Public Speaking

Fictional sample for demonstration. Silver Oak University and Prof. Marchetti are fictional, used to showcase thecoursemaker.com. No real institution, course, or person is implied or endorsed. Real, famous speeches and speakers are referenced factually, as the subject of study.

Course Description

Public Speaking is the introductory course in oral communication and, for most students, the course that satisfies the General-Education oral-communication requirement. It builds one skill, thoroughly: the ability to research, organize, and deliver a clear, audience-centered speech — and to listen to and analyze the speeches of others. We move along the natural arc of the subject — the communication process and speaking ethics → listening & audience analysis → topic, purpose & thesis → research & support → organization → outlining → language & style → delivery → presentation aids → informative → persuasive speaking & the rhetorical appeals → reasoning & fallacies → special-occasion, small-group & impromptu speaking — and at each step we lead with the plain-language idea, then model it and walk through the how-to.

Public speaking is a performed skill, not just a body of concepts, so this course is built around doing. A weekly Speech Workshop is where the craft gets practiced: you'll drill a concrete skill, record yourself and assess your own clip against a rubric, rehearse with an AI coach, and learn to catch that coach's mistakes. Across the term you'll prepare and deliver several recorded speeches — an icebreaker, an informative speech, a persuasive speech, and a special-occasion/impromptu speech — each assessed against clear delivery + content rubrics. A weekly AI-tutor tutorial gives you a low-stakes place to learn the concepts and to practice the course's signature habit: the tool drafts, you judge.

A note on this course's promise. Almost everyone is nervous to speak in public — that's normal, and we treat it directly in Week 1 with evidence-based strategies. You do not need to be a "natural." You need a clear message, an honest use of evidence, and reps. This course gives you the reps.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Apply the communication process model (source, message, channel, receiver, feedback, noise, context) and the principles of ethical speaking, and use evidence-based strategies to manage communication apprehension (speech anxiety).
2. Listen critically and analyze an audience (demographic, psychographic, and situational), then adapt a message's content, language, and appeals to that audience and occasion.
3. Research a topic and support ideas with credible, correctly-cited evidence (examples, statistics, testimony), evaluate source credibility, deliver accurate oral citations, and avoid fabrication and plagiarism.
4. Organize a speech using an appropriate pattern and build a clear preparation outline and speaking outline with coordination, subordination, transitions, and signposts.
5. Use effective, ethical, and inclusive language and strong vocal and physical delivery (the four delivery methods; rate, pitch, volume, pauses, articulation; eye contact, gestures, movement, posture).
6. Design and integrate effective presentation aids that strengthen a message without distracting the audience.
7. Construct informative and persuasive speeches using the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), sound reasoning, and an awareness of the common logical fallacies.
8. Deliver with confidence across special-occasion, small-group/team, and impromptu settings, and manage audience questions and answers.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• SLO A — Speech composition & delivery. Research, organize, outline, and deliver an audience-centered informative or persuasive speech using sound reasoning, credible evidence, and effective verbal and nonverbal delivery.
• SLO B — Critical listening & rhetorical analysis. Listen critically and analyze a message's purpose, organization, evidence, and rhetorical appeals — ethos/pathos/logos — and reasoning.

Required Materials

There is no required textbook, and you will pay nothing for course materials. Readings are delivered as links to external resources posted in each weekly module, and the weekly Speech Workshops use free tools you already have. The reading load is intentionally light and is meant to support — not replace — the in-class work, the Workshops, and your speeches.

You will need:

• A device with a web browser and internet access.
• A way to record yourself speaking — a phone camera or a free tool like Zoom is perfect (used in the weekly Speech Workshops and for the recorded speeches).
• A simple outlining tool — any word processor or doc works.
• Access to one approved AI chatbot for the weekly Lecture Tutorials, adaptive activities, and the Workshop rehearsal-coach + AI-critique moment (see the AI-Use Policy below).

Grading

Your course grade is the weighted total of the groups below. Weights sum to 100%. Speeches carry the most weight — this is a performance course.

Attendance is tracked at every session but is not weighted (see the Attendance Policy).

Per-item points: quizzes 10 · discussions 20 · assignments (speeches) 100 · Speech Workshops 50 · midterm & final 100 each.

Letter-Grade Scale

Late & Make-Up Policy

• Late penalty: 10% per day. Submitted work loses 10 percentage points of its earned score for each day (or part of a day) it is late.
• Quizzes, the Midterm, and the Final are time-bound. Make-ups are arranged only for documented emergencies — contact Prof. Marchetti as early as possible, ideally before the due date.
• Speeches and Speech Workshops are best done in the week assigned, while the skill is fresh; if you must miss a delivery date, contact Prof. Marchetti about a recorded make-up.
• Practice exercises are ungraded and exist for your benefit; the late penalty does not apply to them.
• If something serious is getting in the way of your work, reach out early. It is almost always easier to arrange support before a deadline than to repair a grade after it.

AI-Use Policy

This course requires you to use AI as a learning partner on your coursework, and it draws a clear line for the closed assessments. Read this section carefully.

Approved chatbots

You must use one of these three approved AI chatbots:

• Gemini
• Claude
• ChatGPT

The free tier of any of these is sufficient. You may pick whichever you prefer.

AI in this course (adaptive-learning activities)

Your Lecture Tutorials, Discussions, Assignments, and the rehearsal-coach + AI-critique step of each weekly Speech Workshop are adaptive-learning activities you complete with the chatbot:

• Weekly Lecture Tutorials — work through the week's ideas in conversation, then submit the conversation share link and your Completion Summary.
• Discussions — think a question through in a real-time dialogue with the chatbot, then post the AI-generated summary plus your chat share link to the discussion board (and reply to peers).
• Assignments (speeches) — solve AI-posed speech tasks and scenarios with a chatbot coach that scaffolds and scores you as you go, then submit the coach's self-scored report (the line beginning STUDENT'S SCORE:) plus your chat share link.
• Speech Workshops — after recording and self-assessing your clip, you'll ask the chatbot to coach your outline/notes, then catch its mistakes — a standing habit in this course, because chatbots routinely give hollow generic praise, vague non-actionable feedback, and (for research-based speeches) fabricated quotations and made-up source citations.

For all of these, the share link is part of your submission — treat the conversation as your work, keep it on-topic, and do your own thinking.

Permitted vs. not permitted

• AI may be used on your coursework — the Lecture Tutorials, Discussions, Assignments, Speech Workshops, and the ungraded Practice Exercises. (For the adaptive activities above, working with the chatbot is the activity.)
• AI may not be used on the Quizzes, the Midterm, or the Final — these are closed to AI and must be entirely your own work. Quizzes and exams are built from auto-gradable items and are meant to confirm that you understand the material.

A word on evidence (this course's integrity line)

Public speaking lives on credible, honestly-cited evidence. AI chatbots invent plausible-sounding quotations and source citations. Any quotation, statistic, or source you put in a speech must be one you found and verified at a real source — never a line the chatbot produced that you did not confirm. Catching the AI's fabricated citations is built into the weekly Workshop on purpose.

Disclosure

The adaptive activities (tutorials, discussions, assignments, Workshops) need no separate disclosure — the share link already documents your AI use. If you use an AI tool to help you think about any other graded work, add a one-line note stating which tool you used and how.

Alignment with academic integrity

Using AI as described here is encouraged and fully consistent with the integrity standard below. The violations are fabricating or doctoring a chat you submit, putting an unverified AI-generated quotation or citation into a speech, and using AI on the closed assessments (Quizzes, Midterm, Final). When in doubt, ask before you submit.

Attendance Policy

This is an in-person course with two sessions each week, and the in-class work — model speeches, think-pair-share, the Workshop drills, the AI-critique moments, and especially live speaking days — is where much of the learning happens.

• Attendance is tracked at every session. It is not part of your weighted grade, but a strong attendance record is expected, and speaking days in particular are hard to make up — both for the speaker and for the classmates who serve as the audience. Consistent absence will show in your performance.
• Arrive on time, stay for the full session, and be a respectful, attentive audience for your classmates — a good audience is part of a good speech class.
• If you must miss a session, notify Prof. Marchetti in advance when possible and review the module materials to catch up. You remain responsible for any content, announcements, and due dates from a missed class.

Academic Integrity

You are expected to do your own work and to represent it honestly. Cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, fabricating evidence or citations in a speech, and submitting another's work — human or AI — as your own are violations of academic integrity and will be handled according to university policy, which may include a failing grade on the work or in the course. Collaboration is welcome where an assignment invites it; when in doubt about what is allowed, ask first. Holding to this standard is what makes your grade — and your degree — mean something.

Accessibility: Silver Oak University is committed to equal access. Students who need accommodations (including for speaking-related anxiety or for delivery formats) should contact the campus disability services office to arrange them; notify Prof. Marchetti early in the term so supports can be in place. (Placeholder — institutions should insert their official accessibility, Title IX, and integrity statements here.)

Course Schedule — Fall 2026 (16 Weeks)

Term runs Aug 31 – Dec 18. Campus holidays: Labor Day (Sep 7), Veterans Day (Nov 11), Thanksgiving (Nov 26–27). Week 16 is reserved for finals. Dates are the Monday of each week.

Practice exercises and a Lecture Tutorial are part of every week's module; the table lists the graded touchpoints. Exam weeks (8 & 16) carry no weekly Speech Workshop. The schedule may be adjusted with advance notice; changes will be announced in the course.