This course met Quality Matters Review Standards for course design in an official course review. See Certified Course Information (qmprogram.org) and learn more about what Quality Matters means to you as a student.

View the full syllabus for this section of SPCH 1311 here: Summer 2024 SPCH 1311-004 (81390) ONL Syllabus

Course policies and procedures are included in the full syllabus. This posting on Lighthouse is not intended to represent the full content of the course.

Screen reader-friendly version of Course Assignments with Brief Descriptions graphic

Choices and Connections: An Introduction to Communication, 4th edition, by Steven McCornack and Joseph Ortiz with Achieve access

INCLUDED IN COURSE COSTS

FIRST DAY ACCESS: This section includes a fee to cover the costs of required digital materials and/or an electronic textbook, provided at a discounted rate from the ACC Bookstore. 

IMPORTANT! The digital materials fee will be added to your tuition and fees when you register. You may choose to opt out of this fee and receive a refund if you wish to purchase the course materials separately. Opt-out requests must be received prior to a specified date for a full refund. 

This graphic represents a typical 16-week semester. Shorter sessions have compressed timelines. You will complete the same projects in this 10-week session as students who take this course in a 16-week session. For specific due dates, please see the course calendar for this section: Summer 2024 SPCH 1311-004 (81390) ONL Calendar

Course Objectives: What will you learn after completing this course?

When you complete this course successfully, you should be able to:

1. Apply the techniques of communication competency in a variety of settings.
2. Develop skills in selecting and using a variety of communication strategies and responses based on situational contexts, goals, and human needs.
3. Integrate self-monitoring strategies to increase personal communication competence.
4. Analyze the role of perception in communication and employ various perception checking methods to enhance competency.
5. Recognize the power of verbal and nonverbal messages and adapt messages effectively.
6. Evaluate listening habits and practice effective listening skills.
7. Identify, analyze, and apply effective interpersonal communication skills.
8. Recognize personal conflict style and demonstrate effective conflict management.
9. Engage in and evaluate the dynamics of small group communication.
10. Develop, research, organize, and deliver an effective, formal public speech.
11. Identify the dimensions of cultural diversity and their influence on communication.
12. Examine the influence of using communication technologies on human interaction.

General Education Outcomes: What competencies will you develop in this course?

When you complete this course successfully, you should demonstrate competence in:

• Civic and Cultural Awareness: Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society; comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices.
• Critical Thinking: Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.
• Personal Responsibility: Identifying and applying ethical principles and practices; demonstrating effective learning, creative thinking, and personal responsibility.
• Interpersonal Skills: Interacting collaboratively to achieve common goals.
• Written, Oral, and Visual Communication: Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.

Program-Level Student Learning Outcomes: What skills do Communication Studies majors develop during the completion of this degree?

When you complete an associate’s degree at Austin Community College, you should demonstrate competence in:

1. *Listening Skills: Students will identify listening behaviors and practice active listening skills.
2. Interpersonal Communication: Students will appropriately apply communication theories to interpersonal relationship development, maintenance, enhancement, and termination.
3. *Group Dynamics: Students will effectively use verbal and non-verbal communication to manage relationships and achieve goals within a variety of group settings.
4. Professional Communication: Students will employ written and oral competencies related to achieving goals within a variety of professional interactions and business settings.
5. *Public Speaking: Students will research, develop, organize, and deliver an effective public presentation using multimedia when appropriate.

*Our course focuses on outcomes 1, 3, and 5.