What is Comm-B?

Communications–B courses fulfill the second part of UW-Madison’s two-part Communication requirement, which is intended to enhance students’ literacy and research skills within specific academic disciplines. Because effective research and communication vary across disciplines and professions, your Comm–B course might look different from others. However, there are several features that all Comm-B courses have in common, and these features are foregrounded throughout this Pressbook.

The UW-Madison Communication Requirement

The text below is excerpted from the 2023-2024 version of the University’s Undergraduate Guide.

The Communication requirement helps to ensure that all graduates of UW–Madison acquire essential communication and research-gathering skills necessary for success in university course work and beyond. Communication–A (Comm–A) and Communication–B (Comm–B) courses train students to gather and assess information from a variety of sources and to present different kinds of information, insight, and analysis to diverse audiences. These courses are essential for students’ career success and their preparation for public life in a rapidly changing world.

While Comm–A courses focus exclusively on essential communication skills, Comm–B courses provide content instruction in a specific discipline and teach research, writing, and communication skills in conjunction with the course content. Comm–B courses are offered by departments across campus and vary widely in topic, content, and format.

Comm-B: Enhancing Literacy Proficiency

Description

2–3 credits of more advanced coursework for students who have completed or been exempted from Comm-A. Students should consult with the appropriate undergraduate advisor about when this requirement should be completed. Courses that satisfy this requirement are offered in many fields of study; although a wide variety of courses fulfill this requirement, students are encouraged to select a course most in keeping with their interests or other requirements of their intended field(s) of study.

Learning Outcomes

By taking a Comm-B course, students will learn to:

• Identify and make skillful use of relevant, reliable, and high-quality research sources appropriate to the course subject and discipline
• Make productive use of the writing process, including brainstorming, outlining, drafting, incorporating feedback, and revising, to develop a fledgling idea into a formal paper, presentation, and/or project
• Share research, course content, or creative activity in writing and at least one other mode of communication relevant to the discipline.
  • Other modes of communication might include presentations using one or more media, debate, discussion, poster presentations, and other forms of expression that convey course content

Who enrolls in Comm-B courses?

While the Comm–A and Comm–B requirements appear to establish a single, linear sequence of courses, there are actually multiple ways in which students can arrive at Comm–B. What this means for you is that there is no such thing as an “average” Comm–B student!

What does this mean for Comm-B TAs and instructors?

Teaching with writing in a Communications-B course means helping students understand how writing works in a specific field or discipline. In doing so, you invite students to learn and to practice the writing and communication conventions of that discipline. Depending on the particular field of study, Comm-B students will learn different kinds of writing and communication skills. Students in a Comm-B biology course, for example, might learn to write up research findings in a formal laboratory report; students in a history Comm-B might learn to compare historical sources in a written review; and students in a business Comm-B might learn to write business memos to imaginary clients. The writing assignments will differ from course to course, but all Comm-B instructors should:

1. When possible, spend class time teaching and reinforcing the writing and presentation skills that students need to complete assignments in your course. Share models with students and talk with them about why the models are successful examples of the writing you want them to do.

2. Teach writing as a process that involves revision. Students should have the opportunity to draft a writing (or speaking/presentation) assignment, receive feedback from you or peers, and revise based on that feedback. Let students know that successful writers take time to review and revise their work and often share their writing with friends, reviewers, and editors.

3. Hold at least one conference of 15 minutes or more with each student to discuss writing or a presentation in progress. In the conference, praise what’s working well in the writing or the presentation, offer specific suggestions for improvement, and help the student set some larger goals as a writer/speaker (think Rose, Bud, Thorn).

4. Practice inclusive and accessible teaching and assessment. Consider the principles of Universal Design for Learning.

5. Get to know your students. Because students’ writing experiences vary widely, you should consider asking them to share some of those experiences with you and/or with each other. Or, more generally, you might ask them to share about their history with communication and writing classes in college and high school. You can do this as part of a first-week discussion, a Discussion Board post in Canvas, or in a private message to you. Keep in mind, too, that some students may have had extensive practice writing in your course’s disciplinary context, while some may not. Each of your students comes to your class in a different place on their educational journey, and that’s okay! Approach this information as an opportunity to get to know your students better so you can help them succeed in your class.