Instructor: Brian Reynolds Spring 2007
Office: 332 Baldy Hall Sections: A—MWF 1-1:50, Knox 20
Telephone: 645-2141 (Department) B—MWF 3-3:50, Norton 112
Email:
Office hours: MWF 12-12:50 Website: ublearns.buffalo.edu
Contacting me: If you need to meet with me, coming to office hours or speaking to me before/after class is by far the best method. E-mail is also effective. However if you e-mail me, please be sure to place COM 101 in the subject line of your e-mail so that your message does not get filtered as junk mail. This is especially important if you are not using your UB account. Also remember that while e-mail is convenient, it is not infallible. I answer all e-mail I actually receive from students during the semester, typically within a day or two. If you do not receive a response from me within a couple days, this means I did not receive your e-mail, and you should come and speak to me during office hours or before/after class.
Course TAs: There are three teaching assistants for COM 101, each is responsible for a separate area of the course. All TAs holds regular office hours and are available to assist you with general course needs or in their particular area. Course TAs will be introduced and their designated areas of responsibility will be explained during the first week of classes. Check the course information section of the UB Learns COM 101 website for contact information and office hours for COM 101 TAs.
Required Texts
1. Readings in Communication – Spring 2007 Edition—textbook
This textbook is a collection of readings describing communication concepts and research and will be covered in detail on the exams. The research card (which the Department of Communication requires you to turn in to pass the course) can also be found in this text.
2. Applying Communication—Spring 2007 Edition—workbook
This textbook contains the application assignments that will count for one third of your grade, as well as study guides useful for learning course material, exam review questions, and additional course and departmental information.
**Due to a production delay, texts may not be available until the week of January 22nd. Text status updates will be announced in class.**
A schedule of course readings and exam dates is posted on the UB Learns COM 101 course website.
Introduction
Welcome to COM 101, Principles of Communication. This course will introduce you to the study of communication. Over the course of the semester, we will introduce basic communication concepts and explore the major domains of study within the discipline (e.g. interpersonal, mass, persuasive, health, organizational, group, and intercultural communication, etc.). This course will also introduce communication research methods. Please note that this course is not a communication skills course. However, when applied, the ideas and principles discussed in class and addressed in the assignments can help you to become a better communicator by enriching your understanding of communication and its integral role in most facets of life.
Course Objectives and Structure
This course has the following goals: 1) To introduce you to the study of communication and to the goals of communication research. 2) To enrich your understanding of communication as it occurs in various contexts (e.g., interpersonal, mass, technology, group, health, organizational, and intercultural, etc.) 3) To help you get to know the Department of Communication here at UB.
This class will be conducted primarily in a lecture/discussion format. However we will also break from a typical lecture format a number of times during the semester to explore communication using other methods of learning, such as in-class workshops. Your mastery of the material from class discussion and course readings will be evaluated by four objective exams and a number of relatively short written assignments. In-class workshops and activities will also count towards your grade. The grading breakdown for the course is explained in the following section.
Grading
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
Exam 1 100 points
Exam 2 100 points
Exam 3 100 points
Exam 4 100 points
Application Assignments (written & in-class) 200 points
Total points 600 points
Note: Satisfying the course research requirement will also impact your grade and you must turn in a research card to pass the class. The research requirement is explained in detail in the following pages & in the Applying Communication text.
There are also typically a few opportunities to earn a small amount of extra credit during the semester. Although extra credit can help boost your grade by a very minor amount, earning a few points of extra credit will not compensate for poor performance in other areas of the course.
If you have questions or concerns about your grade or status in the course during the semester, you are encouraged to see the course instructor. Grades for exams and application assignments will be regularly posted on the COM 101 UB Learns course website. It is your responsibility to maintain awareness of your performance in the course.
Full Range Grading Policy
This Department of Communication mandates a policy of full range grading for courses like COM 101 that are required for entry into the major. What this means to you is that grades are not inflated in this class. Exams are curved (although never punitively) and the distribution of scores is set so that the average grade on an exam is approximately equivalent to a grade of C. Application assignments are graded on merit, not merely completion. In short the grade you will receive will be the grade which you earn to the extent that you demonstrate mastery of course material on exams and application assignments.
Application Assignments
One of the most interesting and rewarding aspects of studying communication is the connection between course material and the events and experiences of our everyday lives. While class lecture and discussion provide a useful way to introduce and discuss communication concepts, they are only part of the learning process. To help further tap into the link between what we discuss in class and everyday experience, you will complete a series of short assignments throughout the semester in which you will be asked to apply the communication concepts and principles we have learned. These application assignments will cumulatively account for about one-third of your grade point total (200 of the 600 total course points). The vast majority of these assignments will be selected from those included in your Applying Communication required text.
The majority of these application assignments will consist of you completing a short written take-home assignment related to a topic currently being discussed in class. These written assignments fall into 2 categories: Most will be short 1-2 page assignments that will be worth 15 points each. However there will be a few which are a bit more involved, and accordingly will have a higher grading value attached to them (typically between 20 and 30 points depending on their requirements). The specific written application assignments we will complete, and their due dates, will be announced in class as they are assigned. Written application assignments will account for approximately 130 points of the 200 point application total.
Hand-written application assignments must be legibly written, include your name and person number, and should be torn neatly from the workbook. If you need additional space to complete your answer, or prefer to type your assignments, be sure to include your name on any additional pages and staple them together using the workbook page as a cover sheet (please be sure to still fill out your name & person number on the workbook page/coversheet as normal).
Assignments that are illegible will not be accepted or will be severely penalized. Additionally, unless specifically instructed otherwise, you are expected to use proper writing techniques, including the use of paragraphs and complete sentences on all written application assignments. Assignments that do not meet these guidelines or which are poorly written may be penalized.
All written application assignments will be graded on merit. That means that the grade you receive out of the possible points for any assignment will depend on the quality of the work you submit. Written application assignments are graded on the following scale:
· Truly outstanding assignments that demonstrate mastery of the assignment’s subject matter, an understanding of the larger communication context and related concepts, and/or a willingness to go beyond the assigned requirements to apply the material will receive better than 90% of an assignment’s point value
· Those that are demonstrably above average and show particular quality or insight will receive between 80% and 90% of an assignment’s point value
· Submissions that demonstrate acceptable quality and effort and satisfactorily meet the requirements of the assignment will receive between 70% and 80% of an assignment’s point value
· Assignments that are borderline acceptable based on quality and effort will receive between 60% and 70% of an assignment’s point value.
· An assignment that is turned in but falls short of the assignment requirements will receive less than 60% of an assignment’s point value.
Generally written application assignments are graded in half-point increments and, as previously mentioned, most assignments are worth 15 points total. If you have questions about a grade on an application assignment or would like help to improve the quality of your assignments, please stop by TA or instructor office hours.
In addition to the written assignments, a number of the application assignments will take place during class time as part of an in-class activity or workshop. Credit for participation on these days will be assessed via group work, attendance, worksheet, or by some other means. These in-class activities may or may not be announced in advance (typically they will be unannounced) and will be worth 10 points a piece. In-class activities will account for approximately 70 points of the 200 point application total.
There will be two opportunities to make up points from any missed assignments (additionally, those who have completed all of their assignments can use these opportunities to earn some extra credit). Although there will be 8 in-class activities over the course of the semester, only 7 of these are necessary to earn full credit for the in-class portion of your application grade. Additionally there will be an opportunity to complete an additional written assignment which is not included in the 130 point allotment for written assignments. Therefore you may use the points for the eighth activity or the extra written assignment to make up for missed work or to earn extra credit.
Grades for application assignments will be posted on UB Learns, generally between 8 and 10 days after the assignment’s due date. Please note that application assignment averages reported by UB Learns are somewhat misleading, since they also take into account the zeroes assigned to those individuals who did not submit an assignment. Actual averages of scores given to completed assignments are generally at least a point or two higher. The assignments themselves may be picked up in the COM 101 TA office during any TA’s office hours. Any application assignment not picked up by the end of the semester will be discarded. Please note: Any issues with assignment evaluations or missing grades must be brought to the attention of a TA assigned to application assignments or the instructor in person within 7 days of the date the grades for the assignment are posted.
Exams
4 exams will be given during the semester, each accounting for 100 points of your grade total (for a total value of 400). Exams in this course are non-cumulative, although there may be some overlap due to the nature of the material covered. There is no final exam in this course. The last exam will take place during the last week of classes. All aspects of the course (lectures, readings, activities, etc.) are possible sources of exam material. Although material from class lecture is the primary emphasis on exams, material from course readings will account for a significant number (roughly 33%) of the questions on each exam. Exam dates are listed on the course schedule, which will be posted on the COM 101 UB Learns site during the first week of the course.
Assistance in exam preparation is available from several sources. Detailed study material for each of the topics covered in class (with the exception of any guest or special presentations) is included in your Applying Communication text. This material includes a review of important concepts for each topic, a number of actual questions from past exams, and a list of reflective questions to help you assess your mastery over course concepts. A less detailed, general overview study guide, listing the material covered in class for each exam, will be posted online about a week before the date of each exam. If time permits, we will briefly review the study guide in the last part of the class period prior to each exam date. Additionally, an optional extended study session will also be scheduled outside of class time the week before each exam. If you cannot attend the optional session and/or would like individualized assistance in exam preparation, any of the course TAs and the instructor will be more than happy to review course material with you during office hours. Please be sure to review the policy on make-up exams in the following section of the syllabus.