Education Commons^™

The Court Of Communication: Pedagogy And Practice In Public Relations And Their Relationship To Freedom Of Speech, Raymond S. Rodgers

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Presents the text of a speech delivered at the South Central District Conference of the Public Relations Student Society of America in Lake Charles, Louisiana on February 26, 1993. Relationship between the profession of public relations and freedom of speech; Commitment of the public relations profession to freedom of expression; Effects of the profession on public decision-making in the U.S.

The Impact Of Responsibility Center Management On Communications Departments, Don Agostino

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the impact of responsibility center management (RCM) on the communications departments in universities in the U.S. RCM has pointed out several problems with university fiscal planning which bear directly on communications programs. First, there is no budget provision for the planned replacement of expensive theater, telecommunications, or journalism equipment. Second, under RCM departments with auxiliary-type activities such as theater, a television station or student newspaper have difficulty taxing other credit-granting academic units for those contributions to community. The university needs these outreach and artistic activities to educate the students, to provide a cultural environment appealing to good …

Political Correctness--Correct?, Paul H. Boase

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article provides information on political correctness (PC). PC, as an expression, began years ago as something of a joke to describe communists who slavishly toed the party line. In the eyes of the right-wing anti-PC forces, this modern crusade toward multiculturalism sprang from the machinations of the 1968 campus radicals.

The Ethos Of An Academic Department, Mark Hickson Iii

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the ethos of an academic department. It is fundamental that a department have high credibility on campus. Such ethos is important for faculty members gaining positions on important committees on campus. When departments do not produce research, for example, they are unlikely to have faculty placed on research/graduate school committees. The three most important components of a credible department are faculty, students, and administrators. Student ethos is obtained and maintained through the quality and quantity of enrollees in service and major program courses. Faculty ethos is comprised of effective teaching, curriculum maintenance, productive research, and outstanding service. …

Important Components Of An Effective Assessment Program, Mary Lou Higgerson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article describes the components that are characteristic of effective assessment program. Assessment of student learning outcomes is setting new records as a fast growing nationwide initiative. Experts such as T. Dary Erwin, Director of Student Assessment at James Madison University, reference the "first wave" of institutions who made "early commitments to establish assessment programs and became national pioneers." Alvemo College, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and Northeast Missouri State University are the three institutions usually credited as leading this first wave. It is important to note, however, that these pioneering efforts only began in the early 1980s, just …

Reading & Writing Across The High School Science & Math Curriculum, Joan Mento

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Book review of "Reading and Writing Across the High School Science and Math Curriculum," by R. Sensenbaugh. Bloomington, ID: EDINFO Press.

Scholarship Reconsidered: A Reflection, Ronald L. Applbaum

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article reflects on the book Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, by Ernest Boyer. Scholarship Reconsidered was an attempt by Boyer to redefine the role of the professoriate in terms of the concept of scholarship as perceived and enacted within the academy. The purpose of the special report was to provide a clearer meaning of scholarship within the academy itself. He recognized that the mission of U.S. higher education had changed dramatically over the past four decades. And, yet, the expectations of the professoriate held by the members within the academy, that is, faculty and administrators, had not always …

A Tao Perspective On The Rank And Tenure Process, Lyall Crawford

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article explores certain features of the rank and tenure review process in the field of education from a Taoist perspective. There is much that can be learned from philosophical Taoism regarding rank and tenure review. Even though this Chinese philosophy seems incompatible with this ritual of academic life, it has been argued that certain concepts of Taoism can complement the personal experience of this evaluation process so that one is strengthened rather than weakened; that as an intrapersonal frame of reference, philosophical Taoism may offer a potential point of sanity. Certain texts of philosophical Taoism have been used to …

A Survey Of Communication Department Curriculum In Four-Year Colleges And Universities, June H. Smith, Patricia H. Turner

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article presents a survey of communication department curriculum in four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. Excellent communication skills are tantamount to success in education. A review of current education journals reveals the variety of communication skills needed by professional educators, including interpersonal communication, small group meetings, interviewing, basic communication theory, research methodology, teaching methods in speech communication, public speaking, performance of literature, media, and a teaching internship. Social science literature reveals several communication needs for social science practitioners, including anthropologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, lawyers, journalists, advertising practitioners, political scientists, human relations practitioners, and mass media personnel. Those communication …

Teach Them Something They Can Use, Pamela H. Sellers

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the necessary education, skill and preparations a prospective law student should acquire. It is well established that the legal education focuses more on mastery of a method of thinking than on mastery of the subject matter. The substantive law is a twisting, turning, mutating thing whose interpretation and application may be subject to the whims, prejudices, or perversities of judges and juries. It cannot be fully known. The best that a good lawyer can do is to anticipate these whims, prejudices, and perversities and attempt to neutralize or counter whichever interpretations of the law may be adverse …

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Computer-Generated Instructional Feedback And Videotape On The Speaking Performance Of College Students In Basic Speech Course, Bruce W. Russell

Basic Communication Course Annual

1992 Award Winning Paper in Basic Course Pedagogy

This study examines the effect of computer-generated feedback and videotapes speech performances on the speech skill improvement of college students. Subjects are evaluated on "total" speech performance and on: (1) organization; (2) development; (3) style; (4) vocal quality; and (5) gestural quality.

Results indicate: (1) computer-generated feedback appear to be as effective as handwritten feedback; (2) providing instructor feedback before self-analysis of videotaped performances; and (3) providing computer-generated feedback appears to improve subjects' delivery speech skill performance.

Are You A Real Teacher? Student Perceptions Of The Graduate Student As Instructor Of The Basic Communication Course, Lynda R. Willer

Basic Communication Course Annual

This essay explores students perceptions of grad of the basic communication course. The primary purpose of this research was to identify and examine items of teacher effectiveness applied to graduate student instructors. Results suggest graduate student instructors are positively perceived on items evaluating teacher effectiveness of the graduate student instructors. A factor analysis suggests the emergence of two factors which relate to the task and interpersonal dimensions of teacher effectiveness. An alpha level of .88 established the reliability of the eight items which addressed these two dimensions as a measure of the perceived effectiveness of the graduate student as instructor. …

Student Perceptions Of Teaching Assistants (Tas), Nancy L. Buerkel-Rothfuss, Donn S. Fink

Basic Communication Course Annual

TAs perform a variety of teaching tasks in basic communication courses, but little empirical data exists to document the effectiveness of TA teaching ability or provide insight into how basic course directors and others involved in TA training might enhance their ability. The two studies presented herein provide descriptions of undergraduate students' perceptions of TAs as instructors. Results suggest that professionalism and communication skills are perceptions. Suggestions are provided for how to focus TA training on those critical variables.

Adopting A Transformational Approach To Basic Course Leadership, Dawn R. Weber, Nancy L. Buerkel-Rothfuss, Pamela L. Gray

Basic Communication Course Annual

Transformational leadership focuses on communication aspects of leadership and vision, two concepts fundamental to the study of leadership in organizations. Basic courses function as subsystems within institutional organizations, making them appropriate contexts for application of organizational leadership theory. This paper presents strategies for using organizational theory to improve basic course leadership.

Communication Competence: A Commentary, Lawrence W. Hugenberg, Donald D. Yoder

Basic Communication Course Annual

There have been many attempts to identify "communication competence" by communication scholars. Many attempts in determining definitions have focused on action definitions (speaker-defined competence) and reaction definitions (listener defined competence). In agreeing that communication is transactional, communication competence should be held to the same standard. Communication competence must be viewed as a joint effort by all participants in a situation; not as solely dependent on the communicator or the listener).

Public speaking evaluation forms attempt to measure communication competence of the speaker only. A recent attempt is The Competent Speaker Speech Evaluation Form (1992). This form identifies 8 competencies for …

Call For Papers

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Revenue Centered Budgeting At Usc: The Implications For Communication Studies, Thomas A. Hollihan

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the implications of revenue centered budgeting for communication studies at the University of Southern California (USC). At USC individual revenue centers were created to facilitate financial planning and budgeting. The academic revenue centers consist of the colleges, schools and institutes of the university, such as the College of Letters Arts and Sciences, the Law School, the School of Business, the School of Dentistry, the School of Medicine, and the School of Education. The auxiliary revenue centers include athletics, the residence halls, bookstores, parking, food services, etc. In addition, administrative service centers were created. These centers typically have …

Academic Theatre And The Law, John C. Countryman

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article offers evidence of how law pertains to the management of theatre programs and argues that to accept the common characterization of the law as an instrument of social control or as the science of social problem-solving is to ignore the larger intellectual life it affords. Whether we acknowledge it or not, those of us who administer theatre programs are engaged in an activity that is informed by and subject to the legal imagination and the culture of argument it creates. In 1990 the Carnegie Foundation published a report entitled Campus Life: In Search of Community. The report chronicles …

Commentary: Thoughts For New Chairs Of A Department Of Theatre, Robert Chapel

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the author's ideas about creating theatre department chairs in colleges and universities in the U.S. Specific challenges that will be faced after assuming a new position of chair; Expectations to be met for needed changes in the department; Experience of the author who joined a department three years previous and was given a mandate from the dean and the department's faculty to revive a department which had lost its luster; Common problems which occur in cycles throughout academe and which can be rectified with the infusion of new blood in the form of a new chair every …

Unlocking Creativity In Actors: Inhibiting Factors, Brant L. Pope

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article attempts to examine the nature of imagination and creativity in the acting process. It argues that successful acting is the ability to extend the imagination into the creative act of developing a role and building a character. Of particular concern will be the identification of significant personal, social and professional factors that tend to inhibit the creative process. It will close with some observations about the work of Jose Quintero of the Asolo Conservatory, in terms of the specific ways in which he inspires creativity in our actors. It is important to differentiate imagination and creativity. Imagination is …

Scholarship Reconsidered: The Changing Reward System, Kenneth E. Andersen

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article proposes a paradigm shift in the reward system within the U.S. higher education. The thesis of the paper is that changing the reward system to respond to the current criticism of higher education being voiced in the larger society and manifest in legislative actions in reducing funds available to higher education and efforts to monitor or control certain aspects of the higher education process--accountability, outcome measures, workload studies, hours of classroom contact--to a degree that may be perceived as being micromanagement requires a paradigm shift by those who are within the academy. Typically one would think of a …

Differences Between Women Administrators And Faculty, Tracy A. Wahl, Donna R. Vocate

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article investigates the differences between women administrators and faculty at the Colorado University. Of the three groups, the faculty scored closest to an androgynous rating, the current administrators more masculine, and the former administrators the most masculine. It is important to remember that definitions of masculinity and femininity are generated by the respondent's self-perception of traits consonant with sex-role stereotypes and not by conformity to any generalized principle of masculinity or femininity. Thus, administrators perceived themselves as fitting best with stereotypical assumptions of masculine qualities, while faculty perceived themselves to fit best with androgynous characteristics.

Teaching Thinking In The Basic Course, Melissa L. Beall

Basic Communication Course Annual

More "critical thinking" and "greater transfer" seem to be the rallying cries of educational reformers. Few in the field of communication would dispute the need for critical thinking. The argument, instead, maybe whether we concentrate on logic and/or argumentation as the basis for teaching critical thinking, or choose to look at higher order thinking skills and practical application. This paper provides practical application for teaching thinking in the basic course.

Experiential Learning As An Adjunct To The Basic Course: Student Responses To A Pedagogical Model, Judith A. Rolls

Basic Communication Course Annual

An experiential learning model requiring regular weekly attendance at a communication lab, videotaped classroom presentations, and journal submissions as adjunctive course requirements is described as assessed. A content analysis of lab evaluation forms and journal entries clearly shows that the model works. Students report they enjoy the experience, improve their interpersonal skills, become more sensitive communicators, experience personal growth, and feel they are more successful in classroom presentations as a results of the lab experience.

Responsibility Center Budgeting: A Review And Commentary On The Concept And The Process, Robert Heath

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article focuses on the concept and the process of responsibility center budgeting. Academic publications, professional newsletters, convention conversations, E-mail, departmental bulletin boards, and hallway conversations at academic institutions are filled with voiced concerns about the future of higher education--specifically budgets related to academic and research program support. In tough times, innovation is essential. One innovation is responsibility center budgeting (RCB) which may empower faculty to feel confident that if they generate more income and lower costs for their colleges and universities they will be allowed to determine how those extra funds will be spent. Since faculty talent is the …

Prospective Impact Of Responsibility Center Budgeting On Communication And Theatre Programs: View From A State Supported University, Robert C. Dick

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article examines the impact of responsibility center budgeting (RCB) on communication and theatre programs in a state supported university. While some operational differences exist, it generally can be said that, in RCB, part or all tuition and sponsored research revenues are returned to a unit in direct proportion to what is earned. The unit controls its own pricing policy and is responsible for payment of all, or nearly all, of its costs. Surpluses remain with the unit; deficits must be made up by the unit in succeeding periods. The incentive to efficient production of what the market demands is …

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Cultural Learning Through Cable Television, John F. Dillon, Sheila C. Crifasi

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article examines a multi-disciplinary approach to cultural learning through cable television. In the U.S., television current affairs programming is now being used in place of conventional textbooks in those subject areas dealing with rapidly unfolding world developments, such as history and political science. While it may take years to revise a traditional textbook, college educators are relying on the quickness of television--as well as print mass media--to help their students comprehend dynamic global events. In 1989, recognizing their own potential as an educational resource, major cable companies and programmers created Cable in the Classroom to help K-to-12th grade educators …

The Influence Of Gender And Area Of Specialty On Salary For Telecommunication Graduates, David Atkin

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article examines the influence of gender and area of specialty on salary for telecommunication graduates in the U.S. Gender is linked with a key earnings attribute--nature of work experience. The positive influence of work experience is not surprising, confirming the expectation that those with more experience are likely to earn more money. While much of this influence may be a function of seniority, it seems likely also that lower-paid or less skilled employees would shake-out of their media position relatively sooner. Those remaining in the field would logically advance as their skills dictate, developing closer ties with client accounts, …

After Hazelwood: Free Speech Constraints And Theatre Programs, Bob Frank

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article addresses the question of what constitutional constraints govern the lives of academic theatre teacher/directors in the U.S. by highlight the case of the Southwest Missouri State University's theatre program. Although theatre artists and teachers seldom settle their controversies in the courts, the courts have established a body of judicial doctrine that is relevant to the administrator of academic theatre. Questions such as what should drama teachers, directors and administrators know about the legal limits of their freedom of expression? Conversely, what are the limitations imposed by the courts on administrative officials regarding their ability to control or regulate …