Course SyllabusTuesday 6:30-9:20 p.m. (Fell 064)

Instructor:John Hooker, Ph.D.Office:441 Fell Hall

Phone:309-438-7578Office Hours: MW 2-2:45, 5:15-6

Email:r by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will be a workshop format on communication assessment. Although grounded in communication education and assessment theory, the course will allow students to create, implement, and assess the success of a teaching or training program.

REQUIRED READING

Beebe, S.A., Mottet, T.P., & Roach, K.D. (2013). Training and development: Communicating for success

(2nd ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Articles posted on the course ReggieNet site by the instructor.

GRADING

I hope grades will not be emphasized in this seminar as the major reinforcement for which students strive. At the same time, I realize that grades are important and will make every effort to be as objective, impartial, and fair as possible. Thus, whenever you are in doubt about grading procedures for the seminar, please ask for clarification.Your grade for this course will depend on the quality of your performance onone major class presentation, completion of a training or pedagogical program, assessment of the results of that program, a final reflection paper on the outcomes of your assessment, and class participation. All work for this course is to be clearly written, concise yet thorough, accurate, and conform to the guidelines of the American Psychological Associationstyle manual (6th ed.) as this is the style of most Communication journals. Each assignment will be awarded a letter grade. Letter grades will be distributed according to the quality of work as compared with other graduate students in the course. At the point at which there is a gap in quality, there will be a change in letter grades. This is neither criterion based nor norm referenced. We’ll discuss!

NOTE: Failure to turn in any of the course assignments may result in failure of the course.

  1. Assessment Presentation (20% of grade): You and your partner(s) will be responsible for one major class presentation on the current state of assessment in either higher education or in training and development that relates to your project (how has assessment been done on projects similar to yours and what type(s) of assessment might you use). Each pair/trio will provide class members with one or two example articles, a comprehensive outline, and annotated bibliography on their specific area of assessment and then present their findings in class.
  1. Class Project—Teaching/Training Program (30% of grade): You will be responsible for designing a new teaching/training program. Pairs or trios will ask a research question/conduct a needs analysis, create a teaching/training program to address the issues, get approval from the Institutional Review Board for conducting research with human subjects, implement the instruction, and collect data on the results of the instruction.
  1. Implementation and Assessment Report (30% of grade): You will provide a thorough write-up of how the teaching/training was implemented, how data was collected, design and apply assessment tools to address the research question/needs analysis, enter and/or interpret data, and provide a summary report of findings and recommendations for future instruction and/or research in the area. If interested in authorship for this report, you may choose to participate at a primary level of involvement in this project. See below.

Project Options—You may decide to participate in this project at either a secondary or primary level of involvement. Participation at the secondary level is required for Com 492 course credit and warrants acknowledgement in future publications. Participation at the primary level warrants authorship in future publications.

Secondary Involvement—To receive course credit at the secondary level of involvement, you will work with one to two other students to generate ideas about a project and facilitate research. The tasks for secondary researcher include:

  • Assist in the creation of teaching or training materials
  • Assist in the implementation of instruction
  • Assist in the collection of data
  • Entering and/or interpreting data
  • Assisting with the development of a summary report of the findings

Primary Involvement—If you choose to participate at the primary level of involvement, you will take a lead role in the tasks at the secondary level. Importantly, participation as a primary researcher in the project may require your commitment to exceed the requirements of the course and possibly necessitate your involvement over the summer for the purposes of completing an article for presentation at an academic conference and/or publication in a scholarly journal. The tasks for primary researchers include all of those for secondary researchers as well as:

  • Assuming a lead role in writing a literature review or needs assessment, results, and discussion
  • Commitment to work over the summer if necessary
  1. Final Reflection Paper (10% of grade): After completing the assessment you will be asked to reflect on what you learned and how you or others could use this information in a future teaching or training context.
  1. Class Participation (10% of grade): You are responsible for reading the assigned material prior to class and are expected to discuss the readings and your ideas each session. Because this course is a seminar, not a lecture, your own involvement is imperative. In order to have productive discussions you will need to (1) show knowledge of readings and share thoughts about what you have read, (2) articulate your ideas clearly and argue effectively for your positions, (3) contribute to a lively interchange of ideas, and (4) respond thoughtfully to the comments of others. Failure to contribute to class discussion meaningfully will negatively affect your participation grade. Physical presence is necessary, but not sufficient for participation.
  1. Summary of Grading:

Assessment Presentations20%

Class Project—Training/Teaching materials30%

Implementation and Assessment report30%

Reflection Paper10%

Participation10%

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Professional Courtesy. As this is a graduate seminar, I feel it is unnecessary to emphasize issues such as respect for the class (attendance, turning assignments in on time, etc.) and the members of the seminar (respecting others' opinions, being respectful to those who are speaking, and working together in a spirit of cooperation rather than competition). I do, however, want to be clear about my expectations. I believe graduate school is an experience designed to bring professional individuals together to increase and expand knowledge. Thus, I will expect your behaviors and attitudes towards this course to reflect professional courtesy. If I believe a student is not meeting my expectations (e.g., excessive absences, inadequate work, disrespect for others, etc.), I will notify you immediately and a decision will be made concerning your need to drop the course.

Deadlines. All assignments must be completed when due. No late work will be accepted. No makeups or extensions will be permitted unless the student contacts the instructor prior to the due date and has a verifiable excuse.

Special Needs.Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853(voice), 438-8620 (TDD).

Academic Misconduct. All University Policies concerning academic misconduct will be upheld in this course. Of particular concern in a course with written and oral assignments is the issue of plagiarism. You must cite your sources accurately and consistently in both your oral and written assignments.While I cannot imagine a graduate student would intentionally plagiarize, it has happened both on the ISU campus and across the United States. Consequently, I want to be clear concerning my policy on plagiarism. Should I find that a student has intentionally represented someone else's work as her/his own, I will make every effort to ensure that university policies are enforced to the fullest extent. The University Handbook contains the plagiarism policy that will be followed in this course and all ISU courses. Read it and understand it. Plagiarism (from my perspective) does not include sharing class notes, studying together, editing one another's papers, etc. However, when in doubt, ask!

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

SEMINAR IN COMMUNICATION THEORY: ASSESSMENT

Date / Topic
January / 13 /

Orientation/Introductions

Introduction to assessment & rubrics
Discuss potential project pairings/groups
20 / Training/Teaching and Types of Learning
Read text Ch. 1& be able to discuss questions on pgs. 22
Stitt, Simonds, Hunt (2003)
Krathwohl (2002), Mayer (2002), Raths (2002) & discussion questions
Finalize pairs/groups and discuss potential project areas
27 / Needs Analysis and Developing Research Questions
Read text Ch. 3 pp. 54-72related questions on pg. 78
Becker (1984) & discussion questions
Assessment Presentations, Outlines, and Annotated Bibs assigned
Update on potential projects
Assessment articles due to Dr. Hooker electronically
February / 3 /

Read Assessment articles on ReggieNet

Assessment Presentations, Outlines, and Annotated Bibs due

Needs Analysis/Research Question(s) update discussions-begin review of literature
Training Objectives-Read text Ch. 4 & be able to discuss questions on pg. 101
10 / Developing Training Content
Finish reviewing literature-Needs Analysis/Research Question(s) finalized and discussed
Read ch. 5 & be able to discuss questions on pgs. 101 & 123
Team work on creating training objectives and developing training content
17 / Developing Training Plans and Assessing Learning
Read ch. 9 & 11 & be able to discuss questions on pgs. 225 & 278
Institutional Review Board research with human subjects primer
Team work on finalizing teaching/training content and developing assessment rubrics
24 / Team work on finalizing assessment rubrics
Team work on finalizing IRB forms with all materials completed
Consult with Dr. Hooker on assessment rubrics and IRB forms
Teaching/training program due
March / 3 / Delivering the Training/Delivering the Teaching
Read ch. 10 & be able to discuss questions on pg. 252
Read Immediacy-Clarity-Credibility document
Discuss School of Communication Research Pool website
Decide tentatively when and where training will take place pending IRB approval
10 / Spring Break
17 / Revise IRB protocols if necessary
Revise training times if IRB protocol needs to be revised
Discuss methods of analysis – TBA based on projects
24 / Literature review and methodology rough draft report/discussion
31 / Discuss teaching/training paper formatting-read articles on ReggieNet TBA
Workshop on formatting lit reviews/methodology/references in APA style
April / 7 / Progress reports or Open class time for teaching/training administration if necessary
14 / Data analysis
21 / Data analysis
Writing results and discussion sections-readings TBA based on projects
28 / Final Paper and Report Due
Reflection paper assigned
May / ?? /

Reflection papers and discussion dueat Final Exam time TBA

1