Education Commons^™

A National Survey Of Tenure And Promotion Standards In Communication Departments, Philip Emmert, Steven A. Rollman

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article presents information on a survey on tenure and promotion standards in academic departments in the U.S. Among the most important decisions in the academic world are those of promotion and tenure. The importance of these decisions is underscored by the controversy that accompanies them. The conflict surrounding these, as well as merit decisions, is usually focused on the criteria for making these determinations. In mid 1993 surveys were sent to the chairpersons of every department in the Speech Communication Association Directory that included in its title the words communication, speech or rhetoric. This resulted in 627 mailings to …

Administrative Ramifications Of Student Cheating, Susan A. Stearns

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article explains the problems associated with ways cheating situations are handled in colleges and universities. Two specific types of knowledge are needed by faculty members: one, what cheating is, and, two, the university's policy. The potential for problems revolves around the University's Academic Misconduct Code: first, many faculty are not aware of their university's code and second, many faculty do not follow the codes. Administrators are also involved in a number of other decisions that could impact student cheating behaviors. Additionally, administrators are typically the university officials implementing the middle and latter steps of the academic misconduct process. Thus, …

The Frequency, Form, And Perceived Benefits Of Service Learning In Speech Communication Departments, Timothy L. Sellnow, Laura K. Oster

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article focuses on the frequency, form and perceived benefits of service learning in speech communication departments. The widespread availability of service learning opportunities for students in speech communication departments reflects the national trend, across disciplines, to emphasize service learning on college and university campuses. Service learning provides yet another benefit in that it can substitute for traditional internships when such opportunities are lacking. Phelps and Timmis (1984) explain that the availability of traditional internships with profit-seeking corporations is often limited. Increasing participation by speech communication students in service learning, however, may be restricted by a lack of resources. Most …

When It's Time To Get Out Of Town, Jack A. Barwind

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Addresses the need for chairmen and chairwomen to articulate their leadership style to both faculty and college administration during the early phases of their tenure.

"Other-Campus" Faculty Participation In The Tenure/Promotion Review Process: External Validation For Internal Decision Making, Craig Newburger

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

A "Glimpse" Of The Status Of The Discipline: Internal Identity Of Speech Communication At A Small College, Barbara J. Adler

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the results of a survey administered to faculty and administration at a small U.S. liberal arts college associated with the Lutheran Church, to assess the attitudes toward the speech communication discipline at the college. Speech communication discipline was assessed according to its level of respect, its overall status and its identity as a reputable academic field. Speech communication received its highest ranking for the descriptor applications based, matching the perception that the field is dominated by utility courses that teach students how to give a speech.

Providing Focus On Participatory Democracy In Academic Departments Of Communication, Timothy G. Hegstrom, Shawn Spano

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article aims to illustrate how academic departments of communication can help contribute to a revitalized public sphere. Some of the projects to enhance participative democracy in order to show one direction in which the public sphere seems to be changing have been highlighted. Academic departments of speech communication can do much to accommodate this change by focusing more on the relationship between communication and democracy. This intention can be formally stated in university planning documents, course titles and outlines, general education guidelines, the establishment of research and consulting consortia, and in partnerships with external institutions. Benefits to the department …

Teaching Versus Research: An Imbalance Of Importance?, Norbert H. Mills, Robert E. Pruett, James E. Sayer, David E. Tucker

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article features two essays presenting the major argumentative positions advanced by teams Robert E. Pruett and James E. Sayer and Norbert H. Mills and David E. Tucker, regarding the topic: Resolved: that teaching and research are mutually-exclusive activities. Pruett and Sayer upheld the affirmative position on the resolution, while Mills and Tucker upheld the negative. In the traditional sense, it is easy to claim that the function of a professor is twofold: to be an effective and creative teacher and, at the same time, be able to accumulate and disseminate knowledge through research. Regardless of what is said, teaching …

Educational Assessment As Invitation For Dialogue, Ronald C. Arnett, Pat Arneson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article offers a communicative foundation for viewing the act of educational assessment as an opportunity for dialogue with a larger public in the U.S. There are three main areas which comprise an invitation for dialogue with the public: the politics of assessment, foundation for dialogue about the communication discipline and the proposal for a dialogic communication with the public as a way to create shared meaning about the process of communication. Invitation to dialogue envisions communication as socially constructed. Both self and other are central to the emergence of truth. The wise communicator is careful, but in the midst …

The Basic Communication Course: Options For Accommodating Non-Native Speakers Of Mainstream North American English, Donald L. Rubin, Donald Turk

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article outlines the various options for basic speech communication classes for non-native speakers of mainstream North American English (NNSMNAE), focusing on the introductory class in public speaking in the U.S. A series of interviews were conducted with twelve NNSMNAE students who had enrolled in mainstream public speaking courses. When NNSMNAE students enter U.S. English as a second language (ESL) programs, their initial oral communication needs are usually associated with everyday world communications tasks like navigating the campus or the supermarket. It appears that the norm for NNSMNAE will be to approach a basic course in speech communication with little …

Communication Department Heads: An Analysis Of Positions Available 1990 Through 1994, Michael W. Shelton

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article presents an analysis of positions available in 1990 through 1994 as communication department heads in the U.S. It is not surprising that over 75% of the listings for department heads indicated that the doctorate or other terminal degree would be required. The doctorate has become a standard feature associated with positions in higher education, and most certainly for senior-level positions. Nearly 95% (94.34%) of the listings indicated that candidates would be appointed at the rank of associate professor or higher. Such positions require candidates to meet all of the standard qualifications for a tenured appointment, including possession of …

In Their Own Words: Using Media Artifacts To Teach Media Literacy, Micheal J. Gotcher, Margaret Duffy

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses methods and associated readings for teaching media literacy. The prescribed methods allow the media and their decision-makers to implicate themselves using examples of their own products and their own words. Media kits, video news releases and advertisements are used to illuminate and criticize media structures, products and economic imperatives. Media literacy may be defined as the learned ability to understand the rules, conventions and persuasive elements of mass mediated products. Media literacy involves inviting individuals to see media products as part of the process of building realities and of constructing cultures.

Technological Approaches For Improving Grading Efficiency And Compatibility In Multi-Section/Multi-Instructor Communication Courses, Chris R. Sawyer, Ralph R. Behnke

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

Assessment In Communication Programs: Issues And Ideas Administrators Must Face, John J. Makay

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses issues and ideas school administrators and educators must face with regards to assessment in communication programs. The challenge for a considerable number of communication administrators and other faculty was addressed intensively at the 1994 Speech Communication Association Summer Conference on Assessment. Assessment in communication education from the basic courses through most advanced studies is necessary. By working to meet this responsibility, communication educators can provide the quality of education their constituencies expect in order to educate students to become citizens who will find both satisfaction and success on the career paths they choose to follow. There is …

Surviving An Appointment As Department Chair, Paul E. King

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the secret to surviving an appointment as department chairman. Survival as academic department chair involves overcoming obstacles such as role conflict and the difficult task of maintaining healthy relationships with faculty. Both of these, along with several other job related factors, commonly cause significant levels of stress. However, adaptation to and management of the stress are possible. One has survived as department chair when one is able to leave the office and successfully reintegrate into the department without major personal or professional trauma. If one returns to a better department than previously existed, then the ordeal has …

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Written Feedback In The Basic Course: What Instructors Provide And What Students Deem Helpful, Karla Kay Jensen, Elizabeth R. Lamoureux

Basic Communication Course Annual

Although the issue of speech evaluation has been a mainstay in our discipline, an updated discussion of written feedback merits our attention. To revisit this topic, this two-part content analysis first reveals the type of written feedback instructors offer students in basic public speaking classes.

Building on these findings, the second part focuses on student perceptions of the helpfulness of the written feedback. The findings are collectively discussed and their implications for written evaluations of students' oral performances are considered. Any instructor who has labored over written critiques, wondering whether students actually read and/or use the comments can value from …

Computer-Mediated Learning Environments: Theory And Research Into Practice, Chris R. Rasch

Basic Communication Course Annual

Information technology is furnishing modes of accessing and manipulating knowledge which are radically different from those offered by the traditional curriculum. Teaching effectiveness in the basic course is likely to depend increasingly on understanding the nature, function, benefits and potential costs of computer-mediated communication. The purposes of this article are to: (1) review theory and research illuminating the potential benefits and costs of computer-mediated instruction, (2) suggest some starting points for implementing computer-mediated instruction, and (3) identify factors which are likely to influence the effectiveness of teaching in computer-mediated environments.

The Use Of Simulation In The Beginning Public Speaking Classroom: Let's Make It Realistic, Relevant And Motivating, John J. Miller

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article offers the instructional method, the simulation, as an alternative public speaking assignment in the beginning public speaking course. The three phases of simulation, play, debriefing, and journal writing, are described. Simulations should be realistic and relate to student goals, interests, or career aspirations. As a result, the assignment has two benefits. Simulation creates a clear rhetorical situations which aids students in the topic selection process. Further, its relevancy to the student increases the motivation to learn the art of public speaking.

A Commentary: The Basic Communication Course, General Education And Assessment, Lawrence W. Hugenberg, Barbara S. Moyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

The importance of developing student communication skills in a general education program is a focal point of each college and university accrediting agency in the United States. However, course directors and faculty frequently find themselves at the center of a controversy when trying to include a basic communication course in skill development in a general education program. This article develops a case for the inclusion of a basic communication course in a general education program.

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 9

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full Issue (182 pages, 10.27 KB)

The Em-Powter-Ing Of America: Using Info-Mercials To Teach Persuasion And Popular Discourse In The Basic Communication Course, Daniel W. Heaton

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article describes how a critique of Susan Powter's "Stop the Insanity!" info-mercial provides educators with an effective, class-tested, and fun assignment to be included in the persuasion section of a basic communication course. This assignment provides students with an excellent example of a message from popular discourse that follows Monroe's Motivated Sequence. It also facilitates discussion of several key issues related to persuasion in general. Additionally, because this activity uses a popular discourse text, students enhance their critical thinking skills and become more critical consumers of messages they receive through popular discourse.

Three Metaphors For The Competencies Acquired In The Public Speaking Class, Michael Osborn

Basic Communication Course Annual

The many skills taught in the basic public speaking class come together in three fundamental metaphors. The first of these, the speaker as builder, suggests we need to shape our surroundings through the spoken word. The second, the speaker as weaver, includes the arts of shaping symbols into the fabric of a speech, and of designing evidence and proofs into the tapestry of argument. The third, the speaker as climber, emphasizes overcoming interference. Barriers of fear, indifference, suspicion, and cultural variation recede as speakers and listeners learn to climb them.

Perceptions Of Basic Communication Texts: Factors In Student Learning And Textbook Adoption Decisions, Donald D. Yoder, Robert A. Davilla

Basic Communication Course Annual

The purpose of this study is to assess existing pedagogical assumptions about basic communication course textbook features. Two separate surveys were administered to students (N= 1,379) and instructors (N= 118) in basic communication courses at 15 colleges and universities.

The findings of the study are twofold. First, students and teachers differ in their perceptions of usefulness of textbook pedagogical features. Second, students perceive basic course texts to be less difficult and less theoretical though more interesting, enjoyable, relevant, and practical than other introductory course texts. When making publication and text selection decisions, the findings help authors and teachers better choose …

"The Elephant In The Room": Post-Tenure Review, Ronald L. Applbaum

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article examines the tenure systems used in colleges and universities in the U.S. In psychotherapy, a patient who ignores a central reality in his/her personal situation is said to manifest the elephant-in-the-room syndrome. Similarly, in colleges and universities across the nation, many faculty and administrators are ignoring calls for either elimination of tenure or revision of the tenure process. Many policy makers and taxpayers regard tenure as a system that protects faculty members from evaluation. The purposes of this paper are to explore some of the factors leading to calls for post-tenure evaluation, to compare the definitions of post-tenure …

Curricular Fidelity, Diversity With Connection: The Duquesne Experiment, Janie M. Harden Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article presents information on a conceptual scheme detailing the functions of a communication curriculum applied at the University of Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From an organizational systems perspective the excellence of any academic department is shaped by its relationship to its field, its position and role with regard to the mission of the university setting that forms its particular context, and how it relates to the outside world-the community and larger society that it serves. The nature of the undergraduate curriculum is important not only for disciplinary maintenance but also because it concerns a primary enabling public of the …

Perceptions Of Quality In Journalism And Communications Education: A Delphi Study, Marian A. Smith

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article provides information on a study on the perceptions of quality in journalism and communications education. In many academic disciplines, including communications, accreditation has been the ruling paradigm of quality assurance for many years. Accreditation standards often have been used to measure many characteristics of institutions, but such standards may not be capable of identifying and measuring the true quality of institutional excellence. The study gathered information from a selected group of participants about those characteristics students, faculty and practitioners consider to be necessary components of high quality programs. The study also examined whether the accreditation standards used for …

The Oral Communication Competence Dilemma: Are We Communicating Competently About Speech Communication?, Cathy A. Fleuriet

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article discusses the oral communication competence problem among students in public schools, colleges and universities in the U.S. In response to concerned administrators who question the value of the study of speech communication, communication specialists are providing definitions and assessment of oral communication competence in order to solidify the speech communication discipline's role in ensuring competence among students in higher education. Many of the schools fulfilling the mandate through English/Language Arts courses included initial statements in their documents explaining that the requirement is being met through communication courses. A major problem in monitoring the oral communication competency mandate, such …

Graduate Study In The Communication Discipline: An Extension Of 1994 Directory Data, Michael W. Shelton

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article provides information on the evaluation of communication education programs at the graduate level in the U.S. American society has become virtually obsessed with evaluation and analysis of its educational institutions and programs. Federal investigations have spotlighted a near crisis state in elementary and secondary education. Scholars and investigators within the communication discipline have devoted much effort to the appraisal of instructional programs, particularly at the graduate level. Specific graduate courses, such as argumentation theory have been examined. Specific programs of study, including mass communication have garnered attention. More generally, masters-level programs in speech communication have been evaluated. The …