Eastern will see if a more hands-on approach improves the introductory speech course all students are required to take to graduate.

The speech communications department will test how teaching the course in a new format, composed of two small group settings and one large lecture, affects the student learning experience.

Incoming Eastern students will be part of the departmental study testing which delivery formats are most effective in teaching speech communications. In the past the course was taught in a smaller lecture format without separate small-group sessions.

The experimental format change to SPC 1310, Introduction to Speech Communications, was approved Thursday at the Council on Academic Affairs’ meeting.

In addition, the large lecture portion of the course will be taught by tenured faculty instead of nontenured faculty, Mark Borzi, speech communications chair, told the council Thursday.

Despite skepticism, the CAA approved the experimental format change by a vote of 7-1 with two abstentions.

Some CAA members felt that those changes would allow students to skip class. Under the change, lecture materials will be available online and the course’s attendance policy will be less strict.

Currently, the course states that three unexcused absences result in a one-letter drop of the student’s grade. Under the new format, students will receive a five-to-10-point reduction for missing class.

The lecture material will be available online to help students with excused absences catch up on course work, Borzi said.

Gail Mason, speech communications professor, told the CAA the more lenient attendance policy doesn’t concern her.

“I really don’t care,” she said. “I wasn’t as concerned about them attending the lecture, but it is very important for them to be in class during other students’ presentations.”

“Attendance is funny to me,” Borzi added, ” -it’s the only time I’ve seen somebody pay for something they don’t want.”

With the change, the lecture portion of the course would host as many as 200 students, Borzi said. That information sparked debate among council members who were concerned that the course size was too large.

“Personally, one of the benefits of coming to Eastern is avoiding large lecture formats,” Justin Brinkmeyer, CAA student member, said.

CAA member Tim Shonk, associate English professor, voted against the request, explaining he believes in “small classes with more of an intimate setting between teachers and students.”

Borzi argued that although the lecture would be larger, there would be a “20 percent reduction of students in each class section.”

Borzi said the smaller group session would allow each student more speaking time, and more time to ask questions about the lecture materials.

Before the change, a SPC 1310 class could not have more than 22 students. Now, the group sessions will contain 18, Mason said.

However, the debate did not stop CAA from approving the request. The changes in the class will take effect next fall.