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

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

Informing the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) Debate

Inherent in the job of communication administrators (e.g., basic course directors, chairs, directors, deans) is the never-ending challenge of finding the right balance between economic efficiency and instructional integrity in terms of course delivery. Therefore, the question we continually struggle to answer is where to find balance with regard to compromising educational quality for financial frugality. Although always an issue, this subject is spotlighted prominently today as funding support for higher education wanes. The proliferation of online courses now being offered (e.g., MOOCs/massive open online courses) serves as a prime example

Editor\u27s Page

I have to say that 2001-2002 has been quite a year. The events of September 11th, the volatility of the stock market, and the reactions of the American people to these events show a real change in the cultural atmosphere. That change is reflected in this year\u27s Annual~ as well. The essays are certainly not typical. And, yet, they certainly do yield interesting insight to the field. I might even go so far as to say that this issue reflects an educational risk, a departure from the norm of academic scholarship. This seems fitting in a year when what was taken-for-granted is no longer. I hope you enjoy what you read. But, more than that, I hope it challenges you to think differently about the basic course, about journalistic scholarship, and about the way we -- the professorate -- relate to our students and with each other

Try It, You Might Like It: On Teaching Rhetorical Theory and Criticism

Students rarely question the relevance of most communication courses. For example, most students realize that courses focused on improving public speaking and interpersonal skills will benefit them personally and professionally after graduation. Convincing them that a rhetorical theory and criticism course is equally empowering can be a bit more challenging. This essay explores one approach for teaching rhetorical theory and criticism as uniquely relevant in the educational experience of communication students. By applying various rhetorical perspectives to artifacts that resonate with students’ actual lived experiences, students become empowered advocates for positive change