Hawaii Pacific University
COM 1000 Introduction to Communication Skills Section ____
Semester and year, meeting times
Instructor: Name, contact information and other relevant information about the instructor.
Course description: An introduction to communication that stresses career planning and development
using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as an informative tool. Topics enhance student selfawareness and self-esteem while covering the fundamental skills of interpersonal, intercultural, and
public communication in the workplace. Career services at HPU are also included.
Course prerequisites: None
General Education Requirement: This course is classified under the Communication Skills Theme and
meets the requirement for a course in Communication Skills B: Communication Contexts.
General Education Student Learning Outcomes and the Five Themes: HPU’s general education
curriculum is focused around five themes. This course emphasizes the Communication Skills Theme and
provides students with opportunities to achieve the following related general education student
learning outcomes:



Students will analyze the way people communicate within and across cultures, genders,
generations, and organizations and develop skills in communicating across these domains. The
textbook content covers many aspects of communication theory, including intercultural
communication. Class discussions and activities engage students in a participatory learning
process to enable them to “bridge the gap” between theory and practical applications in
academic, professional and social settings. Utilizing the unique diversity in the HPU classroom
and local community, culture and its consequences in a wide variety of communication contexts
are emphasized throughout the course.
Students will compare, contrast, and interact with various communications contexts such as
intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, public, and mass communication. This course is an
introduction to the principles of interpersonal, intercultural, group, mass and public
communication. Topics are selected to enhance student self-awareness and self-esteem while
building skills that are useful in the workplace like finding a job, developing a resume, job
interviewing, and handling interpersonal conflicts. Communication theory and process are
integrated with practical applications of effective communication.
Students will demonstrate critical reasoning in organizing their thoughts, feelings, concepts and
information for effective, clear, and accurate oral and written communication. Critical thinking
is essential to improving communication skills. In the process of analyzing the communication
process and learning to identify and understand key communication concepts, students are
required to grow in awareness of self, others, and context/environment in order to develop
more effective strategies for transmitting meaning and achieving desired communication goals
(e.g. resolving conflicts, developing healthy relationships, etc.) in a variety of circumstances.
The course also addresses the Values and Choices theme and provides students with opportunities to
achieve the following related general education student learning outcome:

Students will understand and analyze the range of consequences that follow from a
choice, policy or course of action. This outcome is applied both in the context of the
student as a communicator and in terms of the student’s career goals. Students learn that
due to differences in encoding, decoding and perception, successful achievement of
communication goals involves advanced awareness of possible outcomes or effects of
message transmission, including both desired and unintentional (some desirable, some
undesirable) outcomes. Each content module in this course introduces a new aspect of
communication and the concepts and processes that will help and hinder the achievement
of desired communication goals. As for the second context, the information interview
requires students to identify aspects of their future work life that require planning and
decision-making today, such as choice of major, need for pre-graduation practical training,
future financial needs vs. rewards, and possible career drawbacks or obstacles.
Note: Purple text shows places where specific course information must be filled in. Red text contains
explanatory notes to the instructor which should be deleted before using the syllabus. Blue
explanations above should be rephrased by the individual instructor to reflect the specific approach in
that section of the course. Course-specific outcomes below are an example and may be rephrased or
modified by the instructor.
Course-Specific Student Learning Outcomes for COM 1000 Introduction to Communication Skills
Through regular class participation and conscientious completion of assignments, students will
increase their well-being and success in personal, university, and employment situations by:
1)
receiving information regarding relevant resources, services, activities, and
guidelines at HPU;
2)
acquiring knowledge about essential interpersonal and mass communication processes;
3)
building skills in identifying and resolving problematic communication in typical school,
home, and work situations;
3)
developing an enhanced cross-cultural awareness and identifying constructive
communication
strategies for dealing with multicultural academic and professional environments;
4)
identifying personal skills, values, priorities and personality preferences in order
to clarify and pursue career goals and job search strategies;
5)
writing a professional resume and cover letter and practicing interviewing skills;
6)
learning about and applying skills in audience analysis, content organization and
presentation methods while building confidence in addressing a group.
For the rest of these required syllabus items see the details in the faculty handbook. Delete this note
once the syllabus is complete. For online courses there are some additional requirements given at this
link.
Texts List textbooks with ISBN’s and include this language as well
All textbook information (pricing, ISBN #, and e-books) for this course can be found on the HPU
Bookstore website: hpu.edu/bookstore.
If you have any questions regarding textbooks, please contact the HPU Bookstore at:
Phone:
808-544-9347
Or e-mail:
jyokota@hpu.edu
mmiyahira@hpu.edu
Assignments and mode of evaluation
Summary of important dates and deadlines (if the schedule is a separate document and due dates are
not given with the description of the assignments).
Class rules and policies (including regarding attendance, late work and academic dishonesty)
Schedule of events (may be attached separately)