COMM 190 Public Speaking (4 semester hours)
Staff
This course addresses basic theoretical principles of effective public speaking necessary for pluralistic audiences, concentrating on content, organization, audience analysis, ethics, language, and delivery. Students apply these principles to several oral presentations, some videotaped and requiring the use of PowerPoint.

COMM 200 Introduction to Communication Studies (4 semester hours)
M. Smith
This course provides an introduction to the field of human communication studies and a foundation for future study within the communication discipline. The course introduces the core concepts, essential skills, and perennial issues found in several relevant contexts of human interaction, including interpersonal relationships, small groups, organizations, and cross-cultural interaction. It also examines these contexts from a theoretical perspective, suggesting how scholars have sought to formulate generalized explanations for the processes of human meaning making. A sample syllabus and assignments are available for your review at http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academics/communication/200.html. Writing intensive.
Prerequisite: ENG 101

COMM 280 Reasoning and Communication (4 semester hours)
C. Waggoner
This course provides extensive training in critical thinking, listening, reading, practical reasoning, deliberation, and oral and written advocacy. As part of a deliberative process, participants prepare oral and written arguments on contemporary issues for critical, well-informed audiences. Emphasis is placed on the ability to anticipate and address the wide variety of alternative perspectives represented by such audiences. Required assignments include: a deliberation log, a roundtable performance of oral arguments with question and answer sessions, a written critique of the roundtable performances, a position paper, and a final argumentative essay. Writing intensive.
Prerequisite: ENG 101

COMM 290 S Media Literacy (4 semester hours)
M. Smith
This course provides a broad foundation for examining the form, content, and consequences of mediated communication (including the Internet, recording, radio, television, cable, film, newspaper, magazine, and publishing industries). The course introduces media industries from both an historical and contemporary perspective, covers the prominent theories that characterize mass media functions and effects, and addresses controversial issues in mediated communication. Students are introduced to intellectual tools that will enable them to be more critical consumers of media and given opportunities to practice applying those tools in both structured classroom discussions and formal writing assignments. A sample syllabus and assignments are available for your review at http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academics/communication/290.html.
Writing intensive.
Prerequisite: ENG 101

COMM 330 Analysis of Persuasion (4 semester hours)
C. Waggoner
This course is designed to introduce students to basic aspects of persuasion. Students will be given opportunities to learn how to critically receive and accept/reject persuasive messages and to display their knowledge by means of various projects, exercises, and assignments. In the first half of the course, students will learn theories and principles of persuasion; in the second half, they will apply those theories and principles to a particular area, in this case, nondiscursive or visual persuasion (i.e., images without words). This course is not intended to develop persuasive speaking skills, but is intended to help students become critical consumers of persuasion. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites: COMM 200 and COMM 280 or 290 or permission of instructor.

COMM 350 Topics in Media: Computer-Mediated Communication (4 semester hours)
M. Smith
The course explores how human communication behaviors are shaped by the use of computer-mediated channels like e-mail, chat rooms, and the World Wide Web. Although students will have the opportunity to experiment with various computer-mediated channels during the course, the focus is not on the technology itself but on how people use the technology to express themselves and interact with others. Thus, students need only basic computing skills at the onset of the course. The class will explore the social, legal, and ethical consequences of issues such as online relationships, virtual communities, the digital divide, and corporate convergence, among others.
Prerequisites: COMM 200 and 290 or permission of instructor.