Abstract
This address argues that recent national reports on undergraduate education have identified fundamental weaknesses in collegiate learning, shifting emphasis from curricular inputs to measurable student outcomes. Drawing on documents from the National Institute of Education and the Association of American Colleges, the discussion highlights concerns about declining student engagement in the arts and sciences, fragmentation of general education, and the absence of coherent rationales guiding undergraduate study. These reports call for institutions to demonstrate improvement in students’ analytical abilities, communication skills, ethical reasoning, and disciplinary depth across the curriculum rather than rely on proxies such as faculty credentials or course counts. Paulson notes emerging state level pressures for assessment and performance funding and describes institutional responses, including revisions to curricula and the adoption of learning evaluations through standardized and locally developed measures. The address concludes by emphasizing that communication programs are well positioned to lead this reform, given their focus on discourse competence, critical thinking, and value laden inquiry. However, meaningful assessment requires faculty leadership in defining essential competencies, establishing clear standards, and gathering evidence of student development across the major and general education.
Recommended Citation
Paulson, Stanley F.
(1986)
"Integrity in the Communication Curriculum,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 56, Article 1.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol56/iss1/1
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