Abstract
In the previous issue ofBusiness and Professional Communication, we focused on flipped classrooms and discovery learning. We continue that broad stream of research with our articles in this issue, most of which engage students in projects designed to facilitate learning in business and professional communication. Implementing project-based learning can be challenging, and case studies can reveal issues that may be unanticipated in textbooks.
Our lead article reports on the role of a commissioned research project in bridging the gap between theory and practice. At the authors’ research site, organizations representing different sectors of the corporate and nonprofit workplace commission teams of students in business and professional communication to act as their communication experts. The specific case discussed in this article is based on a study carried out by a team of five master’s-level students to promote corporate social responsibility in a professional association of a pharmaceutical industry. The authors analyze the student researchers’ perspectives, as well as the practitioners’ view of the collaboration, and the pitfalls involved in helping put theory into practice in a real-world situation.
Our second article presents the results of an actual employee program evaluation as a case study of soft skills training at a large hospital. The authors posit four hypotheses, that greater reported willingness to learn will result in both a higher degree of course comprehension and a higher degree of behavioral change and that the method of delivery will affect trainees’ degree of comprehension and degree of behavioral change. The authors conclude that face-to-face or blended instruction is likely to be more effective than a purely online format.
The authors of our third article examine the factors needed for success in group assignments. In a study of cooperativeness, assertiveness, group satisfaction, leader grade, and leadership negotiation, the authors find that group satisfaction is positively related to both leader assertiveness and leader cooperativeness. This research emphasizes the importance of the leader’s role to group outcomes and suggests that assertiveness is a critical component to success.
With this issue we begin a new format of “feature topics,” where we will group articles according to their connections with each other. Our first feature topic, “Flipped Classrooms in Practice,” contains a collection of articles on flipped classrooms, picking up where we left off in our June special issue. The first of these describes “problem forums,” a method to scaffold project discussions online and enable teams to address and troubleshoot unexpected difficulties. The second and third articles in this section describe specific strategies for ensuring that flipped classrooms achieve the desired student learning outcomes, and the last article provides a summary of best practices.
We end this issue with the ever-popular My Favorite Assignment series, now spread over two issues. Part 1 features 10 selections presented at the 2015 Association for Business Communication (ABC) Annual Conference, in Seattle, Washington, last October. Additional teaching materials are available at websites mentioned in the article, including instructions to students, exercise materials, slides, grading rubrics, frequently asked questions, and sample student work products. Part 2 will follow in the September issue.