Welcome to Week One!
“Road Map for Week 1” • For this week, you’re going to learn how to embed a video to the Week 1 Forum. After completing this task, you should feel comfortable uploading your graded speeches. Please complete your first Forum post by midnight on Wednesday of Week 1. This includes your 200250 written word introduction as well as embedding your video. You have until Sunday night to respond to at least 2 other student introductions. There are instructions in this week’s lesson packet on how to embed the video properly to the forum. Keep in mind that once you are done embedding your video, the actual video should appear on your forum, not just the link where we would have to leave the classroom to view your video. Most students like to do a trial run and record themselves doing a brief introduction and then upload this recording to YouTube. The instructions on how to embed the video take it from the point that you have successfully uploaded your video to YouTube. If you don’t want to record yourself for this first video, you can simply embed one of your favorite videos from YouTube as long as it is in good taste. It’s up to you what you want to do. If you’ve never recorded and uploaded a video, you might want to begin there. In addition, you’ll log-in to the Thinkwell website, which contains all of the course textbook material. To log-in to Thinkwell, please see the information below. This information is also contained within the COMM 200 Course Syllabus.
You will need to create an account in the Thinkwell database here: www.thinkwell.com/help/register/apus In order to register, you will need the pass code that you received in an email from the Registrar when you first registered for the class. If you no longer have this email and the pass code, you will need to contact the registrar to get a copy of it. After registering, you may simply log in by using your log-in name and password to go directly to class at: http://www.thinkwell.com Important Notes: When registering on Thinkwell, be sure you leave "West Virginia" and "American Public University" in the drop-down boxes where they appear. If they do not appear in the drop-down boxes, then select them, even though you may live in a different state or country and even though you may be enrolled in American Military University instead of American Public University. "West Virginia" and "American Public University" are the default settings for your successful enrollment in the Thinkwell Public Speaking classroom. For "Course/Selection" you should choose "COMM200 Public Speaking – (Month and Year), Section (4 Alphanumeric Course Identifier, such as B001) (Instructor Name)" as the class in which you enroll. Hopefully that will be at the top of the list when you click on the drop-down menu. If you come to a page that says you also have to pay an additional fee, ignore that, as Thinkwell bills the University directly for this service, which is covered in your tuition. This is where you need the code that was sent by the registrar. Again, if you no longer have this code, you will need to contact the registrar’s office to get it. Unfortunately, instructors don’t have these codes for you. If there is anything else other than missing the code that keeps you from registering on Thinkwell, please contact me and I’ll see what I can do to help.

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I. Learning Objectives for Week 1 1. Delineate the benefits, history, and theories of communication. 2. Describe the elements of public speaking. 3. Describe the ethical principles of speakers and listeners. 4. Describe the indicators of speaker anxiety.

II. Thinkwell Assignment
• Thinkwell Public Speaking sections 1.1 through 1.4.4

III. Forum Assignment
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Please contribute to Forum #1 – Introducing Yourself. Note: your 200-250 word written introduction needs to be uploaded by Wednesday of Week 1. Embed an introductory video or a video of your choice to the forum making sure that the actual video