Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation
Drawing of Man Pointing at Pie Chart

Embodied Rhetoric in Online Presentations

Main content start

When thinking about teaching presentations on-line, we will need to think about how to best take advantage of digital affordances and address potential issues around digital access. Given the transformed rhetorical situation of speaking online in virtual settings, the goal of this activity is to open up the range of ways we imagine rhetorical embodiment in the Oral Delivery of Research Presentation. Moreover, in offering students a range of presentation choices and tech/timing options, we provide more accessible approaches to presentation and encourage students to view the semiotic worlds they already inhabit as resources for argument-making.  

In this asynchronous activity, students will 1) watch at least two Lunsford presentations 2) post a short response to the prompts below and 3) share out prompt reflections in small groups during the following class. 

Activity title: Embodied rhetorics in online presentations: Reimaging presence and audience engagement

Authors: Chris Kamrath & Jennifer Johnson

Course: PWR 2

Activity length and schedule:

  • Asynch: 30-40 minutes: Viewing presentations & posting response to discussion board)
  • Synch: 20 minutes: Follow up discussion in class

Activity goals:

  • Understand the range of communicative, linguistic, semiotic and rhetorical possibilities when opening modal and digital choices for the online ODR presentation 
  • Challenge and expand our perspectives on presence and audience engagement in presentation
  • Encourage students to view the semiotic worlds they inhabit as resources for crafting and presenting arguments  

Activity details:  Please find the handout here.

Additional notes: A variation of the asynch engagement: Ask students to read and briefly respond with 1 or 2 comments/questions to 4-5 of their peers’ responses before the class discussion. You might also use Slack or another discussion forum/format.