct points:
1. Main ideas (summarising main points).
2. Purpose and audience (why was it put together and who is the broadcast aimed at?)
3. Point of view (objective or subjective views?)
4. Evaluation (how effective?)
All the best,
Mark
I hope you enjoyed the Word of Mouth radio programme we listened to this morning. I really liked the observations and discussion that ensued afterwards. I think we learned a new word today - 'Ponglais' or was it 'Ponglish'?! Anyway, for those members of the class who were unable to make the session, we listened to a Radio 4 transmission on the process of "borrowing" in English and other languages and heard from a variety of different sources.
For those students who weren't in class today you can listen to in the college using Click View (which should be on the desktops of all the PCs) and use the search bar typing in 'word of mouth'. You are looking for episode 3.
On Wednesday we will work in small groups and work through the questions for this unassessed exercise. Remember, we will be looking at four distinct points:
1. Main ideas (summarising main points).
2. Purpose and audience (why was it put together and who is the broadcast aimed at?)
3. Point of view (objective or subjective views?)
4. Evaluation (how effective?)
All the best,
Mark
Friday, 20 January 2012
Rough schedule of work until the end of term
OK, so we still have quite a few assessments to do, but here is a rough plan of how we might roll out the Comm 4 and Oral Presentation Skills Units. Remember, I am planning for 5 months or so here, so will do my best to keep to it, no mean feat with two Units to work to.
As a reminder there are 13 assessments you do for me. For Comm 4 (2x reading, 2x listening, 2x talking and 2x writing) and for Oral Presentation Skills (2x presentation analysis, 1x presentation plan, 2x presentations to deliver).
Some of you have already completed 4 assessments - Comm 4 reading (digital books), OPS speaking (how to do), OPS plan (how to do) and OPS analysis 1 (Jamie Oliver). In the next couple of weeks you will also have completed (for Comm 4) 1 writing outcome (an essay you did for Evan) and 1 listening outcome (a Radio 4 Word of Mouth transmission). Phew...so, lets see if we can follow the plan below!
23rd Jan - listen to and discuss Word of Mouth radio transmission on "language borrowing" (unassessed).
25th Jan - work in groups, discuss the programme, answer some questions. I will give sample answers at the end of this class.
30th Jan - listen to Word of Mouth radio transmission on "presentations, PowerPoint use etc" (assessed).
1st, 6th and 8th Feb - work on listening assessment for Comm 4 and hand in any history essay of your choosing that has passed for Evan - this will be credited as a pass for one of the writing outcomes for Comm 4.
13th Feb - no class.
20th Feb - remediation session (if necessary).
22nd Feb - watching film one (of two).
27th Feb - discuss film that was watched on the 22nd and look at how to write a film review.
29th Feb - watch film two (of two).
5th and 7th March - write up review for one of the films we watched in class.
12th and 14th March - assemble into groups for group discussions. Research on topics.
19th and 21st March - discussion assessment.
26th March - give out brief for oral presentation (this will double up for Comm 4 and OPS outcomes - one presentation, two passes!)
28th March - prep for presentation.
2nd - 13th April - EASTER VACATION
16th April - final touches to assessed presentation.
18th, 23rd, 25th and 30th April - assessed presentation delivery.
2nd May - remediation as necessary.
7th May - HOLIDAY!
9th May - at this stage we will have three assessments to complete - one listening, one reading and one analysis of an oral presentation. I suggest that we negotiate what is best re assessments at this stage. The last day of classes will be WEDNESDAY 13TH JUNE 2012.
I hope this will work out well for us. I am satisfied that it will be.
We can move things around if we feel we need to, but this is the proposal anyway!
Cheers, Mark
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
New room for Monday at 9am
Dear all,
We will be in room 409 (the Digital self access room) on Mondays at 9 which means we will have PC access when we need it.
Thanks to Carlos and Jordi who helped make that happen for us.
See you Monday then where we will be listening to a Radio 4 Programme on Language.
Mark
We will be in room 409 (the Digital self access room) on Mondays at 9 which means we will have PC access when we need it.
Thanks to Carlos and Jordi who helped make that happen for us.
See you Monday then where we will be listening to a Radio 4 Programme on Language.
Mark
Deadline for Jamie Oliver assessment
Dear all,
The deadline to hand in (or e mail me) your answers to the Jamie Oliver evaluation is WEDNESDAY 25TH JANUARY.
On Monday (23rd January) we will listen to a Radio 4 Programme on Language and have a short discussion afterwards.
All the best,
Mark
The deadline to hand in (or e mail me) your answers to the Jamie Oliver evaluation is WEDNESDAY 25TH JANUARY.
On Monday (23rd January) we will listen to a Radio 4 Programme on Language and have a short discussion afterwards.
All the best,
Mark
Monday, 16 January 2012
Jamie Oliver presentation - OPS assessment
Hi all,
Jamie Oliver's presentation is below for you to access. You can also view it on the TED website. You all have the transcript now and there are plenty of websites where you can find background information on his work.
I enjoyed listening to your thoughts after the talk and you raised some excellent points. Remember, points are valid when backed up by solid evidence, whether it be in terms of discourse, delivery, visual anchoring, signposting, tone etc and there are plenty of ways to evaluate Mr. Oliver's talk.
See you all tomorrow, Mark
Jamie Oliver's presentation is below for you to access. You can also view it on the TED website. You all have the transcript now and there are plenty of websites where you can find background information on his work.
I enjoyed listening to your thoughts after the talk and you raised some excellent points. Remember, points are valid when backed up by solid evidence, whether it be in terms of discourse, delivery, visual anchoring, signposting, tone etc and there are plenty of ways to evaluate Mr. Oliver's talk.
See you all tomorrow, Mark
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
School kills creativity - Ken Robinson
Thanks to Steven who commented on this. This was the talk I made reference to in Monday's class.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Happy 2012 and making a case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity
Dear all,
Happy Ne'er and it was lovely to see you all this morning. Hopefully the 9am start on the first day back wasn't a hardship as we watched and discussed Sir Ken Robinson's presentation where he made an entertaining case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
I was interested to hear your thoughts on education, creativity, the working examples that Robinson uses and the style of delivery.
Tomorrow we will look at answering some questions (either individually or in groups) to analyse the talk. This will set us up nicely for the next assessment we'll be doing, which we'll we do on the 16th and 17th January 2012.
The link to Sir Ken's talk is noted below:
Sir Ken Robinson - bring on the revolution
And here is the TED website:
TED website
All the best,
Mark
Happy Ne'er and it was lovely to see you all this morning. Hopefully the 9am start on the first day back wasn't a hardship as we watched and discussed Sir Ken Robinson's presentation where he made an entertaining case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
I was interested to hear your thoughts on education, creativity, the working examples that Robinson uses and the style of delivery.
Tomorrow we will look at answering some questions (either individually or in groups) to analyse the talk. This will set us up nicely for the next assessment we'll be doing, which we'll we do on the 16th and 17th January 2012.
The link to Sir Ken's talk is noted below:
Sir Ken Robinson - bring on the revolution
And here is the TED website:
TED website
All the best,
Mark
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