With MediaShare, students are able to easily upload videos of their speeches to their MySpeechLab course. Instructors and students can then view the student speeches and provide feedback via time-stamped comments. Videos can be marked private, so that only the instructor and the student who uploaded the video, can see them.
In an easy-to-navigate and easy-to-manage format, instructors can post assignments with instructions and due dates, and then evaluate their students’ speeches online—with comments tied to exact places in the videotaped speech. Instructors can easily search and sort by assignment, by student, or by number of comments. In addition, the instructor home page lists the number of videos uploaded to an assignment, number of students that haven’t submitted a video and number of videos waiting for instructor comment(s).
When students use MediaShare to review their own speeches, it will help them improve their speaking and delivery skills for future speaking assignments. Being able to view their instructor’s feedback in the context of their videotaped speech provides students with a better understanding of comments received and thus help them isolate and improve particular areas of weakness more effectively. If the speeches are marked for view by the class, students can view each others’ speeches. MediaShare offers students a unique opportunity to self-reflect on their own presentations as well as learn from their peers’. Students also improve their analytical skills by providing feedback for others’ speeches.
Having one place to assign, view and evaluate speeches makes the basic speech course easy to manage for instructors and fun for students. In addition, students and instructors can refer back to the uploaded speeches to truly see how each student‘s speaking skills and confidence have progressed throughout the course.