Several years ago, we developed a paper for the ASCUE [Association Supporting Computer Users in Education] conference about using live projects in the classroom. The Purdue Polytechnic and our department Computer and Information Technology (CIT) have always encouraged the use of team projects throughout our curriculum. As mentioned in the original…

As instructors we are always trying to improve the classroom experience, making it more interesting and meaningful to the student. Typically, I like to have team projects in our classes. In the past many of these projects were from the text or projects I have worked on in industry and have modified to fit in the context of the class. I've always…

A corporation's image is a powerful persuasive tool for reaching external publics such as competitors, regulators, and prospective employees. Corporations should avoid disparities between the actual and the desired image, as well as disparities between the external perception and the internal perception of employees. A course was developed at…

The instructor of a course entitled "Leadership in Meetings" used as a textbook of "Fundamentals of Parliamentary Law and Procedure, Second Edition: The Rules for Deliberative Assemblies," sponsored by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Despite a strong endorsement of the text, the instructor had some reservations. For…

Classroom and laboratory environments typically can provide actual or simulated activities within which most of the technical and creative elements of the media production process can be enacted, but the financial component of production budgeting is often left aside. A "mini-production community" model has been used for the last three…

Based on a course that inquired into the similarities and differences between the discourse forms of argument and dialogue, this paper explores theoretical issues related to these communicative forms. The purpose of the team-taught course was for students to explore the possibility of non-polarizing public discourse. The first two sections of the…

Responding to complaints by New York City area employers about the lack of communication skills of City University of New York (CUNY) graduates, Baruch College (a CUNY college with a specialization in business) initiated a new program of communication-intensive courses to address the problem. One such course involved intercultural communication.…

Often the way one communicates ethical choices is conditioned by the dynamics of the communication process more than by a well-developed "ethical system." Sociodrama is an excellent method of teaching both ethics and communication skills. The technique can be used for playing out any real-life situation, but unlike much actual life experience, it…

Teaching Organizational Culture is a powerful way to take students beyond a basic understanding of organizations. Students not only are able to glean insights to help them select an organization that best matches their own career direction, but they stand to gain a better sense of the impact they can have as leaders in the organization. This paper…

This paper provides a unit of instructional design for teaching an undergraduate public speaking course at Southern Arkansas University. According to the paper, the unit, consisting of 6 lessons, is designed to be taught in a 50-minute period 3 times each week. The paper points out that students are given many opportunities to practice the…

Fundamental differences exist between conceptualizing and operationalizing experiential education, in general, and graded speech communication internship classes-for-credit, in particular. Monitoring participation in experiential activities (including intercollegiate athletics, musical or stage production, publication of the campus newspaper, and…

The bargaining simulation unit is a useful educational tool in the introductory organizational communication course. It provides students with the opportunity to apply concepts such as communication, authority, and decision making already taught in the course, and teaches responsibility in analyzing, enacting, and discussing the bargaining case.…

A composition instructor developed a course that has moral traction, a course intended to serve as a blueprint for students, a heuristic for enlarging social consciousness and effecting social change. On the first day of class, the instructor introduces the "fundamental theme" of poverty and a schedule of assignments/activities that…

Intended for use by reading teachers, this document presents classroom activities for using drama as an aid to reading comprehension. Following a brief introduction discussing the rationale for drama in the reading classroom, the paper details various phases in comprehension, matching each level with suggested books and appropriate dramatic…

A collaborative project in a college freshman technical writing class produced multiple benefits to those involved. The project, designed to be an experiential and investigatory writing assignment rather than a perfunctory one, challenged students to identify a campus problem regarding enrollment procedures and to work through the problem-solving…