Learners in public speaking training often lack a structured way to manage speech anxiety, leaving them un(der)prepared for workplace communication. It’s assumed that they simply need more information about anxiety to identify their symptoms and practice giving public presentations to develop anxiety management skills. Much of the "training" in anxiety management skills happens (or fails to happen) during the last phase, the delivery stage of the presentation process. Repeated exposure to giving presentations may help some, but managing anxiety on the fly is an ineffective learning strategy for many, one that falls short especially for online learners.

The existing solution addressed learners' knowledge gaps about anxiety and skills gaps by practicing delivering multiple presentations. As I describe below, this ignores a major learner need: to practice managing their anxiety in the earlier phases of the presentation process. I set out to bridge this gap by collaborating with a mental health therapist (my SME) to design a step-by-step method to identify and manage their anxiety symptoms through cognitive behavioral techniques and systematic desensitization (an exposure therapy method) in the preparation and practice phases of their presentation process. A key insight from my SME was how misunderstood anxiety is in learning contexts, how it interferes with performance, and how learners benefit from breaking down bigger goals into smaller ones.

I applied design thinking to redefine the problem (learning gap) by challenging assumptions (that anxiety management skills can be practiced only during presentation delivery, and what works for in-person training works online). This helped me innovate a learner-centered solution: an interactive elearning course that guides learners through a therapeutic method.