Teaching Public Speaking to Business Students in the Digital Age: Updating Our Methods.

Few would disagree that public speaking is an important skill for business graduates and is critical for career success. With an increasing number of online courses, in addition to organizations expanding the use of technology to facilitate communication, we posit that students should focus on learning public speaking skills in a digital setting. In this article, the authors propose the use of synchronous online discussions to develop the important skill of effective online professional communication and ameliorate students’ fear of digital public speaking. We present the results of a survey of MBA and undergraduate students that indicate the importance of online learning and a desire to learn more about how to effectively conduct a business presentation in an online setting. We then present an explanation of how instructors can incorporate synchronous online discussions into a course. Moreover, findings from a qualitative survey of MBA students are presented, for the purpose of demonstrating how synchronous online discussions reduce fear of digital public speaking. By teaching our students skills to improve their public speaking ability in online settings, we could better prepare our graduates for career success in the digital age. INTRODUCTION The progression towards distance learning, virtual discussion, and online communication is postulated herein as a means to not only better prepare students for the digital communication requirements in business today (Ward, 2016) but also diminish students’ fear of public speaking in online settings. Hence this paper seeks to describe how to most effectively utilize synchronous online discussions in business courses to teach business students this important skill, in addition to overcoming students’ fear of public speaking. LITERATURE REVIEW Public speaking is an important skill for business graduates (Carnegie, 2017; Leeds, 2007). In fact, 70% of respondents to a Forbes survey believe that presentation skills are critical for career success (Gallo, 2014), and corporation’s use of virtual meetings has dramatically increased (Dunshee, 2018; Olson, 2010). Furthermore, with technology becoming ubiquitous, the knowledge of how to effectively present technical information is a skill that should be incorporated into information management courses (Marchis, 2010). The ability to present in a professional manner, by utilizing a digital format is unfamiliar to most information management students, although this ability is essential in the digital business environment (Marchis, 2010; Alavi et al., 1997). However, many students exhibit fear of public speaking in online settings. Glossophobia, or extreme speech anxiety, affects about 10% of the population, with another 80% of the population experiencing nervousness related to public speaking (Morgan 2011). In Information Technology courses and other business classes, students are often required to speak in front of a class (Marchis, 2010). Unfortunately, some of these students would rather fail a class than be faced with an in-class discussion. However, most Information Technology instructors generally realize that this skill is vital for their graduates. Furthermore, by reducing a student’s fear of public speaking, researchers indicate that these students can be prevented from dropping out of the university or becoming underachievers (Tillfors et al., 2008). In the 1970s, some researchers Teaching Public Speaking in the digital age: Updating our methods 23 referred to this fear as “Communication-bound anxiety” (McCroskey, 1970). With the increasing number of communication modes enabled by technology, we suggest that public speaking can now take many forms in an educational setting. Beyond the traditional in-class presentations and discussions, professors now engage in virtual discussions (Ward, 2016) or digital public speaking, which is due in part to the increasing number of distance learning (DL) courses. With the trend towards increasing the number of DL courses offered at the university level (Carraher Wolverton & Guidry Hollier, 2019), instructors have begun investigating various methods for teaching effective public speaking skills to DL students. Research indicates that individuals with fear of public speaking respond with similar anxiety when speaking in virtual settings (Leeds, 2007; Slater et al., 2006). Therefore, instructors in DL courses with public speaking components in the course will likely encounter a number of students who will experience anxiety regarding online public speaking. Nonetheless, there exists disagreement over how to design a DL course that effectively teaches a student public speaking skills in online settings. Some researchers attempt to replicate the faceto-face course in an online setting, declaring that the DL courses are perceived to be equally as effective as face-to-face courses in improving public speaking skills (Linardopoulos, 2010; Clark & Jones, 2001). However, research has suggested that DL instructors must redesign their pedagogical approach to teaching digital public speaking in order to align it with the digital context of today’s business environment (Schwartzman, 2007). As business students in the 21st century will need to be familiar with web conferencing and online communication, it stands to reason that DL courses should reflect these needs instead of merely replicating the traditional course online (Ward, 2016; Lind, 2012). Synchronous Online Discussions With over 5.8 million students enrolled in online courses (OLC, 2016), the ability to effectively communicate online is a valuable skill, which will become more valuable as organizations continue to move towards a more global and digitized system of communication. Beyond adding a beneficial skill to our graduates, it is herein proposed that online discussions should be incorporated into IT business courses as a method to teach students how to properly communicate utilizing a digital platform. The literature suggests that synchronous online discussions can be utilized to reduce an individual’s fear of public speaking. For example, in an effort to treat fear of public speaking, researchers have employed virtual reality to expose students to public speaking (Söyler et al., 2017; Anderson et al., 2005; Harris et al., 2004). While the results were positive, the cost and time to implement this approach for most students is too high. However, this paper proposes that similar results can be achieved in a more realistic setting – specifically an online discussion. METHODOLOGY With extant literature indicating the importance of professional online speaking, we conducted a survey to examine the need to update our public speaking training of business students in the digital age. Specifically, we sought to examine student beliefs about the evolution of business communication. Our research problem involves determining whether students desire to learn how to effectively communicate online in order to conduct a business presentation in the online setting, and whether they believe they are effectively prepared to communicate a business presentation in an online setting. We posit that if students desire this knowledge, but are not being exposed to updated methods to communicate in the future, this important skill may be missed in their educational endeavors. We therefore designed an online survey to collect data. The survey was sent to 112 MBA (Master of Business Administration) and undergraduate students. We received 94 responses, for a