Reports on the development of a systematic means of identifying, addressing, and assessing students' group skills. Describes a two-year research project that identified students' perceptions of their weaknesses when working in groups. Describes specific ways those weaknesses were addressed with only modest adjustments to the business communication…

Examines an innovative philanthropic program instituted by a Midwestern United States manufacturing company during organizational downtimes. Examines the tensions that emerged when a traditionally structured company instituted a program indicative of incremental shifts toward feminist organizing principles. Explores the pragmatic and far-reaching…

Suggests that people think about information as a process rather than a substance. Argues that in order to do this, schools need to slow down and do less, but do it better. Asserts that too much content coverage gets in the way of developing critical thinking skills. (NB)

This article reports the findings of a 3 year research project which investigated disciplinary variation in student writing. Within an Open University course in the history of science, students from an arts background were found to achieve significantly higher grades than those from a science background. Textual and interview data suggest that…

This case study describes the use of a web-based synchronous chat application, run during computing tutorials. The chat room was moderated by a paid demonstrator, who assisted and encouraged students whenever possible. Most of the discussion was banter, which acted as a lubricant for relevant factual communication. Students were permitted a degree…

This paper investigates intercultural communication and its significance to higher education. The paper briefly discusses culture, subculture and the meeting of cultures. It also provides a brief survey of developments in intercultural communication research. With reference to New Zealand, the paper further points to some limitations of…

This book is designed to develop students' skills both as consumers and as producers of persuasion. The book explains, with examples from diverse media campaigns, strategies of persuasion constantly used in the mass media, in political rhetoric, and in advertising. The book covers material on persuasion theory, persuasion research, and persuasion…

A literature review reports on three studies concerning the antecedents of student verbal participation in the classroom. In the first study, the following research questions were probed: (1) In what situations are students most willing to communicate in the classroom? (2) What is the relationship between willingness to communicate and a students'…

A study explored the debate over comic books and children in the 1950s, addressing the communication role of comic books in forming a new community of comic book fans during that period. Using E.C. (Educational Comics) comic books as a case study, the conventions of the comic books, correspondence between producers and consumers, and articles by…

A study examined the organizational climate of a university undergoing dramatic change and its relationship to specific aspects of that institution's organizational culture. Earlier research has shown that organizational climate directly affects an organization's communication climate, but it is less clear how organizational climate influences and…

Discussion abounds about the quality of rhetoric on computer bulletin boards, chat lines and e-mail. Within the past year the CEDA-L, a bulletin board dedicated to the communication of the Cross Examination Debate Association community, has become one of the most popular avenues for information dissemination. A study examined 1000 messages posted…

A study examined the effects of a college business/professional speaking course on the communication skills' development of students. The research examined three hypotheses: (1) that student ratings of their own communication skills would show a significant improvement after a 16-week course on business and professional speaking; (2) that males…

A study examined intervention activities for students identified as having high communication anxiety (CA). The study utilized 2 group interventions. Of 61 students in an introductory speech class invited to participate, the 8 who accepted were divided into 2 groups of 4. The groups met for 5 weeks. Group 1, facilitated by a female counseling…

In response to projected increases in enrollment in public speaking at Missouri's St. Louis Community College-Meramec, a project was undertaken to develop a plan for incorporating gender communication into the public speaking course. The first phase of the project involved a review of literature related to women in education and gender research,…

A study examined the effects of videotaping in a public speaking program. Hypotheses were that (1) communication apprehension is negatively related to self-perceived communication competency and (2) low communication apprehensive subjects will show less self-perceived communication competency on a subsequent speech if, during a conference with…