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), Jordan & S. Broz
Prerequisite: ENG 101.
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, 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. Writing intensive.
COMM 280 Reasoning and Communication: (4 semester hours), S. Broz
Prerequisite: ENG 101.
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 personal essay regarding attitudes toward
argumentation, a deliberation log, a roundtable performance of oral arguments with question
and answer sessions, a written critique of the roundtable performances, and an argumentative
position paper. Writing intensive.
COMM 290S Media Literacy: (4 semester hours), M. Smith
Prerequisite: ENG 101.
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.
COMM 320 Topics in Communication: Health Communication: (4 semester hours), S. Broz
Prerequisites: COMM 200, 280 or 290, or permission of instructor.
This survey course is designed to introduce students to a wide range of scholarship
about health communication. The course will introduce, investigate, and facilitate
an understanding of the nature of the communication processes that influence and/or
are influenced by health and health care contexts. A growing body of research
indicates that the quality of health care and of personal health is significantly
dependent upon the quality of communication that takes place between health care
provider and patient, as well as within campaigns designed to promote health and
prevent disease. Specifically, we will consider the role of communication in general
models of health and illness, the relationship between patient and care provider,
social support, public health campaigns, and communication in chronic and terminal
disease situations. Characteristics that influence these communication processes,
such as culture, will also be considered.
COMM 320 Topics in Communication: Interpersonal Conflict: (4 semester hours), Jordan
Prerequisites: COMM 200 or permission of instructor.
This is an advanced course in interpersonal communication. The course is focused,
first, on the interaction processes that constitute interpersonal conflicts. Of
specific interest are the ways in which overt conflicts reflect the negotiation of
social and relational identities. A secondary focus of the course is on the ways
in which conflicts common to a variety of specific contexts (e.g., families, romantic
relationships, organizational settings) might be managed effectively.
COMM 403 Communication Senior Seminar: (4 semester hours), Jordan & Smith
Prerequisites: COMM 200, 280, 290, 390, and senior standing.
This course is the capstone experience in the Communication program. Through
their work on independent and group projects, students will practice research,
writing, and critical thinking skills that are part of the process of conducting
communication research, culminating in both written and oral presentations of
results. Writing intensive.
