Introduction to Human Communication COMM 105

About the Textbook

Survey of Communication Study


Description:  This text offers the opportunity to introduce people to Communication as an academic field of study. We have broken the book into two parts. First, we lay the foundation by covering the scope of communication study, its history, as well as a brief introduction to theories and research methods. Second, we provide chapters that survey many of the areas of specialization practiced in the field of Communication today.

Although it is now on WikiBooks, it will soon be published electronically though Humboldt State University Press.

Authors:

• Laura K. Hahn - Humboldt State University

• Scott T. Paynton - Humboldt State University

Formats:  

The textbook is available online, but students can also download the book as a PDF if desired.

Supplemental resources: 

I do not use any supplemental resources, since I am a co-author of the book. Everything I would use in class is in the book.

Cost savings:  

We previously used Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication, by Julia T. Woodin this class.  That book now sells for approximately $162. Over 125 students are affected each semester, resulting in an annual savings for students of over $20,000.

Accessibility and diversity statement: 

There is no accessibility information right now for the book. We tried to be inclusive through examples, images, sidebars, and use of non-Anglo names in examples.

License:

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This means that you may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. You must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the license.

About the Course

COMM 105: Introduction to Human Communication

Description: Perceptual effects, verbal/nonverbal codes, and dynamics of interpersonal, group, and organizational communication.

Learning outcomes:

• Introduce you to the broad scope of human communication.
• Familiarize you with basic concepts in the field of communication and how they function in your life. 
• Develop your ability to talk and write about human communication. 
• Prepare you to critically analyze and practice communication theories and events. 
• Introduce you to various social scientific research methods for the evaluation of human communication as a social scientific event/phenomenon. 
• Introduce you to the history of the study of human communication. 
• Introduce you to the contextual, cultural, and social dimensions of human communication.

Most students are freshmen and sophomores with roughly a one-third of the class consisting of communication majors. The rest of the students take it as an Area D GE (Social Science).

Curricular changes:

We didn't make any curricular changes. Since we wrote the book, we wrote it the way we wanted the class to take place.

Teaching and learning impacts:

Collaborate more with others: Yes
Use wider range of teaching materials: Yes
Student learning improved: Unsure
Student retention improved: Unsure
Any unexpected results: Yes

The project has brought about more collaboration with faculty on, and off, campus. As word gets out about the book and the project, people are excited and have questions about how they might adopt it or write and publish an online textbook of their own. It has been rewarding to create both a product and a process in which others are interested.

Because of the ease of linking materials and creating images, the online format has allowed us to include so many more examples than before. Since students are so used to clicking on a link, it is much easier to get them to view the examples than assigning additional readings, for example.

While we knew this was a timely idea, the amount of positive response from others has been pleasantly unexpected.

Sample assignment and syllabus:

Group assignment
This assignment was given as students were placed into teams to begin their work on revising the open source text.

Syllabus
This is the syllabus I used for the Fall 2014 capstone course for the communication major.

Textbook Adoption

OER Adoption Process

We wanted to save students money and provide a resource for those people outside the University system that wanted to learn about Communication.

As the field of Communication is so dynamic, we wanted the opportunity to both teach about Communication and be able to capture and reflect all of the exciting changes as they occur. The online format allows us, and others, to contribute new research and examples closer to real time than conventional publishing. 

Student access:  

Students access the textbook from the website. They can also download a PDF of the book from the same page. The book can be purchased as a paperback book from this site for $22.

Student feedback or participation:

The textbook is kept up to date because communication majors in our COMM 490 students are tasked with editing it for publication and distribution on a national level. “We’re able to take our knowledge, skills and personal experience and apply it to a text that we have already used before,” says Brooke Howell (’14, Communication). “It’s also cool to be a student editing a textbook that you know will be used by another student.”

One can read an article and see a video at this site.

Obviously, students love the fact that it’s free. In addition, because of the online format it’s is much easier for students to “bring” the book to class. I find that students understandably don’t like to carry a lot of heavy textbooks with them all day. As a result, they often don’t bring them to class. This way students with electronic access always have their book available to them. 

Laura K. Hahn, Ph.D

I am a Department Chair, English AND Professor of Communication at Humboldt State University. I teach Gender and Communication, Intercultural Communication, and Social Advocacy.

I see myself as a Coach. Students come to class with a variety of previous failures, successes and future potential. Just as members of a team have different roles, positions and goals, so do students. Everyone is uniquely motivated to achieve personal and professional goals and I want to help people reach their self-identified ambitions. I try and to this by presenting a variety of resources, encouragement and opportunities for success.