Northpinellas: Say what? SPC students take speech class online

It's called Ecampus, and its 8,500 students don't physically learn in a classroom. Instead, they hook up to the Internet for courses on everything from statistics to funeral home management to speech.

You read that right. Speech.

"When I first saw it in the course catalog I thought it was a mistake," said Dan Cochran, 36, a self-proclaimed "Mr. Mom" who splits time between home, work and online classes.

"I called up, and they said it was real," said the Palm Harbor resident. "I signed up for it."

Cochran is one of 26 students who enrolled in SPC professor Jan Ballantine's "public speaking" course. It's a three-credit hour class requirement leading to an associate of arts degree from the college.

For most people, speech classes means marching to a podium in front of other students and giving a speech using little white index cards for inspiration. Students are graded on a number of things including their ability to make sense, presentation skills, preparation and intonation.

Taking such a class online at first seems to defeat the purpose of learning how to speak in public, Ballantine admits.

But there's more to the class than meets the eye.

Ballantine's class is required to use digital video cameras that can send signals over the Internet to the rest of the class and the professor. These Web cams are used in conjunction with special teleconferencing equipment and Internet discussion boards.

Each student participates in virtual meetings with Ballantine and other classmates a few times a semester. While in class, they present their speeches in real time using an Internet technology named CUseeME.

Ballantine grades the speech while watching it from her computer screen. The other students critique their speech-making classmate.

Students are also required to attend Toastmaster's meetings and participate in online discussion boards.

"I call my students pioneers," said Ballantine, who works from the college's Tarpon Springs campus. "When they gave speeches online, it was interesting to hear their comments. They were so much like students in a classroom. They were worried about if they would trip over their words, if they had organized well."

Other universities are researching the possibilities of offering such classes online.

"It would be very interesting to evaluate it," said Neil Malamuth, director of the communications studies program for the University of California in Los Angeles. "There may be various hybrids and we are actually doing some research on those that combine online and class experiences. I'd have to learn more about this class."

Nearly 60 percent of SPC's online students are women and most students are already in school elsewhere, have full-time jobs or are full-time parents.

SPC offers 200 online course that cost the same as "in person" classes, $54.25 per credit hour, except for the additional $20 technology fee that offsets costs of the college's computer gurus.

Russell Marsh is one of those people. He is the information technologist that worked with Ballantine for eight months to help develop the public speaking course.

"I guess we've heard some skeptics, but all in all we've had tremendous success," Marsh said.

Most students already own the necessary equipment, he explained. These types of classes are best used by those who are already Internet-competent. This is the only course offered that requires a Web cam and videotaping equipment, Marsh said.

Students are better served by a faster cable modem rather than a slower dialup system to access the Internet, Marsh said.

College students are sometimes able to get discounts for cable modem services such as Roadrunner, which is offered by Time Warner Cable.

'I call my students pioneers. When they gave speeches online, it was interesting to hear their comments. They were so much like students in a classroom. They were worried about if they would trip over their words, if they had organized well.'

-- JAN BALLANTINE,SPC professor, who works from the college's Tarpon Springs campus

* * *

Still, online schooling is difficult, Cochran said.

Though the study and class time is flexible, Cochran sometimes finds himself doing his homework at 2 a.m. At the same time, he said, he's able to care for his three small children and get to his job at Home Depot while his wife finishes her master's degree at the University of South Florida.

"I'm trying to better our life and family," Cochran said. "You have to be real disciplined. . . . If you get behind, it's hard to get caught up. I'm taking a statistics class online, too. You have to keep right on top of it."

-- Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com.

Back to North Pinellas news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

From the Times
North Pinellas desks