Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Contemporary Rhetoric, Argumentation, Persuasion, Communication Theory. Objectives: Students will (1) learn the basics of the narrative rationality as a mode of judging rhetoric, and (2) observe the ways in which humans use narrative fidelity and narrative probability to judge stories.

With increasing social media attacks on scholarship and individual academics, educators must be prepared to talk to their students openly about skewed threats from the ideological right. This assignment opens up dialogue against such attacks by introducing core tenets of information literacy in conversation with an instructor's academic work. The…

This collection of 10 My Favorite Assignments (MFA) was first presented at the 2023 Association for Business Communication Annual International Conference held Denver, Colorado, USA. Instructors can see innovative ideas for teaching current social issues, oral communication techniques, and methods to lead students to greater personal and…

This tool is part of the Countering Truth Decay initiative, which is focused on restoring the role of facts, data, and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse and the policymaking process. RAND researchers developed this educational tool, consisting of five sequenced lesson plans for middle school teachers, with the goal of improving RAND's…

Tutoring is much more than telling students information. Effective tutoring begins with the strong and caring relationship a tutor establishes with a learner to build trust, fuel motivation, and drive critical learning. "How Tutoring Works" distills the complexity of strategic moves effective tutors make to build students' confidence and…

Courses: This unit-level teaching assignment was designed for courses on rhetoric, persuasion, professional communication, public speaking, and business communication. Objectives: By completing this activity, students should be able to: (1) identify and research a specific job, scholarship, or award they'd like to pursue within the next six…

Stresses the importance of showing students a reason for learning writing skills, not just a "because." Argues that credibility is everything and that proving this is crucial to successfully producing writers who can not only write, but care about their writing. (RAE)

Argues that technological advances with digital photo enhancement computer programs raise serious questions concerning ethics in student publications, and that instructors and advisers have an obligation to teach students about the appropriate, ethical use of these programs. Outlines specific issues and reminds students that it is wrong to enhance…

Discusses how to use the Sender-Receiver Communications model to illustrate for students the process of "targeting your audience." Includes an assignment in which students are asked to apply knowledge gained from the model. (MS)

Discusses the importance of images in the publishing and presentation of scientific research. Explains the use of photographs as scientific data in research. Lists some reasons for the manipulation of images, and clarifies the acceptable and unacceptable limits of manipulation and image manipulation policy. (Author/YDS)

Describes a method that can help student reporters select and cover a beat. (FL)

Describes a writing assignment (to be carried out while in the process of writing a research paper) in which students critique either their best or their worst sources. (SR)

Frequent use of credibility phrases such as "to be perfectly honest" and "frankly speaking" may lend credence to the description of this era as being the Age of Disbelief. It is not enough that truth is implied in a discussion, it must be made explicit verbally. What do students think when they see headlines that decry fraud,…

Specific suggestions are given to help teachers become persuasive communicators. (PBS)

Describes four classroom learning experiences designed to analyze construction of media messages. Notes these activities, appropriate for children aged approximately 12 and older, are intended to create a learning environment that encourages active discourse on critical questions about information sources, belief, uncertainty and doubt, authority,…