The public speaking portfolio

Because we wish to encourage students to be more mindful of communication and their roles as evolving, improving communicators, this paper describes a pedagogical tool for encouraging active reflection in the public speaking classroom, namely the Public Speaking Portfolio. This paper first investigates the rationale for and benefits of using a portfolio. Next the authors describe the content and form of the portfolio, discuss how it is assessed, and present survey results measuring students’ perceptions of the portfolio's effectiveness in the classroom. The conclusion examines the unique challenges of portfolio use and offers specific guidelines for successfully integrating portfolios into the classroom.