The Experiment Returns

It's time to dust the cobwebs off of this blog, because I've got an idea that belongs in this space. Next quarter, I will return to teaching public speech, a subject I haven't formally taught for a couple of years. I want my speech class to be a combination of writing for public audiences, speaking for public audiences, and learning how to collect and present information in such a way as to be useful for both speaking and writing.
That's where I think the blog comes in.
I want each of my students to maintain a public research blog on the topic or two of their choice. They will collect information in these spaces, link to source material, write reflections on what they've learned. We'll Suprglu the class blogs together to have a class page of knowledge to use to share tips and thoughts. Perhaps, after speeches are given, they will be able to podcast via their blogs, if they so choose -- although I don't know that I want to require that. But then again, maybe I do.
If you are reading this, then I'm guessing that you might have some ideas about how to teach a speech class. What should we be sure to cover? What sorts of topics do you think would be interesting enough for possibly reluctant high school students to study for several weeks?
Ten days to go time. I wonder if this plan will work.