This longitudinal study examined the relationship between two content formats of the basic communication course (BCC) and first-year college student retention over a 4-year period (N = 5,653). Chi-square and logistic regression models indicated students who completed the BCC were more likely to be retained than those who did not complete the BCC.…

It is imperative that today's advertising, journalism, mass communication, and public relations students are prepared to engage in corporate activism and corporate social responsibility communications once in the workforce. This article explores the need for incorporating equity-based pedagogy, using feminism as one of many approaches, into…

Communication practitioners, especially those who facilitate training and development workshops, should focus on generational differences as a subset of their communication training efforts. This article positions the multigenerational workplace and generational differences as a relevant topic for communication trainers and provides cursory…

Pharmacists are increasingly expected to communicate skillfully, yet few Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curricula include theoretically-derived or evidence-based communication training. The 12 Fundamentals of Highly Effective Communicators is a pedagogical tool that we developed to teach principles of communication to two consecutive cohorts of…

The introductory communication course has a history of producing meaningful scholarship that shapes teaching and learning at institutions of higher education around the world. The scope of this research is broad and, as such, calls for a meta-synthesis of trends in and avenues for future research. This project examines published work from the past…

Some crises, such as those brought on or exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, are wicked problems--large, complex problems with no immediate answer. As such, they make rich centerpieces for learning with respect to public deliberation and issue-based dialogue. This essay reflects on an experimental, transdisciplinary health and science communication…

Learning outcome assessment is a fairly recent trend in higher education that began in the 1980s (Lubinescu et al., 2001). Today, many faculty perceive assessment reporting to be tedious, time-consuming, and irrelevant busywork (Wang & Hurley, 2012). Unfortunately, this systematic process created to use empirical evidence to measure, document,…

Researchers have conducted surveys of the introductory communication course for more than 60 years, starting with two seminal studies in 1956 and 1965, followed by a series of nine replicative studies extending from 1970 to 2016. This systematic review examines the results from those 11 surveys. The results of that review are presented here,…

Students rarely question the relevance of most communication courses. For example, most students realize that courses focused on improving public speaking and interpersonal skills will benefit them personally and professionally after graduation. Convincing them that a rhetorical theory and criticism course is equally empowering can be a bit more…