Potential disruptive innovation: online learning of public speaking courses in higher education

Abstract

Purpose The sudden pandemic of COVID-19 has caused disruptive innovation in all areas of business including education. Despite the educators’ and students’ acceptance and readiness in the new normal, the traditional face-to-face (FTF) public speaking has been shifted to online courses to suit the current needs. This study aims to examine whether there were differences between online and FTF pubic speaking in the students’ anxiety level, speech performance, as well as their perceptions of the challenges in the implementation of online public speaking courses as a potential to disruptive innovation. Design/methodology/approach This pilot study was a mixed method research that involved a purposive sampling of two groups of 39 students in higher education. The instruments used were questionnaires of self-report anxiety, speech performance test and observation. Findings The findings show that the students preferred the traditional FTF rather than the online mode for public speaking courses. The challenges of internet connection and the lack of a live audience were their main concerns in online public speaking. It also provides a potential for disruptive innovation that could take into consideration of a live audience in university online courses. Originality/value This study provides the potential of public speaking course as a disruptive innovation. This brings implications for the innovators, marketers and educators to think of the online courses/programmes that can be best implemented while embracing the changes and the new normal of COVID-19 brings for student learning.

A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of research on COVID‐19 in strategy journals

“…Innovation during COVID‐19 is often associated and linked with technology and digital transformation (Leão & da Silva, 2021; Marshall et al, 2021; Park, 2021) when designing strategic orientation for the future. The focus is high on activities related to health sector (Oliveira & e Cunha, 2021; Stiller et al, 2021) and education (Kahan, 2020; Yee et al, 2021). There is also a renewed interest in understanding the role and weight of digital platforms.…”

“…Park, 2021) when designing strategic orientation for the future. The focus is high on activities related to health sector(Oliveira & e Cunha, 2021;Stiller et al, 2021) and education(Kahan, 2020;Yee et al, 2021). There is also a renewed interest in understanding the role and weight of digital platforms.…”

Teaching the Online Presentation: Aiming at Success

“…As online education became more prevalent in recent decades, universities began to offer online courses—for example, courses about English as a second language (e.g., Xu et al, 2021) and about public speaking (e.g., Broeckelman-Post et al, 2019; Ward, 2016)—that required students to make presentations. So far, however, studies of such courses have emphasized questions about online delivery of training for conventional face-to-face presentations (e.g., Ledford et al, 2023; Yee et al, 2022)—not the training of students to make online presentations.…”

Understanding Students’ Online Learning Behavior Using Utaut Model – The Case of North Macedonia

“…Students who find it difficult to speak in front of others may want to participate more in online discussions. Still, some findings show that students preferred the traditional mode over the online mode, which provides a potential for disruptive innovation by taking into account a live audience in university online courses (Yee et al, 2022). Students benefit from teachers being more accessible in online learning because, unlike in classroom learning, they can submit questions at any time and instructors can respond at any time without being confined to a desk or office, which is especially useful if a student's schedule conflicts with office hours and a question arise at the last minute.…”