Public speaking creates discomfort for many students. Instead of seeking to avoid this inevitable discomfort, six speech-variation activities explained in this paper are intentionally designed for, a little bit at a time, embracing momentary discomfort in public speaking. By embracing the inevitable discomfort of public speaking head-on in a fun…

Courses: Health Communication, Science Communication, Interpersonal Communication. Objective: This activity prepares students to explain jargon effectively when communicating with individuals who have low health literacy by utilizing clear communication strategies.

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: 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 activity aims to assist students with persuasive tactics for argumentative speeches. The activity involves students creating an argumentative speech to defend a hot-take assertion chosen from a list provided by the instructor. In small groups, students will craft an argument supporting their hot-take assertion and present it to the class.…

In this activity, the marriage between two fields of theory--namely, communication and education--produces a more organized and integrated lesson on family narratives by using Kolb's experiential learning cycle to guide the unit's construction. Kolb's model depicts what communication content is appropriate for each of the four stages. While the…

The increasing popularity of the team-based learning (TBL) approach signifies how much the student-centered learning environment contributes to the effectiveness of teaching. Given the need to establish an agreement for groups to communicate their visions for collaborative efforts within the teamwork, this activity provides a basic communicative…

In most higher education institutions, course evaluations are conducted at the end of the term. While many instructors implement a feedback system such as a questionnaire or poll at the midterm point, we propose that having students use an arts-based representation (i.e. memes) for a feedback channel can help students and the course instructor to…

This lesson offers students a way to analyze conspiracy theories while neither platforming dangerous ideas nor dismissing them as unworthy of academic study. Ideal for argument or rhetoric courses, first, the lesson advances conspiracy theories as a recognizable species of argument; second, the lesson uses a truncated version of Toulmin's model of…

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Family Communication, Relational Communication. Objectives: The objective of this study is to engage students in identifying close relationships' costs/rewards, resources, and development by creating a visual representation using a tree metaphor. Students will reflect on their close relationships and apply…

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…

It may be possible to teach students in undergraduate research methods courses about replication, while simultaneously providing the discipline a means to solve what some have called a replication "crisis." Over the span of three consecutive fall semesters, students replicated Cialdini and Schroeder's "even a penny will help"…

Relational maintenance is a universal aspect of human relationships. As such, our family and interpersonal communication texts often include relational maintenance as a key point of discussion. Communication scholars also continue to demonstrate how understanding and incorporating positive relational maintenance behaviors is beneficial to our…

Courses: Undergraduate courses in environmental communication, with crisis communication or public relations variations. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students will have a better understanding of how communication contributes to the complexity and interconnections of environmental challenges by exploring crisis communication…

For the communication theory course to be successful, instructors must tap into their students' lives and create a sense of how communication theory is not only relevant to their needs, interests, or goals, but also practical when applied to their social, personal, and organizational relationships. One way in which instructors can create a sense…