Graduate courses are designed to help students learn discipline-specific knowledge, theories, and methods, but also to socialize them into the larger professional network. The awards assignment in this paper is designed to familiarize students with a wide variety of scholars and research within a field of study, to engage them creatively with…

Courses: Introduction to public speaking, advanced public speaking, hybrid/survey introduction to communication. Objectives: At the end of this activity, students will be able to (1) explain the elements of a speaking outline and discover these elements in real-world speech examples, (2) recreate outline formats effectively in their personal…

E-journaling invites students to reflect upon and synthesize their experiences, readings, discussions, and presentations in a series of electronic entries, usually viewed only by the student and the instructor. E-journaling assignments have become easier to complete and grade in the last few years because they are now supported by learning…

Courses: Public Speaking. Objectives: This unit aims to (1) illustrate the classical and contemporary utility of "ekphrasis" ("description") as a genre of civic communication; and (2) introduce students to essential skills in public speaking, including invention, arrangement, and, in particular, style

Courses: Visual Rhetoric, Visual Communication, Multiplatform Journalism, Advertising, Journalism, Public Relations. Objective: This unit activity requires that students analyze and produce imagery with the help of semiotic theory. Students will: (1) learn to connect theory with practice holistically by simultaneously practicing visual analysis…

Courses: Research Methods, Qualitative Research Methods, Ethnography. Objectives: The aims of this class exercise are: (1) To define an autoethnographic approach to communication research; (2) To understand autoethnography as both a research process and product; (3) To emphasize the varied forms of autoethnographic research and writing; (4) To…

Audience analysis is essential for creating successful messages across communication fields. The audience persona is an effective tool for understanding the characteristics and needs of a target audience. Through this unit activity, students experience the process of persona development, build skills in data collection and analysis, and gain…

Course: This assignment is a unit activity designed for use in a skills-focused undergraduate public relations, organizational communication, or crisis communication course. Objective: The goal of this activity is to increase students' understanding and ability to apply message design concepts in an unfamiliar context. Students will work…

This single-class activity provides an opportunity for students to understand qualities of the dark side of interpersonal communication better. To achieve this goal, students review a series of articles from "The New York Times'" "Modern Love" column. Students are introduced to the dark side of interpersonal communication and…

Courses: Organizational Communication; any advanced communication course that can benefit from using a case study approach. Objectives: This semester-long case study assignment asks students to write a case study around an organizational communication issue based on their empirical data collection of a real organization. Students are expected to…

Courses: Introduction to Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Communication Theory, and Health Communication across face-to-face, hybrid, and online formats. Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding of interpersonal communication concepts and theories by (1) identifying artifacts that illustrate the unique features of…

In this semester-long activity, I describe how to create a collaborative cabinet of curiosities that engages critical methods of inquiry as an alternative summative assignment. Courses: Communication Pedagogy, Gender and Communication, Performance Studies. Objective: The objective of this assignment is for students to identify and analyze how…

Courses: Business and Professional Communication, Persuasion. Objectives: Students demonstrate application of rhetorical invention and improved persuasive writing style through a brief, multi-draft writing activity.

Courses: This semester-long assignment can be featured in undergraduate or graduate communication courses that include a major writing assignment such as research methods, capstone classes, senior thesis sections, or advanced courses on topics such as interpersonal, intercultural, and interracial communication. This assignment is suitable for…

Courses: This activity is designed specifically for public-speaking courses, but it could be used in the general introductory communication course. It also holds potential for use in persuasion, argumentation, or strategic communication courses. Objectives: This activity helps students understand audience as a more complicated concept--one that…