abstract: This dissertation study quantitatively measured the performance of 345 students who received public speaking instruction through an online platform presented in one of six experimental conditions in order to explore the ability of online lectures to replicate the characteristics of instructor presence and learner interaction traditionally associated with face-to-face public speaking courses. The study investigated the following research questions: RQ1: How does the visibility of an instructor in a public speaking video lesson affect students' perception of presence? RQ2: How does the visibility of an instructor in a public speaking video lesson affect student learning? RQ3: How do self-explanation (Constructive) and note-taking (Active) types of learning activities affect students' perception of presence compared to passive lessons when presented in a video lesson? RQ4: How do self-explanation (Constructive) and note-taking (Active) types of learning activities affect student learning compared to passive lessons when presented in a video lesson? Additionally, the study collected qualitative feedback from participants on their experience in order to improve understanding of how to effectively design lectures for public speaking courses. Results of the study were unable to statistically distinguish between students assigned to treatments that varied in both modality and level of activity. However, a significant finding of this study is that learning gains and students' perception of instructor presence were positive across all conditions. The lack of significant differences by treatment indicates that the design attributes at the center of the study may be unnecessary considerations for developing content for online learning. Consequently, the improved performance of participants regardless of their assigned treatment in this study identifies a limitation to the application of Media Equation Theory and the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) Framework for designing online learning content for public speaking students as well as identifies two key implications: 1) exposure to an online lesson can increase learning; and 2) exposure to an online lesson can serve as a cost-effective alternative for producing lessons in public speaking courses. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2014

Introdução: A ocitocina (OT) é um nonapeptídeo sintetizado nos núcleos paraventricular e supraóptico do hipotálamo. Quando liberada perifericamente pela neurohipófise, a OT atua como um hormônio e promove a liberação do leite durante a lactação e a contração uterina no parto. No entanto, quando liberada centralmente, a OT age como um neurotransmissor ou neuromodulador de diversos processos, tal como na modulação da ansiedade e na regulação das respostas neuroendócrina e cardiovascular. Sendo assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar os efeitos agudos da administração intranasal da OT na ansiedade em voluntários saudáveis submetidos ao Teste de Simulação de Falar em Público (TSFP), bem como seu papel na modulação das respostas neuroendócrina e hemodinâmica. Métodos: Ocitocina ou veículo foram administrados intranasalmente em voluntários saudáveis (n=14) 50 minutos antes do TSFP. Durante a sessão experimental foram realizadas as seguintes medidas: (1) basal (t = -30 min)), (2) pré-teste (t = -15 min), (3) preparação (t = +50 min), (4) desempenho (t = +1:03 h) , pós-teste 1 (t = 1:26 h) e pós-teste 2 (t = 1:46 h). Para a avaliação dos estados subjetivos de ansiedade foram utilizadas as seguintes escalas de auto-avaliação: 1.Escala Analógica de Humor; 2.Escala de Sintomas Corporais; 3. Versão de ?estado? da escala de auto-avaliação ao falar em público. Para a dosagem de cortisol sérico e ACTH plasmático foi utilizada a técnica de radioimunoensaio. Também foram realizadas as medidas de freqüência cardíaca, pressão arterial, condutância da pele e número de flutuações espontâneas da condutância da pele. Resultados: O grupo OT apresentou-se menos ansioso nas fases PT (p-valor = 0,03), com maior sedação nas fases PT (p-valor = 0,003), Pr (p-valor = 0,01) e S (p-valor = 0,02) e com nível de condutância da pele menor nas fases PT (p-valor = 0,02), Pr (p-valor = 0,02), S (p-valor = 0,03) e F2 (p-valor = 0,02). Nos outros parâmetros mensurados não foram encontradas diferenças intergrupos. Conclusão: O presente estudo sugere que a OT na dose de 24 UI possui ação na ansiedade antecipatória em voluntários saudáveis. Espera-se que este estudo contribua com o desenvolvimento de intervenções terapêuticas em transtornos de ansiedade e com o desenvolvimento de possíveis fármacos agonistas. / Introduction: Oxytocin is a nonapeptide that is synthesized in the hypothalamus paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei. When released peripherally by the neurohypophysis, it acts as a hormone that will promote milk ejection during lactation and uterine smooth muscle contraction during labor. However, when centrally released, OT acts as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator of several processes, such as anxiety modulation and regulation of cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses. The objective of this study was to assess the acute effect of OT, intranasally administered, on anxiety levels of healthy volunteers who submitted themselves to the Public Speaking Simulation Test as well as its role in the modulation of neuroendocrine and hemodynanic responses. Methods: Oxytocin, or vehicle, was intranasally administered to healthy volunteers (n= 14) fifty minutes before the Test. During the experimental session, the following assessments were performed: 1) Baseline (t = - 30 minutes); 2) Pre test (t = -15 minutes) ;3) Preparation ( t = + 50 minutes) ; 4) Performance ( t = + 1:03 hours) , and post test 1 ( t = 1:26 hours) and post test 2 ( t = 1:46 hours ). In order to evaluate anxiety subjective states, the following self-assessment scales were used: 1) Mood Analogical Scale, 2) Bodily Symptoms Scale, and 3) ?State? Self-Assessment Version of Public Speaking Scale. A radio immune assay was used for cortisol serum level and plasmatic ACTH measurements. Additionally, heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and number of spontaneous fluctuations of skin conductance were checked. Results: The OT group was less anxious during the PT (p value =0, 03), with a higher sedation during the PT (p value = 0,003), Pr (p value = 0, 01), and S phases (p value = 0, 02) and a lower level of skin conductance during the PT (p value = 0,02), Pr ( p value = 0,02), S (p value = 0,03), and F2 phases ( p value = 0,02). As for the other parameters evaluated, no differences were found between the groups. Conclusions: The present study suggests that an OT dose of 24 UI acts on the anticipation anxiety of healthy volunteers. This study is expected to contribute to the development of therapeutical interventions in anxiety disorders as well as possible agonist drugs.

The classroom communication behavior of preservice teacher education students was the focus of this research. The study was designed to provide descriptive and empirical data for teacher educators to use in designing preservice and in-service training in classroom communication. Additionally, an interdisciplinary focus on research from the fields of interpersonal and instructional communication as applied to teacher education was emphasized. The sample for the study included 30 secondary and 29 elementary preservice teacher education students. The sample was stratified on the basis of the level of communication apprehension. A total of 30 high level apprehensive and 29 low level apprehensives were identified. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24) was administered as a pre-posttest measure. Scores from the Communicator Style Measure (CSM) were analyzed with the PRCA—24. University supervisors and public school cooperating teachers completed a modified version of the CSM on two separate observation occasions.

Master of Arts / Department of Speech Communication, Theatre, and Dance / LeAnn Brazeal / Though communication and learning theory suggest that human interaction is a key component that could enhance both processes, little has been done to incorporate these findings into the basic public speaking course. This study is an attempt to develop a dialogic approach for teaching the introductory college public speaking course. Through the incorporation of standardized analytic grading rubrics, instructor feedback prior to the public speaking performance, peer workshops, and peer evaluations of performances, a process-centered teaching approach is developed that has the potential to increase cognitive learning, improve the quality of student speeches, and increase the consistency between public speaking sections. After implementing this teaching approach for one semester, the results showed an increase in cognitive learning but no improvement in the quality of student speeches or grading consistency. However, a review of other research and the qualitative data collected in this study suggest that there might be greater impacts than could be seen here and that this approach needs to be developed and implemented over a longer period of time for its effects to be fully seen.

This thesis explores the role, if any, that implicature plays as a strategy in informal debate. Transcripts of spontaneous debates from television and radio public affairs talk shows were analyzed with a focus on the use of implicature as a strategic rhetorical tool employed to gain advantage in an argument.

Since 1943, six studies have been made of speech education in Oregon public schools. Several make reference to forensics, but none discuss this aspect of speech education in depth. As a result, the role of forensics in the schools has been assumed or denied. With the educational situation as it is, however, it is necessary that we have a greater under.standing of the relationship between forensics and general speech education and language arts education.

The American demographic landscape is no longer a homogeneous melting pot where all colors and flavors blend into indistinct variants. The challenges brought about by such a societal shift have made diversity issues increasingly important. Chief among them is the issue of organizational diversity. Although there has been an increase in organizational diversity research, there is a noted lack of organizational diversity research in the area of college-level forensics programs. This study seeks to fill this void. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to describe diversity levels in college and university forensics programs, and to compare current levels with those of five years past. Survey questionnaires were completed by almost 200 college and university coaches in AFA, CEDA, and Phi Rho Pi. The results of the survey show no significant increase in diversity levels has occurred since Swanson's indictment of elitism in 1989. Forensics continues to have an overwhelming white majority of coaches and competitors; two-thirds of all programs indicate no effort has been made to increase diversity. These results suggest forensics may be in a state of stasis, one inconsistent with its evolving environment.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether metacognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and critical thinking could be identified as predictors of student academic success and course retention among community college students enrolled in online, telecourses, and traditional Fundamentals of Speech (public speaking) courses. The study was conducted during the Fall 2005 semester at Valencia Community College (VCC). Data for this study were collected from participating students enrolled in either one of the two online, two telecourse, and two traditional face-to-face public speaking courses chosen for analysis. Fifty-seven participants answered Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1991) Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Quantitative statistical analysis was used to investigate the impact of metacognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and critical thinking on academic success and course completion in the three delivery modes. Data were analyzed and found self-efficacy was a significant predictor of final course grade. There was a significant relationship between critical thinking and self-regulation but not final grade. Self-efficacy was a predictor of informative speech grade however; self-regulation and critical thinking were not. No variable was a significant predictor of course completion which may be due to the small sample size among students who took the survey and did not complete the course. There was no statistically significant difference found with self-efficacy, self-regulation, critical thinking and course type (online, telecourse, traditional).

Of all social situations, public speaking is the most prevalent fear in both the general population and among social phobic individuals (Mannuzza, Schneier, Chapman, & Liebowitz, 1995; Stein, Walker, & Forde, 1996). The fear of public speaking is referred to as communication apprehension (CA) by members of the communication field; in other programs of study, this condition has been categorized and conceptualized in a wide variety of ways ranging from stage fright to reticence. Several scholarly fields including communication, social psychology, the health sciences and the social sciences, seek to find an explanation and effective intervention for this prevalent condition. This study sought to examine relationships between several constructs, each associated with well-established and tested measurement instruments: The first construct, communication apprehension, was thought by communication scholars to be a generalized personality trait and was measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24). The second communication instrument employed was the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). Generalized social anxiety pertaining to public speaking was measured by the Self-Statements during Public Speaking (SSPS) scale developed within the field of social psychology. Finally, a popular tool within social psychology was utilized, the Brief Version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE). An analysis of data utilizing Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation illustrated that there was a moderate relationship between the constructs being tested through the SPSS and the BFNE and the PRCA-24 and the SPCC

California began with an Indian society which was station and provincial. From this territory Spanish invaders, seeking adventure and wealth, erected an outpost which was someday to be- A come the empire of the West." The short period of Mexican domination influenced by Spanish tradition brought a change in this empire. The search for gold, the search for new homes and ad- venture, ended the life of the sleepy province. The annexation of California to the United States meant a new life and new problems for many. Through her people and through their willing- ness to fight for their honor and their welfare, California gradually became one of the most important states in the Union.