Introducing Elevator Speeches Into the Curriculum

摘要

The concept of Information Management (IM) is still not widely understood. As educators we need to find ways to help students explain what IM is to potential employers, future colleagues, and social contacts. One approach is through encouraging students to develop elevator speeches, concise statements of what one can do, such as could be communicated in the time it takes the elevator to travel a few floors. This paper describes how the idea of students developing elevator speeches is built into the curriculum at the University of Sheffield. It discusses the potential value of the activity, giving full weight to likely objections and issues. It argues that, scaffolded correctly, introducing elevator speeches can improve employability and be a valuable integrative and reflective activity in the curriculum.