MOOC and professional skills development: Enhancing public speaking competence with international teams through Google Classroom

Abstract

The development of professional skills is one of the most important challenges that Higher Education faces these days. In this sense, the ability to speak in public becomes one of these essential competences to promote during university education because it allows professionals to be better prepared to face life and be more competitive in the labor market. This work exposes the designed a MOOC, applying the Canvas Model, to develop the ability to speak in public of students from two universities; The European University of Madrid, in Spain, and Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana, in Honduras. Using Google Classroom and YouTube audiovisuals, the training was developed taking advantage of self-evaluation and collaborative learning that resulted from observing and giving feedback to other participants. The results of this learning experience revealed that the virtual training program allowed improvements in the performance of the participants, especially in the way of introducing their presentations and the use of non-verbal communication to enhance the message.