Future young scientists must be prepared with professional communications skills to disseminate scientific information to broad audiences of agricultural researchers, practitioners, and consumers. Strengthening Communication Skills of Agricultural Students: Using Real-World Examples to Meet Industry Employment Needs was funded by USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture Higher Education Challenge grant program in 2017.
The Texas A&M University project team developed and delivered seven reusable learning modules (RLMs) to enhance the human capital of food, animal, nutrition, and health sciences by meeting the employment needs of industry. The curriculum focus on Crawford et al.’s (2011) seven communication characteristics, using industry-specific examples and learning opportunities that allow students to reflect and compare their communication techniques with industry expectations. Each module is available as an RLM and as a face-to-face curriculum package. The modules are hosted on the Texas A&M University Libraries’ The OAKTrust Digital Repository, and you can access the curriculum by clicking on the individual module titles below.
All instructors may find our HEC Module Access and Teaching Tips useful. TAMU instructors or instructors using the Canvas LMS may find our Module Upload Instructions for Canvas helpful.
Crawford et al.’s (2011) seven communication characteristics:
-
Module 1: Asking Effective Questions
- Summary: Employees must know when and how to ask questions because asking effective questions solves complex problems, increases productivity, and decreases confusion. Further, employees must be attentive to the task at hand to ensure they ask useful questions to complete the task correctly. They must also know how to ask questions and gather more information to solve problems and understand others. Asking questions can offer clarity, increase interest, and encourage further thought on a topic. Critical thinking often involves a decision tree of questions, and students need to understand how to work through this process.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Identify effective questions
- Develop questions of fact, judgment, and preference
-
Module 2: Communicating Accurately and Concisely
- Summary: Accurate and concise information is important in the decision-making process. Without accurate and concise information, scientists cannot conduct research and make recommendations based on the findings. However, students often struggle with interpreting and critiquing oral and written scientific information.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Interpret scientific, evidence-based arguments for a general, non-scientific audience.
- Communicate accurate and concise information for publication in popular press mediums.
-
Module 3: Communicating Appropriately and Professionally Using Social Media
- Summary: When using social media for personal or business use, students must remain professional, factual, and open-minded. Many individuals believe social media is a factual source of information. However, much of the information found on social media platforms is biased and not fully explained in the appropriate context. Therefore, it is important for students to properly assess information on social media, understand how to appropriately respond to comments or feedback, and manage agricultural issue campaigns for both personal and business accounts.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Identify agricultural brands that have effectively positioned themselves in the digital environment.
- Develop scientific, evidence-based information for delivery on social media platforms.
- Defend agricultural issues on social media platforms using evidence-based arguments.
- Analyze agricultural issue arguments on social media platforms and provide evidence-based information to support or refute the arguments.
-
Module 4: Communicating in Writing
- Summary: Writing in the workplace is an important component of all industries because all positions within an organization require employees to write. Effective writing includes social context, discourse knowledge, content knowledge, cognitive processes, confidence, critical thinking, and the writing process (Leggette, Rutherford, & Dunsford, 2015). Poor writing is frustrating to the reader and often leads to misunderstanding among the constituents. Thus, employers seek employees who can write effective messages and who can deliver an accurate message in a compelling way (Selingo, 2017).
- Learning Outcomes:
- Develop talking points about a complex agricultural issue.
- Display personal writing identity using a personal persona.
- Explain the positives and negatives of a complex agricultural issue.
- Translate the science of a complex agricultural issue into an easy-to-read infographic.
-
Module 5: Communicating Orally
- Summary: Presentation and oral communication skills are important attributes of new graduates; yet,many students are not taught how to effectively communicate orally. In fact, students are often expected to deliver presentations as part of course assignments without adequate instruction on how to present. This module will provide foundation skills focused on communicating orally.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Describe an audience persona.
- Develop a message to connect to an audience.
- Deliver dynamically and effectively through oral presentation.
-
Module 6: Communicating Pleasantly and Professionally
- Summary: Communicating in a positive and productive manner is critical in the workplace. In situations of conflict or opposing ideas, pleasant and professional communication is of paramount importance. Pleasant and professional communication is a part of verbal and non-verbal communication and both can positively or negatively impact internal and external climates of an organization.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Know your communication style and how to apply it in a group setting.
- Create pleasant and professional messages for dissemination through a variety of business communication mediums.
- Apply non-verbal communication concepts to business communication scenarios.
-
Module 7: Listening Effectively
- Summary: Listening is a key to communicating with others as individuals spend more time listening than they spend writing, reading, speaking, etc., and listening is not the same as hearing. Effective listening includes attentiveness, thinking critically about the information, head nodding, and watching nonverbal movements and cues. Employers look for potential graduates who can listen effectively and identify keywords and concepts needed to make informed decisions.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Identify elements of effective listening.
- Use critical thinking concepts by listening for keywords and concepts in oral discussions.
- Compare complex agricultural issues using keywords and concepts from oral discussions.
-
Guide for Disseminating Online Curriculum
This project was supported by Higher Education Challenge Grant no. 2017-70003-26386 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Click here to access a list of modules that align with the writing intensive courses in the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.