This year the National Communication Association (NCA) celebrates its centennial. NCA began over a dispute between speech teachers and English teachers over the perception of oral communication receiving less instructional attention, and for the last century communication experts have been the primary party responsible for communication instruction of college students. Over the years the basic course has largely been focused on public speaking as the course to deliver this instruction, though we developed, and still teach, interpersonal communication and hybrid courses that also include small group communication. There have been several different venues in which the basic communication course has received attention during these hundred years.
For just over half of them the annual Basic Course Director’s Conference has convened to discuss administrative issues pertaining to the implementation of the basic course, and for twenty-six years the pages of this journal, the Basic Communication Course Annual, have served as a platform for those who conduct research into the pedagogy and performance in this important course
