Courses

Business Communications  curated and designed by Melissa Ashman (CC BY).

Students will learn how to analyze context and audience, determine purpose, message content, visual design and media in order to create written workplace messages that can be received, understood, used and retrieved with speed and accuracy.

Business Communications 2 curated and designed by Karen McMurray (CC BY).

STEM Foundations (CC BY-NC-SA).

This course offers practice using workplace communication, with activities designed to strengthen skills in preparation for entering a college program in a STEM career.

Supplementary Materials

A Guide to Academic Podcasting by Stacey Copeland and Hannah McGregor (CC BY-NC-ND).

Academic podcasting is the communication of scholarly knowledge through the digital medium of podcasting. Podcasting can take on many forms, including interviews, audio documentary, fiction, or experimental sound forms.

WISC-Online Communication Learning Objects (CC BY-NC).

A collection of learning objects on various communication topics by various authors.

Textbooks

Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies by [author removed at request of original publisher] (CC BY-NC-SA).

This book overviews the time-tested conceptual foundations of the field, while incorporating the latest research and cutting-edge applications of these basics. Each chapter will include timely, concrete, and real-life examples of communication concepts in action. As of January 2024 this resource has had 33.5 million page views, 1.2 million visitors and 59,000 downloads.

Communication Theory (CC BY-SA).

This Wikibook is an introduction to communication theory — the theory of how humans share, encode, and decode what they know, what they need, and what they expect from each other.

Digital Photography for Graphic Communications by Richard Adams, Reem El Asaleh, Art Seto, Jason Lisi, and Martin Habekost (CC BY).

The purpose of this book is to serve as a reference for a one-semester course in digital photography for graphic communications. Since digital cameras have mostly replaced colour scanners, graphic communicators need to capture images for use in magazines, catalogs, brochures, packages, signs, banners—all forms of printed materials—and also for eBooks, web sites, and apps. It is based on a 2009 print book by the authors that was called Digital Photography for Print and published by the Printing Industries of America (PIA) Press.

Disinformation by Nina Verishagen and Diane Zerr (CC BY-NC-SA).

Disinformation: Dealing with the Disaster provides a foundational knowledge of today’s chaotic online information environment. Readers will come to understand various concerning concepts such as information overload and fake news, while engaging in discussions about familiar online entities including trolls, bots and influencers. Each chapter culminates in an important lesson about how to begin to deal with the disaster and take meaningful steps towards becoming responsible digital citizens.

A Guide to Technical Communications: Strategies & Applications by Lynn Hall & Leah Wahlin (CC BY-NC).

This open textbook was designed for Engineering Technical Communications courses at The Ohio State University.

Information Strategies for Communicators by Kathleen A. Hansen and Nora Paul (CC BY).

The definitive text for the information search and evaluation process as practiced by news and strategic communication message producers.

Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships by Jason S Wrench , Narissra M Punyanunt  and Katherine  S Thweatt  (CC BY-NC-SA).

This book helps readers examine their own one-on-one communicative interactions using a mindfulness lens and incorporating the latest communication theory and research to help students navigate everyday interpersonal interactions. The book cover topics typically taught in an undergraduate interpersonal communication course: family interactions, interpersonal dynamics, language, listening, nonverbal communication, and romantic relationships, as well as exploring emerging areas such as self-compassion, body positivity, friendships, and “the dark side”.

Key Concepts in Surveillance Studies edited by Guy McHendry (CC BY-NC-SA).

A student-authored glossary highlighting twenty-six key concepts in Surveillance Studies. For each concept, the student provided a concise definition of the concept that makes its connection to surveillance studies clear and provided an example.

Management Communication by Liz Dixon, Kurt Sandholtz, and Staci Smith (CC BY-SA).

From the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University, this open textbook addresses business communication which is concise, direct, clear, and compelling. Communication is the heart of business. Short emails, complex reports, private chats, impassioned pitches, formal presentations, and team meetings move information and ideas around an organization, define strategy, and drive decisions

Open Technical Communication by Tiffani Tijerina, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, Cassandra Race (CC-BY) .

The resources attached to this textbook are collaboratively created by the original group of authors as well as a collection of technical communication faculty and student assistants at Kennesaw State University. Open Technical Communication is the 2022 winner of the OE Global Award for Excellence in the Open Reuse/Remix/Adaptation category. Check out the award page!

Organizational Communication by Julie Zink, Ph.D and Zink, Julie (CC BY-SA).

This textbooks helps students demonstrate an understanding of key topics and concepts, including communication networks, media management, organizational culture and climate, intercultural communication, meetings management, ethical communication, assessing communication quality, and crisis communication – and the impact of social technologies.

Psychology of Fake News edited by Rainer Greifeneder, Mariela E. Jaffe, Eryn J. Newman, and Norbert Schwarz (CC BY-NC-ND).

This volume examines the phenomenon of fake news by bringing together leading experts from different fields within psychology and related areas, and explores what has become a prominent feature of public discourse since the first Brexit referendum and the
2016 US election campaign.

Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Michael A. Caulfield (CC BY 4.0).

This is an unabashedly practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly.This guide will show you how to use date filters to find the source of viral content, how to assess the reputation of a scientific journal in less than five seconds, and how to see if a tweet is really from the famous person you think it is or from an impostor. It’ll show you how to find pages that have been deleted, figure out who paid for the website you’re looking at, and whether the weather portrayed in that viral video actual matches the weather in that location on that day. It’ll show you how to check a Wikipedia page for recent vandalism and how to search the text of almost any printed book to verify a quote. It’ll teach you to parse URLs and scan search result blurbs so that you are more likely to get to the right result on the first click. And it’ll show you how to avoid baking confirmation bias into your search terms.

Write Like a PR Pro by Mary Sterenberg (CC BY-NC).

Print and electronic communication, social media and even visual messaging all require a core skill: writing. This book is a practical guide to planning and writing strategically, concisely and effectively for many of the communication channels used in the current public relations environment. It connects students to professionals with expertise in different aspects of message creation and highlights the types of writing and other skills needed to be competitive in the current communication job market. Write Like a PR Pro covers how to write and develop messages in different formats from professionals with expertise in different areas of communication. It was written by an instructor who teaches at The Ohio State University.

Media Attributions

• BC Map by Adamwashere (CC BY-NC-SA).
• Canada Map Icon by Icons8 (CC BY-ND).
• Sask map from  Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).