Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Department of Communication Studies is to provide students with communication skills and understanding of the communication process to function in a complex and changing society. We are concerned with the ability to express ideas in an informed and coherent manner; the ability to articulate, debate, and negotiate issues; and to do so both orally and in writing. We are committed to promoting knowledge, criticism, and practical application of human communication. We educate students to be critical observers of social problems and discourse about them, to participate effectively in public life as citizens, and to become involved in culturally diverse personal and professional relationships in their communities.
DEPARTMENT OBJECTIVES and ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC ISSUES
1.
Encourage the development of students’ critical and analytic abilities about the processes and consequences of human communication . (Education for the Global Century). COMM teaches students core principles about communication and then deepens understanding of those principles through application in a variety of socially significant themes and contexts, such as health communication , non-profit and social movement organizations , and gender and intercultural communication. More than 1/3 of our majors pursue internships that allow students to put these skills into practice. Finally, sponsor the UM Debate Team, a truly co-curricular activity involving 10-15 students annually that develops speaking, research, and critical thinking skills for students across campus.
2.
Deliver a curriculum that integrates humanistic and social-scientific perspectives on human communication.
(Partnering for Student Success;
Education for the Global Century). COMM was one of the first departments to partner with Missoula College to develop A.A. concentrations for their students. One concentration allows Missoula College students to meet all lower-division requirements for students to enter the COMM major on the
Mountain Campus, thereby exposing them to both humanistic and social-scientific perspectives early in their career.
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3.
Raise students’ awareness of diverse cultures, ways of thinking, and styles of communication.
(Education for the Global Century). Our courses on gender and communication, intercultural communication, and communication and conflict encourage provide students the ability to negotiate matters of identity, difference, and power in their personal and social relationships. Approximately ½ of our upper-division courses directly address issues of global action and responsibility.
4.
Establish high standards of scholarship for graduate and undergraduate students in communication. (Discovery and Creativity to Serve Montana and the World). At the undergraduate level, every COMM major (70-90 students annually) engages in an applied research project as part of the required course in Communication Research Methods. At the graduate level, nearly all (86%) of our students have presented research at scholarly conferences, and they have published 10 articles and book chapters in the past five years (several co-authored with faculty). Two of our recent MA students have won
Top Masters Thesis awards from national and international associations, and graduate students have regularly garnered Top Paper honors at our regional communication conference for student research.
5.
Encourage and support faculty in research and service activities for the campus, discipline, community, and society.
(Discovery and Creativity to
Serve Montana and the World). COMM has a nationally recognized MA program guided by faculty members who are scholarly leaders in the discipline.
Among our eight tenure-track faculty, three have recently won national-level awards for their scholarly research; two have served as editors of major national journals; and two have served as President of our national and regional disciplinary associations.
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STUDENT LEARNING GOALS AND MEASUREMENT TOOLS
Senior Exit Survey UD Writing Rubric
Research Methods
Projects
1.
Discipline-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities
• communication theory;
• principles of interpersonal communication and their application to everyday life;
• principles of rhetoric and their application to contemporary social issues;
• the nature of organizations and communication issues in work situations;
• principles and practice of social science
• cultural issues in interpersonal relationships, organizations, and the larger society;
• communication processes in family and personal relationships;
• uses of new media in organizations and the social uses/impacts of new comm technology.
2.
Communication skills
• writing;
• public communication
• Interpersonal and group communication
3.
Problem-solving skills
• ability to analyze and evaluate the claims and arguments made by others;
• ability to analyze and synthesize information
• ability to evaluate theory and to assess theory in light of data;
• ability to make connections between theory and practice in a variety of contexts
• knowledge of research methods that are usable in academe and beyond.
The senior exit survey provides an indirect measure as it gauges student perceptions of effectiveness across several areas of our curriculum. It asks specificially about the breadth of knowledge gained through our curriculum, and the relevance of courses to personal life and career goals.
The exit survey asks specifically about the effectiveness of teaching public speaking and discussion skills, and writing skills
The exit survey also asks specifically about the effectiveness of teaching critical thinking skills
The rubric for our upper-division writing courses enables assessment in five areas related to academic writing skills
Two areas of the rubric (argument and scholarship) address several of the learning goals in this category
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Projects in the required research methods course provide the clearest site for assessing student knowledge and skills regarding the principles and practice of social science.
The research projects provide an opportunity to assess students’ ability to analyze and synthesize information
Alumni Survey
The alumni survey provides another indirect measure of perceptions of effectiveness. A core part of the survey asks how well the program prepared them for their personal and professional lives in 11 different areas connected to our curriculum.
The survey asks specifically about each of these three areas.

RESULTS AND MODIFICATIONS
Discipline-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities
•
Exit survey: breadth and relevance rated 4.4-4.6 on scale of 1-5.
•
Alumni survey: highest ratings in
Interpersonal, Public Speaking; lowest ratings in Intercultural
Communication, Family Comm, and Debate/Argumentation
Communication skills
•
Alumni survey: more recent grads rated public speaking and group comm training somewhat higher than older grads; interpersonal somewhat lower
•
UD Writing: Ratings for past 3 semesters were slightly lower than data through 2012; lowest ratings in “effective use of communication scholarship and theory to analyze data/sources.”
Problem-solving skills
• Research methods: all projects in this Fall’s class were rated “aboveaverage” in terms of ability to analyze and synthesize information
The most important thing to note is that the areas rated highest by seniors and alumni are requirements, while the lowest areas are electives.
The department initiated discussion at a Fall 2013 retreat about adding a Speaking requirement beyond
COMX 111, analogous to the Upper-Division Writing Requirement. There is not sufficient staffing to increase the number of sections of Argumentation (COMX 242) or Persuasive Speaking (343), and enrollment in these courses is low, so this curricular change would require modification of several existing courses to generate a menu of course options that would fulfill the requirement. The primary challenge is that faculty would need to cut a substantial amount of content from existing courses in order to accommodate instruction in speaking and time for speeches in class. Based on a course inventory (an item mentioned in our last assessment report and similar to the curriculum map) and further discussion in Spring
2014, the department decided to wait on making a change to that requirement.
The department recognizes that other sub-categories are in need of better measurement tools, and will continue to pursue possibilities for embedded assessment in our introductory courses. One of our faculty members is involved with development of learning outcomes and assessment tools for the Communication discipline nationwide as part of a grant from the Lumina Foundation, and we anticipate building on their work in the coming years.
The department has focused its efforts on assessment in this area in the past few years. We developed a rubric for writing and have been gathering data every semester, and now we can make some comparisons across time. The most recent data from the past three semesters was compiled this fall, so we have not had time to consider it and make modifications. However, the writing assessment suggests that the department might give further attention to methods and more practice analyzing data and sources in lower-division courses.
One piece of data that we no longer have is the UDWPA pass rates. In spite of the problems with the exam itself, it did provide a useful benchmark and point of comparison with other departments.
We chose to focus on Research Methods for this semester since it is a required course that most students take near the end of their career. However, other project-based and writing intensive courses at the 400level could be sites for student assessment in this area.
We also need to add to our curriculum map to look more closely at where these learning goals are pursued in the curriculum.
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APPENDICES
1. Curriculum Map
FUTURE PLANS FOR CONTINUED ASSESSMENT
The key areas for future assessment are: 1) identifying practical ways of assessing student learning in the core content areas of the discipline, mainly via embedded assessment in required courses, 2) identifying courses where speaking skills could be assessed in order to further gauge the specific needs of additional speaking instruction, 3) mapping the Problem-Solving sub-goals to the curriculum, and 4) developing a rubric that could guide assessment of problem-solving skills.
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Course
#   Course   Title
Comm
Theory
111
Introduction   to   Public
Speaking   x
115
Interpersonal
Communicati on
Nonverbal
202   Communicati on
Int'l   and
204   Development
Comm
Communicati
210   on   in   Small
Groups
220
Intro   to   Org
Communicati on
Communicati
222   on   in   the
Workplace
Introduction
240   to   Rhetorical
Theory
Persuasive
241   Communicati on
242
311
Argumentati on
Family
Comm.
x   x
x   x
x   x   x   x
Interper
‐ sonal
x   x
x
x
x
x
x   x x
Communication   Studies   Curriculum   Map
Disciplinary   knowledge
Rhet ‐ oric
Org
Com
Soc
Sci   Culture
Family/
Pers
Relps
Media/   comm ‐ tech
Comm   Skills
Writing   Spkg
x                     x
Problem ‐ solving
IP/   grp   Arg   eval
**These   areas   yet   to   be   mapped      synth   info
skills** thy/   data
thy/   prac
x   x   x   x
x   x
x   x
x   x   x   x   x   x
x   x   x
x   x
x
x   x   x   x
x   x
x

Course
#
312
343
347
349
351
352
380
Course   Title
Forensics/Ho nors
Comm
Theory x
Persuasive
Speaking   and
Criticism
Rhetoric,
Nature,
Environment alism   x
Comm,
Consumption
,   and   Climate
Principles   of
Public
Relations
Public
Relations
Portfolio
Gender   and
Communicati on   x
x
398
410
Internship
Comm   in
Personal
Relationshps   x
412
413
415
Communicati on   and
Conflict
Comm.
and
Conflict ‐
Writing
Intercultural
Communicati on   x x
Interper
‐ sonal
x
x
x
x   x   x   x
x
Communication   Studies   Curriculum   Map
Disciplinary   knowledge
Rhet ‐ oric
Org
Com
Soc
Sci   Culture
Family/
Pers
Relps
Media/   comm ‐ tech
Comm   Skills
Writing   Spkg
Problem
IP/   grp   Arg   eval
‐ solving synth   info
skills** thy/   data
thy/   prac
x   x
x   x
x
x
x
x   x   x
x
x   x   x
x
x   x   x
x   x   x   x   x
x
x
x
x   x

Course
#
421
Course   Title
Comm   in
Non ‐ Profit
Organization s
Comm
Theory
423   Issues   in   Org
Comm   x
Communicati
422   on   and
Technology   x
Practical   x
Crisis
424   Communicati on
425   x
Comm   in
Health   Orgs   x
Rhetorical
445   Criticism   and
Theory
Rhetorical
447   Construction   of   Woman   x x
Rhetoric
449   Women's
Activism
460
Research
Methods
Communicati
461   ons   Research
Seminar
Communicati
485   on   and
Health   x
x
Interper
‐ sonal
x
x   x
x
x x   x
Communication   Studies   Curriculum   Map
Disciplinary   knowledge
Rhet ‐ oric
Org
Com
Soc
Sci   Culture
Family/
Pers
Relps
Media/   comm ‐ tech
Comm   Skills
Writing   Spkg
Problem
IP/   grp   Arg   eval
‐ solving synth   info
skills** thy/   data
thy/   prac   x   x   x   x   x
x   x
x   x   x   x
x   x   x   x   x   x
x
x
x   x   x
x   x   x
x   x
x
x   x   x
x
x   x