It may be possible to teach students in undergraduate research methods courses about replication, while simultaneously providing the discipline a means to solve what some have called a replication "crisis." Over the span of three consecutive fall semesters, students replicated Cialdini and Schroeder's "even a penny will help"…

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Communication & Identity, Social Cognition/Influence, Diversity Studies, Rhetorical Theory and Criticism. Objectives: This activity examines children's books as a tool in the formation of social expectations, attitudes, and acceptance. It offers an opportunity to discuss effective ways to promote inclusion…

Courses: Introduction to Corporate Communication, Introduction to Organizational Communication, Topics in Organizational Communication. Objectives: This activity aims to give students an opportunity and space to critique and examine organizational activities and business practices, and how this may impact students' future employment or consumer…

In most higher education institutions, course evaluations are conducted at the end of the term. While many instructors implement a feedback system such as a questionnaire or poll at the midterm point, we propose that having students use an arts-based representation (i.e. memes) for a feedback channel can help students and the course instructor to…

For many years, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been discussed to elucidate the development of students' awareness, skill, and experience in regard to intercultural communication. Yet, practical suggestions for enhancing teachers' or teacher educators' practice in intercultural communication classrooms are scarce. To fill this…

Courses: Communication Theory; Research Methods; Mass Communication Theory. Objectives: This activity introduces students to the socially constructed nature of theorizing through having a few students sort a bag of random items in ways of their choice. The class then discusses the categories of sorted items in terms of their properties as theories…

Young adults and teenagers spend a significant amount of time each day using social media, but very few of them have thought about the ethical implications of what they post or view on these platforms. This activity provides students with the opportunity to (1) log and evaluate the amount of time and types of posts they are creating on social…

Students typically find research methods and statistics classes intimidating. In particular, learning different types of data measurement and operationalization can take significant time and practice to understand. Utilizing a pedagogical approach that turns a party game into a fun exercise, students collaboratively learn to operationalize…

The hidden curriculum (HC) consists of implicit knowledge rooted in curricula and found throughout students' experiences navigating higher education (e.g. understanding professional email etiquette, graduate school applications and funding opportunities, or often taken-for-granted programs like Title IX and disability accommodations). In this…

Undergraduate courses on small-group communication often cover group roles, group conflict, and conflict management styles. Although these concepts are valuable to learn, merely memorizing them does not address the practical skills students need to employ conflict management strategies when situated in group conflict. This activity provides a…

Utilizing popular murder-mystery texts that transcend boundaries of race, class, age, and sex, students apply Toulmin's 1958 concept of claim, data, warrant (Toulmin, S. E. 2003. The uses of argument. Cambridge University Press). Ultimately, students engage in an activity that demonstrates how argumentation plays a role outside of the college…

The corporate migration activity is designed to help students connect practical concepts of how language creates power within organizational structures. By engaging in this activity, students will demonstrate and observe how unclear language, (in)effective communication, and disorganization (re)create and sustain power within an organization. This…

This activity engages students in values-based decision making using a story about five characters caught up in a morally fraught dilemma. Students draw conclusions about each character based on perceptions of their actions, rather than explicitly stated attributes, as they interact with one another to reach a consensus ranking from best to worst.…

This single-class activity augments the popular desert island activity to include a secret insider who aims to influence their group covertly. The motivation for this augmented activity is twofold: (1) to highlight and dispel notions of invulnerability to groupthink and (2) to provide an opportunity to engage in small-group decision making. To…

Having conversations about death and dying can be very difficult to initiate and engage in with others. The following activity, based on the card game The Death Deck, was designed to encourage students to engage with others about difficult conversations surrounding death and dying. The activity provides students with questions and prompts that…