Speech / Public Speaking course without a live audience?

Hello. I am attending FHSU and the last course I need to take is the speech or public speaking class. The class at FHSU requires a live audience but it would be very very difficult for me to find a reliable English speaking audience that wouldn't expect compensation.

The local college has very strict rules as to what classifies a resident, unlike other non-local colleges in my state so my tuition for that single class would be over $1000

I have no problem if it has to do with me uploading a speech and have it graded by my classmates.

TMA 150 Public Speaking - BYU Independent Study - Online Courses

I found the one at BYU through this forum but I would have to check to see if it is transferable.

Any other reccomendations?

 

The DSST test in Principles of Public Speaking [pdf] is recommended for three semester hours by the American Council on Education, and is accepted directly by FHSU, up to a maximum of 30 semester hours from all testing programs like DSST, CLEP and AP, it seems.

You will have a little preparation time and a fairly common-knowledge topic to make, IIRC, a three to five minute speech on that the testing center will record and send to the DSST people, where an instructor in public speaking will evaluate it.

Cost is 80 dollars for the DSST plus an administration fee set by your local test center, typically 20 to 70 dollars? If you take an Internet-based exam (the medium offered by most test centers) by May 31, use the promotional code WEB10OFF when you enter your payment information for the DSST before you start the test, and you get 10 dollars off.

Even if you had already met the 30 semester hour maximum, they just might still accept this towards the speech requirement provided you made up the three semester hours by coursework in another subject.

 

Yes the DSST is another option but naturally, my concern is failing the speech portion and having wasted the money. I also heard the turn around time for results is 8 weeks. Is that accurate?

 

You should check directly with FHSU to see if the BYU speech class is transferable. If it is, then I would highly recommend it:

See my thread at:

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/34347-byu-independent-study-public-speaking.html

 

I could believe that; I haven't taken it myself.

 

RP, note the post on the second page of the (wonderfully helpful) thread Dr. Ambrose posted, from BlueMason: "FHSU won't recognize it due to the fact that there is no 'public speaking' involved - ensure that your school will accept this BYU course before you take the plunge."

Now, this was two years ago, perhaps in just one student's situation; they might accept it in yours today. You might dig up and note that award Dr. Piña recalls the BYU course won.

 

Well, that's a stupid requirement IMO. Isn't there any other class you could take instead? Have you asked you advisor. Explain to her your situation. They should be able to override that requirement and substitute in a different course. There is no reason they can't (it's not an accreditation issue) but they could get lazy.

 

Just so we are clear, you think that requiring a public speaking portion during a public speaking class is stupid?

 

No, I think that he has to take a public speaking course at all is what's stupid. Rather than trying to wiggle around and figure out how to take a public speaking course without public speaking, it's better just to substitute some other course for it.

Sorry if that was unclear.

 

As someone who took a residential public speaking course (with lots of practical exercises), I think that if you just have to take the course and don't care about public speaking, then go with whatever the school will accept.

If you actually want to improve your public speaking skills, there is no way to impart the nervousness and anxiety of public speaking without actually doing it.

 

This thread has become a little off-topic. For me it really has nothing to do with fear of speaking in front of an audience or anything like that. I have taken a Speech class in high school and have had to read in front of a class in college.

So...apart from BYU are there any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the help so far.