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1 – 10 of over 97000Ralf Spiller, Stefan Weinacht and Andreas Köhler
Communication studies have expanded significantly around the globe in the last decades. Due to new channels of communication and more and more mediatised societies, the role of…
Abstract
Communication studies have expanded significantly around the globe in the last decades. Due to new channels of communication and more and more mediatised societies, the role of communication has gained significance. In contrast, communication does not seem to be a topic of high priority for many corporate leaders. They often still value communication as a mere support function.
This chapter explores communication courses of business schools in the United States and Europe. It is hypothesised that only if communication courses are recognised in such programmes the profession of business communicators will realise entry into the highest levels of corporate decision-making.
The main question is how far top-ranked Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes integrate communication courses. This is investigated via website analysis and interviews. This chapter also provides explanations for the current status quo. The results will be of interest to all those responsible for shaping MBA curricula and give insights into how the communication discipline is viewed by leaders of business schools.
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Kristen McIntyre and Ryan Fuller
The chapter focuses on how engaging undergraduate and graduate students at a metropolitan university through community-based experiential learning can help them make a difference…
Abstract
Purpose
The chapter focuses on how engaging undergraduate and graduate students at a metropolitan university through community-based experiential learning can help them make a difference in their personal relationships, in their workplaces and in their communities.
Methodology/approach
The chapter explores the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Speech Communication’s integrated approach to undergraduate and graduate curriculum that focuses on four types of casing complex problems and making positive, ethical recommendations to make a difference. Specifically, the chapter explores how problem-based learning; service-learning; narrative ethnography; and research projects can be used as meaningful ways to case complex communication issues and to make ethical, theory-informed recommendations to not only do no harm but also affect positive change and promote social justice in students’ personal relationships, organizations, and communities.
Practical implications
Lessons learned from the programmatic approach are shared that include building a theoretical base for students to draw from, integrating case approaches into the curriculum, and engaging resistance and failure. Chapter recommendations promote using theory as a lever for learning, building meaningful relationships with stakeholders, and adopting a process orientation that embraces failure.
Originality/value
The chapter offers a review of four undergraduate courses and four graduate courses, with explicit applications of the four case approaches. Additionally, learning objectives, major assignment descriptions, and assessment approaches are detailed for each course.
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Donn E. Silvis, Robert E. Rayfield, J. David Pincus and Mu‐Chen Chang
This research paper explores the type and amount of business communication education given to students in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, and offers insight…
Abstract
This research paper explores the type and amount of business communication education given to students in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, and offers insight into the thinking of those who supervise and teach business communication within those programmes. While this particular research study focuses on US MBA schools, it is advocated that this subject and research findings have global relevance. Communication and public relations skills have been recognised as being critical to the success of aspiring managers and business leaders. Prospective managers need to possess not only the skills of communication, but also an appreciation of strategic business communication factors. However, most MBA curricula do not require or recommend communication education for students. This paper compares the findings of two studies: research conducted in 1995–96 (n = 215, 31.5 per cent response rate) replicated a 1991 study (n = 51, 26 per cent response rate). In addition, the paper discusses prior research on the subject and the role and quality of business communication currently found in MBA curricula. It also includes a model communication curriculum for MBA programmes and proposes suggestions for additional research.
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The Catholic Church expects theological institutes, priests and seminarians to be well-informed, critical and creative users of information and communications technology…
Abstract
Purpose
The Catholic Church expects theological institutes, priests and seminarians to be well-informed, critical and creative users of information and communications technology. Currently, most theological institutes use the traditional face-to-face teaching method. An attempt to implement blended learning as an innovative teaching and learning modality for communication theology was made at the Saint Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore, India, using the lab-rotation model for one semester. This paper aimed to study the two important course outcomes: participation and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The course was designed using the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation (ADDIE) model, developed, implemented and evaluated for 21 first-year theology students. The combination of descriptive and quasi-experimental research used an online questionnaire containing statements on a five-point Likert scale. The study evaluated the potentials of blended learning as an innovative modality through student participation and satisfaction.
Findings
This research found that a high level of participation augmented satisfaction among the students during the implementation of the blended learning modality. The positive results revealed that future shepherds in the Catholic Church could effectively integrate information and communications technologies (ICTs) in their life and mission and serve digital citizens.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute of Theology (SPPI) for an elective course, Communication Theology, taught once a week. Only two outcomes; participation and satisfaction were studied. The respondents were 21 first-year theology students of the SPPI, which could have limited the generalizability of the results. They were not allowed to use any gadgets. So this research had to adopt a lab-rotation model wherein the students followed part of their course in the computer room.
Practical implications
This pilot experience in blended learning modality will help SPPI recognize the advantage of such an approach and possibly decide to adopt it as one modality in the institute. It may also serve as a model for other Catholic schools and this could trigger the wider adoption of blended learning among Catholic schools. Results of the study can demonstrate to the faculty how blended learning is designed and a sample module can easily guide them on how it may be implemented. Hence, this can equip them already with knowledge and skills about the new modality.
Social implications
The positive learning experiences will help the professors to further discover and adopt new and existing learning technologies that can enhance the learning atmosphere for post-millennials. They can now innovate teaching and learning strategies to best address the learning needs in their classroom, given the pervasiveness of ICTs in the everyday lives. This study will also provide a new learning option for the students as they undergo a new student-centred learning exercise.
Originality/value
The pioneering effort of integrating ICTs in the form of blended learning in theology curriculum was executed in SPPI. The application of the blended learning approach to teaching communication theology is innovative in that educational technology is not only applied to theology courses but involves the promotion of technology use among future religious leaders. From a long-term perspective, this attempt can transform traditional face-to-face dominated teaching approaches.
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Jacqueline J. Schmidt, Brian Patrick Green and Roland Madison
Employers state that their major concern with accounting graduates is their inadequate skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening (Kranacher, 2007, p. 80). Yet, the…
Abstract
Employers state that their major concern with accounting graduates is their inadequate skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening (Kranacher, 2007, p. 80). Yet, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and some state boards of accountancy have minimized the importance of these skills on professional certification exams. This conflict creates a mixed message. The purpose of our study is to determine accounting department chairs’ perceptions of the importance of writing, speaking, listening, interpersonal, and technological communication skills for both the accounting and the business curricula and where in the curriculum these skills are taught. In our study, we surveyed 122 accounting administrators from the largest North American accountancy programs. Survey respondents report that most required communication courses are in the general business curriculum and, to a lesser extent, as a required course in the accounting major. Consistent across demographics, respondents also indicate that all communication skills are important, but writing skills followed by technological skills are the most valued for the accounting curriculum, while writing and speaking skills are most important in the business curriculum. Implications for the curriculum are discussed.
Anna Marie Johnson, Amber Willenborg, Christopher Heckman, Joshua Whitacre, Latisha Reynolds, Elizabeth Alison Sterner, Lindsay Harmon, Syann Lunsford and Sarah Drerup
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Intercultural Communication is a necessary course for students to learn how to communicate in a healthy, tolerant and respectful manner…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Intercultural Communication is a necessary course for students to learn how to communicate in a healthy, tolerant and respectful manner when pursuing higher education, for miscommunication can result from ethnocentric behavior when dealing with people from various cultural backgrounds.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey method of research was adopted and questionnaires were administered to two sets of students: those who have taken Intercultural Communications and those who have not. A total of 192 valid responses from students were received from the School of Basic Sciences and Humanities, German Jordanian University. The first survey falls under the nominal analysis of a dichotomous questionnaire, and the results were measured with Cronbach’s α to test the reliability of the its consistency. The second questionnaire’s items were uni-dimensional, and so the Guttman chart was used to conduct students’ comprehension of global communication.
Findings
The results of this study have shown that the first questionnaire has a strong consistency (0.86); students have successfully understood the dynamics of cross-cultural communication, and used that knowledge to aid and prepare them for future careers. As for students who have not taken IC, they have answered the second questionnaire with great confidence in the first category of personal expectations, but fluctuated in their answers when answering the category of self-development and cultural appreciation. ZPD1 and ZPD2 have proven that students need their teacher to learn new knowledge and insights which they can gain from an IC course.
Research limitations/implications
Apart from the valuable contributions of the study, this study is performed at one public university, and the students, despite their diverse cultural backgrounds and majors, restrict the findings of this research from generalizing the results. Hence, future studies in this area are deeply encouraged, especially when comparing between private and public universities, and how IC is interrelated to other courses in the humanities; moreover, IC as an academic course can bridge the gap between student–teacher relationships.
Originality/value
The scarcity of a diverse course that teaches intercultural skills in communication has become a growing necessity in this day and age, especially in the Middle East and particularly in Jordan. Due to globalization and informatization, Jordanian students are constantly exposed to cultural and religious differences, and to have them engage in a healthy, well-respected conversation is the core aim of this paper, for tolerance and understanding are constantly on high demand. Students learn these skills in IC, and this course reflects how essential a course like this can play a great role in a student’s development.
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Ariel M Ducey, Heather Gautney and Dominic Wetzel
This paper assesses the significance of a communication skills training program at a hospital in New York City. Qualitative data – including interviews and observations – are…
Abstract
This paper assesses the significance of a communication skills training program at a hospital in New York City. Qualitative data – including interviews and observations – are taken from an evaluation of the training program. Rather than focus on outcomes, we analyze the political and economic context that produced this course and how the instructor, curriculum, and participants enacted and transformed it. The course took ubiquitous training strategies – such as flexibility, responsibility, and teamwork – and applied them to the specific process of health care work; a process that our evidence suggests is better understood using the concept of affective labor, as opposed to skills, knowledge work, or emotional labor. The course was, we conclude, an attempt to regulate affective labor, in the sense that regulation simultaneously responds to and produces instability.
Robert Detmering, Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Samantha McClellan and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
Introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2013.
Findings
Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
Details
Keywords
Latisha Reynolds, Amber Willenborg, Samantha McClellan, Rosalinda Hernandez Linares and Elizabeth Alison Sterner
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.
Findings
The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
Details