Faculty establish specific criteria to be fulfilled for each presentation and students have a chance to practice these criteria in various class activities, thus helping student reach a reasonable level of competency. Students learn the proper outlining techniques for oral presentations and employ them in their speeches. Additionally, students work with different types of outlines, i.e. topical, spatial,, chronological, problem-solution, motivated sequence, etc., in order to effectively structure their different presentations . Students turn in written outlines which are critiqued for their content and style. This concept would include the ability to construct gender-neutral language as well as language that is not offensive to specific audience members.
Rhetorical sensitivity is assessed through both oral and written assignments.
Students are taught how to locate and evaluate information, They are critiqued on the appropriateness and academic rigor of their sources. Students are encouraged to utilize a variety of sources in their presentations, including expert interviews, research surveys, academic journals, suitable media resources, etc. One such activity could be asking the students to critique the speeches of their peers. Students might be asked to role play different conflict situations, both in interpersonal and group settings. In becoming acquainted with different group roles, i.e., leader, task, process, social, decision-making,, etc,. and models of effective problem solving, students are given the tools to meet the standards of this requirement.