Inside Iowa State
April 14, 2000
Undergrad communication skills is focus of symposium
by Linda Charles
Teaching undergraduate
communications will be the focal point of the ISUComm
symposium, April 26-27. The symposium is part of a larger,
comprehensive review of the undergraduate curricula, with an
eye to improving students' communication skills.
"As communication technology reshapes life at every level, communication instruction becomes a concern for every teacher," said Michael Mendelson, English faculty member and a member of the ISUComm planning committee.
ISUComm is a cooperative effort of the Faculty Senate curriculum committee, vice provost for under-graduate programs and Center for Teaching Excellence. A premise of ISUComm is that students need to learn and practice communication in all areas, not just speech and writing classes. Planners hope to incorporate communication education into discipline-specific courses throughout the curricula.
The symposium will offer faculty the opportunity to discuss communication education with national and campus experts, review the results of an ISU communication survey and learn about innovative ways to incorporate communications into classes.
The ISUComm committee expects to distribute the proceedings of the symposium in May, then hold an ISUComm retreat next September, Mendelson said. Committee members hope to discuss ISUComm plans in colleges and departments during October and by December, present a curriculum plan to the Faculty Senate.
Wednesday's activities will feature a presentation about the College of Agriculture's AgComm, on which ISUComm is modeled; panel discussion on communication-across-the-curriculum and an ISUComm fair. Thursday's activities include conceptual planning and curriculum discussions.
Keynote speakers will be Susan McLeod, chair of the English department at Washington State University, and David Kaufer, head of English at Carnegie Mellon University, both members of a team of reviewers who last fall assessed the communications curriculum at Iowa State. (The results of the assessment will be presented Wednesday also.)
McLeod, who directs writing-across-the-curriculum seminars, has written several books on the topic. Kaufer co-directs a master's program that researches principles and applications of communication at the verbal/visual interface, and also directs the team that is putting together a communication component for a multidisciplinary undergraduate major in information systems.
The ISUComm fair will feature 30 faculty volunteers who will present their approaches to integrating communications into the curriculum.
All faculty, advisers and administrators are invited to this free symposium at the Memorial Union. Participants are asked to pre-register, but are welcome to drop in and out of the symposium as time allows.
More information and registration information is available at this Web site: www.engl.iastate.edu/ISUComm, or by contacting Mendelson (4-6856, e-mail mendy@iastate.edu) for general symposium information, or Karen Larrew ( kjlarrew@iastate.edu) for registration information.
ISU Comm Symposium
April 26-27
Great Hall, Memorial Union
Free
4-6856
Wednesday, April 26
Thursday, April 27
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