If you’re like most people, the thought of giving a speech in front of a group of people probably makes you nervous, anxious, and perhaps even fearful. In fact, speaking in public is consistently ranked among people’s top fears, more so than flying, drowning, creepy-crawly critters, and zombies (Ingraham, 2014)! Understandably, public speaking can be challenging for even the most seasoned speaker, and there are many factors that go into communication apprehension (CA) and public speaking anxiety (PSA). This chapter will discuss some of the differences between communication apprehension, public speaking anxiety, glossophobia, as well as general social anxiety, along with the causes and symptoms of each. Additionally, this section offers some techniques for understanding and managing your fears or nervousness, while presenting exercises for reducing your speaking anxiety. This section also features resources that will help you build your confidence as a speaker, and teach you to present like a pro! 

What to speak about? How to find a topic?  Does the topic have the appropriate scope? Being stuck, not knowing what to talk about? How to move from general purpose to specific purpose and a thesis statement? These are key questions speakers must answer as they prepare for a presentation.  First, determining general purpose: Is the goal to inform, to persuade or to entertain.   Next, the section discusses how to broaden the topic or narrow the topic down to meet speaking constraints. Finally, it suggests tools to help to come up with topic ideas for topics. Once a topic is selected, the speaker must determine their specific purpose and central idea. 

This resource provides a selected list of OERs that deal with the topic of public speaking, including business presentations, public speaking and advocacy, college class presentations, and public speaking with an interpreter.

Introduction to Public Speaking; Harvested from a now-defunct website which expired after the original author's death

An introduction to RSS as a way to save time reading web sites.

This resource offers a selected list of OERs that address the topic of resumes and cover letters, including targeting resumes and cover letters for employment, the difference between curricula vitae and resumes, and other forms of professional communications.

This class develops the abilities of students to communicate science effectively in a variety of real-world contexts. It covers strategies for dealing with complex areas like theoretical physics, genomics and neuroscience, and addresses challenges in communicating about topics such as climate change and evolution. Projects focus on speaking and writing, being an expert witness, preparing briefings for policy-makers, writing blogs, and giving live interviews for broadcast, as well as the creation of an interactive exhibit for display in the MIT Museum.

This class is an introduction to writing about science—including nature, medicine and technology—for general readers. In our reading and writing we explore the craft of making scientific concepts, and the work of scientists, accessible to the public through articles and essays.

This seminar is intended to help students in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Joint Program develop a broader perspective on their thesis research by considering some aspects of science in the large. The first part of the course challenges students to develop a thoughtful view towards major questions in science that can be incorporated in their own research process, and that will help them articulate research findings. The second part of the course emphasizes science as a social process and the important roles of written and oral communication.

This course is designed to familiarize you with the major theory and research surrounding the study of small group communication and provide an opportunity to analyze and develop solutions to a community problem while working in a small group.

A short introduction to the concept of social bookmarking, using Delicious as the example.

Open pedagogy - a component of Open Educational Resources - is a "free access" educational practice that places students at the center of their learning process in a more engaging, collaborative learning environment. The main objective of this assignment is to enhance social justice by reducing inequalities, one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in a community in the United States or abroad. This is a renewable assignment designed to create a hands-on learning experience for students through which they can improve lives in a community of their choice and share the outcomes of their work with others. In this interdisciplinary assignment, students will integrate theories and practices from two academic disciplines, Communication Studies and Business Administration, to achieve the SDG #10, Reduced Inequalities.

From audience analysis to giving a presentation, Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking will guide students through the speech making process. The authors focus on the process of speech making because they have created this book to be a user-friendly guide to creating, researching, and presenting public speeches. While both classic and current academic research in public speaking guide this book, the authors believe that a new textbook in public speaking should first, and foremost, be a practical book that helps students prepare and deliver a variety of different types of speeches — and that is the primary goal of this book.With practicality in mind, the authors developed, Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking, as a streamlined public speaking textbook. Many public speaking textbooks today contain over twenty different chapters, which is often impossible to cover in a ten-week quarter or a sixteen-week semester; this textbook is eighteen unique chapters. The fifteen chapters are divided into four clear units of information: introduction to public speaking, speech preparation, speech creation, and speech presentation.

Open pedagogy - a component of Open Educational Resources - is a "free access" educational practice that places students at the center of their learning process in a more engaging, collaborative learning environment. The main objective of this assignment is to enhance social justice by reducing inequalities, one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in a community in the United States or abroad. This is a renewable assignment designed to create a hands-on learning experience for students through which they can improve lives in a community of their choice and share the outcomes of their work with others. In this interdisciplinary assignment, students will integrate theories and practices from two academic disciplines, Communication Studies and Business Administration, to achieve the SDG #10, Reduced Inequalities.

A focus on the organization, development, and refinement of technical communications.  Internal and external communications, including letters, memos, reports, and presentations are included.

Word table that includes a selection of OERs that deal with the field of communications, including business, technical, interpersonal, and public communication.

This book’s title tells its intent. It is written to help you understand media and culture. The media and culture are so much a part of our days that sometimes it is difficult to step back and appreciate and apprehend their great impact on our lives. The book’s title, and the book itself, begin with a focus squarely on media. Think of your typical day. If you are like many people, you wake to a digital alarm clock or perhaps your cell phone. Soon after waking, you likely have a routine that involves some media. Some people immediately check the cell phone for text messages. Others will turn on the computer and check Facebook, email, or websites. Some people read the newspaper. Others listen to music on an iPod or CD. Some people will turn on the television and watch a weather channel, cable news, or Sports Center. Heading to work or class, you may chat on a cell phone or listen to music. Your classes likely employ various types of media from course management software to PowerPoint presentations to DVDs to YouTube. You may return home and relax with video games, television, movies, more Facebook, or music. You connect with friends on campus and beyond with text messages or Facebook. And your day may end as you fall asleep to digital music. Media for most of us are entwined with almost every aspect of life and work. Understanding media will not only help you appreciate the role of media in your life but also help you be a more informed citizen, a more savvy consumer, and a more successful worker. Media influence all those aspects of life as well.

Shifting the instructional lens about plagiarism from punitive to positive, this interactive tutorial addresses: the importance of citation, when to quote and paraphrase, how to determine copyright and how to create a creative commons license to protect your work, and how to access and use resources for academic writing.To link or view without Adobe Captivate software: https://most.oercommons.org/courses/university-of-baltimore-citation-and-licensing-guide

Using Internet Communication enhances students' theoretical understanding of electronic communication and their ability to communicate as professionals, scholars, and citizens using the Internet. Participants learn core communication theoretical models and principles, and apply them to electronic communication methods that enhance interpersonal, small group, and public interactions. These methods include electronic meetings, discussion forums, co-authoring tools, audio, and video.