Exploring Public Speaking: The Open Educational Resource College Public Speaking Textbook, Edition 4.2 (2023)

Introduction to the Edition 4.2 (2022) of Exploring Public Speaking

Exploring Public Speaking: The Open Educational Resource College Public Speaking Textbook began as the brainchild of Dr. Kris Barton, former Chair of the Department of Communication at Dalton State College in Dalton, Georgia. It also was made possible through a generous Textbook Transformation Grant in 2015 from Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG), a highly successful program of the University System of Georgia. We have already been able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars for students at our institution with this text, and millions of dollars have been saved for students through the Affordable Learning Georgia program.

In applying for the first grant, Dr. Barton asked me to help him author/compile the text. The original goal of our creation of Exploring Public Speaking was to provide a high-quality, usable, accessible, and low-cost textbook for the hundreds of students who take COMM 1110 at Dalton State College every year. This course is required of all degree-seeking students at our institution.

Dr. Barton and I worked on creating the textbook from July 2015 until May 2016, with the goal of going live with the text in Summer of 2016. Tragically, Dr. Barton passed away in early May 2016. He has been greatly missed as a friend, colleague, father, scholar, teacher, and mentor.

However, the launch of the book proceeded. In Summer 2017 I took on a significant revision and update, which I named the Second Edition. In that edition, I included information on college student success in the appendices for institutional reasons, and we have chosen to continue including those. In January 2018, colleague Matthew LeHew and I won a grant from the University System to create the ancillaries and improve the format for more accessibility. In April 2019, we were awarded another mini-grant to further revise the text and create a website for it. For the fourth edition and succeeding ones, we have removed “Dalton State” from the title and most examples for wider appeal. An appendix on library research retains the information for specific use of Roberts Library on our campus.

We felt these changes were needed in the fourth and following editions because, unexpectedly and happily, the text has also been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times from the University System of Georgia site, from our website (https://www.exploringpublicspeaking.com), and from other sites by readers all over the world as of January 2023. It is used on six continents and has been adopted at over 300 institutions (to our knowledge), including state universities, well-known private universities, community and technical colleges, liberal arts colleges, training programs, and dual enrollment programs. Faculty users are welcome to contact me at the email address on the copyright page for access to the ancillaries, or through the textbook’s official website.

Over 90% of the book was created by Dr. Barton, me, or other colleagues at Dalton State College. Some parts, specifically from Chapters 9, 10, and 15, are adapted from another open resource public speaking text whose author prefers not to be cited.

In Exploring Public Speaking, especially in its second through current editions, we have attempted to create a usable, zero-cost textbook for basic public speaking courses or courses that include basic public speaking skills as one of their primary learning outcomes. The free, open nature of the text means that instructors are able to use all or part of it, and add their own materials. We have also ensured that it meets ADA requirements for accessibility.

We believe this text addresses all the subjects that traditional publishers’ books would address in an appropriate writing style and with appropriate college-level learning theory in mind. The appendices address some additional topics that might be excluded from most texts, but that we believe add to the experience: learning theory, plagiarism, speaking online, speaking to diverse audiences, and humor in public speaking. In the third and fourth editions we have added “case study” examples and some different outline samples.

We think this book is especially useful in coverage of PowerPoint, audience analysis and responsiveness, ethics in public speaking, persuasion, special occasion speeches, and structure of speeches. Because it was written by communication professors with decades of experience in the classroom, we are aware of the needs of basic public speaking students. Currently, slide decks and test banks for the 15 main chapters are available.

Two editorial notes: As per the American Collegiate Dictionary (2016), in most cases we use the pronoun “they” when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun, whether singular or plural, to avoid the awkward he/she/him/her/his/her combinations in most cases. Second, we admit to some redundancy in the textbook. Because it is an open educational resource, some users do not access the whole text. For clarity, sometimes a concept explained in a preceding chapter is re-explained.

Finally, this edition was completed during the events of 2023 in the United States. These events include contentious politics; protests; inflation; a war in Eastern Europe as well as other parts of the world; and of course, our attempts to reconstruct “normal” after an unprecedented (in our lives) global pandemic. At the risk of being obtuse, the authors have chosen not to include many references to those events in this text for a few reasons. The events are ongoing and by the time students and instructors use the book, the situations that plague us now may be very different; the book is used all over the world, not just the U.S.; and we believe writing about those events would distract from the basic goal of the text. There have been requests to address more political issues, such as power and equity, in the text. While we are very sensitive to these concerns, we believe these matters are outside our expertise and better addressed in other venues. However, as communication scholars and teachers, we have faith in the power of good communication to address these issues.

Due to transitions in the lives of the main authors, 4.2 (2022) may be the last revision of Exploring Public Speaking. However, as an open educational resource, it belongs to everyone and those who follow the Creative Commons guidelines are free to adapt and revise as fits their needs.

Thank you for downloading Exploring Public Speaking, Edition 4.2, and the co-authors and I truly wish you happy teaching and learning with it. We welcome input. If you choose to use it, let us know at btucker@daltonstate.edu. We keep a database of those who contact us about the book so that we can contact you about the text.

Sincerely,

Barbara G. Tucker

Authors and Contributors