Fundamentals of Group Discussion

Course Number: 
SPCH 201
Course Credits: 
3.00
Course Description: 
Introduction to problem solving in small groups. Emphasis is given to practical experience in group discussion participation and leadership. Additional attention is given to meeting management and panel discussion. 3 lecture hours. Satisfies humanities distribution area F requirement or specified elective for the AA degree.
Course Prerequisites: 
Course Outcomes: 
  • Understanding and developing strategies for solving problems/making decisions including using prior knowledge, considering alternative courses of action, assessing potential consequences, developing criteria for evaluating outcomes, refining strategies, and evaluating results.
  • Demonstrating behavior that shows attentiveness to others and understanding the impact of attending skills.
  • Accurately observing details and drawing inferences and conclusions based on observations.
  • Listening for details, main ideas, facts/opinions, information/persuasion, and meaning while suspending judgment.
  • Paraphrasing others’ ideas and checking for understanding.
  • Working cooperatively by conversing and encouraging communication.
  • Speaking and presenting ideas while attending to audience and purpose and considering cultural differences.
  • Using technology and other resources to obtain information.
  • Organizing, integrating, and documenting sources of information.
  • Using a variety of media to communicate messages in presentations creatively and effectively.
  • Using delivery elements effectively, such as pitch, rate, volume, projection, posture, eye contact, facial expressions, and body language.
  • Using oral English language effectively to engage the audience and adapt to the topic and audience.
  • Communicating responsibly using accurate, truthful, and equitable language and ideas; understanding the consequences of irresponsible communication.
  • Establishing criteria for effective and high quality presentations and using them to evaluate own and others' presentations; using feedback to revise own work.
  • Developing ideas into written drafts.
  • Revising writing for ideas, language, audience, and conventions.
  • Editing own writing for word choice, conventions, and sentence structure.
  • Using writing conventions (grammar, punctuation, and capitalization) effectively.
  • Using reading strategies to build understanding.
  • Using reading skills to develop vocabulary.