COMM 190 Public Speaking
4 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 hours
Broz, Stefne and Staff
Prerequisite: ENG 101E
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 220A Topic: Comic Books as Culture
4 hours
Smith, Matthew
Prerequisite: None
This course explores the kinds of graphic storytelling that goes on in comic books and graphic novels and considers the aesthetic standards with which to understand the narratives and resulting culture-making that goes on through them. Working from a mass communication perspective, we will review the historical development of the art form, the various genres that have popularized it (e.g., horror, romance, memoir), the industry (including the works of specific creators), and the audience. Using this information, students will learn to compose informed written and oral critiques of artifacts in the medium. In order to do this effectively, we will be reading a number of classic comic books as well as some modern graphic novels to better appreciate and articulate ideas about the art form.
COMM 224 Group Dynamics
4 hours
Martycz, Virginia
Prerequisite: None
This course aims at improving your understanding of and ability to demonstrate effective communication behaviors in group discussions. The course is structured so that students study the principles of effective group communication and have the opportunity to apply these lessons to actual group interactions. Students thus have the chance to improve their communication competency in small group settings through discussions and projects in the practical application of theoretical concepts.
COMM 270S Interpersonal Communication
4 hours
Warber, Katie
Prerequisite: None
This course offers an introduction to message production and interpretation in face-to-face settings. The focus of the course is to illustrate how choices in interpersonal communication behaviors are basic to our character as human beings and the nature of our interpersonal relationships. Students will complete the course having learned about basic interpersonal communication principles related to, for example, self-presentation, self-disclosure, effective listening, relationship development, relational maintenance, relationship dissolution, compliance gaining, and conflict management.
COMM 280 Reasoning and Communication
4 hours
Staff
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E
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 hours
Smith, Matthew
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E
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 300 Social Scientific Methods
4 hours
Warber, Katie
Prerequisites: COMM 200; COMM 270S, 280 or 290S; Math Placement score 22
This course introduces students to the process of conducting qualitative and quantitative communication research, including how to 1) formulate a research question, 2) conduct library research for a literature review, 3) select a method (e.g., participant/observation, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, experiment, content analysis, or survey research), 4) adhere to standards for scholarly writing, and 5) critically evaluate others' research studies. Writing intensive.
COMM 301 Critical Methods: Communication Criticism
4 hours
Staff
Prerequisites: COMM 290S or permission of the instructor
This course is designed to foster critical analysis skills necessary for understanding a wide variety of messages, including those found in speeches, advertisements, news reports, television programs, films, and songs. In particular, students will learn and practice several methods for systematically describing, interpreting, and assessing aspects of messages. The course attends to both the theory and praxis of communication criticism; as students learn of the assumptions and approaches that undergird each method of analysis, they will have the opportunity to apply those methods in the analysis of a variety of discourses. In doing so, they will be encouraged to engage critically with issues of culture and power in the context of communication criticism. Students will demonstrate their comprehension and apply their understanding of methods of communication criticism in exams, several written essays, and participation. Writing intensive.
COMM 320: Topic - Relational Communication
4 hours
Warber, Kathleen
Prerequisites: COMM 200; COMM 270S; or permission of instructor
This course will expose students to research trends and theory in the study of communication in close relationships. Specifically, the course will focus on issues related to the nature of intimate relationships, processes, functioning, relationship issues, and communication. Readings and discussions will include coverage of, for example, mate selection, love, friendship, power, conflict, and relationship dissolution. Research on topics such as attraction, stress, sexuality, and violence will be examined. We will also focus on the nature of relationship interaction as it is associated with relationship satisfaction, relationship stability, distress, and mental health.
COMM 327 Health Communication
4 hours
Broz, Stefne
Prerequisites: COMM 200 or permission of instructor
This advanced seminar is designed to introduce students to a wide range of scholarship about health communication. The course will investigate 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 equality of health care and of personal health is significantly dependent on the quality of communication that takes place between health care provider and patient, as well as among providers, management and staff. There is also a central role for communication when informing the public about health issues.
COMM 360 Topics in Rhetoric: Communicating Identity in American Politics
4 hours
Staff
Prerequisites: COMM 200 and 280.
In rhetorical studies the question of agency-how much "choice" a speaker has in a given historical and social context-is central to understanding how political actors are both enabled and constrained by their ascribed or chosen identity categories. Whether the next U.S. president is Hillary Clinton, John McCain, or Barack Obama all of candidates will grapple with creating a public identity that will win the presidency. Candidates at the national, state, and local levels will face similar rhetorical challenges. In this course we will use concepts in rhetorical theory to guide our interrogation of the public discourse of political actors, focusing on how they use words and images to create an identity in a public sphere where authenticity plays well and insincerity does not. Students should expect to read some rhetorical theory and be prepared to use theoretical concepts to analyze public discourse. Experience in rhetorical criticism (i.e.,COMM 301) is preferred, but not required.
COMM 491 Internships: Comm Tutors
2 Hours
Broz, Stefne
Prerequisites: BY PERMISSION ONLY
COMM 491 Internship: Comm Leaders
2 Hours
Smith, Matthew
Prerequisites: BY PERMISSION ONLY
COMM 499 Senior Honors Thesis/Project
0-4 Hours
Staff
