Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsZac D. JohnsonZac D. Johnson (Ph.D., West Virginia University, 2013) is an associate professor in the Department of Human Communication Studies at California State University, Fullerton.

ABSTRACT Continuing a tradition dating back to 1968, this tenth study in a longitudinal series of surveys of the basic communication course has two goals: (a) to provide descriptive information about the basic course contemporarily and over time and (b) to propose a framework for interpreting the impact of the extraordinary national and international events of 2020, on higher education in general and the basic communication course in particular. A survey, which retained questions about trends identified in the past nine studies conducted on the basic communication course from 1956 to 2016, was updated to include additional questions on topics of contemporary concern. National distribution of the survey instrument resulted in a total of 160 respondents (26 from two-year schools, 134 from four-year schools). This study reports and discusses data across six categories: (a) general description of the course and enrollment patterns; (b) course instruction, training, and administration problems; (c) standardization and grading; (d) course content and pedagogy; (e) media, technology, and online teaching; and (f) contemporary challenges and issues facing the basic course. Reflections based on trends in the data, and recommendations for future scholarship about the course based on the results and current challenges in higher education, are offered.

ABSTRACT Based on the tenets of Flow Theory, the study proposes that in-class activities that have the potential to induce the experience of flow—a state of deep absorption and enjoyment of tasks at hand—among students are likely to increase students’ engagement. Specifically, the study examined the effects of three in-class activity factors (i.e., optimal challenges, immediate feedback, clear goals) on students’ flow experiences and the impact of flow experiences on three classroom engagement behaviors (i.e., silent in-class behaviors, oral in-class behaviors, and thinking about course content). The results of the path analysis conducted on the data collected from N = 213 students revealed that optimal challenges and immediate feedback significantly predicted students’ flow experiences. Additionally, students’ flow experiences influenced students’ engagement behaviors and mediated the relationship between optimal challenges and immediate feedback and the three engagement behaviors. Key findings, teaching implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

"Editors’ introduction: addressing disciplinary whiteness and racial justice advocacy in communication education." Communication Education, 71(4), p. 355

On January 6, 2021, then-President Trump urged supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol (Dozier & Bergengruen, 2021; Holland et al., 2021; Snyder, 2021). The insurrection that followed was an unprec...

ABSTRACT Teacher emotions are important yet understudied in the classroom. The current study explores how teachers manage their emotions in the classroom. More specifically, we apply the five feeling rules that describe how college instructors’ emotional labor performances shape their experiences in the classroom. Through a qualitative theoretical thematic analysis, we found support for the five rules: (1) having affection for students, (2) showing enthusiasm for subject matter, (3) handling “dark” emotions, (4) loving their work, and (5) having a sense of humor. In addition, a sixth feeling rule, using emotions as learning tools, is also prominent in the data. Overall, the study adds to conceptual and theoretical knowledge about how college teachers perform emotional labor while teaching.

ABSTRACT In the current study, we applied self-determination theory within a cross-sectional research design to test a latent variable model in order to explore how peer relationships in the classroom might impact students’ autonomous motivation. Using a sample of 342 U.S. college students, we investigated how student-to-student confirmation might indirectly influence students’ intrinsic motivation to learn through the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for competence and relatedness. Results of a latent variable model suggest that students who receive confirmation from their classmates experience greater perceptions of competence and relatedness in the classroom. More importantly, through the satisfaction of these needs, student-to-student confirmation appears to have a positive indirect effect on students’ intrinsic motivation to learn independent of their satisfaction for autonomy. Findings from our study align with the theoretical assumptions of confirmation and the propositions of self-determination theory. Self-determination theory scholars have long called for the strategic use of needs-supportive instruction to stimulate greater autonomous motivation within students. Perhaps it also behooves instructors to promote conditions and opportunities in which students are more likely to experience confirmation from their fellow classmates and thereby experience more needs-satisfying interactions.

We are turning the pages to another editorial term and moving Communication Education into its eighth decade of existence. As we turn the page to the journal's eighth decade, I revisited the first ...