Teaching about slavery entails teaching about the archive. Punctuated with silences, scattered with compelling details, and laden with descriptions that oscillate between racist, harrowing, and heartbreaking, runaway ads provide a glimpse into the lives of enslaved people. The details embedded within them--or omitted from them--can also provide…

This article offers readers 11 classroom teaching innovations presented at the 2022 Association for Business Communication's (ABC's) Annual International Conference. Sessions were held online and on-site in Tampa, Florida, USA. Readers will find unique developments in teaching techniques--all designed to enhance students' communication skill…

NoSQL databases have been used in organizations for decades. Few database textbooks on the market, however, have suitable materials about NoSQL beyond general introductions for typical business students. In fact, users of the typical NoSQL systems on the software market need to have certain computer programming skills. This teaching tip introduces…

Ageism is highly prevalent, especially among college students. However, efforts to reduce ageism largely take place in helping professions. This activity seeks to promote positive perceptions toward older adults and aging among communication undergraduate students through gerontological education, a positive intergeneration contact experience, a…

The Instagram Activism Slideshow helps undergraduate students bridge theory and practice by connecting the media arguments they see in their daily lives to the principles of policy argument they learn in argumentation courses. Students use a relevant argumentation theory or concept to argue for a public policy in a concise and palatable Instagram…

In this article, we describe student-centered routines that prepare students for success on ambitious text-based writing assignments. Based on research showing the important role that peer collaboration and classroom discussion play in developing students' thinking, these routines support students to 'try out' their ideas, learn from the…

Courses: Persuasion, Marketing, Advanced Public Speaking, Argumentation. Objectives: The aims of this assignment are to introduce students to the concept of data mining as a tool for audience analysis and to improve students' ability to adapt a message to a specific audience.

Readers can explore 13 teaching innovations presented at the 2020 Association for Business Communication (ABC) annual international conference hosted online. Typically held in a large hotel ballroom, this year's "My Favorite Assignment" sessions were adapted to an asynchronous virtual conference. These assignments are designed to teach…

During the past decade, interest in chocolate and its history has increased significantly. Following on this trend, a vast number of books dealing with chocolate have appeared in different publishing venues, both academic and nonacademic. Similarly, some instructors have included units that study the commodity or, in some rare instances, have…

Students are often inseparable from Internet and streaming services through various technologies. This reality invites instructors to think about nuanced ways of employing technologies to engage students through both consumption and production of media in classrooms. Our assignment uses the modality of podcasts to encourage critical thinking and…

DNA structure has been leveraged in a variety of facets that allow scientists to perform a range of assays, including ones for identification of species, establishing evolutionary relationships between taxa, or even identifying individuals. Here, we present a DNA barcoding method as practical, hands-on approach that connects several experimental…

This article introduces an assignment that will help instructors effectively teach media grammar and convergence to their students. Hybrid letter writing (HBL) is an experiential learning assignment where students learn about media grammar and convergence by experiencing it. The current modus operandi of teaching convergence and media grammar is…

Supplying an insightful introduction to current trends in general education reform, this second edition of "General Education Essentials: A Guide for College Faculty" gives an important, timely overview of general education curricular design. General education curricula provide students with the intellectual flexibility they need to…

Do you think that the qualities of good writing are culture specific or universal? This Reflective Question and many others await your discussion and analysis in this revised edition of TESOL Press's best-selling "Teaching Writing," which explores different approaches to teaching writing in second language classrooms. This volume…

When we spend the first class period focusing on the syllabus and letting students leave early, we miss an opportunity to expose them to the course content. What happens to those who drop that day? By spending the first day illustrating expectancy violations theory, both instructors and students can explicate anticipated behaviors and use them to…