Oral Communication (OC) 

1. Courses in this category give students multiple opportunities to develop oral communication skills.
2. Courses in the category contain at least two speaking events per student, at least one of which is a limited preparation event and at least one of which is a prepared speaking event.
3. Courses in this category provide students direct instruction or guidance on best practices in oral communication and provide students meaningful feedback on their oral communication skills.
4. Courses in this category include, as a required resource, a reference guide to public speaking.
5. Courses in this category include an assessment assignment that requires students to demonstrate each of the skills in the Oral Communication Assessment Rubric (below). This assessment assignment should be an individual, live presentation on a topic appropriate to the content of the course.

1. Students will demonstrate a clearly and consistently observable organizational pattern (specific introduction and conclusion, sequenced material within the body, and transitions) within the context of a presentation.
2. Students will make language choices in the context of a presentation that are thoughtful, appropriate to the audience, and generally support the effectiveness of the presentation.
3. Students will use delivery techniques (posture, gestures, eye contact, and vocal expressiveness) that make the presentation interesting and make the speaker appear comfortable.
4. Students will use supporting materials (explanations, examples, illustrations, statistics, analogies, quotations from relevant authorities) make appropriate reference t information or analysis that generally supports the presentation or establishes the presenter's credibility/authority on the topic.
5. Students will develop a main thesis that is clear and consistent with the supporting material.

Students may apply to fulfill the OC requirement through a co-curricular activity. These criteria apply to experiences that meet the OC curricular requirement and describe the characteristics of the experience, the steps a student must follow to petition the experience for approval, and the number and types of assignments students must submit to satisfy the requirement.


1. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must be approved in advance. Students must submit a pre-approval petition and must obtain verification of participation.

2. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must comprise a total of 15 minutes of involvement that include multiple, audience-driven instances of individual, oral communication.

3. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must include mechanisms for third-party feedback about the quality of the performance.

4. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must include speaking events that provide individuals with at least 12 minutes of audience-driven speaking.

5. Mediated oral communication events (through video recording, Skype, Zoom, etc.) should ideally only count for up to half of the required speaking time.

6. Students fulfilling oral communication through an activity must submit EITHER a link to a recording of one presentations completed as part of the activity, or, in cases where that is not possible (such is any cases where an activity is completed prior to matriculation as SMU), a written reflection of at least 1000 words that responds to the following prompt:

Please describe in detail the activity you used to complete the Oral Communication requirement. In your reflection, answer the following questions. How did you meet the requirement of completing one prepared and one spontaneous presentation? Who was the audience for your presentations? What resources did you use to understand how best to present to your audience? What supporting materials did you use during your presentations? Who provided feedback on your presentations? How did your ability to communicate information through a presentation improve?

7. Students fulfilling oral communication through an activity must submit a written post-activity reflection detailing how the activity met the learning outcomes for the requirement, and what the student gained and learned from the experience.

1. Direct instruction or guidance: Providing formal instruction on best practices in delivering live, oral communication in a specific context, or presenting students with prepared materials (e.g., readings, video tutorials) that deliver such formal instruction.
2. Extemporaneous communication: The ability to spontaneously frame ideas, provide answers, speak clearly, and articulate thoughts verbally, in the moment, without preparation.
3. Live communication: Communication that occurs when a speaker delivers a message (prepared or extemporaneous) in real-time, in the presence of an audience. The message can be delivered in-person or via a video-conferencing platform.
4. Meaningful feedback: Detailed commentary and critique on all relevant aspects of a student’s speaking event. Such commentary should reflect upon the student’s ability, based on his or her speaking event, to demonstrate the skills highlighted in this rubric.
5. Organizational pattern: The logical structure within a message. This structure supports the thesis, and is typically indicated by terms of enumeration and logical progression.
6. Prepared communication: A live oral communication event in which a student has at least 24 hours of preparation time to respond to a prompt, expecting at least four minutes of live presentation before an audience of at least four people. This speech should indicate a clear introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion.
7. Speaking events: Live situations in which a person speaks directly to at least four other people, either through a mediated format (such as a Zoom meeting) or in a face-to-face context (such as during a class presentation or sales pitch).

Students may use pre-matriculation transfer coursework, concurrent enrollment, dual-credit, and test credit (AP or IB) to satisfy Graduation requirements. The coursework must be college-level, credit-bearing work, taken and passed for a letter grade. Students must receive SMU transfer credit for the course.

Courses that transfer in with an SMU equivalent number (for example FREN 2401) will automatically satisfy any Proficiency & Experience requirements fulfilled by the course. The same is true for many courses on the listed on the SMU Transfer Equivalency Guide. 

Courses that transfer in with generic course numbers (for example, ENGL 10XX) will not automatically satisfy Proficiency & Experience requirements and must be petitioned using the Proficiency & Experience (PE) Fulfillment Verification petition.

 

Students must submit one petition for each graduation requirement, even if they are using a single course to petition multiple requirements. Students may use a single course to satisfy up to three Proficiency & Experience requirements (assuming the course meets the criteria for all three).  

 

How to petition generic transfer coursework:

1. Fill out the Petition for Alternative Fulfillment, selecting the requirement they are hoping to fulfill and checking the second option that says “I am a current or transfer student, and I am requesting fulfillment through a dual-credit or transfer course.”
2. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
3. Attach a copy of the Transfer Evaluation Report (TER), showing that the course being petitioned has transferred to SMU for credit. Visit my.SMU > Academics > Request Transfer Evaluation
4. Attach a brief supporting statement, using the provided template, that explains how the course fulfills the Proficiency & Experience being petitioned.

Petitions are electronic and are usually reviewed within two weeks of receipt. Students should not assume that a petition has been completely processed until they receive a formal notification of approval or denial from the Office of General Education via The Common Curriculum email (theccmail@smu.edu). The formal notification, in cases of approval, follows the formal update to the students Degree Progress Report (DPR), noting that the petitioned requirement is satisfied.

Use the course search options below to find Oral Communication-tagged courses at SMU. Following successful completion of the course, your Degree Progress Report (DPR) will be updated to reflect satisfying this graduation requirement. Learn how to find tagged courses below via one of two means. 

Search courses on the Common Curriculum website:

1. Go to Course Search on the SMU Common Curriculum website
2. Click Filter by Graduation Requirements and select Oral Communication

Search courses in my.SMU:

1. Go to my.smu.edu and select “Students”
2. Login using your username and password
3. Once logged into your Student Dashboard, select Class Information on the left-hand side bar
4. Under Class Information, select Advanced Class Search
5. In the Search Criteria boxes:
   1. select the term you want to take the class
   2. in Course Attribute, select Common Curriculum P & E
   3. in Course Attribute Value, select Oral Communication
6. Select Search and the available courses will be displayed

Students may apply to fulfill the OC requirement through a co-curricular activity. These criteria apply to experiences that meet the HD curricular requirement and describe the characteristics of the experience, the steps a student must follow to petition the experience for approval, and the number and types of assignments students must submit to satisfy the requirement.

Before the Individual Activity:

1. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must be approved in advance. Students must submit a pre-approval petition and must obtain verification of participation.
2. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must comprise a total of 15 hours of involvement that include multiple, audience-driven instances of individual, oral communication.
3. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must include mechanisms for third-party feedback about the quality of the performance.

Complete the Individual Activity: 

During the individual activity:

1. Activities in fulfillment of this requirement must include speaking events that provide individuals with at least 12 minutes of audience-driven speaking.
2. Mediated oral communication events (through video recording, Skype, Zoom, etc.) should ideally only count for up to half of the required speaking time.

After the Individual Activity:

1. Students fulfilling oral communication through an activity must submit EITHER a link to a recording of one presentations completed as part of the activity, or, in cases where that is not possible (such is any cases where an activity is completed prior to matriculation as SMU), a written reflection of at least 1000 words that responds to the following prompt: Please describe in detail the activity you used to complete the Oral Communication requirement. In your reflection, answer the following questions. How did you meet the requirement of completing one prepared and one spontaneous presentation? Who was the audience for your presentations? What resources did you use to understand how best to present to your audience? What supporting materials did you use during your presentations? Who provided feedback on your presentations? How did your ability to communicate information through a presentation improve?
2. Students fulfilling oral communication through an activity must submit a written post-activity reflection detailing how the activity met the learning outcomes for the requirement, and what the student gained and learned from the experience.

Sometimes students complete, or desire to take, an SMU course which was not tagged with the desired Proficiency & Experience, but after reviewing the Student Learning Outcomes, Supporting Skills, Course Content Criteria (outlined above), they believe they may have satisfied the requirement. Use this process below to petition credit for the graduation requirement. 

Current SMU students who wish to take an SMU course that they believe has activities that satisfy this Proficiency & Experience, must submit, prior to beginning the course:

1. The Proficiency & Experience (PE) Pre-Approval petition and request individual activity-based fulfillment.
2. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
3. A detailed supporting statement, using the provided template, of how the activities in the course meet the requirements for Community Engagement.

Upon completion of the course and a posting of the student's grade, students must submit:

1. Fill out the Proficiency & Experience (PE) Fulfillment Verification petition.
2. A copy of the student's Degree Progress Report (DPR) with the letter grade of the course. 
3. Attach a complete syllabus which includes a daily schedule, grade breakdown, assignments, and assigned readings.
4. A final supporting statement, using the provided template, which explores the service opportunity, the student’s participation in it, and the ways in which the experience has impacted the student in the identified areas.

There are a number of pre-approved clubs or organizations which can fulfill the Oral Communication and Experience. Review them below and get in touch with their organizers to begin. 

Some SMU clubs and organizations offer opportunities to fulfill the Oral Communication. For a full list of approved activities, click here.