ComS 222



ComS 222

Mid-term FA 2012 (15%) 2 hour exam

Question 1 (1 hour)

Connect review of literature (theory) and lecturing (practice); connect especially to the area you researched; to your own lecture experience; how can lecturing be said to engage students in “making meaning” as opposed to “transferring knowledge”? Don’t forget to include pre-course readings as they apply.

Question 2 (1 hour) [two parts, so allocate your time to accomplish both in 1 hr.]

Part 1. Choose a significant concept or theory in your area of study which, if presented to students in your area as a lecture, would substantially enhance their knowledge of related topics. Explain why the concept is important theoretically.

Part 2. Design a lecture presentation that enacts the principles of lecturing we’ve discussed so far. Write it in a T-chart with your lesson design in the left column and your explanatory annotations (including relevant references to the literature and class presentations and discussions) to support your design decisions in the right column. Or you may use the “comment” tool in Word. (I recommend that you use the lesson plan format we’ve used in the course, so far.)

Criteria for evaluation

For both mid-term and final, acceptable answers will:

• present a point of view on the material;

• they have something to say about the course content to the point of the exam—a critique, for example, either positive or negative; your way of understanding the material should be clear ( the answer should not read like a report or encyclopedia entry).

Acceptable answers display:

• a mastery of the content;

• relationships between ideas, concepts, theories, etc. are articulated clearly;

• attributions are correct and cite sources, e.g. (Sprague 1994) or (Thwaite & Rivalland 2008), to connect relevant ideas to their sources. (Full references are not required since the parenthetical references point to texts which we know (which includes any readings from assigned or recommended files); however, material from sources beyond the content of the course that you choose to bring in should have a proper citation.)

• contain well-formed complete sentences and paragraphs. (A few spelling errors may squeeze in but there should be no pervasive errors since you’ll have spell check available.)

The time limits will be enforced.

Final FA 2012 (15%) 2 hour exam

Instructional Communication Practice (select one of three to answer) 1 hour

Question 1. Preface to the question:

While instruction is a very complex communication event, one practical element that receives too little attention has to do with the value of goal-setting. Since goals control procedure, they play a very significant role in the design and implementation of instruction.

Your task is to do the following:

Write at least three well-formed learning objectives for a lesson in a Public Speaking that is treating the creation of persuasive speeches.

Explain the communication goal of each; the level of thinking each is intended to exercise and the course of instructional action each goal determines.

Finally, using relevant instructional/communication theory, explain the effect (or potential effect) on students of stating clear objectives for learning.

2. Preface to the question:

Boyer’s notion of the “scholarship of application” recognizes a very important task of any capable student. However, using theory as a guide for practice is not necessarily easy or immediately intuitive. This question focuses on practice and the literature of practice from ComS 222.

Question 2:

Based on your understanding of the instructional communication context and processes, design a 2 week instructional unit for a course in (your area of graduate study) for “returning students”, i.e. adult learners.

In your answer, explain the topic chosen for instruction, then lay out your design in as much detail possible, given the time allotted. Be sure to explain your choices of action as an instructor based on relevant literature of practice. The goal is to write a unit plan that is pedagogically sound because it is well connected to the literature of practice. Assume you have access to Learning Management System (such as SacCT). Write your unit in a T-chart with your design on the left column and your explanatory annotations (including relevant references to the literature and class presentations and discussions) to support your design decisions in the right column.

3. Preface to the task:

The use of electronic media for instruction is now a taken-for-granted dimension of instruction in higher education and is increasingly used at the secondary and primary levels as funding for equipment allows. Training in use of technology gets attention because without it computer mediated instruction won’t happen. However, the effects of shifting communication media, and their attendant codes gets little treatment. Putting a set of PowerPoint notes online does not equal a lecture, but it is often offered as such.

Task:

Your task is to design a two week unit for teaching (a set of core concepts in your area of study) to be taught completely online. Two elements must be treated in your answer: of course, the topics to be taught must be coherently laid out and the activities of students must be described. Second and most important, you will explain your design choices based on your knowledge of good instructional communication practice. Be sure to cite relevant sources, especially where key decisions emerge in your plan. (Hint: Spend more time in explaining your unit plan than in the details of the unit itself; i.e., don’t get stuck writing the details of lessons at the expense of your discussion of online instruction as communication process.)

Instructional Communication Theory (Choose one of two) 1hour

1. Preface to the task:

While instructional practice is “where the rubber meets the road,” instructional theory guides how we plan and reflect on practice. Therefore, we need some understanding of the nature of the knowledge we turn to in making our significant instructional decisions.

Task:

Starting from the reviews of literature presented by you and your colleagues, and developing those reviews as necessary, make an argument about the nature of the degree to which it actually focuses on communication in instructional contexts. You may argue that the “theory” published in Communication Education and other communication journals is not actually theory, but something else; you may argue that the literature is singularly focused on communication, both conceptually and methodologically; you may argue that the research literature is a mixed bag of material that focuses on communication at points, focuses on psychology when it is supposedly attending to communication, etc. You may have a simple or complex claim, but you will need to take a perspective and argue it thoroughly.

You may have copies of the literature reviews (UNMARKED AT THE START OF THE EXAM) in hand as you do the exam.

2. Preface to the task:

Scholars in any area have to make sense of a broad range of material that is directly or partially related to their area of study.

Task:

Taking the readings available on the disc (Pre-course; required and resource readings) create an organizational structure for them.

Your answer will:

• Outline the conceptual approach you took to “see” the group as a whole

• Create and explain categories for the articles

• “Place” the article in the categories and explain your decisions to place them there.

• You may argue that some articles should not be included in any category.

You may have a reference list, in alphabetical order, of all the essays in hand as you do your essay. This is to be just a reference list—you may not have notes, category names, or other prompts on the list.

Criteria for evaluation

For both mid-term and final, acceptable answers will:

• present a point of view on the material;

• they have something to say about the course content to the point of the exam—a critique, for example, either positive or negative; your way of understanding the material should be clear ( the answer should not read like a report or encyclopedia entry).

Acceptable answers display:

• a mastery of the content;

• relationships between ideas, concepts, theories, etc. are articulated clearly;

• attributions are correct and cite sources, e.g. (Sprague 1994) or (Thwaite & Rivalland 2008), to connect relevant ideas to their sources. (Full references are not required since the parenthetical references point to texts which we know (which includes any readings from assigned or recommended files); however, material from sources beyond the content of the course that you choose to bring in should have a proper citation.)

• contain well-formed complete sentences and paragraphs. (A few spelling errors may squeeze in but there should be no pervasive errors since you’ll have spell check available.)

The time limits will be enforced.

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