Institute:	RMIT
Discipline:	Social Science
Title:	"Interpersonal and Public Communication"
Year addressed:	1st Year
Phase:	Identify Attributes, Curriculum, Learning Experience and Assessment.
Generic Attributes:	Communication Skills

Issues Revealed:

-The Bachelor of Social Science as a new degree had to clearly identify itself as "different" from other Social Science degrees offered in Victoria.
-A key aspect of this difference was an emphasis on assisting students to understand "what us it that sociologists do". This focus drives the direction of the Social Science curriculum, and is what is crucial to offering students an integrated program.
-Students required a linking mechanism that would support their understanding of the relationship between professional practice, themselves and academic knowledge. In short, help them understand "what is it that sociologists do".
-Employers and community groups suggested that the communication abilities of social science students could be improved.
-The learning process is more important than the outcome

Aim of Interpersonal and Public Communication: "To assist students develop reflective capacities that enable them to integrate their personal, professional and academic experiences in different contexts and environments."

Actions Taken:

-The integration of graduate attributes into the social science curriculum was a direct result of employers concerns about the lack of communication skills that many social science students exhibited.
-Incorporating graduate attributes into the social science curriculum provided an important integrative space - across the social science program- for teachers and students alike.
-The Communications subject was designed to develop the communication skills of social science students.
-Learning Experiences :These revolved around the production of learning portfolios. These demanded learning experiences that were flexible and student focused. The report includes examples of these experiences and the criteria used for the assessment of student learning portfolios.
-Student portfolios provided evidence of their developing communication skills and abilities and their reflective practice. How students integrated these different areas provided important evaluative feedback in relation to how effectively the social science program was integrating its subject and content matter.
-Semester one focused on the following skills: Collaborative learning, communicating to an academic audience and interpersonal communication.
-Semester two focused on the following skills: Public communication, problem solving - making value judgements, developing appropriate solutions for different contexts and problems, assessing problems, setting objectives, time frames, directives and action plans.
-The use of portfolios as key aspects of students' learning experiences provided a useful mechanism from which students could articulate the links between personal experiences, professional practice and academic knowledge. Moreover, the incorporation of graduate attributes into the curriculum provided important stepping stones in this linking process.

Lessons Learned/Reflections:

-Teaching and assessing through portfolios was an important step in providing students with a sense that the whole semester is a learning process and more important that the final outcome and "that the final grade reflects the whole semester's work and is not a tangible aberration of one piece of work."
-The subject guide requires continual revision in order to clearly reflect the various requirements and student learning outcomes, emphasise the role and focus on graduate attributes, and highlight how this subject is integrated with other subjects. It also needs to be presented in a way that students find accessible and will read: this is an ongoing challenge for the teaching staff.
-It is difficult to offer an integrative subject content that involves all the students enrolled in the communications subject. This is because the subject is offered as a first year generic subject to numerous different programs. Consequently what is relevant to one program might appear inconsequential to another.
-The theoretical side of the course will be strengthened in the future. This development is perceived as crucial to the development of students' conceptual and communication abilities.
-Student evaluations indicated that they found the subject beneficial, challenging, enjoyable and relevant. The portfolio produced in 1998 - the first year they were introduced- were of a high standard.