Sample Course Syllabus II
Course Objectives
1. To introduce students to the principles, theories, and forms of speech
communication including interpersonal communication, team communication,
and public speaking.
2. To provide students with the opportunity to participate in a variety of
communication events or experiences including role playing, simulations, and
practice presentations in order to improve their communication skills.
Outcomes
After completing this course, you should be able to:
Organize ideas and opinions into a message that will elicit the desired
response from listeners.
Select words and a style of language that convey the intended meaning.
Manage one’s voice by regulating elements of paralanguage—pitch, volume,
rhythm, and tonal qualities—required by the speaking situation.
Use an extemporaneous delivery style in public speeches.
Recognize the functions of human wants, needs, desires, and attitudes as they
influence human communicative behavior.
List the components or construct a model of the communication process.
Demonstrate openness to interpersonal interaction and influence.
Become sensitive to nonverbal systems.
Explain how selective attention, exposure, and retention determine the extent
of your ability to be persuaded.
Exhibit a willingness to give and receive feedback.
Listen effectively in interpersonal, team, and public communication
interactions.
(Additional competencies will be emphasized during the course.)
Required Text
Gamble, Teri and Michael Gamble. Communication Works, 11th edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2012.
EXAMS
Exams in a communication class have always been problematic. We feel that a
traditional midterm and final can be sufficient if the students work with that model.
However, we have found that many of today’s students can benefit from more creative
models.
One of our favorite techniques is to give weekly exams preceded by an in-class
review. Here is the procedure.
At the beginning of class, take a few minutes to review the material that was
covered the previous session.
Use groups to help this review process. Divide the class into groups. Ask a
question covered in the previous meeting. Each group is to write down an answer.
Next, poll the groups. Each group receives +10 points for each correct answer and
–10 points for each incorrect answer.
Continue the review for several main topics covered during the previous class.
Tally the scores, and give the winning team a round of applause.
At the end of class give the quiz on the material that was reviewed the previous
session.
This process not only gives a nice review for the class, but it also gives you, the
instructor, some feedback on the concepts that students understood and those that require
a little more attention before you move on to cover new material.
A bingo-type game can add fun and excitement to the review. You can use a standard
bingo set. Each team that gives a correct answer places a bean or penny on a bingo card.
As the instructor, you pull the bingo numbers. HRD Press has produced a bingo type
game called Quizo in which teams with the right answers place pennies on a Quizo card.
Rather than working toward bingo, they are working toward Quizo.
SPEECH ASSIGNMENTS
We are always looking for innovative ways to spark student interest in the public
speaking and group process part of the course. We have been working with speech
builder cases, conspiracy group projects, and term speeches. Here is a summary of those
assignments.
Term Speeches
Each class member will work independently to create a five-minute speech in
which he or she advocates a solution to a topic of some importance (NOT ONE OF THE
TOPICS LISTED IN THE SPEECH BUILDER CASES). Students should submit a
complete sentence outline and have appropriate visuals. In addition to the assignments
above, read Chapters 16 (speech delivery) and 18 (persuasion). The term Speech Design
and Construction Packets can be found below the Speech Assignments section.
Speech Builder Cases: Designing a Speech
We will work as a class to develop materials for presentations on the following
topics:
Health Care
Death Penalty
Criminal Profiling
Suicide Prevention
(These Cases are a part of class participation)
Team Projects: Conspiracy Theories
Each class member will be a member of a team whose job is to investigate a
conspiracy theory. Each team member will prepare and present a five-minute speech in
which he or she informs the class about some aspect of the conspiracy. Each class
member must have a visual and a complete sentence outline. Topics researched in the past
have included:
Who killed John F. Kennedy?
Was Marilyn Monroe’s death a murder or a suicide?
Who killed Jon Benet Ramsey?
Who shot down Flight 800?
Who was William Shakespeare?
Is a current death row inmate innocent?
Term Speech
Design and Construction Packet
The purpose of the Design and Construction Packet is to create a record of your
students’ work as they create their term speeches. This record will give them the steps
they need to construct speeches in their careers. This process is similar to that used by our
colleagues in the English Department when they ask students to keep portfolios of their
work.
The packet itself is simply a series of five cover sheets that explain the work that
is to be inserted. Prior to the presentations of the speech, the student will submit the
packet to you. You may use this packet as a part of the grading procedure. Now, rather
than just a series of outlines, you have work that the student did in preparation of that
outline.
I. The Foundaon
List the topics you considered for the presentation
Topic selected (include a brief rationale for your choice)
Specific purpose of the presentation
II. Invesgaon of the Topic
Investigation article list
Articles consulted (include the entire articles)
Additional research (interviews, video, etc.)
III. Speech Design and Construcon
Speech Builder outline
Design drafts
Visual aids (sketches and layout)
IV. Rehearsals
Describe five rehearsals you conducted
Speaker notes: Include the notes you plan to use
V. Completed Project
Completed outline for the presentation
Instructor feedback
Student video feedback
Discuss the positive aspects of your performance and any suggestions you have for
yourself when you give your next presentation.
ONLINE COURSE TEACHING TECHNIQUES: Make the Course a Priority
Online programs are proliferating in colleges and universities. More and more
instructors are wrestling with the challenges of providing quality online instruction in
basic communication courses. Communication Works can readily be used for these
courses. We have been teaching online versions of the class for more than a decade. A
number of recent meetings at the annual convention of the National Communication
Association identify two primary approaches to the online class.
One common approach is to have the students “attend” an online class during the
semester. They cover the material, take exams, submit homework, and so on. When the
instructor reaches the public speaking portion of the course, he or she schedules the class
to meet and deliver presentations (often on weekends.) This approach works well when
students are all located in the same geographic area and thus can attend the speaking
sessions.
The second approach is to have students take the course from a variety of
locations around the country and even around the world. This model increases interest in
some areas of the course such as communication and culture. However, it makes it
impossible for students to attend weekend sessions. To be fair to everyone, most such
programs today ask students to tape their presentations in front of audiences and submit
them to the instructor. Most speeches are submitted in DVD formats.
The second approach is effective because it takes into account the ability of the
Internet to provide an asynchronous environment for the class. In other words, students in
various time zones are able to enter their homework, participate in discussions, and tape
their speeches when it is convenient for them to do so.
An emerging approach is to have students submit their speeches via web cams to
a host computer. Those speeches are available for the instructor and the class members to
view and provide feedback. Obviously this is the best option.
Using the Web for a Speech Class
Colleagues often ask us how we are teaching public speaking online. Here is our
approach. Blackboard is currently the most popular site for online learning programs.
On the Announcement page, the buttons on the left include Announcements,
Syllabus, Assignments, Discussion Board and Groups. There are additional buttons, but
these are the ones we use most often. Here is the development process:
1. The instructor creates a syllabus that is similar to the one used in a “live” hybrid
class. The standard course outline is included under the Syllabus button to the left
of the screen.
2. Each week an assignment is entered into the program. We include objectives
from the chapter, a summary of chapter content, and two or three assignments.
The assignments are based on in-text features such as Skill Builders or the Ethics
and Communication boxes. Each week’s assignment has two or three boxes to
complete. Students access the assignment by clicking on the Assignment button.
3. A discussion question is included in the assignment as well. Students are required
to enter the discussion four or more times each week over at least four days.
Otherwise, many students will wait until the last minute and enter the discussion
with themselves four times on the last day the assignment is due.
4. Test questions are accessed through the Announcement page. On that page a
button will come up telling students they have a quiz to take within the next week.
The quiz will consist of 10 multiple choice questions. Students will have 5-7
minutes to complete the exam.
5. Group problem solving is handled in the Groups button. Students find their names
in a team of four or five others. They have a problem to solve within a time limit.
6. Public speaking preliminary work is done in conferences with the instructor. In
the Groups button students find a group that includes only themselves and the
instructor. Over a period of several weeks they go through the public speech
development process just as they would in a live class. Once the outline is
completed, speaker’s notes are formed, and PowerPoint slides are designed, the
student is ready to record the speech in front of several friends or coworkers. We
recommend that parents, children, dogs and cats be barred from the final taping.
7. For additional information about the courses we teach and more specific technical
details, please contact us at gamble@carroll.com.
Whatever techniques you use for the online class, you must make the course a
DAILY PRIORITY for you and your students. This is no longer a mail-in format. The
technology gives the students and teacher alike the opportunity to interact almost
daily. If you are considering teaching online, make the commitment to go into your
class at least 6 days a week. Post in the Discussions and Announcements pages almost
daily. In this way students know that you have made their class a priority—and they
must do so as well!
A JOURNAL
We would like to emphasize that we see each student functioning as both a practi-
tioner and an analyst of communication. To grow in both these roles, students may need
to do more than participate in the Skill Builders and analyze and report on these
experiences. We recommend that students be asked periodically to integrate the
information and insight they have gained into short, nongraded papers describing their
own strengths and weaknesses as communicators. Such papers will reveal, to a
considerable extent, how the students are responding to the course and whether they are
able to apply what they have learned to their personal and professional lives.
Because “writing across the curriculum,” has become a reality on many
campuses, you may want to have your students collect all these papers in a
“communication journal.” Then you might spot-check or read the journals several times
during a semester, depending upon the class, your own preferences, and the writing
requirements of your particular program.
A basic communication course covers a great deal of ground. We have found that
communication journals can help students in such a course bring together all their
experiences: they are able to use the journal as a synthesis at the end of the course. The
instructor can also use the information in the journals as a source of feedback to refine the
course for the next semester.
Let’s take the “hybrid course” as an example. What specific type and style of
journal writing works in a hybrid course? How much does the journal count toward a
student’s final grade? A complete journal “system” follows this section. You can either
use the system as-is or customize it for the purposes of your particular course.
Begin by asking your students to buy a spiral-bound notebook for their journal
work. Their job will be to record their reactions to the course and to the course content in
a very structured way. The instructions for students that follow can be reproduced and
distributed to the students, and then used as a grading form by the instructor.
Reading your students’ journals may seem rather formidable, but the job can be
kept manageable if you collect and read, say, only seven or eight journals a week. A
student who submits a journal during one class session simply continues to make notes
and then enters these notes in the journal after you return it during the next class session.
Many instructors draw a red line at the end of the submitted entries to make it easier to
identify the starting point the next time the journal is submitted.
When you have filled out the grading form, simply work the percentages into your
grading system. To most students, 15 percent of the final grade will seem reasonable.
At the end of the course, you may want to give the students the option of
submitting a two- or three-page summary of their journals (which would cover the
specific examples noted in the journal itself). The summary could earn either extra credit,
or an additional 50 points for the journal grade. You will notice that the journal
encourages class attendance: It is not possible for a student to enter any “Notes on Class
Discussion” if he or she has not been present in class.
Learning Outcomes and the Core Curriculum
New York Institute of Technology explored outcomes and content to use when training
adjuncts and graduate assistants. They developed a hexagram to include the segments of
the course to be included in a revised Core Curriculum.
Human Communication
Core Course
Six Topics of Study
Communication Theory
Interpersonal Listening
Intercultural Group
Public Speaking
Public Speaking
Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate skills in each of the following areas:
1. Critiquing or analyzing a human communication event using a contemporary
model of the communication process.
2. Explaining the difference between “hearing” and “listening” and by using
“critical listening” to analyze a complex spoken message.
3. Identifying and explaining the principles of effective group communication
and applying these principles while participating in group projects.
4. Identifying, explaining, and applying to your own behavior
interpersonal/one-to-one communication skills.
5. Explaining concepts of global/intercultural communication, and applying
those principles in analyzing a communication situation.
6. Planning, developing, and delivering, from the initial stage of outlining
through rehearsal, presentation, and review, an informative persuasive speech.
Developed at New York Institute of Technology with Drs. Dan Quigley, Gary Stephens,
Katherine Williams, Fran Glazer and Michael Gamble.
Rubrics
More and more teachers are using rubrics to help their assessment process. A rubric is a
scoring tool for assessments. It is a set of criteria linked to learning objectives or
outcomes that is used to assess a student’s performance.
The rubric is an attempt to create consistent assessment criteria. It also provides ground
for self-evaluation, reflection and peer review. Increasingly, instructors who rely on
rubrics to evaluate student performance tend to share the rubric with students at the time
the assignment is made.
Here is a sample rubric for public speaking.
PUBLIC SPEAKING EVALUATION
RUBRIC
1 2 3 4 Point
s
Organizati
on
Difficult to
understand
; poorly
organized
Difficult to understand Speaker
presents
informatio
n in a
logical
sequence
Interesting
organization
audience can
easily follow
Content Speaker
does not
have a
grasp of
the content
Student is uncomfortable with
the content
Speaker is
at ease
with the
content
Speaker
demonstrate
s full
knowledge
of the
content
Visuals Speaker
uses wordy
and
inappropria
te visuals
Speaker uses visuals that
sometimes support the
presentation
Speaker’s
visuals
relate to
and
support
the
presentati
on
Speaker’s
visuals
explain and
reinforce the
presentation.
Eye
contact
Speaker
reads
speech
with no
audience
contact
Speaker occasionally uses eye
contact
Speaker
maintains
eye
contact
most of
the time.
Speaker
maintains
eye contact
with
audience,
seldom
referring to
notes.
Delivery Speaker
incorrectly
pronounces
Speaker’s voice is low; audience
member have some difficulty
hearing.
Speaker’s
voice is
clear.
Speaker
speaks in a
conversation
terms and
speaks too
quietly
Audience
can hear
al,
enthusiastic
manner.
Total Points: 20 X 5=100
SCORE
If you have favorite rubrics that you use for this course, please email them to us at
gamble@carroll.com. We will add your suggestions here.
Teri Kwal Gamble
Michael W. Gamble
COMMUNICATION JOURNAL: INSTRUCTIONS TO THE STUDENT
The purpose of the journal is to give you an opportunity to record your reactions
to the course and to describe how it will help you succeed in your career and in life in
general.
Use a spiral-bound notebook. Write a journal entry after each class session.
Divide each entry into three parts: “Notes on Class Discussion,” “Personal
Observations,” and “Notes on the Reading Assignment.” The entry must cover each of
these areas. However, there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. You will be evaluated
only on the data you supply.
1. Notes on Class Discussion. Discuss the interactions that occurred during the class
session. Consider instructional methods, participation by yourself, and by the other
students, and the relevance of the discussion to the text chapters being studied.
2. Personal Observations. Consider each of the following “probes.”
a. Does the information we are covering seem to have anything to do with my
personal life and my career or my career plans? Be specific.
b. “I wish we were discussing….”
c. “I am changing or reinforcing my attitude toward communication in the
following ways: . . .” (Be specific.)
3. Notes on the Reading. As you read the assignment for the following class, identify
the three most important ideas in each text chapter that is being covered.
Your journal will be collected and read by your instructor three times during the semester.
Because students’ journals will be collected at random, you are to bring your journal to
each class session. The journal will count as 15 percent of the final grade for this course.
COMMUNICATION JOURNAL: GRADING FORM FOR INSTRUCTORS
Give each item a grade from 1 (low) to 5 (high).
1. Notes on Class Discussion
Recorded in a readily understandable way?………………………………..
Class climate discussed?………………………………………………………….
Student’s own participation discussed?………………………………………
Other students’ participation discussed?…………………………………….
Instructional methods discussed?………………………………………………
2. Personal Observations
Uses of one or more concepts identified? …………………………………..
Information student wants covered specified? …………………………….
Technique to improve communication identified?……………………….
3. Notes on the Reading
Three main ideas per chapter identified? ……………………………………
4. Overall Effectiveness of Journal Entries………………………………………
Total Points……………………………