Presentation by Kelly Calame and Danielle Schwertner at the Southwest Educational Research Association 38th Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, on February 5, 2015.

1. DANIELLE SCHWERTNER, ENGLISH
KELLY CALAME, MASS COMMUNICATION
MENTORS:
SALLY HENSCHEL, PH.D.
MITZI LEWIS, PH.D.
Applying Undergraduate Research:
The Texas General Education
Communication Core Curriculum:
Tracking Trends, 2013-2015
S O U T H W E S T E D U C A T I O N A L R E S E A R C H A S S O C I A T I O N
3 8 T H A N N U A L M E E T I N G
P A P E R S E S S I O N : C O L L E G E T R A N S I T I O N I N G A N D E D U C A T I O N I S S U E S
F E B R U A R Y 7 , 2 0 1 5

2. Background Information
— Began in Spring 2014
— Purpose: To examine how Texas state universities
and community colleges adapted their curriculum to
meet the new core

3. Spring 2014 - Process
Examined the Texas General Education Core Web
Center:
• Hosted by Texas State University, University College
• Contains core curriculum information submitted by
87 state community colleges and universities
• Not kept current
• Phased out in Fall 2014 when the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board (THECB) assumed
responsibility for this resource

4. The Texas General Education Core Web Center

5. Spring 2014 - Process
Analyzed the THECB Spring 2014 CBM004 Class
Report:
— Added columns for institution names and core
designation: “0” if not a communication core class,
and “1” if a communication core class.
— Ran into questions associated with course
designations, so began the process of collecting all
core curriculum information directly from university
catalogs.

6.
THECB Spring 2014 CBM004 Class Report

7. Spring 2014 - Process
— Collected 37 university catalogs and 54 community
college catalogs for 2013-2014 academic year
— Examined the core curricula and collected course
information

8. University Catalogs

9. Spring 2014 - Challenges
— Finding the catalogs on the university websites
— Differentiating courses: many of the same courses
from various colleges were named differently

10. Spring 2014 - Results
— Organized data into a coded chart, demonstrating
common areas and discrepancies between colleges
— Prepared the data to be compared to future findings
in the new core

11. Purpose(
To compile current undergraduate
communication core curriculum
requirements of thirty-seven Texas
state universities and fifty Texas
community colleges and compare
that information to the new
communication core courses that
will be offered starting in the fall of
2014. Our goal is to answer the
following questions:
• How did state universities and
community colleges adapt their
communication offerings to meet
the new core requirements?
• What trends in the
communication curriculum can
we identify for a follow-up
study?
Methodology
We collected current (i.e., prior to fall
2014) core curriculum information
from college catalogs, websites, and
state reports. Using an Excel
document, we then listed each
required and optional
communication core course, along
with titles and descriptions.
Cita3ons
Texas General Education Core Web
Center. (n.d.). Texas General Education
Core Curriculum. Retrieved January 16,
2014, from http://statecore.its.txstate.edu/
Welcome to the TACC Website!. (n.d.).
Texas Association of Community
Colleges. Retrieved March 26, 2014,
from http://www.tacc.org
(
(
(
Results(
Through our research thus far, we
have already noted differences in the
universities’ communication core
requirements. However, we have
seen similarities in the
communication core courses offered
at the community colleges. We will
be interested in seeing if this trend
continues in the new core.
Sally(Henschel,(Ph.D.,(Mitzi(Lewis,(Ph.D.,(Kelly(Calame(and(Danielle(Schwertner(
The(Department(of(English(and(the(Department(of(Mass(Communica3on(at(Midwestern(State(University!
Conclusion!
Though we have collected and
complied important information
regarding the current core
curriculum, we still have many steps
to take in order to conclude our
purpose of comparing the current
communication core to that of the
new core being offered beginning in
the fall of 2014. We plan on
collecting the same information from
the same colleges once the fall 2014
core is made available.
TX COMMUNITY COLLEGE REQUIRED COMM CORE COURSES Count % of 79
Composi(on!I 43 54%
Academic!wri(ng 34 43%
Founda(ons!of!public!speaking 2 3%
TX COMMUNITY COLLEGE OPTIONAL COMM CORE COURSES Count % of 216
Founda(ons!of!public!speaking 42 19%
Business!&!Professional!Communica(on/Speech! 38 18%
Intro!to!Communica(on! 27 13%
Interpersonal!Communica(on 24 11%
Academic!wri(ng! 16 7%
Technical!communica(on! 15 7%
Foreign!language!!1! 8 4%
Composi(on!I! 7 3%
Foreign!language!!2 7 3%
Sign!Language!1 6 3%
Sign!Language!2 6 3%
Forensic!Ac(vi(es! 4 2%
Voice!and!dic(on! 3 1%
Argumenta(on!and!debate! 3 1%
Foreign!language!3 2 1%
Foreign!language!4 2 1%
Small!Group!Discussion! 2 1%
Oral!Interpreta(on! 2 1%
Program!op(on! 1 0%
Intro!to!Technology!&!Human!Communica(on! 1 0%
TX STATE UNIV. REQUIRED COMM CORE COURSES Count % of 62
Composi(on!I 29 47%
Academic!wri(ng 28 45%
Founda(ons!of!public!speaking 4 6%
Program!op(on 1 2%
TX STATE UNIV. OPTIONAL COMM CORE COURSES Count % of 103
Founda(ons!of!public!speaking 22 21%
Business!&!Professional!Communica(on/Speech 10 10%
Academic!wri(ng 9 9%
Technical!communica(on 9 9%
Composi(on!I 8 8%
Discipline!specific!TP!communica(on 8 8%
Interpersonal!communica(on 5 5%
Literature!wri(ng 5 5%
Adv!composi(on 3 3%
Argumenta(on!and!debate 3 3%
Foreign!language!1 3 3%
Sign!language!1 3 3%
Crea(ve!wri(ng 2 2%
Foreign!language!2 2 2%
Performance!speech 2 2%
Advanced!public!speaking 1 1%
Advanced!technical!wri(ng 1 1%
Foreign!language!3 1 1%
Foreign!language!4 1 1%
Humani(es 1 1%
Voice!and!dic(on 1 1%
WriVen!and!oral!communica(on!(hybrid) 1 1%
Story!telling 1 1%
Interviewing 1 1%
Significance(
The current core information will
soon be difficult to find. It is
important to identify and compare
current communication core courses
so that we can see how the core is
progressing. Communication is vital
to every college student, so we need
to understand how it is being
offered.

12. Fall 2014 - Process
— Collected 37 university catalogs and 54 community
college catalogs for 2014-2015 academic year
— Compared data provided by the THECB on their new
Core Curriculum WebCenter to information found in
online catalogs
— Created a new Excel document with our findings
— Organized Fall 2014 data into a coded chart, in order to
better compare the new core to the old core

13. THECB Core Curriculum WebCenter

14. Fall 2014 - Challenges
— Several discrepancies were found between the
THECB report and the online catalogs
— Several universities and community colleges did not
have updated catalogs or core information on their
websites
— Specification between required and optional courses
was not made clear

16. Future Plans
— Continue tracking trends
— Collect and analyze Fall 2019 data

17. Questions?
Contact info
— Danielle Schwertner: put your email address here
— Kelly Calame: put your email address here
Mentors
— Sally Henschel: sally.henschel@mwsu.edu
— Mitzi Lewis: mitzi.lewis@mwsu.edu