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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Public Speaking by University of Washington

4.8
stars
1,996 ratings

About the Course

This course offers a proven framework for crafting and delivering impactful presentations. In the professional world, academic settings, or public life, we're frequently asked to "share some thoughts." Many individuals struggle in these situations. This course aims to make you excel where others stumble. We'll explore how to structure speeches coherently, write memorably, and present confidently. Upon completion, you will diminish your public speaking anxiety, leverage rehearsal methods to develop a robust, engaging speaking voice, and execute speeches with dynamic movements. The speech model we'll practice is versatile for briefings, elevator pitches, interviews, and even as a blueprint for hour-long presentations. Whether you're a novice or an experienced speaker, this course will help you master speaking fundamentals or elevate your public speaking skills to new heights. As a bonus, you'll gain access to an immersive VR experience that lets you perfect your presentation skills in a simulated auditorium or conference room, complete with a virtual audience. You will receive real-time feedback, empowering you to refine your abilities through practice in a realistic setting....

Top reviews

EA

Feb 27, 2017

This course is great. You simply learn a lot in an easy way. The teacher is really good and knows how to teach and engage you in the lessons. I am looking forward to next courses in the specialization

AJ

Jun 5, 2020

Excellent course for who are starting to speak in public or who are already a public speaker, no matter you join this course to get more tools & ideas to make your speech interesting to the audience.

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26 - 50 of 650 Reviews for Introduction to Public Speaking

By Fanta

•

Oct 31, 2017

Difficult to understand

By Anna S A

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Mar 14, 2017

Good allround course with both theoretical and practical parts, because you now can buy a rather expansive certificate from taking the course the quizes are no longer available which is a shame.

By Brandon W

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Oct 21, 2019

I was finished with assignments two weeks in advance with the belief that I could complete the course and receive the certificate early; that is not true. They make you wait until the end, which is very frustrating and inefficient.

By SHARON C S

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Aug 1, 2020

g

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o

d

By Mary E C

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Nov 14, 2020

Ironically the best course I ever enrolled in despite being an introvert with an extreme case of stage fright. I took this course so that I can stop that fear and improve on my speaking skills, and I loved this course. I didn't intend to enroll in the specialization course but now I think I want to. I also really loved the professor, wish we could have someone like him in my college. Cheers!

By Erdem G

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Mar 30, 2021

In every year of high school and university, I found myself presenting in front of the class. When I took this lecture from Matt McGarrity, I realized that I didn't know how to give speeches appropriately. There were many useful techniques to create a key point speech. Now I know how to mesmerize them with the skills I got from this course! Thanks a lot to Coursera and Matt McGarrity

By GiacomoPersici

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Oct 12, 2017

I believe that is great knowing how to speak and how to perform a speech in front of an audience. Unfortunately here we haven’t a real audience, the real one that we really have in front of us when we really have to speak.

This course, helped me anyway a lot, because i couldn’t take the time to follow a real class, and of course thanks to THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON is possible all of this. It is so a great course.

By Anaum S H

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Oct 20, 2020

This course was of great help to me! Toward the end of the course I noticed subtle changes within myself. Earlier I used to try to do everything in my power to not be able to give a speech. Yet, at the end of this course I was looking forward to deliver the speech that I was supposed to. I'm glad I had the opportunity to be a part of this course. Thank you!

By Alejandra P M C

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Aug 24, 2020

Un muy buen curso introductorio pero con todo lo necesario para desarrollar un buen discurso oral, sin importar el tamaño de la audiencia. Da buenos consejos y las lecciones son muy entretenidas y fácil de comprender. El instructor (Dr. Matt McGarrity) es excelente y se nota su habilidad para poder hacer llegar el mensaje a su audiencia así sea a través de una pantalla, gracias!

By Weina S

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Sep 17, 2020

The course is very organized, informative, and helpful! Thank you, Prof.McGarrity, for offering us this wonderful public speaking course. I've gained a great learning experience and learned a great deal from your lectures, case analysis, hands-on practice, quizzes, course summaries, and so on! I'll be joining you for the informative speech. Looking forward to that!

By Fernando U

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Aug 15, 2020

This is an awesome course. In the first two weeks I had the impression the course was trying to use rethoric to teach something unuseful. I couldn't understand why the teacher speaks so fast and gesticulates a lot. But my opinion drastically changed on the following weeks. This is one of the best courses I've made in my life. Excellent teacher and great material.

By Eva D

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Feb 24, 2021

The course taught me a lot about public speaking and was well structured and easy to follow. The videos, for me, were a really good learning experience, since it seemed casual, but also like I was really learning new things. The weekly assignment weren't too difficult but always expected more, which was good. In all I really enjoyed this learning experience.

By Luis C

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Dec 22, 2016

Great course, excellent instructor. The topics are easy to follow up. And easy and practical to apply since day 1 of the course. I have improve in my speeches, I am an instructor so the topic was really important for me and also to my students.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the world.

By Meng W

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May 18, 2021

It would be better if this course has more assignments and speaking practices.

By Perla G R

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Sep 30, 2021

It is a great way to introduce yourself to the Public Speaking

By Mariem B

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Oct 17, 2017

Hello professor Matt,

I've reviewed the course never really expecting a reply. so your comment really surprised me.

thank you so much for sharing your course online and for all the explanations you've been providing.

I really enjoy it a lot !

I feel that most of the reviews I've gotten weren't really helpful in targetting the problems or the points I need to work on.( just like my review on the course I have realised it following your reply ) . They are mostly just too vague. an example of this is someone rating a 3-4 and just saying you did a good job or evreything is ok. then I can't figure out really what they meant.

another thing that bothred me was someone saying you need to work more on tone. I just wish i could talk to the person a bit more and understand what they mean because i ve watched the video again and again and I can't pinpoint if my tone was too monotoneous or was it because of my high pitched voice ( i m sorry i didn't know how to reply to your comment)

By Eric Z

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Dec 22, 2020

This was great as this is an alternative to people who don't have access to a public speaking course at their school or just not at that point yet.

By Yingnan Z

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Feb 9, 2024

It is a very helpful class for public speaking. I like the videos. However, it is hard to get very valuable feedback through peer review.

By GabrielM

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Sep 19, 2023

the peer-review system doesn't work; peers are not serious and lost of ads instead of student work. the professor is excellent

By Daniel M A

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Mar 7, 2021

The content is very good. I was very satisfied with the material. However, the peer-reviewing experience is not quite good yet. Overall, I had only one nice review, in the sense that the reviewer took time to read/watch my work and give me suggestions to improve. Most of my reviewers were shallow, giving superficial comments that did not add anything. That is very frustrating because I dedicate myself to do a complete review of all works I evaluated. Additionally, it seems that the system is very vulnerable to bots. I had reviews that made no sense at all. I really like the idea of peer-reviewing, and I really believe that it works when it is done right. But for the current state of the Coursera system, it undermined my experience with the course.

By BHOSLE R D

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Jan 24, 2020

good

By Zachary A

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Dec 15, 2019

A bit boring

By Ronald H M

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Jul 27, 2022

I want a certificate but I will not be submitting a video. I have tri to un enroll however your procedure does not work.

By Hussain A

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May 8, 2018

so bad

By Oluwakayode O

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Jul 25, 2020

I didn't know what to expect going into this course but taking a look through the overview made me take a punt. It was great, enjoyable and very insightful and covered a lot of ground for an introduction course. The timings were manageable and focused.

The teachings were clear and concise which made it much easier to learn and complete the assignments. The course had many positives but one of my many takeaways would be that It not only teaches you how to think about (and deliver) your speech, it also touches on how to listen, break-down and decode other speeches from a listeners perspective.

I fully recommend to anyone who is thinking of taking this course to do it, I found it very useful and it's a skill I'll be practicing and fine-tuning for a long time. You won't be dissapointed!