Office of Institutional Assessment

Student Learning Competencies

Oral Communication

Committee Members

Assessment Proposals

Assessment Reports

Standards & Criteria

Mason's general education program identifies numerous learning goals in oral communication that are addressed specifically in two Communication courses of which students must take one or the other, COMM 100, Public Speaking, and COMM 101, Interpersonal and Group Interaction. Five learning outcomes were specified and two scoring rubrics were developed by Communication faculty for this assessment (see the Assessment Proposal for details).

As described in the Assessment Report to SCHEV, ten sections of COMM 100 and nine sections of COMM 101 were randomly selected for assessment in fall 2005. A team of raters used two rubrics to assess student presentations during week 10-12 of the courses. Based on competency levels established by the faculty committee, results of the assessment showed that a very high proportion of students were competent or highly competent oral communicators.

Currently, Communication faculty are revising the workbooks used in both classes and revising the rubrics to more explicitly state expectations for student competence. In spring, 2007, faculty will, once again, conduct an assessment of competence in oral communication using the new rubric.