Other Communication Commons^™

Web-Based Media Literacy To Prevent Tobacco Use Among High School Students, Jane S. Phelps-Tschang, Elizabeth Miller, Kristen R. Rice, Brian A. Primack

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Facilitator-led smoking media literacy (SML) programs have improved media literacy and reduced intention to smoke. However, these programs face limitations including high costs and barriers to standardization. We examined the efficacy of a Web-based media literacy program in improving smoking media literacy skills among adolescents. Sixty-six 9th grade students participated in a Web-based SML tobacco education program based on health behavior theory. Pre- and post-test assessments demonstrated statistically significant changes in the primary outcome of total SML as well as each of the individual SML items. However, there were inconsistent changes in other theory-based outcomes including attitudes and normative beliefs.

College Students' Motivations For Using Podcasts, Mun-Young Chung, Hyang-Sook Kim

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Despite potential benefits of podcasts for college education, little research has examined students’ psychological drives for using podcasts. To explore the relationship between the use of podcasts and college students’ appreciation of them, this study investigated students’ motivations, attitudes and behaviors with regard to podcasts use including their learning environment. Based on a survey with 636 college students, this study found that six dimensions of motivations were prominent for podcasts use: (1) voyeurism/social interaction/companionship, (2) entertainment/relaxation/arousal, (3) education/information, (4) pastime/escape, (5) habit, and (6) convenience. In particular, motivations catering to relationship consolidation, excitement and educational achievement better explained the actual …

Debates About The Future Of Media Literacy In Turkey, Ebubekir Cakmak Ec, Sait Tuzel St

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media literacy has been widely debated in Turkey since the early 2000s and has been in the curriculum of the secondary schools as an optional subject for nearly a decade. During this time period, about four million students have received media literacy education. The multidisciplinary structure of media literacy has contributed to the interest of many researchers from varying fields. These researchers, who have different viewpoints, acceptations and expectations, have formed certain groups in a short time period and have started to defend their particular media literacy approaches and practices. This study examines the basic debates and issues that have …

Editor's Page, Joseph M. Valenzano Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

We are now in the 28th volume of the Basic Communication Course Annual, a testament to the dedication of those concerned with the introductory course in communication. Over the years these pages have been graced with significant work that has influenced the nature of the basic communication course, thereby impacting the lives of thousands of students across the country. That said, I am struck by the fact we have no “motto,” no phrase that captures our feeling about this important educational experience. I would like to muse about what might work as a motto for what we do and teach.

Intervention E-Mails And Retention: How E-Mails Tailored To Personality Impact An Undergraduate Student's Decision To Return To School Or Not, John Kelly Heffernon

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Universities and colleges constantly face a costly problem: low student retention rates. One potential solution to low student retention is a personality-tailored e-mail intervention. The researcher tested this idea with a sample of 59 first-year students from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Participants took a personality assessment in order to measure their personality trait of sociability. Then participants were split into an experimental group and a control group based on a matched-sample paradigm that ensured sociability was not significantly different between the two groups. Participants in the experimental group received four different intervention e-mails throughout the course of the 2015 fall …

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 35, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 35, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Capstone-Ish: Student Success And The Rhetorical Functions Of A Different Kind Of Capstone Course, E. Michele Ramsey

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In response to a variety of contexts, most notably the national and academic rhetoric promoting STEM majors over those in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, a new way of thinking about the capstone course in communication may be warranted. More specifically, administrators of communication programs looking for ways not only to foster growth in students, but also to increase the status of their programs on campus and in the community, might find this course useful for those programmatic goals. This paper proposes a constructivist capstone-ish course that marries the theories and applications of communication studies with a student’s real …

Mission Statements As Naming Proposals: An Rsi Approach, Susan K. Opt

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study explores the communication process used to generate and express communication program mission “names.” It argues that the process that underlies the creating, maintaining, and changing of names, ranging from the specific to the ideological, also generates academic unit “mission.” Viewing mission texts through the lens of the rhetoric of social intervention model reveals how the texts reason rhetorically as they propose and provide evidence for the “appropriateness” of a unit’s constituted mission name. Awareness of the rhetorical-reasoning pattern can help unit members make sense of mission-building or -revising work and provide a practical way for them to organize …

Dialogic Education In An Age Of Administrative Preening, Ronald C. Arnett

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Text of the address given by Ronald C. Arnett, recipient of the 2016 Paul H. Boase Prize for Scholarship, granted by the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University for outstanding scholarship in the field of communication

Complete Issue, Volume 35, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 35, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Incorporating Learning Analytics Into Basic Course Administration: How To Embrace The Opportunity To Identify Inconsistencies And Inform Responses, Lindsey B. Anderson, Elizabeth E. Gardner, Andrew D. Wolvin, Rowie Kirby-Straker4, M. Adil Yalcin, Benjamin B. Bederson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Consistency is imperative to the success of a multi-section basic course. However, establishing consistent practices is a difficult task, especially when coupled with maintaining instructor autonomy. Learning analytics tools, designed to improve learning and teaching by collecting and analyzing pertinent information through interactive databases, can be used by basic course administrators to improve consistency. Using a reflective case study methodology we share our experience incorporating a learning analytics platform into our basic course. In doing so, we highlight the role this technology can play in terms of identifying areas of inconsistency as well as informing ways to improve overall course …

Chance Or Choice? An Analysis Of Assumed Biological Sex-Based Differences In Undergraduate Public Relations Course Teaching Distributions, Damion Waymer, Douglas Cannon, Joshua Street

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In this study the authors explore the observed differences among the courses taught by public relations faculty at Carnegie doctoral institutions based on faculty members’ assumed biological sex. The findings indicate that rank faculty (assistant, associate, and full professor) females teach significantly more upper division courses than their male counterparts. The rank faculty males are teaching more introductory (100 and 200 level) courses than their female counterparts. If one follows the logic that upper division courses are more time and effort demanding for faculty, then these findings indicate that females are disproportionately represented as the primary instructors of record for …

Mainstreaming Disaster-Relief Service-Learning In Communication Departments: Integrating Communication Pedagogy, Praxis, And Engagement, Vinita Agarwal

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Communication is the primary mode through which students inculcate critical thinking skills for (re)construction of social reality and engagement with communities in need (Craig, 1989). Thus it is well-suited to disaster-relief service-learning approaches that provide a pathway for democratic engagement with the material consequences of inequality evidenced in disaster-struck communities. Communication administrators can advocate for disaster-relief service-learning programs by aligning theoretically-informed student input in faculty–administration partnerships to construct transformative learning experiences sustaining trusting relationships. This study is the first to employ the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1986) to identify themes comprising student composite disaster-relief volunteering belief-structure and disaster-relief volunteering …

Complete Issue, Volume 35, Issue 1

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 35, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Creating Clusters Of Excellence Within Graduate Programs In Communication, Tatyana Dumova

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Effective recruitment and retention of graduate students by small-size colleges and universities requires innovative solutions, as they find themselves operating in an increasingly competitive market. Creating clusters of excellence within existing graduate programs offers a way to develop a competitive edge. By integrating high-impact educational practices such as faculty-guided research, small schools are uniquely positioned to make an impact on the quality of their students’ overall educational experiences. The author seeks to start a conversation about the challenges facing graduate programs in communication offered by small colleges and universities and discusses a strategy for potential solutions.

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety: Midwestern Language Learner Exploration, Justin J. Mahutga

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Numerous studies in the communication discipline have explored the negative impacts of communication apprehension on college students and ways instruction can help reduce such anxiety. Study of a specific form of apprehension, foreign language anxiety, has received far less scholarly attention, but could serve college students well. Therefore, the current study attempts to establish a solid basis for continuing research aimed at the currently underserved ESL/EFL (English as a second/foreign language) learning community as well as for English-speaking foreign language learners at one mid-sized Midwestern university. The objective of this study is to establish a baseline for understanding the extent …

Call For Manuscripts

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

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The Internal Marginalization Of Basic Course Scholarship, Cheri J. Simonds, Stephen K. Hunt

Basic Communication Course Annual

There is an adage in the field of communication education that states, the difference between knowing and teaching is communication (Hurt, Scott, & McCroskey, 1978). That is, a teacher can be an expert in his or her field, but if he or she cannot communicate that knowledge in a way that students understand, learning is not achieved.

This statement highlights the central role of communication in the teaching and learning process. As communication education scholars and Basic Course Directors, we conduct research in the domains of communication pedagogy (i.e., research questions that address the best methods of teaching communication) and …

Strengthening The Introductory Communication Course: An Opportunity Through Better Alignment With Today’S Needs, Jon A. Hess

Basic Communication Course Annual

More than a century after its inception in contemporary form, the discipline of Communication has encountered a tremendous opportunity—the chance to become an “essential discipline” in the academy, one like Math or English, which universities consider indispensable to the work they do. And yet, as a discipline, we have not sufficiently moved toward taking advantage of that opportunity. While such a move will require action in curriculum, scholarship, and service, one of the highest-impact areas in establishing the necessity of Communication is the introductory course.

In order to understand the opportunity that lies before us, we have to understand how …

Nontraditional Students, Multilingual Learners, And University Type: The Vital Missing Comparisons In Our Basic Course Research, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Brenda L. Macarthur

Basic Communication Course Annual

After the G.I. Bill was passed in 1944, the United States saw a massive expansion of higher education. The subsequent economic growth, expanding middle class, and support of public education meant that more Americans had access to college education than ever before (Bok, 2006).

In the decades that followed, a typical or “traditional” college student was a person who entered a four-year university at the age of eighteen immediately after completing high school, attended full time, considered their education a full-time responsibility, had no dependents, was employed part time or not at all, and graduated in four years (Center for …

Beyond 'Basic': Opportunities For Relevance, Deanna L. Fassett

Basic Communication Course Annual

Recently one of my colleagues asked me if I could foresee a time when I would give up supervising teaching associates; she said it in a kindly way, but with a cringe and a shrug, as if to suggest that I was sacrificing my efforts on something beneath me…a departmental service. I’ve been coordinating our introductory public speaking course and supervising TAs for fourteen years now, and I still get this question.

Each time, I explain that giving up those responsibilities would be like asking someone to uproot their research passion from, say, performance studies to instructional communication, from any …

Basic Course Strength Through Clear Learning Outcomes And Assessment, W. Bradford Mello

Basic Communication Course Annual

Former NCA President Richard West, writing in Spectra during his presidential year, lamented that the basic course in communication lacked national cohesion, especially compared to other disciplines like psychology, political science, or sociology (West, 2012). Some, including myself, may quibble with the comparison to other disciplines, arguing that History 101, Political Science 101 or Sociology 101 do not necessarily look the same at all institutions around the nation.

However, West’s call for examination of the basic course was a welcome one:

• I believe it is time for our organization to undertake a thoughtful examination of the basic course and ascertain …

A Digital Divide? Assessing Self-Perceived Communication Competency In An Online And Face-To-Face Basic Public Speaking Course, Joshua N. Westwick, Karla M. Hunter, Laurie L. Haleta

Basic Communication Course Annual

Previous research has documented an inverse relationship between speaking anxiety and self-perceived communication competence (SPCC). However, a recent assessment case study of an online basic public speaking course revealed that while the course decreased students’ speaking anxiety, it failed to increase their SPCC. Prompted by this surprising discrepancy and bolstered by continuing calls for increased exploration of educational quality of online public speaking courses, the current study compared SPCC between online (n = 147) and face-to-face (F2F) (n = 544) delivery of the large, standardized, multi-section basic public speaking course at our institution. Pretest scores of students’ overall SPCC were …

Assessing The Effects Of A Public Speaking Course On Native And Non-Native English Speakers, Tara Suwinvattichaiporn, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study tested whether there is a difference in the benefits of a traditional public speaking course for Native English Speakers (NES) and Non-Native English xii Speakers (NNES). The study assessed changes in Communication Apprehension (CA), Self-Perceived Communication Competence (SPCC), and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) before and after participants took the traditional public speaking course.

The findings indicate that NES and NNES had equal benefits and growth in these self-report measures and suggest that we should further investigate which public speaking course structure is most beneficial for NNES.

The Unaware, Accurate, And Overly Critical: Video Technology Use Of Improving Public Speaking Competency, Luke Lefebvre, Leah E. Lefebvre, Mike Allen

Basic Communication Course Annual

Students often hold overly favorable views of their public speaking skills. In this study, students set goals prior to speaking, and then assess the presentation via video replay. Although some basic courses use video, the technology is not standard practice nor consistently utilized to aid student skill development for speechmaking.

Differences between students’ self-estimated and earned grades students were categorized into five estimator groupings. Study 1 (N = 102) results indicated video self-evaluation positively influenced student ability for predictive goal-setting, improved accuracy for assessing speech quality, and diminished overestimation from the informative to persuasive speech.

To further explore the findings …