This exploratory study analyzed the specific crisis communication methods of academic libraries. A survey was sent to library staff at Association of Research Libraries member colleges and universities to describe if, who, when, and how they communicated bad news to their stakeholders for major, minor, and emerging crises. The findings show that…

Studies show that effective partnerships between schools and families improve students' academic outcomes. Schools often struggle to implement effective strategies with low-income families, however. This multiple case study examines family-school partnership activities at eight demographically diverse schools in the state of Hawai'i and examines…

This toolkit is for school districts that are considering using text messaging to improve attendance. Text messaging can reach large numbers of parents with minimal cost. This toolkit is intended to enable district leaders and staff to: (1) Consider goals and priorities for using text messaging to communicate with parents about student absences;…

This research assessed instructors' usage of emojis in distance education for high diploma students. A quantitative approach was employed comprising an e-survey consisting of 11-items, one closed-ended question, and two open-ended questions. The participants were a randomly selected sample of 343 high diploma students, 243 attending Al al-Bayt…

Employers provide their interpretation of the meaning of "communication skills" in this qualitative study of 22 managers. Employers understand written communication to be types of documents, a way to write, and a mode of communication. Oral communication skills mean a style of interacting, presenting, and conducting meetings. Visual…

With the increasing diversity of pedagogic models of delivery in higher education, universities are continually exploring practises of learning and teaching designed to enhance student experience and retention. The number of courses provided online continues to grow through, among other reasons, an escalation of higher education (HE) students…

First-year students' communication abilities are critical to succeeding in college and interacting professionally with faculty, student affairs staff, and administrators. The purpose of this exploratory study is to better understand how introductory-level college students, particularly those born since 1990, define competent communication in the…

Following Rogers's theory of the diffusion of innovations, the author questions whether youth entering the workforce will act as change agents to evolve primary business communication channels from email to text-messaging. Expanding on research performed in 2009, the author investigates three communication scenarios: scheduling meetings,…

A case study was conducted to assess the efficacy of online communication tools for enhancing independent student engagement in a first-year undergraduate class. Material relevant to course topics was shared with students through three communication platforms and data were extracted to measure student engagement. A questionnaire was also used to…

This study examined the gender difference in students' perceived discussion strategies in face-to-face and online asynchronous contexts. A survey of 363 university students and follow-up interviews of 20 participants was conducted to examine any gender differences within each context and between the two contexts. The Discussion Strategies Scale…

The present study had two main goals: to explore performance differences in a task-based environment between face-to-face (FTF) and oral computer-mediated communication (OCMC) groups, and to investigate the relationship between trait-like willingness to communicate (WTC) and performance in the FTF and OCMC groups. Students from two intact…

This study investigates the different learning opportunities enabled by text-based and video-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) from an interactionist perspective. Six Chinese-speaking learners of English and six English-speaking learners of Chinese were paired up as tandem (reciprocal) learning dyads. Each dyad participated…

Research on the effectiveness of short-term study-abroad (SA) programs for improving oral skills has shown mixed results. In this study, 24 L2 German learners (L1 English) provided pre- and post-SA speech samples addressing a hypothetical situation and completed surveys on cross-cultural interest and adaptability; L2 communication affect,…

The current study focused on an important issue pertaining to online social communication by investigating perceptional differences between eastern and western adolescents. A total of 309 participants were recruited from three countries: China, Singapore, and the United States. Significant differences were found between eastern and western…

As the use of online courses in high schools increases rapidly across the United States, schools are using courses from a multitude of sources to achieve a variety of educational goals. Policies and practices for monitoring student progress and success in online courses are also diverse. Yet few states formally track or report student…