In this discussion, we consider how the use of scenario-based assessment (SBA) can provide students with a way of developing the digital communication skills that business communication research has found they will need for the workplace, alongside other aspects of professional competence. This is because SBA can be employed to engage learners in…

The challenge of teaching communication skills outlined in Goal 4 of the "APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major" is that it occurs in many contexts and the communicator must adapt the form to match both context and purpose. We created a taxonomy of dimensions and kinds of communication that represents the various contexts…

Equity-minded assessment refers to a set of practices that collectively serve to understand, prioritize, and optimize the learning experiences and outcomes of student learners, particularly students from communities who have been historically marginalized or underserved in higher education. The scholarship on equity-minded assessment (Montenegro…

Essay exams offer many benefits for instructors who seek to vary their assessment methods and engage students in critical discourse, yet they also pose many challenges and require thoughtful construction and evaluation. The author provides an extensive overview of the literature to illuminate best practices for designing and assessing effective…

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.…

Students who know how to collaborate successfully in the classroom will be better prepared for professional success in a world where we are expected to work well with others. Students learn collaboratively, and acquire the skills needed to organize and complete collaborative work, when they participate in thoughtfully-designed learning activities.…

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…

An innovative assignment to capture soft-skills and create opportunities for a health profession program is presented. A full description of this semester-long assignment will be highlighted, including the associated rubric and a student example. Assessment results provide initial insight as to how the HOT Sheet supported opportunity for soft…

This study gathered longitudinal and descriptive data on the nature of the basic communication course, continuing a tradition dating back to 1968. Now in its ninth iteration, convenience sampling and hard copy distribution of the survey instrument resulted in a total of 188 respondents (21 from two-year schools, 167 from four-year schools). This…

The overarching purpose of this document is to define a new vision for mathematics instruction that explicitly attends to the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs), addressing the interdependence of language and mathematics. The sections in this report are devoted to (1) making clear that the grade-level college- and career-readiness…

Student exit polling has demonstrated value in the classroom (Berry and Robinson 2012; Evans and Lagergren 2007; Lelieveldt and Rossen 2009), but faculty typically operate these polls in isolation. When faculty collaborate, however, students gain additional benefits from the experience. Collaboration provides a geographically diverse "student…

This study examined the suitability of a brief oral presentation exercise as an assessment method in biopsychology. Undergraduate students researched and presented a five-minute, self-selected fact related to course material, allowing them to practice oral communication skills, such as clearly explaining and carefully listening. Biopsychology…

Although service learning provides unparalleled real world experiential student learning opportunities and benefits to four major constituencies--student, faculty, community and institution, it takes place in an uncontrolled environment introducing uncertainty into the instructional process. Faculty might avoid this valuable approach to…

Use formative assessment to dramatically improve your students' writing. In "Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment", educator and international speaker Harry G. Tuttle shows you how to guide middle and high school students through the prewriting, writing, and revision processes using formative assessment techniques that work.…

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…