Communication Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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The Three-Minute Slide as an Effective Tool for Developing Oral Communication Skills Michelle S. Applebee, Ami P. Johanson, Kimberly A. Lawler-Sagarin,* Eugene N. Losey, and Colleen Munro-Leighton Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Elmhurst College, 190 South Prospect Avenue, Elmhurst, Illinois 60126, United States
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S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: It is essential that chemists develop strong oral communication skills. At the undergraduate level, this requires students to build confidence in their ability to speak without a script and to utilize graphics effectively. We have developed a short activity that helps address common presentation issues such as overuse of text and reading verbatim off slides. The three-minute slide activity is an engaging exercise for the students and is easy for instructors to implement.
KEYWORDS: Upper-Division Undergraduate, Communication/Writing, Curriculum, Multidisciplinary
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graphic while showing it. This resulted in many presentations that were too general and did not contain enough technical depth, largely due to the speakers superficially glossing over graphics. Students also over-relied on graphics they found online, rather than creating their own. Even when attributed correctly, this resulted in the inclusion of extraneous information that distracted from their message and unnecessary and distracting stylistic inconsistencies (fonts, colors, etc.). We tried to resolve these problems by increasing time spent in class on these topics, showing examples, increasing expectations, and providing increased feedback and support for student presentations. However, we found these issues persisted until we introduced our three-minute slide activity. This activity has greatly improved student presentations.
he American Chemical Society’s Committee on Professional Training states that undergraduate students should be given opportunities to present and receive feedback on their presentations and gain experience with presentation software.1,2 Employers desire oral and written communication skills but perceive that these skills are in need of improvement.2 The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) found that 89% of employers wanted colleges to place more emphasis on communication skills.3 Thus, oral and written communication skills were identified as Essential Learning Outcomes in AAC&U’s 2008 Liberal Education America’s Promise Report.4 Many undergraduate chemistry programs offer seminar courses focused on oral communication skills. Topics traditionally covered in these courses include how to use presentation software, as well as tips for presentation slide designs and how to be an engaging speaker.5−8 We nevertheless noticed lingering weaknesses in students’ approach to presentations. Paradoxically, as students have entered our seminar series already familiar with presentation software and have needed less instruction in the basic use of the software, they have also brought in a host of bad habits that have proven difficult to break. One very common problem that was particularly difficult to counteract was bullet point reading. Students would simply read the bullet points off the slides, using the slides as a memory device. This tendency also undermined their ability to discuss graphics appropriately. Students frequently opted to give a bulleted list of comments before or after a complex graphic, rather than speaking about the © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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THREE-MINUTE SLIDES We use the three-minute slide activity as the first presentation in each of the four terms of our seminar sequence. The activity has two forms: one where the students speak about a prepared slide and one where the students are also responsible for designing the slide themselves. Premade Slides
The first and simplest form focuses entirely on extemporaneous speaking. This is assigned to third year students Received: October 1, 2017 Revised: June 3, 2018
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00649 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Communication
completing their first two terms of seminar. In this exercise, students are given a premade slide and must speak about the slide for three minutes. We focus on a single slide because we want students to learn to speak naturally and confidently about technical information and worry less about creating an overall presentation. Each slide illustrates a concept from undergraduate chemistry. The slides have very little text but may have chemical structures, a reaction mechanism, a graph, a table, or other diagrams (see Supporting Information for sample slides). Each student is given a different slide, chosen by the instructor to be consistent with the student’s course preparation. For example, a student who has completed organic chemistry but no other upper level courses might be given a slide showing the Diels−Alder mechanism or an NMR spectrum. A student who has completed physical chemistry might be given an energy level diagram describing fluorescence, and a student who has taken an instrumentation course might be given a mass spectrum. Students are given the slides during the preceding class period to give them time prepare and to review any needed background material. To keep things simple, each student is given a paper copy of their slide and the instructor brings to class one electronic file containing all the slides. This minimizes class time devoted to switching between speakers and removes the need to swap electronic files with students. At the presentation, each student must speak about his or her slide without a script for three minutes. In the event that the student speaker finishes too soon, students and faculty in the audience prompt the student to continue by asking questions or suggesting aspects of the slide to expand upon. After three minutes, the presenting student is allowed one more sentence to conclude the talk. Afterward, the instructors give quick feedback to the student in front of the class on general issues that might be relevant to the class as a whole. Discussion is encouraged, and we cultivate a class dynamic that promotes a formative and developmental environment rather than an evaluative one. Topics arise in the moment but often include eye contact, use of disciplinary language, chemical depth, organization, and storytelling (see Supporting Information for sample grading rubrics). In a single class period of 60−90 minutes, we can accommodate 10−15 presentations of this type, including time for feedback.
as design elements such as fonts, consistency in formatting, use of color, and graphics creation. The slide is returned to the student with comments for revision. If many changes are required, this may be an iterative process. Once the slide is complete and approved, the student presents the slide as they did with the premade slides. Throughout the seminar series, students give many presentations, with a heavy emphasis in the final year. We find that details of slide design are often lost in the larger issues that inevitably arise in these presentations. Having students make a single slide for the three-minute slide activity early in the term allows us to target many aspects of slide design in an efficient manner.
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DISCUSSION This scaffolding of the three-minute slide exercises works well. Students in their first two terms of seminar are typically more nervous and can just focus on the presentation portion. The advanced students are more relaxed about the presentation portion and benefit from the additional feedback on slide design and graphics presentation. Students initially find the task difficult but rise to the challenge. Once they have done their first three-minute slide activity, they gain confidence that they can explain data from literature or research without relying on bullet points or a script. By forcing the students into a situation where they could not fall back on bullet point reading and making the task focused and manageable, we were able to break them of this habit. This activity gives students the support they need while actively engaging them in changing their presentation style. Table 1 summarizes the problems addressed by the threeminute slide activity. Table 1. Overview of Benefits of Three-Minute Slide Activity skills enhanced
problem issues addressed
speaking extemporaneously
reading directly off slides overuse of bulleted lists and text limited chemical depth interpreting graphics not speaking about tables/figures when shown failing to annotate/interpret spectra not conveying important points in graphs and tables to audience effectively overall slide design use of nondescript titles overuse of graphics from online sources inconsistent style choices in graphics and text
Student-Prepared Slides
In the second and more advanced version of this exercise, students create their own slide. This version is assigned to students in their fourth year who are completing their last two terms of seminar. The main purpose of this activity is still to develop speaking skills, but it also allows us to hone in on slide design and graphics presentation. Each student is assigned a concept from undergraduate chemistry. These concepts may be chosen randomly from topics provided by the instructor or chosen by the student. Students are asked to create a slide with a descriptive title and clear and appropriate graphics. They are allowed no words except a title, names, and labels. They must also create their own graphics, and instruction for this is provided throughout the seminar sequence. In this activity, the student submits the first draft of their slide to the instructor electronically. The instructor reviews this first version of the slide and provides feedback on all aspects of the slide. This includes feedback on chemical accuracy as well
This simple exercise has had a dramatic impact on the other, longer presentations given by students in seminar. As the first set of student presentations in seminar each term, this exercise sets expectations early. Bullet point reading, once extremely common, has become a rare occurrence throughout the sequence. Students are more prepared to discuss complex graphics in their presentations, and as a result, the presentations have more clarity and depth. Slide design and graphics in slides improved as a result of the advanced form of this exercise. When students prepared longer presentations, we were often forced to focus on more pressing issues such as overall talk structure and chemical accuracy. While giving very focused and iterative feedback on a single slide with a small number of graphics, we are able to address problems in graphics and overall design. This exercise allows B
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00649 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Communication
Table 2. Distribution of Student Responses to the Surveya on the Three-Minute Slide Exercise number of students responding by category (%) statements for response
total N
strongly agree
agree
disagree
strongly disagree
agree or strongly agree
The three-minute slide exercise strengthened my ability to interpret graphical concepts (e.g., figures, plots, charts, mechanisms) The three-minute slide exercise strengthened my ability to present graphical concepts I was better able to present scientific material without a script after the three-minute slide exercise I was more comfortable using graphical software (ChemDraw, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) after having made my own three-minute slide Creating the three-minute slide helped me better understand my assigned scientific material The skills I learned or practiced while making a three-minute slide helped me make future presentations Completing the three-minute slide exercise(s) in seminar was beneficial to me I felt challenged by the three-minute slide exercise(s)
46
13 (28)
32 (70)
1 (2)
0 (0)
98T
46 46
26 (57) 21 (46)
20 (43) 23 (50)
0 (0) 2 (4)
0 (0) 0 (0)
100 96
37b
17 (46)
19 (51)
1 (3)
0 (0)
97
37b
19 (51)
16 (43)
2 (5)
0 (0)
95
37b
21 (57)
15 (41)
0 (0)
1 (3)
97
46 46
22 (48) 15 (33)
23 (50) 25 (54)
1 (2) 5 (11)
0 (0) 1 (2)
98 87
a
This survey was reviewed and approved by the Elmhurst College Institutional Review Board. bThe version of the activity where students make their own slides was introduced after implementing the basic activity for several years. Data from students who answered “No” or “Not sure” (N = 9) to “I made/created my own three-minute slide in one or more of the seminar courses” were not included for indicated questions.
the student to focus on just these skills, resulting in large gains in these areas. We have found that students incorporate these lessons into their subsequent longer form presentations. Additionally, many tell us they have used these skills in courses in other departments. To further investigate student perceptions of the activity, we distributed an anonymous survey to alumni and to students currently enrolled in a seminar course. Current students were emailed the survey through their college technology account. Alumni from the last seven years were contacted through social media or email when these means were available to us. All contacts to alumni included a request to forward the survey link to other alumni. Participation was voluntary, and no identifying information was collected. Current students and alumni all used the same survey link so we would not know which responses came from current students. The survey responses are shown in Table 2. The students overwhelmingly responded positively about the usefulness of the three-minute slide activity. Over 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with most of the statements, and 87% agreed or strongly agreed that they were challenged by the activity. On a social media thread requesting participation in the survey, one student working in industry spontaneously remarked, “I have to give a presentation on my research as a sales pitch for new business. I’ll have seminar to thank for my success!” Another student responded, “I have to agree that sales pitches [are] very similar to the three-minute slides.” These results suggest that students perceive the exercise to be helpful, worthwhile, and good career preparation due to their repeated practice speaking about chemistry and making their point in just a few minutes. Many of us have adopted the simple version of this activity for other courses, including courses for nonscience majors and first year seminar. Slides assigned in these courses contain less technical information but still use tables, charts, and diagrams related to course content. For example, students in an environmentally themed course may be given slides related to energy imports and exports of a given region, a diagram of a power plant, or charts of air pollution over time. In courses for nonmajors, we provide guidance on where the students can begin to find background material on their assigned slide, usually in the form of a link or reference to the course
textbook. The activity works well as a scaffolding assignment in courses where longer student presentations are also assigned. The three-minute slide activity works well with graphical material across all levels and can easily be incorporated into traditional courses. The activity is efficient, easy to implement and dramatically improves subsequent student presentations.
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
The Supporting Information is available on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00649.
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Sample three-minute slide deck (PDF) Instructor notes and rubrics (PDF, DOCX)
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Ami P. Johanson: 0000-0001-7266-3880 Kimberly A. Lawler-Sagarin: 0000-0002-0579-6875 Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank the students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Elmhurst College for their dedication to improving their oral communication skills in the courses utilizing this activity.
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REFERENCES
(1) American Chemical Society, Committee on Professional Training. Undergraduate Professional Education in Chemistry: ACS Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor’s Degree Programs; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2008. (2) American Chemical Society, Committee on Professional Training. Development of Student Skills in a Chemistry Curriculum; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2008. (3) The LEAP Vision for Learning Outcomes, Practices, Impact, and Employers’ Views; Association of American Colleges and Universities: Washington, DC, 2011. C
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00649 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Communication
(4) LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes. College Learning for the New Global Century: A Report from the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education & America’s Promise; Association of American Colleges and Universities: Washington, DC, 2007. (5) Ashraf, S. S.; Marzouk, S. A. M.; Shehadi, I. A.; Murphy, B. M. An integrated professional and transferable skills course for undergraduate chemistry students. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (1), 44−48. (6) Meyer, G. M. Scientific communication for chemistry majors: A new course. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80 (10), 1174−1177. (7) Kerr, W. J.; Murray, R. E. G.; Moore, B. D.; Nonhebel, D. C. An integrated communication skills package for undergraduate chemists. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77 (2), 191−194. (8) McGowan, G. J.; Eklund, A. G. An Effective Four-Semester, Junior−Senior Approach to a Chemistry Seminar Curriculum. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84 (8), 1299−1300.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00649 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
