In a small-group communication course, students participate in a semester-long project to observe an organization while applying many group communication principles, including conflict resolution, group dynamics, teambuilding, leadership, and diversity. In groups of five, the students select any organization, agency, or department on campus or in…

Courses: Introduction to Communication Theory, Small Group Communication, Organizational Communication, or any class with a group-based component. Objectives: This activity aims to engage students more deeply in group role-playing activities, reduce stereotyping and prejudice in a popular activity, and enhance students' understanding of group…

Courses: Public speaking, business and professional communication, group communication. Objectives: This activity will introduce Monroe's Motivated Sequence as a way to organize persuasive arguments; improve students' ability to deliver presentations with consistent content, voice, and style; and improve team-based delivery skills.

Course: Qualitative Research Methods. Objectives: To provide students with an experiential understanding of the six steps to conducting a thematic analysis: (1) gaining familiarity with the data, (2) creating coding categories or subcategories, (3) generating themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) labeling themes, and (6) identifying exemplars. To help…

This article describes a unit-length project involving students in the analysis of how public memory is shaped by multiple factors and functions persuasively to influence one's understanding of historical events. This project was designed for an upper-division undergraduate course in Rhetoric and Public Memory, but could be adapted for use in…

To teach collaboration and overcome students' aversion to teamwork, Pope-Ruark (2012) recommends the Scrum approach, which she has used to manage major client-based course projects in writing and publishing courses. The Scrum approach emerged out of the software development industry in the 1990s as a framework for improving team…

Although textbooks are filled with practical communication advice, many students overlook the importance of basing practical advice about communication on quality research. This oversight is important for two reasons. First, given the explosion of self-help remedies focused on communication, students should learn to distinguish between…

The objective of the exercise described here is to teach students about group formation using group concepts and theory. It also provides a unique way to form work groups for class projects. Students will become more aware of the reasons people join groups, the benefits groups provide for them, and an understanding of how groups are formed. The…

One of the major purposes of many intercultural communication textbooks is to help students recognize, accept, and appreciate cultural differences. However, one often lacks the necessary motivation to get to know and learn about individuals of a different cultural heritage. Thus, misunderstanding, stereotyping, prejudice, or even racism may…

Students, including advanced students, often lack the knowledge, confidence, and experience to participate effectively in competitive, bartering, or conflict situations. The concept that influencing skills are not limited to those in authority and can be learned comprises the framework for this teaching activity. The credible and adaptable…

Group cohesiveness is a topic addressed in most small group communication texts and courses and is often defined as the degree of attraction members feel towards one another, the degree of loyalty within a group, or the "groupness" felt among members. Further, groups which are cohesive tend to be happier and more productive. When working on…