Summer Workshop, Teaching the Introductory Communication Course: A Covenantal Perspective for Integration, Student Self-Inquiry, and Classroom Engagement, with Bill Strom
Description: The introductory communication course offers a special opportunity for instructors to lay a foundation for student expectations in the program and across the curricula at Christian liberal arts institutions. To this end, this presentation begins with diverse models of faith integration, proceeds to strategies for student self-inquiry, and concludes with assignments and activities to bring light and life to class. Attendees will be encouraged to consider new ways of designing their entry-level course to shape and empower students for thinking critically and Christianly at university and beyond. The workshop promotes the use of More Than Talk: A Covenantal Approach to Everyday Communication, with an eye for how covenantal ideas and ideals enlighten treatments on language and nonverbal communication to public speaking and media. Participants can expect to reflect on ideas, models, and practices and share their own materials with colleagues.
Bill Strom (PhD, University of Iowa) is Professor of Media + Communication at Trinity Western University in the School of Arts, Media and Culture, Langley, British Columbia, Canada where he teaches communication theory, relational communication, persuasion, public speaking and organizational communication. He earned a B.A. in speech communication (Wheaton College) and an M.A. in communication theory (Northern Illinois) in addition to the terminal degree. Bill has taught the introductory course for 38 years and published in the field of faith integration. In addition to serving twenty-six years as department chair, he served for eight years as Associate Director of Faculty Development. His research focuses on virtue and covenant in close relationships and is published in regional, national, and international journals. His faith perspective textbook (with Divine Agodzo), More Than Talk: A Covenantal Approach to Everyday Communication (6th ed., 2023), Kendall/Hunt Publishing) and trade book The Relationship Project: Moving from ‘You and Me’ to ‘We’ (The Foundry Publishing, 2014) continue these themes. He has taught the introductory course since 1987. Connect with Bill here.
