Dr. Balester encourages faculty to read the C course proposal and to share their opinions with their representative to the Faculty Senate, which will consider the proposal soon.

After a family trip to New York City last year, my daughter, then 14 and in tenth grade, sent me a link to a video she’d created and posted on YouTube, a combination of still photos, videos of a visit to the New York Aquarium, and original titles, all set to Bobby Darin’s song “Beyond the Sea.” I was amazed at her technical sophistication and impressed by her creativity in capturing a family memory. Her composition of this video, I believe, portends the new reality of communication.

Texas A&M students have much to offer when they graduate, but if they can’t communicate using the latest technologies, their contributions may be discounted. To meet this challenge, the W Course Advisory Committee has proposed to the Faculty Senate that we modify the W course requirement to allow the option of including courses that stress oral and electronic communication skills when appropriate to the major. Passage of the proposal would give departments the option of offering students either two traditional W courses or one W and one communication-focused (or “C”) course.

We know communication is changing. We are immersed daily in Web 2.0. In this incarnation, the Web is no longer simply an immense repository of information, but rather a collaborative world where participation requires facility with both words, whether spoken or written, and images, whether still or moving. Likewise, the advent of audio and video podcasts means oral presentations are no longer made only to an audience seated in front of you. And the books and scholarly journals that were at the center of our education—traditional linear texts that start at page one and progress to an end—are now often replaced in our students’ lives by online texts that are complexly layered, linked to other texts, and interlaced with visual and interactive elements.

Increasingly, academic composition in all disciplines will require an interweaving of audio, video, visual, and written elements. Shelley Wachsmann, Meadows Associate Professor of Biblical Archeology in the Nautical Archeology Program, recently told me how the presentation of data in his field is evolving to be as much visual as verbal. Imagine an archeological site we can explore via virtual reality. These new ways of transmitting information require both new technical skills, such as video editing, and traditional academic skills, such as evaluating information. To help students function in this rapidly changing communications environment, assignments in the proposed C courses will require both some writing and some oral presentations; in many instances, C course assignments will also involve visual elements such as charts, graphs, photos, or drawings.

A typical C course assignment might ask students to record an audio podcast about some aspect of the course content. Or students might be called upon to do something more traditional, like preparing a research poster and presenting it to an interested observer. Even a seemingly straightforward assignment such as that requires a complex blend of skills. To be effective, a poster must present findings clearly and use visual elements such as graphics or charts judiciously. The poster must be succinct, appealing, and well-designed in layout and arrangement; the presentation, likewise, must be thoughtfully organized and appropriate for the specified audience. No matter what students are composing, our process for guiding them is much the same. It’s our job to teach students to ask key questions about their audience and purpose and allow the answers to inform their decision-making. And we must allow students to practice their skills and give them constructive feedback about their attempts. If we follow this process, it makes little difference whether the genre emphasizes speaking, visuals, or writing.