A cognitive approach to human communication: An action assembly theory

An essential characteristic of human communicative behavior is that it is at once novel and creative yet patterned and repetitive. This observation suggests processes of selection of memory elements and subsequent construction of novel behaviors. In an effort to explicate these processes a general theoretical framework is developed. Further, a specific theory, consistent with the general framework, is also advanced. The theory is comprised of five axioms and seventeen propositions which serve to specify the nature of the relevant structures and processes.     

An inquiry-based learning approach to teaching information retrieval

The study of information retrieval (IR) has increased in interest and importance with the explosive growth of online information in recent years. Learning about IR within formal courses of study enables users of search engines to use them more knowledgeably and effectively, while providing the starting point for the explorations of new researchers into novel search technologies. Although IR can be taught in a traditional manner of formal classroom instruction with students being led through the details of the subject and expected to reproduce this in assessment, the nature of IR as a topic makes it an ideal subject for inquiry-based learning approaches to teaching. In an inquiry-based learning approach students are introduced to the principles of a subject and then encouraged to develop their understanding by solving structured or open problems. Working through solutions in subsequent class discussions enables students to appreciate the availability of alternative solutions as proposed by their classmates. Following this approach students not only learn the details of IR techniques, but significantly, naturally learn to apply them in solution of problems. In doing this they not only gain an appreciation of alternative solutions to a problem, but also how to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses. Developing confidence and skills in problem solving enables student assessment to be structured around solution of problems. Thus students can be assessed on the basis of their understanding and ability to apply techniques, rather simply their skill at reciting facts. This has the additional benefit of encouraging general problem solving skills which can be of benefit in other subjects. This approach to teaching IR was successfully implemented in an undergraduate module where students were assessed in a written examination exploring their knowledge and understanding of the principles of IR and their ability to apply them to solving problems, and a written assignment based on developing an individual research proposal.     

Characterizing organizational spirituality: An organizational communication culture approach

This study focuses and extends the academic literature on spirituality in organizations. Although spirituality has gained attention in organizational scholarship during the past decade, there has been little systematic development. Current literature on spirituality in organizations is characterized by divergent approaches to spirituality and a number of organizational foci. The present study, based on qualitative field research in a nursing home, advances understanding of spirituality in organizations by identifying three central characteristics of organizational spirituality: value alignment, personal spirituality, and relationship‐based organizing. These central characteristics, supported by the field research and current literature on spirituality in organizations, lead to issues for further research. The study concludes with an invitation for dialogue on the emergent topic of organizational spirituality.     

A new method of using student self-assessment: Bridging gaps between teaching content and student learning

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal pilot study developed and tested an instrument to assess students’ perceptions of the extent to which they accomplished the learning objectives that were listed in a number of communication course syllabi. In addition to students’ perceptions that they had improved from the start to the end of the semester in achieving course objectives, the findings revealed that students’ assessment was related positively to their ratings of professors’ teaching effectiveness. The instrument provides valuable information about students’ accomplishment of teachers’ course learning objectives.     

A collaborative approach to teaching genetics information sources

Rapid advancement and new information sources in many academic fields offer expanded opportunities for collaborative teaching Campus-wide programs, such as UWired, are effective in stimulating collaborative teaching, but efforts of individual faculty members and librarians can also produce effective courses This article describes how bioinformatics sources were introduced to students in a human genetics course taught by a professor and a librarian at the University of Tennessee Course content, learning objectives, and student assignments are covered, as well as roles of the professor and librarian m teaching the course The librarian attended each class session, which proved effective in integrating him into the course and expanded his knowledge of how genetics information is used by researchers     

Basic communication fidelity: An extension

The concept of Basic Communication Fidelity represents the degree of congruity between cognitions of two or more individuals following a communication event. Measurement of the concept is expanded beyond source/receiver comparison of cognitions implanted in a communication source in the form of geometric forms to include self‐oriented cognitions generated by an individual communicator in an environment reflecting stability of self‐oriented cognitions over the duration of the interaction. Results increase potential application, precision and explanatory value of the construct.     

The relationship between student communication motives and information seeking

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between college students’ communication motives (i.e., relational, functional, participatory, excuse making, sycophantic) and their use of information‐seeking strategies (i.e., overt, indirect, third party, testing, observing). Participants were 149 students enrolled in an introductory communication course at a Mid‐Atlantic university. Results indicated that (a) students who communicate for the sycophantic, relational, and participatory motives use the indirect and observing information‐seeking strategies and (b) students who communicate for the functional communication motive use the overt information‐seeking strategy, but do not use the testing information‐seeking strategy. Future research should examine whether college students use information‐seeking strategies with their classmates and the impact of the use of these strategies on their learning experience.     

Intercultural willingness to communicate and communication anxiety in international teaching assistants

This study addressed patterns and correlates of communication apprehension, intercultural communication apprehension, and intercultural willingness to communicate in international teaching assistants. Results indicated an inverse relationship between communication apprehension of international TAs and their satisfaction with students, relationship with students, and perceptions of student ratings of instruction. Similar results were found for ITA state anxiety. Inverse relationships were also found between ITA intercultural communication apprehension and relationship with students and perceptions of student ratings of instruction. International teaching assistant CA and ICA were positively related with ITA state anxiety.     

A traditional lecture approach versus a collaborative approach: A comparison of student performance outcomes

Many instructors rely primarily on the traditional lecture approach when teaching the basic public speaking course. However, this research suggests that a collaborative instructional approach may be a more effective alternative to the traditional lecture format. Data comparing student performance outcomes when using a traditional lecture approach and a collaborative instructional approach indicate that students’ public speaking performances improve significantly when they engage in collaborative instruction.     

Strength in Numbers: Encouraging Every Staff Member to Work to Capacity

Libraries play a critical role in enhancing the learning landscape of the schools they support. In order for any library to become a powerhouse and a community meeting place, all library team members need to align with the library's vision, own it and begin to add their own strengths and talents purposefully. This article explores practical strategies for developing a visionary team, including supportive leadership, daily stand-up meetings, weekly staff meetings, special-focus teams, rostering and the “five conversations” approach. These effective strategies can be implemented across a broad range of library workforce contexts in order to ensure the most effective workforce teams are built.     

Explicating the relationally attentive approach to conducting engaged communication scholarship

As interest in engaged communication scholarship grows, so does the need for concrete examples of how such research is done. In this essay, we articulate an example of the how by presenting the work of the Purdue Peace Project, a locally led peacebuilding initiative based at Purdue University. We do so by (a) explicating the communicative choices in our approach to engaged scholarship and (b) relating these choices to the impacts that our approach has had on preventing political violence related to a chieftaincy dispute in Keperman (pseudonym), Ghana. Based on qualitative data from multiple time points, we unpack our communicative choices, relate these choices to the realization of engagement goals and setbacks, and reveal multi-level, interdependent, and communicative indicators of impacts. We present what we term the relationally attentive approach to engaged communication scholarship and discuss implications and recommendations for those doing engaged scholarship.     

Interdisciplinary studies of communication: An editorial

The following is the Keynote Address for the 1966 Conference of the Central States Speech Association and was delivered at the General Session on April 15 in Chicago, Illinois.     

Information Literacy Advocates: developing student skills through a peer support approach

Since 2013/2014, an Information Literacy Advocates (ILA) scheme has been running at the University of Nottingham as an extracurricular module on the Nottingham Advantage Award programme. The Information Literacy Advocates scheme, which recruits medicine and health sciences students in their second year or above, aims to facilitate development of information literacy skills and confidence, as well as communication, organisation and teamwork, through the provision of peer support. Previous research indicates peer assistance effectively enhances such skills and is valued by fellow students who welcome the opportunity to approach more experienced students for help. This article, written by guest writer Ruth Curtis from the University of Nottingham, provides an overview of administering the ILA scheme and explores its impact on the Information Literacy Advocates, peers and librarians, and discusses future developments for taking the scheme forward. H. S.     

Issues with criteria to create blacklists: An epidemiological approach

Screening criteria are a vital part of society, medicine and publishing. In this paper, a new framework, based on epidemiological principles, is developed to assess the effectiveness of criteria that are used to detect predatory behavior, or to assess whether a journal or publisher is predatory, and create blacklists. Applying epidemiological measures such as specificity, sensitivity, prevalence rates, the likelihood ratio, posterior and prior probabilities and odds, as well as Bayesian analysis, we elaborate on the false discovery rate and work towards assessing the likelihood that an entity is in fact predatory when screening criteria are used. We applied the framework to three different prevalence cases: a low prevalence rate where all journals are screened for predatory behavior assuming Jeffrey Beall's criteria are used; a higher rate when only open access journals are assessed; the highest rate where only Walt Crawford grayOA journals were screened for deceptive publishing practices. In all cases, we found a very high false discovery rate even when using reasonable values for the sensitivity and specificity rate for Beall's screening criteria.     

An approach to the history of publishing: Twentieth-century Quebec

To understand modern publishing, detailed historical studies must be undertaken of individual publishing houses, their leading figures, and their relationships with authors. Such studies, the authors argue, will permit us to understand how a publishing house establishes its identity. They describe in detail a research program based on these principles that is investigating literary publishing in Quebec. Translated by Larry Shouldice Richard Giguère, a literary scholar and critic, is a professor in the Department of Letters and Communications at the University of Sherbrooke. Jacques Michon, a professor in the Department of Letters and Communications at the University of Sherbrooke, is president of the Quebec Association for Studies in Publishing. M. Michon has written articles on the Quebec novel and publishing in the twentieth century, and is the author of two books,Mallarmé et les mots anglais andEmile Nelligan: les racines du rêve. Since 1982, he and Richard Giguère have directed the Research Group on Quebec Literary Publishing. Address for correspondence     

A communication system approach to the problem of public library legitimacy

Public library systems intersect with both public and private spheres of social life, but how they negotiate public legitimacy and private influence remains a mystery. To better understand this problem, this study adopts a communication system approach. Using qualitative content analysis, this study examines data from three US public library systems. This study analyzes how private actors communicate with and through public library systems by parsing the signals into components: transmitter, receiver, medium, and message. The resulting signals form two dimensions: the Public Sphere dimension, where private actors govern, legitimate, and use the library, and the Private Sphere dimension, where private actors exchange personal services and exert economic power. A view of public and private signals in interaction reveals how public legitimacy is threatened and how public library systems can mitigate these threats. This study reveals how public/private conflicts in public libraries arise and how they might be resolved.