
Class Information: 3 credit hours - Monday 3:15-5:45
Course Description
(From the 1996-1998 catalog) 3 credit hours. A course designed to apply communication theory to solving of business or professional interpersonal problems. Stresses theory of systems adapted to organizational structure, interviewing and conference techniques, and public speaking in professional settings. (Prerequisite: GSCO 201)
Late Work: No late work will be accepted in this class unless you contact me in advance. If unforeseen circumstances prevent you from being timely, you may call me to make other arrangements. However, all late work will carry a 20% grade reduction. All late speeches/reports must be made up outside of class.
Academic Dishonesty: All scholastic dishonesty is unacceptable. Scholastic dishonesty includes cheating on exams, turning in reports and term papers as one's own when they are not, lying, stealing exams and other work, allowing other students to copy one's work in order to meet a grade requirement for a course, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as passing off another's ideas as your own. Copying or summarizing another's ideas in written or oral report must be correctly attributed to the source. Any of these aforementioned offenses warrant academic discipline. First offenders are subject to the discipline of the individual professor and are reported to the Vice President of Student Life. Offenses may be subject to review by the Student Appeals Committee and may be subject to severe penalties. Disciplinary measures may include: re-doing the work, automatic failure of the course, probation, suspension and/or expulsion. (from pp. 16-17, KCC Student Handbook)
2. Written Agenda: Using the principles discussed in class, you will prepare an agenda for a fictional meeting. The details of this will be provided on a hand-out you will receive prior to the assignment.
3. Powerpoint Slides: Using the software program "Microsoft Powerpoint," you will create presentation slides for a given presentation topic. The preparation of these slides is designed to be an assignment to familiarize you with the software before you are required to make slides for a visual aid in your informative presentation.
4. Informative Presentation: Taking the form of an informative public speech, this assignment will assume the context is either a conference or particular business meeting. The topic choice will be yours, but should be directly applicable to the course content.
5. Meetings Report: This project will take place as a dyadic or small group project. You will attend a local business or professional meeting held in Carter County and critique the content of the meeting as well as how the meeting was conducted. As evidence of your research, your group will present a short, informal report on your findings.
6. Persuasive Presentation: Taking the form of a persuasive public speech, this assignment is tentatively designed to take the form of a brief sales presentation. Your speech will attempt to persuade the audience for their need to purchase your fictional product.
7. Organizational Chart: Upon discussing the varying aspects of communication and organizational hierarchy in class, you will choose an organization and record their basic organizational leadership structure.
8. Group Presentation: This major assignment will take place on the last class session, but will require work throughout the semester. Your goal will be to identify a campus, local, state or national problem and identify possible solutions. The goal is to combine informative and persuasive elements. Additionally, your group will keep a record of meetings and submit agenda, minutes and a critique of all group members.
9. Presentation outlines and group report: These assignments consist of the paperwork associated with your individual presentations and final group project.
10. Final examination: This final test will be a written means of assessing your breadth and depth of knowledge in the subject matter covered throughout the semester in your class notes.