Creating effective business presentations/Learning challenges

A distinctive feature of this course is the inclusion of a number of "hands on" and "learn-by-doing" learning challenges that correspond to important pathway learning outcomes.

Description

A learning challenge is a substantive e-learning activity where learners are invited to:

• Create an artefact, and/or
• Demonstrate digital skills, and
• Share their experiences and reflections with fellow learners.

The learning challenges are designed to provide scaffolding and the corresponding skills development needed for successful completion of the course outcomes. The learning challenges are optional for learners participating for self-interest but are valuable in developing your knowledge and skills. If you plan to seek formal credit for this course, completing the learning challenges is strongly recommended.

Key points

Each learning challenge is divided into three component parts:

1. Start section: which provides a summary, a purpose statement and stimulus resource links to help you get started with your learning challenge.
2. Tasks section: which provides detailed step-by-step instructions of the task activities needed to achieve the outputs.
3. Outputs section: which provides the learning outcome actions to demonstrate what you were able to achieve with your learning challenge. In our open courses we encourage participants to share what they create through their personal blogs.

Summary of learning challenges in this course

There is an orientation section of the course with some important startup tasks as well as five learning challenges (one per learning pathway) integrated into this course.

Learning challenge	Description
0. Orientation	Complete start-up tasks needed to complete course.
1. Communication Style Flexing Challenge	Self assess your communication style and prepare outlines to make two different types of informative presentation.
2. Informative Presentation Challenge	Complete an informative presentation for a specific audience of your choice.
3. Elevator Speech Challenge	Create an effective elevator speech using audience-centred approaches.
4. Create Visual Aids Challenge	Develop a few visual aids to enhance an audience-centred informative presentation.
5. Create a Sound Bite Challenge	Create a sound bite for a product or service you want to market, or that you find appealing.