Class Chats, Discussions and Interaction Assignments
(Students are graded on their responses and participation)
Personal Introduction and Discussion: In order for students to better understand and appreciate their classmates, a personal introduction is required.
Great Thinkers Discussion: On SUU’s campus is a collection of statues titled “The Centurium” that houses 12 statues of significant contributors to modern thinking. While not all (online) students can see the statues in person, a video will allow them to see the statues. Students will then evaluate each “statue’s” approach to thinking and determine which style of thinking best aligns with the student’s thinking.
Popular Culture Application of Communication Theory Discussion: Students will identify and share an example of a communication theory in action or used in popular culture. An example would be a student could share the lyrics of a popular song that depicts a theory’s concepts or share an online video that shows a theory in action.
Business or Workplace Application of Communication Theory Discussion: Students will identify and share an example of a communication theory in action or used in a business or workplace setting. An example would be a student could share a business practice or policy that depicts a theory’s concepts or share an online video that shows a business setting and theory in action.
Textbook-Related Assignments
Selected Chapter Summaries and Responses Students will read and review selected textbook chapter content and then summarize the entire chapter (somewhat in abstract form) and write a personal response in a second paragraph.
Quizzes: Students will be required to complete selected quizzes worth 10 points each. The purpose of the quizzes is the encourage reading of the text and to become familiar with general concepts. Overall, the questions will be of a general nature and not minor trivia. These quizzes are open-book, but timed. There will also be a deadline for completing these quizzes. You should be familiar with the chapter before starting the quiz as it will be difficult to confirm information in the chapter if you have not read the material. Each quiz has 10 questions and you will be given 40 minutes to complete the quiz (an average of four minutes per question). The scores will be automatically posted on Canvas.
Theory examples from Pop Culture: In order to make this theory class more applicable to our everyday lives, students must find examples of communication theory in action in popular culture and in the workplace. Samples can be in the form of links on social networking such as YouTube, Facebook or others, clips from movies, lyrics and audio from songs, book excerpts, poetry, etc. The point is to come up with some example about the theory(ies) under discussion. Pass/Fail assignment.
For the pop culture example: If we are discussing Dialectics Theory we could find an example of conflict and self-discussion in pop culture. This theory suggests that relationships, communication and indeed our “selves” are defined through a dialogue among many voices and it discusses how we manage contradictions in our lives. So, while this is dating the instructor, he might bring in the music and lyrics from the Beatles’ song "Hello, Goodbye"
“You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go go go, oh no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello hello
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello
Hello hello
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello”
For the industry, business, or professional example: If we were still discussing Dialectic Theory I would find a way that it applied to the world of professional communication or a “work place” situation. A supervisor may be an honest and ethical person, but in order to make the business profitable, may need to engage in questionable actions. A conflict and contradiction in the workplace.
Literature Review for a future Paper
The final paper for this class is an “mini-research paper” that explores a specific theory or group of theories that relates to the students’ area of research interests. Ideally the paper should build on your interest for your master’s capstone thesis, project or internship and help prepare for a prospectus. All papers must comply with APA style. The parts of this assignment are:
Brief Topic Proposal: Students will submit a brief summary of the research topic and the proposed method.
Annotated Bibliography: Students will submit a properly formatted annotated bibliography of approximately 2-3 pages with at least five sources. This format is only for this assignment and will not be used for format for future sections of the paper. This is only a preliminary research step.
Rough Draft of Literature Review: After compiling an annotated bibliography, students can now begin to write about the topic in full narrative form based on their understanding of the literature. This is 4-5 page paper with a discussion of at least 15 sources and full reference list. An appropriate title will be attached to this rough draft.
Rough Draft of Research Questions and Research Method: Based on Literature Review students will submit a 2-3 page discussion of questions emerging from the literature review and the method that will best answer those questions. Students will include an updated reference list that might include some references on research methods that apply to the questions.
Anti-plagiarism documents: Some instructors scan all papers in online software programs that compares the students’ papers with documents found on the web. This instructor generally does not use these services due to the requirement of handing over individual content to a third party and possible the potential compromise of creative property and violations of educational and laws. In order to discourage and reduce plagiarism, the instructor has selected an “old-school” method of deterrence. A separate scanned copy of one page from every source cited in the paper must be turned in. This process provides easy evidence that the student had access to the information You can see how an AI paper would not be able to provide the SOURCES for the paper.
Assignment Points and Grading
| Assignments | Possible Points |
| Chat postings. 6 x 5 points each |
| Intro, Plato, Select 1 chapter to comment on, | 15 |
| Text Reading resulting in chapter summary and personal response. 10 points each | 120 |
| 10 Online Quizzes | 100 |
| Theory examples in Pop Culture |
| 5 points – for one example of casual, pop culture use | |
| 5 points – for one example of professional, business, industry use | 10 |
| Textbook summary and three theories | 20 |
| Annotated Bibliography | 20 |
| Rough Draft of Literature Review | 20 |
| Rough Draft of Research Questions | 20 |
| 3-5 minute Oral Presentation (video) of Paper Summary | 20 |
| Final Literature Review | 100 |
| Anti-plagiarism documents P/F | 20 |
| Final Exam | 100 |
| Total Points Possible | 625 |
Grading Scale: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, Less than 60% = F
(Note – at the graduate level, generally scores below 75% are unacceptable and may lead to suspension/dismissal from the program.)
Special Note for Assignments -- “double dipping” or using previous work for this class
Some of you have had (or are concurrently taking) other classes wherein you have examined literature and theories of interest to you. This instructor is in favor of creating a program of study and building on knowledge from past assignments. In order to maintain academic integrity, you must be totally open about how you are going to use any past information or information for other classes. You are required to do “substantially different” work for this class. So you can use the same topic as previous classes, but you cannot submit the same paper. It must be significantly different either in focus, scope or length. You may be able to use the same material but you must submit a copy of the previous paper or the topic of the paper from another class if taken concurrently to the instructor when the Annotated Bibliography is due to show how you are using the material differently. Failure to disclose use of previous material will result in failure for that assignment.
For example: If in a previous class I did a paper on a content analysis of university promotional websites. In this class I could build a literature review on the specific importance of video on universities’ websites (difference in focus).
If in a previous class I did a paper on the history of nature programming on PBS, for this class I could do an extension and discuss the history of nature programming on cable (scope).
If in a previous class I submitted a literature review that had 10 sources, in this class I could submit my paper with a reference list of 40-50 citations (includes the previous 10 but difference in length).
This instructor’s policy may be different than other instructors so be certain to discuss all work with all instructors from other classes to make sure you comply with requirements for each class.