Preliminary Results: Communication (oral, written, visual)?

Students will communicate effectively through oral, written, and visual forms.

Question 1. What demonstrable qualities of this outcome should a SEU graduate possess?

Themes/Suggestions: 

  • Write with correct grammar along with decorum, style, and audience awareness
  • Create a resume and cover letter; business oriented reports
  • Learn MLA format
  • Growth in effective speaking, writing clearly, and creativity
  • Ability to convey a narrative visually and in multiple modes
  • Demonstration of competence of these skills in foreign language for majors
  • Support researched arguments
  • Write and speak fluently and persuasively in a variety of contexts

Question 2. Please provide your views on how this outcome can best be achieved in general education and co-curricular programming.

Themes/Suggestions:

  • Papers, journal assignments, resumes, mock interviews
  • Required General Education first-semester course/First Year writing program
  • Scaffold, sequenced, and cumulative assignments across the 4-year curriculum with shared rubrics and outcomes
  • 15-20 student maximum in these courses
  • An oral communication center
  • Cross-over with the majors

UELO Discussion Summary: Communicate (oral, written, visual)

UELO: Students will communicate effectively through oral, written, and visual forms.

Principles

There are experts who can teach the theory around these communication skills, but best practice is if every faculty member on campus sees themselves as writing, speech, visual instructor. They should do disciplinary fine-tuning.  Students should learn the conventions of different disciplines.

Importance of applied experiences: students need to be able to adapt those skills in today’s general world.

“Take on your digital world”

These skills need to be integrated across courses and vertically infused throughout the curriculum.

Concerns and Needs

There is a chauvinism for words; it is important that they master visual language.

Currently, the general education courses function as additional inoculation sites for communication skills.  These needs to show up in their majors, as well.

We need to do more to integrate general education in the major.

Best Practices

  • Write then do a digital story.
  • At Alverno college in Wisconsin, they collect work at every level and it goes to the office of assessment.  Students are building portfolio of work and see their progress.  Importance of measuring growth.
  • E-Portfolio: Use it for every class, so students are able to see how they are growing across their career. (reflection)
  • Oral defense of thesis.
  • Senior thesis or signature work, but one that is in line with capstone needs.
  • Bring gen ed into major capstone.

How should students learn oral, written, & visual communication?

Roman-Etruscan statue, L'ArringatoreOur next question of the week survey addresses the outcome, “Students will communicate effectively through oral, written, and visual forms.” Share your input on our brief survey here, http://stedwards.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_01WS7vtUKFYSc6N, and/or join us for a live discussion on Friday, November 7, 2-3:30 pm in TH 104.

Please note that you can take this survey and all others at any point during Fall 2014, by visiting the Surveys and Events page of this website: https://sites.stedwards.edu/seugened/fall-faculty-feedback-schedule/