Can people improve their oratory skills by interacting with peers online? If yes, how can we enhance the skill development process?

Across the global economy, oral communication competence is regarded as a key soft-skill needed in today’s workplace. In this project, we explore whether and how online interactions with peer learners can help people improve their oratory skills.

In our first study, 158 participants in 6 independent online learning communities interacted with each other over 10 days. Every other day, they were given a speech prompt. They recorded video speeches themselves and exchanged feedback with their peers. They could choose which of the peers they wanted to provide feedback to. We measure speech quality by average ratings, and use Graph Signal Processing tools to mine the data. We find evidence that as the participants interact with each other, they gradually improve their skills, and at the same time perform closer to the peers they interact with.

In the second study, we answer why and how such peer-enhanced improvement occurs. 60 participants in 2 groups followed a similar protocol, only this time their peers were fixed throughout the study. We analyze the data quantitatively and qualitatively. We characterize helpful comments using linguistic features and shed light on the affective markers they bear. Using qualitative methods, we identify key peer-influence factors that contribute to the learning process, such as context-driven feedback, first-hand demonstration, empathetic support, acknowledgment, opinion diversity, sense of community and comfort in interaction.

Publications

R. Shafipour, R. A. Baten, M. K. Hasan, G. Ghoshal, G. Mateos, and M. E. Hoque, Buildup of speaking skills in an online learning community: A network-analytic exploration, Palgrave Communications, vol. 4(1), pp. 1-10, June 2018

R. A. Baten, F. Clark and M. E. Hoque, Upskilling Together: How Peer-interaction Influences Speaking-skills Development Online, 8th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2019), Cambridge, UK, September 2019