Colleagues

isn't interesting that in the responses to Alison's original message, 
there have been no responses that focus on issues of 'skill'. Whether 
the particular student to which Alison refers has a serious social 
phobia or is just overly nervous, the idea that she does not have 
'presentation skills' is clearly misplaced. In contrast, the practices/ 
identity approach provides a way of analysing such situations and 
suggests possible interventions.

There are some key questions that we need to face. For example, why do 
we require students to give in-class presentations? What are the 
relevant arenas of practice, beyond undergraduate study, within which 
those who are now students will be required to give presentations? How 
might we design some progressive programme of the serial rehearsal of 
the relevant practice through the undergraduate programme? How can we be 
sure that students get consistent feedback from the various tutors who 
use student presentations for assessment purposes? (add all the issues 
re. inter-assessor reliability, validity, audit trails, etc - which 
apply to all ephemeral forms of assessment).

But we also need to consider what identity trajectory students need to 
go through in order to (1) legitimately claim the identity of 
undergraduate, then (2) legitimately claim the identity of graduate. How 
might the students be enabled to envision themselves in the desired 
identities?

If the particular student mentioned requires major therapeutic 
intervention, then it would be improper to force them to undergo the 
potentially traumatic experience of making a presentation in class. But 
why has the student reached their second year without this matter being 
addressed? I guess there are many hundreds of students for whom making a 
presentation in class makes them so nervous that they are not able to 
benefit from the experience. One suggestion would be to use video 
recording to enable the students to view themselves under different 
experiential circumstances. In the past, I have used Interpersonal 
Process Recall when training in presentation skills, but not 
specifically to address issues of nerves/ phobia. However, the method 
does, as expected, seem to enable the individual to recall feelings in a 
non-threatening manner. Of course, IPR was developed within a 
counselling and therapeutic context. From an identity framework, I would 
suggest that it enables the focal person to rehearse forms of self.

But I suspect it is much easier to produce corporate documents that list 
'skills' that have been 'integrated' into the curriculum than to engage 
in the hard work of analysing the real issues that face those who are 
directly engaged in the educational process (a.k.a. 'learning and 
teaching').

regards

Len Holmes



Alison Green wrote:

> hello,
> Can anyone offer any useful new suggestions to allay presentation 
> nerves please? I have written resources on presentations and give 
> regular workshops on presentations so I probably know many of the 
> usual strategies. However, I currently have a 2nd year student for 
> whom this is a real problem and I'm running out of ideas. She has 
> delivered the presentation to her sympathetic tutor in his office and 
> has officially passed. However, he has suggested she delivers it again 
> in front of a small group of students to help overcome her demons. 
> Even though she had positive feedback, she's distraught at the 
> prospect; not just anxious but weeping at the thought of this and 
> future presentations in her final year. Any ideas?
> Regards, Alison
> Alison Green
> Study Support Tutor
> Room DLG20
> Ext: 65727
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-- 

--------------------------------------------------------
Dr Leonard Holmes
Manager, Management Research Centre
London Metropolitan University
Holloway Road, London N7 8DB
tel. +44 (0)20 7133 3032
email: [log in to unmask]
websites:
http://www.re-skill.org.uk
http://www.odysseygroup.org.uk