Author:
Doreen Piano
Subject:
Communication, Educational Technology
Material Type:
Textbook
Level:
Community College / Lower Division
Tags:
  • Communication
  • Evaluation
  • LOUIS Peer Review
  • Rubric
  • louis-peer-review
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    eBook

    Education Standards

    Intro to Professional Communication Review Rubric

    Overview

    This is a review of Introduction to Professional Communication https://louis.oercommons.org/courses/introduction-to-professional-communications by Doreen Piano, Associate Professor of English, University of New Orleans, LA.

    This rubric was developed by BCcampus. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

    The rubric allows reviewers to evaluate OER textbooks using a consistent set of criteria. Reviewers are encouraged to remix this rubric and add their review content within this tool. If you remix this rubric for an evaluation, please add the title to the evaluated content and link to it from your review.

    Comprehensiveness

    The book covers many important issues related to professional communication that will be helpful to students interested in using their communication skills for professional reasons. Given the significance of social media to professional communication, I was surprised the book did not have any content related to that topic.

    Overall this book provides information that would need to be supplemented and pitched toward the specifics of the class' goals. 

    Content Accuracy

    The content is geared for a Canadian audience; however, overall that only effects the examples provided and not the information which is objective, error-free, and unbiased. 

    Relevance Longevity

    The content is general enough that it would stay relevant for a while. It also reflects current theories of writing and composing. However, as noted above there isn't much attention paid to social media communication practices which I find is a tremendous weakness in an otherwise good textbook.

    .

    Clarity

    Information is clearly presented and while the design is plain, it provides good information to students. 

    Consistency

    The content is very consistent with examples, student heuristics, and short explanations of concepts and strategies in each section.

    Modularity

    The text is an e-book and can be downloaded into a Kindle or other e-reader or read online. Chapters can be assigned separately depending on the focus of the class. Larger sections are broken down into smaller ones that can be easily assigned and used separately.

    Organization Structure Flow

    The book is organized similar to many writing textbooks with general information about writing, audience,and research and then moving into specific kinds of writing tasks that also include visual forms of communication. The book ends with a chapter on Interpersonal communication and I wonder if that should be moved to the more general intro section as it seems important to teach early on although it is incorporated here with information related to team work and listening. 

    Interface

    The interface replicates a book and is easy to navigate depending on the type of download designated. It has a clear table of contents with links to each Part and the sections included. 

    Grammatical Errors

    There are no grammatical errors in the book. As noted above, it's been adapted for a Canadian audience and may have different words or spellings used but other than that it is not marred from any grammatical errors.

    Cultural Relevance

    Wide variety of examples used that represent diverse ethnicities and racial backgrounds. Intercultural communication section offers important information not just on communicating with people from different countries but also different backgrounds who share the same nationality. That section is strong and offers good definitions of different concepts related to difference as well as theories of cross-cultural communication and a good graphic. 

    The visuals and audio-visual features are scarce and could be improved upon. There is a section in Part 8: Interpersonal Communications/8.6 Oral Presentations that offers several videos of indigenous story-telling and ways of speaking that may not fall into traditional notions of public speech such as dance and music.