This teaching note describes the use of a pilot peer feedback assignment in an undergraduate BSW Interviewing Skills Course. Two cohorts of students over two years (n = 47) answered a brief questionnaire and/or participated in a small focus group inquiring about their experience of this assignment and its impact on their learning. Student…

Previous studies of grading as instructional feedback reveal contrary patterns of motivation among public speaking students. That is, in some cases students who received lower grades on their initial speech assignments made substantial improvements on their subsequent speeches. In other studies, scholars have reported the exact opposite finding.…

The purpose of this action research study was to determine the impact of project-based learning on the writing, communication and interpersonal skills of students in a college skills course. This course was required for students who were enrolled in at least one or more developmental courses. The purpose of this course was to equip the students…

Collaborative group assignments in undergraduate education are important for promoting skill development and preparation for the workplace; however, they are subject to the challenges associated with group dynamics. This research sought to determine the effectiveness of a Group Work Contract to facilitate professional behaviours and positive…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the development and execution of the video cover letter exercise. This learning innovation challenges students to develop a concise, targeted marketing message using video technologies and tools. Design/methodology/approach: In the first full semester of mandatory implementation, a pre-test/post-test design…

Instructors often use social media as an extra platform for sharing information and therefore extend the classroom beyond classroom walls. However, when more thoughtfully integrated in pedagogy and tied to specific desired learning outcomes, social media may help accomplish more: strong engagement and self-reported comprehension, aided by the…

This study explores alternative approaches for teaching general education courses burdened with serving extremely large enrollments. It compares the effectiveness of a self-contained course in which each course section is taught by one instructor to a large lecture/small lab format in which all course enrollees attend one large lecture section and…

Accounting educators struggle with ways to incorporate the development of critical thinking and communication skills into the curriculum. Case analysis is one tool for developing these skills. We examine whether students' case analysis scores improve as a result of participation in peer grading and peer review. We find that students improve their…

The Department of Accounting at California State University Northridge (CSUN) has developed a unique sequence of courses designed to ensure that accounting students are trained not only in technical accounting, but also acquire critical thinking, research and communication skills. The courses have proven effective and have embedded assessment…

This article focuses on an extended, interactive, collaborative project in a junior/senior-level business communication class. The main goal of the project is to address a difficult task central to many college-level writing courses: teaching students to consider and to write for specific audiences other than the teacher. A second goal is to focus…

Two online collaborative assignments that connected students in courses at Unitec, New Zealand, and Baruch College, City University of New York, are the focus of this article. For the first assignment, small, blended groups used five different online techniques to explore topics being discussed in an intercultural communication course at each…