Carnegie Mellon University

Communication & Presentation

Why does this add value for students?

Image of students at a poster sessionWritten, oral, and visual communication are foundational to the personal and professional success of our Carnegie Mellon students, both during their time on campus and after graduation. Although the need for these skills transcends discipline, the contextual nature of communication – how it varies across tasks, audiences, and disciplines – magnifies the challenge of supporting students to transfer these skills from one context to another. Moreover, in teaching communication skills, it can be challenging to be efficient and effective in grading and providing feedback, motivate student effort toward refining these skills, and build on what other educators are teaching about communication.

Learning Outcomes

      • Produce content that is credible and compelling to a target audience across multiple formats (oral, written, and visual).
      • Prepare coherent and clearly organized oral, written, and visual products based on purpose, genre, context, and audience.
      • Anticipate and evaluate how communication products are received by target audiences in order to respect diverse perspectives.
      • Develop independent, effective processes for setting communication goals, seeking and incorporating feedback, and revising to improve effectiveness.

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catalog image Please help us to catalog the courses and other educational offerings where core competencies are explicitly taught or required.
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Resources & Tools

Rubric: Communications Core Values

A set of criteria for assessing students' writing and communications across several dimensions.

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Rubric: Oral Presentation

A set of criteria for evaluating oral presentations across a variety of courses and departments.

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DocuScope Write & Audit

An online text analysis/visualization environment that helps students see how writing and organizational strategies can be applied to their own drafts.

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VMock

An online tool designed to help students revise their resumes via instant personalized feedback.

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share icon Contribute a resource or tool

If you have developed or used a resource or tool for teaching a core competency, please consider sharing it with us.

CONTRIBUTE RESOURCE/TOOL

Contact eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu for help with identifying, implementing, and/or measuring this core competency for your context.

References

Beaufort, A. (2007). College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing Instruction. Utah State UP. 

Melzer, D. (2014). Assignments Across the Curriculum: A National Study of College Writing. Utah State UP.