top of page

Supporting OCxC with
Communication Centers/Speech Labs

The integration of both oral and written communication into general education is often referred to as Communication Across/In the Disciplines/Curriculum. A wide variety of acronyms capture this interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary endeavor, including: OCxC /OCAC, CxC/CAC, SAC, or CAD/CID, SAD, SALAD, WOVE, SAW... Public speaking, or "presentation skills," in General Education (GenEd or GE) is often called Oral Communication Across the Curriculum (OCxC).

​

Universities take a variety of approaches in implementing these programs: 

  • Speaking intensive programs designate specific courses as ones in which students will participate in multiple, varied, speaking opportunities. 

  • General faculty development and student lab/faculty development initiatives use workshops, retreats and other forms of ongoing training, support and counseling to prepare faculty and support students in speaking classes. 

  • Combined initiative programs partner with other campus initiatives to connect communication skills with other modalities.

  • Discipline-specific programs focus on integrating communication into particular fields with emphasis on discipline-specific communication and instruction, and may rely on interdisciplinary teaching.

  • Communication in General Education approaches may borrow from several of these, such as blending speaking intensive options (like SUNY Cortland's COM210) with discipline-specific options (other PRES-designated courses at Cortland), with or without development and support (Cortland has peer tutoring for COM210, speech preparation support through The Writing Center, and these resources plus one-on-one consultations by the Presentation Skills Coordinator).

​

Communication Centers gained a national presence around 2001 through the grassroots efforts of speech faculty who recognized the advantages of providing support to student speakers outside the classroom. They provide support and tutoring for students and faculty in oral communication across the curriculum programs and are developed according to the needs of each institution and their students. The benefits of peer, and faculty, tutoring through the Centers include opportunities to:

  • Systematically apply the communication competency construct  - ability and willingness to make the most of shared meaning- to undergraduates 

  • Expand and improve opportunities to deal with communication apprehension 

  • Allow for direct support to students with specific or special needs

  • Create active learning environments 

  • Increase the integration of technology 

  • Improve student and programmatic assessment 

  • Augment faculty support with consistency and training opportunities​

Furthermore, Communication Centers can serve a role in stakeholder networking for universities, providing service, support, and information, and even partnering with communities, businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

What They Do

What They Need

How to Assess Them

Image by Beatriz Pérez Moya

Further Reading

Empowering Public Speaking, by D.L. Fassett & K. Nainby (2021)

 

Speech Writing in Theory and Practice, by J.W. Kjeldsen, A. Kiewe, M. Lund, & J. Barnholdt Hansen (2019)

​

Out in the Center: Public Controversies and Private Struggles, by H. Denny, R. Mundy, L.M. Navdan, R. Severe, & A. Sicari (2018)

bottom of page