Traditionally, informative speeches are relegated to be passive. The classic scope of informative speeches does not consider "live" or "lived" rhetoric. After teaching public speaking for most of my career, there are times when one needs to reinvigorate assignments. This assignment challenges how we utilize memory and place to…

This unit teaches students how to perform racial rhetorical criticism and positions them to engage in discussions of race through experiential learning, namely through exploring the links between rhetoric, public memory, and campus history projects. Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, Communication Theory. Objective: Students will…

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…

Unpacking the idea of how students consume and use models of professional voice is important and warrants more attention in the communication classroom. The following class outline, as a result, will provide other communication instructors with an overview of how students can bring in their own examples of language use from business to reflect on…

Courses: Mass Communication, Persuasion, Media Literacy, Political Communication, and Communication Theory. Objectives: This activity introduces students to priming theory through atmospheric peripheral cues. Students learn about media priming and understand how priming effects may occur in real-world situations.

This teaching activity builds students' interpersonal competencies in identifying Mark Knapp's Stages of Relationships (Adler, Rosenfeld, Towne, & Scott, 2012, Interplay: The process of interpersonal communication, p. 504, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston). The activity establishes a theoretical understanding of each stage and asks students to use…

Dominant approaches to assessment have often limited students' ability to share their perspectives on course experiences. Further, assessment approaches are often disconnected from pedagogical practice and reinforce the status quo. In this article, we outline our critical-interpretive approach to a four-year cycle of assessments examining…

Courses: Introduction to Communication (within a unit on culture), Intercultural Communication, Race and Communication, Gender and Communication, Media and Diversity, Dance Appreciation, and Introduction to Dance Studies (within a unit on culture). Objectives: This activity merges dance and communication to invite intercultural learning. Through…

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.…

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Communication Theory. Objectives: Students improve their understanding of relational framing theory, consider features of interactions that influence message interpretation, and reflect on ways framing impacts their interactions.

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…

Storytelling plays a central role in human communication and in conflict. This activity can be used to teach students the importance of telling stories to better understand conflict or simply to practice storytelling. By engaging in mediations, students simulate the process of resolving conflict, practice storytelling, and improve their active…

Traditionally, feedback is regarded as crucial in the context of learning and teaching public speaking. In the current course, we analyzed the feedback provided to students by an artificial intelligence (AI) coach and students' learning experiences in developing public-speaking skills via this tool. The MySpeaker Rhetorich speech coach application…

"Zoom class" has become a prevailing norm for online synchronous learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Zoom classes are often associated with fatigue and lack of student engagement. Theories of computer-mediated communication suggest that text-based, low-bandwidth, online communication may yield more positive communication…

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…