Courses: Media Literacy, Collective Memory, Political History. Objectives: The aim of this unit is for students to understand the role of feature films in the construction of historical memory. The proposed teaching unit deals with the analysis of biases and the construction of narrative in war films. The class was divided into groups, and…

Courses Leadership, Strategic Communication, and courses within communication that include a complex group assignment. Objectives The Zombie Apocalypse (ZA) learning activity is part of a second-year course in an international master's program. The course introduces students to key concepts in strategic communication and leadership and encourages…

This activity provides students with a way of understanding expectancy violations theory (EVT) by examining incidents that occurred during televised award shows. In this activity, in small groups, students will delve into well-known award-show incidents, such as Will Smith's slapping of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, to understand the…

Rap music is an essential component of hip-hop culture and hip-hop pedagogy. The activity uses music, in particular hip-hop music, as a means of teaching the Johari Window. Students were required to complete the Johari Window panels (open, blind, hidden, unknown) using lyrics from popular songs. The article details this activity and its…

Courses: Small group communication or any courses with units on group/team work. Objective: In this single-class activity, students will use reality TV to identify Tuckman's five phases of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Students analyze how phases of group development manifest through group interaction…

The semester-long activity described herein uses an integrated instructional approach to media studies to introduce students to the research method of qualitative content analysis and help them become more critically vigilant media consumers. The goal is to increase students' media literacy by guiding them in the design of an exploratory…

Courses: Media Criticism, Media and Society, and Media and Gender. Objectives: Students will gain a better understanding of how hegemony operates through culturally accepted norms that allow oppressive practices to endure in society. Students will then develop their own "culture jam" campaign to show them how counterhegemonic discourse…

Aristotle's three proofs remain central to students' understanding of argumentation and persuasion. They are fundamental for those just beginning rhetorical study, as well as being of interest to experienced scholars. Investing time in learning the proofs supports students' future practice and study of rhetoric. Unfortunately, the…

One important aspect of analyzing a rhetorical text is through consideration of the text or artifact's structure, which is why rhetorical criticism textbooks often devote a chapter to issues of structure, form, or genre. Such an emphasis should not be surprising since understanding rhetorical structure remains a foundational concept for rhetorical…

How can public speaking instructors teach students how to be charismatic and confident speakers? The activity presented in this article suggests that instructors foster competent and charismatic presentational skills by having students channel the stylistic capabilities of an exceptional speaker. The activity requires students to take on the…

Language choice--specifically word choice--is an important topic on a basic communication or public speaking course. One sub-topic under "Language" involves understanding the difference between denotation and connotation. Denotation refers to a word's definition, while connotation refers to the emotions associated with the word. Speakers need to…

A fundamental concept in Intercultural Communication is developing an understanding of different cultural patterns. Understanding different value dimensions such as collectivism, power distance, and high versus low context cultures are important steps to gaining a facility in communicating cross-culturally. This article presents an activity that…

This article describes an activity in which teachers and students use music in the form of a "Mix-tape" to relate communication theory to students' lived experiences. When students identify and use their own familiar popular culture texts to explain concepts and identify relationships, they do so in ways that the course textbook cannot. This…

This activity is designed to help build a bridge between the practical and the theoretical and lay the groundwork for students to assess and evaluate both communication theory and popular press titles. This activity is very effective in demonstrating that communication theory can be practical and applicable to real-life advice about work, home,…

Undergraduate students often memorize a keyword or definition for an exam without a deeper understanding or the ability to apply the meaning of the concept. While using examples during a lecture may help, the combination of movies and verbal review has been shown to be a valuable instructional tool, increasing recall (Elischberger & Roebers, 2001)…