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Communication Program Mission Statement

The Snow College Communication Department provides students with a high-quality, skills-based education. Students gain essential communicative skills with a strong emphasis on communication theory, ethical practice, and cultural understanding. Our student-centered program aims to prepare students for professional and personal success by ensuring they possess the competencies necessary to make practical and purposeful decisions.

Communication Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Employ communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts.
  2. Create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context.
  3. Demonstrate the ability to accomplish communicative goals (self-efficacy).

General Education Learning Outcomes

The general education courses offered by the communication department will align with the essential learning outcomes established by Snow College. Students who complete general education requirements with courses in communication will learn skills pertaining to Humanities (HU), Social Science (SS), and Fine Arts (FA).

Humanities (HU) courses fulfilled through the communication discipline include Introduction to Mass Media (COMM 1500) and Introduction to Communication (COMM 1010). The general education objectives in these courses include:

  • Ask and explore a variety of philosophical and theoretical questions about human thought and experience.
  • Understand how knowledge is created through the study of language systems.
  • Understand cultural traditions within an historical context and make connections with the present.
  • Write effectively within the Humanities discipline to analyze and form critical and aesthetic judgments.

Social Science (SS) courses fulfilled through the communication discipline include Interpersonal Communication (COMM 2110) and Intercultural Communication (COMM 2150). The general education objectives in these courses include:

  • Explain social institutions, structures, and processes across a broad range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations for individual human behavior.
  • Evaluate contemporary problems using social science research methodology.
  • Describe and analytically compare social, political, economic, cultural, geographical, and historical settings and processes other than one's own.
  • Explain and use the social-scientific method to test research questions and draw conclusions.
  • Write effectively within the social science discipline and communicate about social science phenomena.

Social Science (SS) courses fulfilled through the communication discipline include Interpersonal Communication (COMM 2110) and Intercultural Communication (COMM 2150). The general education objectives in these courses include:

  • Explain social institutions, structures, and processes across a broad range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations for individual human behavior.
  • Evaluate contemporary problems using social science research methodology.
  • Describe and analytically compare social, political, economic, cultural, geographical, and historical settings and processes other than one's own.
  • Explain and use the social-scientific method to test research questions and draw conclusions.
  • Write effectively within the social science discipline and communicate about social science phenomena.

Fine Arts (FA) courses fulfilled through the communication discipline include Public Speaking (COMM 1020) and Oral Interpretation of Literature (COMM 2070). The general education objectives in these courses include:

  • Articulate the dynamics of the creative process.
  • Provide an informed synopsis of the performing arts in the contexts of culture and history through reading and interpreting pertinent information.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the conceptual and elemental principles fundamental to the creation of various forms of artistic expression.
  • Exhibit an ability to critically analyze artistic works using appropriate techniques, vocabulary, and methodologies.

Program Learning Outcomes

It is important we introduce our new expectations for what students should learn upon graduating from Snow College’s Communication program (i.e., our PLOs). To maintain our alignment with efforts from the National Communication Association, our program learning outcomes were selected from the Association’s pre-established “Learning Outcomes in Communication” project which served to outline what a general student with a Communication degree should know, understand, and be able to do upon graduation. Specifically, our department’s current focus will be to aid students in achieving the following four learning outcomes:

Program Learning Outcome 1: Employ Theories, Perspectives and Principles

  • Explain communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts
  • Synthesize communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts
  • Apply communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts
  • Critique communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts

Program Learning Outcome 2: Create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose and context

  • Locate and use information relevant to the goals, audience, purpose, and contexts
  • Select creative and appropriate modalities and technologies to accomplish communicative goals
  • Adapt messages to diverse needs of individuals, groups, and contexts
  • Present messages in multiple communication modalities and contexts
  • Adjust messages while in the process of communicating
  • Critically reflect on one’s own messages after the communication event

Program Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate the ability to accomplish Communicative Goals

  • Identify contexts, situations and barriers that impede communications self-efficacy
  • Perform verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors that illustrate self-efficacy
  • Articulate personal beliefs about abilities to accomplish communication goals
  • Evaluate personal communication strengths and weaknesses.

Though there are numerous other learning outcomes mentioned in the National Communication Association’s project, the list is not meant to be a prescriptive “pass-fail” system to assess the quality of a communication program. Rather, it is meant to assist programs in developing their learning outcomes for students and standardizing their learning at a national level while also acknowledging the extent each program is unique in its personnel (e.g., faculty specializations and aspirations) and resources (e.g., number of faculty, funding). Therefore, we will begin implementing the three PLOs within our program’s evolving structure as these three learning outcomes are areas wherein our faculty are already excelling with instructing their students; the expectation that they will be revised (i.e., expanded) is also understood as our department’s faculty composition continues to grow and diversify.