East Central University Professor of Communication Studies Dr. Robert Greenstreet served on two panels at the annual National Communication Association Convention in Orlando, Fla. In his first panel, Greenstreet joined select representatives from other colleges and universities in discussing efforts to encourage highly apprehensive students in the basic communication courses at ECU. “Since highly apprehensive people avoid communication, it is very difficult for these students to complete the general education speech course required by their major area of study,” Greenstreet said. “Nationally, schools report between 15 and 20 percent of their students experience high apprehension. In my experience, about 30 percent of ECU students are likely to fall in this category. They are not likely to complete the course or their degrees unless we address their legitimate challenges.” The second panel was actually developed by Greenstreet. Textbook authors, representatives from the NCA national office, and faculty from universities and community colleges discussed converting basic public speaking courses to courses dealing with a broader range of communication behaviors. Greenstreet organized the panel to consider all aspects of ‘the conversation experience’ from course design through assessment of course outcomes. “We recently converted our basic course from public speaking to a human communication orientation,” Greenstreet said. “In doing so we followed a well-worn path, but no one had left any guideposts along the trail. I wanted to help other scholars facing the challenge.” Greenstreet both chaired the panel and contributed to the discussion. In his role as a contributor he focused on communicating the change to the campus community. Since all the national intercollegiate speech and debate associations meet concurrently with NCA, Greenstreet was able to attend business meetings and sessions focused on intercollegiate speech and debate. As ECU’s Director of Forensics, Greenstreet administers the university’s competitive intercollegiate speech and debate program.
