Stage Fright to Spotlight: How Authoring a Custom Top Hat eText Led to a 90% Approval Rate
2,000
Average number of students taught per semester
65
Total number of Public Speaking sections offered per semester
4.5/5
Average score given to the clarity of content in the custom Top Hat eText
The Challenge
Finding a Public Speaking textbook that imparted foundational concepts in a succinct format
For many students, delivering a speech or argument in front of their peers can send a shiver down their spine. Nick Tatum, Assistant Professor in Residence, Basic Course Director and Undergraduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has made it his mission to ensure his students are well-prepared to deliver and craft effective messages. “I oversee about 65 sections of Public Speaking which translates to 1,500–2,000 students per semester. One of the biggest challenges is helping students realize that while communication is used on a daily basis, it’s far more complex and nuanced than we think,” Tatum says.
The Public Speaking textbooks that were available early in Tatum’s career unfortunately didn’t offer the real-world application so crucial for student success. “I’ve used almost all of the main Public Speaking textbooks out there as a grad student myself or as an instructor. There’s a lot of extra information that never gets addressed in the course which makes students less motivated to read,” he says. It was in early 2024 that Tatum decided to abandon the popular conception of what a Public Speaking textbook should contain. As part of his Communication 101: Public Speaking course, Tatum chose to author a custom eText in Top Hat that would add new meaning to relevant, career-ready course materials.
School background
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The school holds the nation’s highest recognition for research and community engagement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching — R1, a seal of excellence for research institutions. The university currently serves more than 32,000 students across a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees.
About the professor
Nick Tatum is an Assistant Professor in Residence, Basic Course Director and Undergraduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Tatum is responsible for the development of the introductory courses aimed at attracting students to the major.
Nick Tatum Assistant Professor in Residence, Basic Course Director and Undergraduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The Solution
Collaborating with Top Hat’s Custom Publishing Team to design a highly-interactive, editable eText
Tatum sat down in Summer 2024 with a blank sheet of paper in front of him. He began listing out all the Public Speaking topics students would need to know if they were going into an unfamiliar speaking environment. In partnership with Top Hat’s Custom Publishing team, Tatum laid the groundwork for an eText packed with real-world examples of verbal and written communication in use. The Custom Publishing team understood Tatum’s work style and writing schedule—eventually drafting a plan to ensure that assigned chapters were completed in a realistic time frame. “The process of writing the text was really easy because the Custom Publishing team valued my goals. We set deadlines together and worked backwards from there, writing chunks of the book at a time,” he says.
One of the biggest benefits of his eText is the ability to keep material up to date at all times. For instance, he can easily swap out the examples shown in chapters to reflect our contemporary moment in pop culture. “While the world may have only talked about Taylor Swift this summer, that might not resonate with students as much next semester. What I love about Top Hat is that I can replace examples moment to moment and semester to semester,” Tatum says.
It can be challenging to maintain reading completion rates especially in a hybrid course environment. At the beginning of class, Tatum runs small group quizzes—not for points—to gauge who read the assigned chapters. “I tell students to treat the textbook like a website versus a book. They’re allowed to refer to the book when completing their quiz—I want this experience to be as interactive as possible and in turn make them more interested to read,” he shares.
“The process of writing the text was really easy because the Custom Publishing team valued my goals. We set deadlines together and worked backwards from there, writing chunks of the book at a time.”
The Results
Soaring textbook approval rates translated to real value for students
Around the fall 2024 midterm season, Tatum put his custom Top Hat eText under the microscope to better understand student perceptions towards this assigned resource. More than 1,600 students in COMM 101 ranked Top Hat highly in the following areas: They gave the clarity of content in their eText a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. Ease of use was assigned an average 4.4 out of 5 star score and students also assigned a 4.4 out of 5 star ranking to the content’s ability in helping them understand course content more effectively.
The data collected to date provide an early indication of how students strongly favor their interactive textbook. Tatum plans to take advantage of Top Hat’s customization capabilities to edit the content of his text ahead of the new semester. “I’ll read each chapter for the second half of the course and ask myself, ‘is there anything I can change or update that’s going to match the lecture students are getting in class?’” While he makes smaller content updates on the fly, Tatum plans to make heavier “content renovations” during the winter break.
Finally, Tatum and his students are delighted about the price tag that comes with customizable Top Hat content. “Our school has an inclusive access program that is rolled into the overall course fee. Top Hat content is offered at a pretty affordable price compared to most Social Sciences and Humanities textbooks,” he says.
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