An IDEA model analysis of instructional risk communication messages in the time of Ebola

The Ebola outbreak and its rapid spread throughout West Africa and other countries was a megacrisis that imposed numerous challenges to those communicating to nonscientific publics about the epidemic. This article examines the instructional risk messages offered in the days that followed the 2014 infection and death of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas, Texas. More specifically, we apply the IDEA model for effective instructional risk and crisis communication embellished by exemplification theory to conduct a thematic analysis of messages offered locally (Dallas news stories and press releases), nationally (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Live Chat Twitter posts), and internationally (website content from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Doctors Without Borders). Our conclusions reveal that the majority of messages offered from each organization privileged the element of explanation over internalization and action as well as negative over positive exemplification. On the basis of these conclusions, and informed by previous research, we propose a number of potential implications and recommendations for offering a balanced representation among internalization, explanation, and action as proposed in the IDEA model. We also suggest that positive exemplification could be used strategically to motivate receivers to attend to these messages (internalization), reduce potential misunderstandings (explanation), and take appropriate self-protective actions (action). Agency spokespersons and media reporters may fi nd the conclusions and recommendations drawn from this analysis to be useful when crafting similar instructional risk preparedness and crisis response messages

Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness and Learning Achievement: A Comparative Examination of Online and Hybrid Course Delivery Format

Although a good deal of research has been published that compares the effectiveness of communication courses delivered in face-to face and online formats, much less is known about the comparative effectiveness of fully online versus hybrid (a.k.a. blended, mixed mode) courses. Thus, this research project examined student perceptions of teaching effectiveness and learning achievement efficacy in online and hybrid basic communication courses. This two-part study assessed student perceptions (N = 136) about halfway through the semester and again after finishing the course (N = 156). The examination revealed several key conclusions. First, technology constraints must be overcome pedagogically for students to feel prepared in terms of course content comprehension, as well as formal speech construction and delivery. Second, when students enroll in hybrid courses unaware of the technology-enhanced delivery format, they may perceive an expectancy violation that reduces their motivation to attend to the material. Finally, although students value the opportunity to take fully online and hybrid courses, they desire more interactio

The Challenge of Exemplification in Crisis Communication

This case study characterizes the crisis communication challenges and potential response strategies of organizations facing crises of perception created by media exemplars. Exemplars are created through repeated news stories made memorable by highly vivid language, shocking visual materials, and evocative personal testimonies. ABC’s portrayal of Lean Finely Textured Beef as “pink slime” is provided as a case for analysis. The study concludes that organizations responding to crises of perception are at an extreme disadvantage when their standard operating procedures are portrayed negatively as exemplars. In addition, stigmatization increases an organization’s susceptibility to exemplars. Finally, appeals to neutral parties have the potential to bring some degree of added credibility to organizations responding to crises of perceptions caused by exemplars

Socioeconomic Determinants of Expenditures on Fortified and Unfortified Fruit Juice

As of 2019, fruit beverages comprise an $11 billion industry in the US (Juice Production in the US 2019). There has been a recent push for fortification of fruit juices due to rising consumer health concerns such as obesity and high sugar consumption. Additionally, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting fruit beverage consumption (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee 2020). While there is a rich set of literature analyzing determinants of fruit beverage demand, there is a lack of research analyzing which factors drive consumer expenditures on fortified and unfortified fruit juices (Yen et al. 2004; Storey et al. 2006; Zheng and Kaiser 2008; Okrent and MacEwan 2014). In an evolving industry, an understanding of the determinants of fruit juice expenditures by fortification status is essential to both the industry’s ability to effectively market their products and for policymakers to improve the health of US households. The purpose of this study is to analyze the sociodemographic determinants of US household expenditures on fruit juice by fortification status. Data analysis is conducted using the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). Analytical methods applied in this study include descriptive statistics and double hurdle models. Descriptive statistics compare fortified and unfortified fruit beverage purchases and expenditures across sociodemographic characteristics. Double hurdle models are estimated to determine how income, health, shopping, and sociodemographic characteristics affect households’ decision to purchase, and given purchase, expenditures on each fruit juice category. Findings from this research are applicable to both industry and policymakers. Identifying consumer profiles for each fruit beverage category provides industry with a deeper understanding of their target markets. Additionally, results provide policymakers with the insight needed to develop effective food and nutrition programs

A National Profile of Experiential Education Trends in Communication Master\u27s Degree Programs

This article seeks to provide a profile of internships used in communication master\u27s degree programs in the U.S. An internship is defined as receiving graduate credit for practical experience gained outside the classroom, with some degree of supervision by a faculty member. Based upon the data presented, experiential opportunities in communication serve to connect theory and practice. The nature of an internship at the graduate level appears to be more complex than at the undergraduate level. The formal paper appears to be the most common means for evaluating graduate internships. Formal papers are consistently used in academia to measure student understanding of concepts and experiences. The size of the institution and graduate program seems to have no affect on the option of offering internships or graduate students electing to use them in their programs of study

Longitudinal Changes in Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Salience Network Among Individuals At-Risk for PTSD Development

Predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a traumatic event has been a focus of recent neuroimaging research in the hopes of identifying key biomarkers that contribute to the disorder’s development. One possibility relies on understanding the connectivity between intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs), including the salience network (SN). Prior research has consistently identified hyperconnectivity among SN regions among those with chronic PTSD, and this study aimed to examine the role of SN connectivity over time on PTSD symptom development. To do so, this study recruited individuals presenting to the Emergency Department with traumatic injuries to complete two resting-state fMRI scans: one at two-weeks post-trauma (T1) and one at six-months post-trauma (T2). The current analyses used an intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC) within a SN mask of salience-related regions to assess the connectivity of particular SN regions with the entirety of the network. There were no significant relationships between T2 connectivity and total PTSD symptom severity at T2, nor was there any significant findings for the relationship between T1 connectivity and total PTSD symptom severity at T2. While the change in total PTSD symptom severity scores did not significantly relate to changes in SN connectivity over time, a significant cluster within the dACC was found to be hyperconnected with the rest of the SN for the interaction between Time and Reexperiencing symptom severity score. This result remained significant when additional covariates were added to the model. Overall, this study highlights the importance of tracking changes in neurocircuitry from the acute trauma response to chronic PTSD, suggesting that chronic exposure to reexperiencing symptoms of PTSD leads to small changes in SN connectivity that slowly rewire ICN circuitry over time

An IDEA Model Analysis of Instructional Risk Communication in the Time of Ebola

The Ebola outbreak and its rapid spread throughout West Africa and other countries was a megacrisis that imposed numerous challenges to those communicating to nonscientific publics about the epidemic. This article examines the instructional risk messages offered in the days that followed the 2014 infection and death of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas, Texas. More specifically, we apply the IDEA model for effective instructional risk and crisis communication embellished by exemplification theory to conduct a thematic analysis of messages offered locally (Dallas news stories and press releases), nationally (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Live Chat Twitter posts), and internationally (website content from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Doctors Without Borders). Our conclusions reveal that the majority of messages offered from each organization privileged the element of explanation over internalization and action as well as negative over positive exemplification. On the basis of these conclusions, and informed by previous research, we propose a number of potential implications and recommendations for offering a balanced representation among internalization, explanation, and action as proposed in the IDEA model. We also suggest that positive exemplification could be used strategically to motivate receivers to attend to these messages (internalization), reduce potential misunderstandings (explanation), and take appropriate self-protective actions (action). Agency spokespersons and media reporters may find the conclusions and recommendations drawn from this analysis to be useful when crafting similar instructional risk preparedness and crisis response messages

Editor’s Note to Volume 4 of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy “If you build it, they will come.”

This volume features instructional communication research articles ranging using mHealth patients with invisible chronic illnesses to machine teachers (e.g., Robots) as teachers. It also includes reflective and best practice essays on incorporating audio podcasts into teaching and learning, communication training and development in the multigenerational workforce, managing speech anxiety online, and the role of edutainment in teaching public relations

Music as Communication: A Rhetorical Perspective Based on Susanne Langer\u27s Theory of Aesthetic Symbolism

The purpose of this dissertation is to create a rhetorical perspective by which to understand and analyze music as aesthetic communication. Specifically, this study extends Susanne Langer\u27s theory of aesthetic symbolism as it relates to music as a mode of communication. Once the rhetorical perspective for analyzing music as communication has been depicted, the perspective is operationalized to analyze music from two contemporary social movements in the United States. The music analyzed in this dissertation comes from the Neo-Nazi Skinhead movement and the New Age movement. By approaching music as aesthetic communication in this way, the reader is able to determine how music can communicate, as well as how it is used as a mode of communication in these two social movements. Further, the value of this rhetorical perspective as a means by which to understand and analyze music as communication is ascertained. Several conclusions may be drawn from this study. First, this study furthers the inquiry offered in existing literature with regard to analyzing music as communication. By approaching the procedure from an aesthetic perspective, this dissertation provides a means by which to analyze music as it may communicate using both lyrical content and musical score, as well as how music can communicate without lyrical content. In addition, based on the data in this dissertation, this author confirms the ideas presented in the existing literature that music communicates for social movements. Finally, this author concludes that music does communicate for the Neo-Nazi Skinhead movement and for the New Age movement