This FAQ addresses questions we've received from students. If you have a question that isn't answered below, please check the Course Info or About the Course areas (see top menu). For questions on assignments, review instructions in the Speech Assignment Submission and Peer Review area. If your question is still not answered, please search the class discussion forums, as someone may have already asked a similar question and received a response; if you still can't find the answer, post the question in the forum yourself. Thank you for your interest in public speaking and in this class!
- For my assigned peer review, I received a URL for a speech, but the link doesn’t work. I’m supposed to grade the speech. What should I do?
It may be that the student gave you an incorrect URL or the YouTube video is mistakenly set to “Private.” Unfortunately, you will not be able to grade this individual. So that you can proceed in the assignment, please respond as follows: - Enter a 0 for the speech grades.
- Leave a comment explaining to the submitter that you were unable to view their video with the URL provided.
- I’m hoping to get in more speech practice and would like feedback. Can I post optional speeches?
Yes, if these speeches conform to the assignments in this course. This forum is specifically for students who wish to share links to their speeches and get feedback from class members. Remember to set your YouTube video to "Unlisted," rather than "Private." - I missed the deadline for submitting my speech. Can I still participate?
Yes. Please see #2 above. - I didn’t get feedback from my peer reviewers. What can I do?
We are not able to assign new reviewers to a student’s submission. If you wish, you can post the link to your speech (set to “Unlisted”) on this discussion forum, and other students in the course may volunteer to review it and provide feedback. - What does the clock icon in the Courseware area mean?
The clock icon simply indicates there is a graded item in that section. - I'd like to discuss course topics with other students. How can I find active threads?
There are two ways of accessing discussion forums. Some forums, set up by the instructor, are embedded in the lessons (in "Courseware"). You can find these same forums by clicking "Discussion" in the top menu. The post feed is at the left; click the down arrow next to “All Discussions” and scroll through the list to find the forums sorted by week.
In this Discussion area you can also initiate your own discussions and join the threads started by others in the class. Threads here can be sorted in various ways. Above the post feed, at right, select one of these options from the dropdown menu: - “by recent activity” sorts by most recently posted;
- “by most activity” brings up the posts that have the most replies; and
- “by most votes” brings up the most highly rated posts.