Presentation karaoke and a 60 second pitch!

Sports and Exercise students are currently enrolled on the 'Oral Presentation Skills' Unit and we have been looking at ways for learners to present and think differently. To this end, a series of slides were put together for the students to try and talk on an unknown subject. Effectively they were stepping up to the plate and delivering a short 60 seconds pitch where they had to give a structured talk mentioning the two words on the screen. The topics were a mixture of sports, health, citizenship and vocational ideas and the students enagaged enthusiastically and performed really well. Ali in the Sports Faculty gave me a few pointers on the anatomical side of things and this will most definitely be used again next session. The onus was on structure, articulation, projection and timing. The slides are attached below.

Presentation karaoke!

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February round-up of GP from the team

Stephen has been incorporating group reading and textual analysis team work into lessons his English class. It was suggested that Joyce could lead a staff development session on this participatory exercise some time in the future.

Madeleine has been using YouTube successfully with her HN Complex Oral Presentation Skills class for developing some of the more technical aspects of delivery.

Isobel has also been using YouTube to show famous speeches to her COP class, which has proved successful for developing analysis skills.

Mark is producing magazines with his CPC classes and noted the wide range of topics that students have chosen for their articles. Mark and Stephen are also contributing articles to the magazines. One of Mark's articles will be on the topic of why he believes the voting age should be lowered in the UK.

Mark and Scott are planning to use the sports hall and weights gym to assess presentations delivered by Sports and Exercise students for the Oral Presentation Skills unit.

Mark has found the integration of assessments with the Presentation Skills in Science unit valuable.

Caroline has been using recorded presentations delivered by the TV and Broadcast Production class for assessment.  These presentations are an existing aspect of their course and are delivered in the lecture theatre.

Scott reminded the team about the past paper questions for Higher English that have been organised by genre and which are saved on the S Drive in the Higher English/Exam folder. These have been particularly useful for preparation for the prelim. In relation to this, Deborah pointed out that there are good resources on the SQA website aimed at students to provide guidance on exams.

Current affairs, interesting articles and adapting themes for the classroom

The team are very keen for students of all levels to engage with topical subjects and they are used in many ways, from discussions to essay titles and informative report writing to oral presentation delivery. This may be of a formative and/or summative nature. A few recent subject areas with the newslinks are noted below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16415584  - networking as a core skill?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16089232 - 2011: The year when a lot happened!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16119375 - after the fame has gone...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-16177725 - trouble on the train.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16076471 - inquiry into 'unfair' exam advice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15619543  - how did people get so 'disgusted'?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15171830 - University of Wales degree and visa scam exposed by BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15253215 - fonts as the new handwriting?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15060411 - understanding financial words and phrases.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15066957 - has the iPod made us anti-social?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15063136  - SQA figures show exam cheats let off with warning

 

Students impress all five Dragons with their professional Business pitches

Students on the Intro to Business cohort were involved in a Core Skills project throughout semester one. The project involved work taught and assessed in Business, Marketing, Communication, Numeracy and IT.

As per a previous blog post (http://candeatsce.blogspot.com/2011/10/too-many-cooks-can-improve-recipe-to.html) the final part of the project jigsaw culminated in the students delivering a presentation on their business plan to a cross section of lecturing staff. The Communication lecturer was assessesing the talks using a checklist in line with SQA guidelines joined by four members of staff to authenticate the process.

The students were asked to pitch for investment from the lecturing 'dragons' with prizes going to the best four presentations. In all, 19 presentations took place and there were four winners.

The winning pitches for the 2011 academic session were: a cafe serving homemade Polish delicacies (which were distributed to the judges and attendees), a computer repair business, a versatile graphics company and a dedicated server hosting business.

It is true to say that the three dragons awarding the prizes had a VERY difficult task in choosing the winners.

It was interesting to note that the winners each decided to give a short acceptance speech at the end and the themes coming out from this were thanking all the lecturers and tutor for their patience and guidance, the opportunities given to them at the initial interview, the cohesive nature of the group, the entrepreneurial skills learned and the many skills that they had developed throughout the semester such as budgeting, speaking, writing and listening.

In the evening many of the students came for a meal with Carole and Mark and it was a thoroughly engaging end to a successful project. Some photos from the presentation session and an example of one of the winning pitches can be seen below.

Winning Dragons' Den Pitch

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Feedback semester one 2011-12 academic session

The teaching team value the importance of student feedback. Students are asked to submit feedback on the Communication Unit they have been taught and their comments are noted below.

What were you hoping to gain from this Unit?

To complete the Unit and improve my analytical comments.
To learn how to communicate in a professional capacity.
An opportunity to communicate in teams.
To gain confidence.
To know how to analyze and interpret reports.
Develop presentation and minuting skills.
Improve my punctuation and enhance my timekeeping.
To learn things to help me at University.
To gain more knowledge into the art of professional communication.
Development of business communication skills.
Each outcome was great as they covered different areas and I enjoyed all of them.
I wanted to improve my written work.
I wanted to pass and brush up my skills from school.
A pass in Int 2 Comms in order to pass my SVQ 2 Beauty Therapy.
I wanted to become more confident to speak in front of an audience and understand how to evaluate things better.
To enhance my skills in writing, reading and listening.
To improve my verbal and written skills.
To find out whether my communication skills are proficient enough.
I was hoping to gain more experience talking in front of people as that is not my strongest point.
I had no expectations as such, other than doing my best and doing well.
A good sustainability project that might lead onto going to Rome or Poland!


To what extent did the Unit fulfil these expectations?

I have found that I did a lot better than I first suspected.
Surpassed my expectations due to the fact that prior to the class I expected a boring course, however instead I was met with an interesting and fun experience.
Very much so. The teacher explains things and puts lots of materials on D2L.
This was the most enjoyable unit I am taking on my HNC course, thank you.
Very much so and the feedback and understanding of the teacher was a big factor in this.
I thought it would mostly be English work but I see it is different than that.
I always look forward to coming to class.
I feel more skilled in delivering presentations now.
I liked that all the assessments were something to do with sports or exercise which made the assessments a bit more relevant than I thought they were going to be.
My spelling isn't great but I have got better by taking this unit.
At first I didn't think I would have a clue but have really surprised myself at what I can manage.
Totally. You not only get great support from the teacher but from pupils in the class too, it's great!
Greatly. I can now speak in front of a class and the teacher really helped me believe in my ability.
There were enough assessments and feedback to realise that my skills are actually quite good.
This was much better than I first thought on paper. Thank you!
100%.

What is the best aspect of the Unit?

The teacher (numerous times this was mentioned).
Writing an effective report.
The report was fun as it made my research skills better.
Feedback was positive and detailed.
The teacher is helpful, friendly and teaches very well.
The motivation from the lecturer really intrigues you and makes for a pleasant place to learn in.
Presentations, meetings and writing a formal report.
This was a fun class to come to.
Me passing all the outcomes!
Writing a report I was really interested in.
The amount of information and help given.
Lots of materials were handed out and this helped me as it helps me to cross-reference to give me a starting point.
The writing experience and learning how to create minutes.
Class discussions about real life cases of debt as a theme. This helped me understand all the subjects when we discussed them as a group.
The info that is put on D2L is really helpful.
I like the group discussions.
The meeting was excellent as I learned a new skill that I will use in working life afterwards.
I like that there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer to most of the questions as long as you give detailed explanations.
I feel our teacher is one of only a few lecturers who do all they can to help you and puts lots of work and encouraging messages on D2L for you.
I like the flexibility of the assessments in the unit.
Oral presentation delivery on a sports related topic.
I liked hearing others give presentations and was allowed to ask questions and get involved with the subjects.
The atmosphere in the class was great.
Sport Matters is fun and different and you can debate current sporting issues.
Learning about arguments in sport through our presentations was good.
The sporting and communication knowledge of the teacher was impressive.
Presentations on Beauty Therapy related subjects were great. I gained confidence from watching the other girls too.
I learned how to use PowerPoint for the first time and found it to be really helpful and easy.
I enjoyed researching things and being out my comfort zone, e.g. presentations as I don't like being in front of crowds but did really well in the end.
I enjoyed making a presentation to do with Beauty and asking questions to other members of the class. I feel I learned a great deal from this, although it was very scary when the teacher told us we were starting with talks!
The help and guidance has been very helpful throughout the teaching of the unit.
Listening to presentations where I found out stuff I didn't know before.
The lecturer gives really good feedback and gives work back quickly. Whenever he is e mailed he always gives a prompt response so my expectations have definitely been fulfilled.
That I could study energy in my project.
I liked the way the class felt relaxed and comfortable. If I was unsure I wouldn't have a problem asking my teacher.
The research proposal (sustainability). The connection with the rerport and talk is inspired!
I loved the way it was taught and it wasn't at all stressful.
It was taken very seriously but there is no doubt that learning can be fun and in our science class we really worked well together.
Class dicsussions about the wide range of subjects covered was really good. Everybody got a chance to have their say which I liked a lot.

Is there anything about the Unit you would like to see changed?

More teaching materials.
A break in the class.
Handouts could have been printed out rather than put on D2L.
Not all the PCs in MB 1.23 were working which meant that some people had to go and work in the Learning Centre.
I think the presentations should have been delivered in two small groups rather than the whole class.
I'd like more groupwork and the laptops in 126 aren't very good.
Please keep the same lecturer for the Science group next year.
Don't change anything. It was really well done.

HN Events students - having fun, being assessed, applying skills, fundraising and addressing the CfE agenda!

I was lucky enough to teach both the HN Events groups in 2010-11 and bonded with both classes very well. It was also the first time that I had worked with Caroline Patterson and June Wigfield, the brains behind the Events Programme.

My role was to teach and assess one of our HN Communication Units called Analysing and Presenting Complex Communication (APCC). This involved the students reading, analysing and evaluating a complex report (on the 2012 Summer Olympics Impact Study), writing a report (on a major event) and organising and contributing to a formal meeting to discuss their findings. These are all skills invaluable to their learning and it was imperative that meetings were held prior to delivery (please see curriculum planning meeting notes below) and to be in regular contact with both tutors throughout the semester. This worked well and both classes achieved 100% pass rates for the subject.

Some months after I had finished teaching these cohorts, they were ready to be assessed for their group project, which was part of the Events Application Unit. 

Students assembled into groups and developed their skills in negotiation, diplomacy, written and spoken communication, evaluation, analysis, financial acumen, organisation, employer and customer awareness to name but a few.

What struck me was the fact that the students really were working together and in many cases those students who were not being assessed came along to show their support to their peers. Not only were the students planning, running, advertising and reflecting on their event, they were being assessed by Caroline and June. It was impressive to see students applying a myriad of skills at the various events and they clearly saw the importance of learning and developing such skills for their future.

The events that the students successfully ran in 2011 were a race night, a Bond themed evening, a comedy show and a battle of the bands event. For 2012 events that have been agreed on are a murder mystery event held at Edinburgh Zoo, a rock concert, a stand-up comedy night and a burlesque evening. A great deal of money for charity was raised through these events.

Addressing Curriculum for Excellence – the four capacities
The purpose of the curriculum is encapsulated in the four capacities - to enable each young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor. There is no doubt  that both the Communication and Events Application Units were successful in addressing all four capacities. In particular students were able to evidence their levels of enthusiasm, motivation, application of communication skills, creative thought, ambition, assessing risk, respect, making informed choices and decisions, enterprising attitude, communicating effectively in different settings.

For some visual evidence of past events, please see below. As you will see, the staff were involved in the events and had a wonderful time.

Client contact and the third lecturer

Sometimes Higher National Programmes of Study do not include HN Communication Units within their framework. However, communication skills are still crucial to the development of the learner’s vocational expertise. In the second semester of this academic session, Media and Audio Visual and Communication lecturers got together to discuss and implement some initiatives to help develop students’ communication skills within a vocational context.

Communication is clearly an important part of interpersonal interaction and, of course, teamwork is all about interpersonal interaction. Open communication is a fundamental part of effective teamwork in so far as it allows team members to understand each other’s point of view, to share ideas, to express feelings and to articulate plans.

Gail English, Carol Fyfe and Mark Hetherington met to discuss ways that would benefit their HN students and came up with a proposal that was successfully delivered.

Mark has experience of working with clients in a previous role as Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Communication Programme at Napier University. This involved students working on a variety of ‘live projects’ dealing with clients within the Communication industry. Central to the Graded Units in question, is that the students secure a project, which is linked to a ‘live’ client brief. This is then fleshed out into a proposal which alongside the client brief is central to the project. Technically, you could say in the ‘real world’ the client brief is in fact a legal document and must be treated with due respect. 

It was important that the students were realistic about the potential limitations of their project and it was reinforced that the learners should always be mindful of work needing to be completed for other aspects of their Programme of Study. It was therefore important that the students did not fall into the trap of the client making too many demands on them as students. The concept of professionalism really was the watchword for this session. Mark drew up a series of slides that would help the students recognise the importance of how to deal with a client professionally and structured his talk around the following areas:

1. Client meetings and client contact
2. Client relationship
3. The first meeting 
4. Being professional throughout the duration of the project.

Mark, Carol and Gail were keen to draw out the issue of transferring the student’s knowledge into the ‘real world’ and introducing a new lecturer for this session worked well. Mark was able to underscore the issues covered by Carol and Gail in previous classes, reinforcing the pivotal nature of positive client relationships. Some of the issues covered in the session, which was peppered with some light humour and anecdotal commentary, centred around a classroom setting where students were able to communicate their thoughts in an atmosphere conducive to expressing and allaying any potential fears, hopes, ambitions. Questions were encouraged and as a result the session doubled as a confidence builder, providing a catalyst, prodding even the most nervous learners into action!
The importance of recording and collating meaningful evidence to the relevance of listening skills were covered and feedback was uniformly positive from the learners. Students felt the session was very helpful to them, they understood the relevance of the discussion, could make connections easily with reference to applying theory to practice and that their creative input could be credited by using a meaningful recording system.

Graded unit client

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