CCOG for COMM 100 Winter 2025


Course Number:
COMM 100
Course Title:
Introduction to Communication (COMM100=COMM100Z)
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Provides an overview of the communication discipline that emphasizes the development of best communication practices in different contexts. This course is part of Oregon Common Course Numbering. COMM 100 and COMM 100Z are equivalent. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to: 

1. Explain the ways communication is impacted by ethics, language, nonverbal behaviors, perception, culture, and contexts.

2. Identify communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts.

3. Explore different areas of communication to develop a broad base of skills and communicative tools when interacting with others.

4. Articulate the importance of communication expertise in career development and civic engagement.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

Communication is essential to being human. Communication courses inherently provide a foundation for understanding human interaction. While all humans use some form of communication to navigate the societies in which we live, each culture has its own set of ethical and social communicative norms. This course examines those norms by teaching students how to organize and make meaning of their own and others’ experiences and meet personal goals in a variety of communication styles and settings.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

The forms of assessment will be determined by the individual instructor. Assessment strategies may include:

  • Qualitative examinations
  • Quantitative examinations
  • Essays
  • Journals
  • Research papers
  • In-class participation
  • Portfolios
  • Projects
  • Oral presentations
  • Group work
  • Service Learning

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)
  • Communication theory
  • Interpersonal Communication
  • Perception
  • Language
  • Active Listening
  • Self-concept
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Group dynamics
  • Intercultural Communication
  • Critical thinking
  • Mass communication

Competencies and Skills:

  • Ability to identify concepts within different fields of study in the Speech Communication discipline.
  • Ability to identify a range of potentially useful behaviors within a variety of communication settings.
  • Ability to choose communication behaviors appropriate to the audience and the situation.

A textbook is required. Approved texts are listed below. Alternative texts need Department/ SAC Chair approval.

Understanding Human Communication, Adler, Rodman & Hutchinson.

Thinking Through Communication, Trenholm.

Communication Mosaics, Wood.

Human Communication in Society, Alberts/Martin/Nakayama; Pearson

Communication Matters, Floyd