Teaching and Learning
“ Since communication is the means by which we can know ourselves, other people and the world, teaching communication places us in the middle of the action! There is no getting bored as instructor or student when the universe of human social behavior is your playground.”
–Mark Stoner, Arts and Letters Outstanding
Teaching Award, 1995
Teaching and learning has many dimensions, including establishing specific learning goals and expectations for students, designing courses, syllabi, and programs, engaging in research on teaching, keeping up-to-date on relevant knowledge, and reflecting on teaching in order to improve student learning.
In Communication Studies, this scholarship is reflected in the department's student learning goals, its curriculum, course syllabi, and faculty and departmental activities related to teaching.
Communication Studies faculty have captured the College of Arts and Letters top teaching award 5 times in the past 10 years:
- Sally Perkins
- Mark Stoner
- Larry Chase
- Virginia Kidd
- Edith LeFebvre
Indeed, the quality of the Communication Studies faculty may be a major reason
why the Communication Studies Department is a popular destination for internal
CSUS transfer students and those seeking general education credits.
Teaching Strategies
The Communications Studies Department uses several
teaching strategies in communication and journalism courses at both
undergraduate and graduate levels. Based on faculty feedback about
strategies applied effectively since the last Communication Studies
Department self study, service learning is mentioned repeatedly
as a very beneficial instructional tool.
Service learning is based on connecting our students to organizations
or clients to create “real life” situations where learning
comes from first-hand application of the concepts presented in the
classroom. This educational method provides a “win-win”
setting so both the student and the organizations benefit by working
together. Different courses reach different entities in the community
for service learning; most of the groups are nonprofit or university
organizations.
For example, Prof. von Friederichs-Fitzwater, in ComS158 (Advanced
Public Relations), organizes small groups (3-4 students) that act
as small PR agencies working for nonprofit organizations. Considering
individual skills to create well-balanced groups is part of what
makes this teaching strategy work so well. The groups develop a
PR plan, negotiate a contract, produce deliverables and evaluate
their own work. Prof. von Friederichs-Fitzwater uses a similar strategy
for ComS184A (Project Planning and Management) with equally successful
results.
Prof. Stoner employs service learning in ComS100B (Critical Analysis
of Messages) to create specific needs that require rhetorical analysis
on the part of the students and targets local or campus entities
such as the CSUS Office of the President, University Publications,
and the Center for California Studies, among others.
Prof. Val Smith uses an interactive CD, Fun with Variation, of his
own creation as the textbook/workbook for the class. Written with
Macromedia Authorware, the animated CD uses simple illustration
to teach concepts that our students often find difficult to master.
Prof. Chase asks students to apply different research methodologies
taught in ComS100C (Introduction to Scientific Methods in Communication
Research) to serve local entities such as the California State Department
of Health and Human Services Agency, the Sacramento Zoo and the
Tahoe Community Center.
Prof. Trujillo requires students in ComS105 (Communication in Small
Groups) to do group projects that make a contribution to the university
or the community. In ComS180, students are required to interview
two managers from the Sacramento area to expose the students to
communication needs in local organizations.
Prof. Bonilla uses service learning in ComS184B to emulate stressful
production processes involved in the creation of multimedia applications
for clients in the Sacramento area. Prof. Bonilla has covered nonprofit
organizations (Friends of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission
and the California Coalition for Youth) and for-profit organizations
that make a commitment to the publication of the final product (Landrover
and The Carrousel restaurant).
Service learning is used successfully to create connections to the
community that could translate into job opportunities after graduation.
It also creates sound pedagogical connections between practice and
theory and benefit local organizations. Even though service learning
has been a valuable resource for our faculty, it doesn’t come
without drawbacks. As Prof. Stoner puts it: “The effort needed
to maintain contact with clients and constantly recruit new ones
is stressful, but the effect of service learning on the outcomes
of the course are too important to let go.”
The journalism faculty also use community learning strategies in
the reporting and writing courses. In Journalism 130A/B (News Reporting
1 and 2) and Journalism 135 (Public Affairs Reporting), faculty
assign students to cover various aspects of state, county and municipal
government and report on the actions of those political bodies.
Students in J. 135 also are required to produce a special project
that encompasses a non-profit organization in the community, highlighting
activities of the organization and doing in-depth reporting on the
organization’s activities. In this way, journalism students
are introduced to, and take an active role, in their community’s
governance.
The Communication Studies Department faculty also engage in other
beneficial teaching strategies. New communication technologies play
a significant role in several courses. Several of our professors
use electronic classrooms via WebCT. Prof. Bonilla has been using
software to record the computer screen of the Teaching Station in
Mendocino 3006 while lecturing. This method has proved to be very
beneficial to “level” students that arrive to multimedia
classes with diverse computer knowledge because they can take the
lecture with them as a file and play it again and follow it step
by step as it is necessary. It also is being used to automate lectures,
leaving more time for the discussion of interactive communications
concepts than for the acquisition of computer technical skills.
Prof. Chase uses Internet-based assignments for ComS166 (Persuasion
& Attitude Change) in which he asks students to identify, locate,
and analyze two paired websites (for example, Bush-Kerry, Coke and
Pepsi) and assess their relative persuasive strengths.
Students in Writing for Interactive Media (ComS/Jour 122) also learn
to communicate messages effectively in an interactive environment.
That is, they learn that content for an interactive message must
be custom tailored for the audience and must offer interactivity,
inviting audience participation and response. In this way, students
learn that digital media offers a challenging, worthwhile new environment
where well-constructed information can be communicated in many ways
and to many diverse audiences.
The Communication Studies Department has welcomed new technologies
and the opportunities the technology offers our students to communicate
in many different environments to diverse audiences. We especially
value and emphasize the use of community-based teaching and learning
as a most valuable teaching strategy for our students.
Distance and Distributed Education
“ Call me coach!”
–Larry Chase, Arts and Letters Outstanding
Teaching Award, 2001
Although the Communication Studies Department took an early
lead within the CSUS system, developing the first completely
distance-education program (the Public Relations advising area),
efforts in this area have slowed in recent years. Two faculty
members (Larry Chase and Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater) have
continued to regularly offer distance education courses on a
regular basis. Other faculty, however, attempted such courses
but found them lacking for a variety of reasons. For some faculty
the distance education courses failed to display any efficiencies
while at the same time posing enormous difficulties. A major
barrier to self-contained distance education courses has been
software and hardware limitations that will no doubt be improved
over time.
More common in the Communication Studies Department at this time
are instructors who use Iinternet delivery of content to enhance
more traditional teaching methods. The university continues to
offer strong support for distance education through hardware,
software and in-service support. An excellent example of the
university’s commitment to distance education is the Teaching
Through Technology program.
