Autumn Edwards

The Influence of Computer-Mediated Word-of-Mouth Communication on Student Perceptions of Instructors and Attitudes Toward Learning Course Content

The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the influence of computer-mediated word-of-mouth communication (WOM) on student perceptions of instructors (attractiveness and credibility) and on student attitudes toward learning course content (affective learning and state motivation). It was hypothesized that students who receive positive computer-mediated WOM about an instructor would perceive the instructor as more credible and attractive than students who receive no information or negative information. It was further hypothesized that students who receive positive computer-mediated WOM about an instructor would report greater levels of affective learning and state motivation to learn than students who receive no information or negative information. All hypotheses were supported. Results are discussed in light of the heuristic–systematic processing model, and the implications for instructional communication are addressed.

Enacting "Health Communication": The Field of Health Communication as Constructed Through Publication in Scholarly Journals

Based on an analysis of articles in health communication journals and in regional, national, and international communication journals, this study identifies publication trends and research priorities for health communication articles in the 1990s and the year 2000. Based on a content analysis of article abstracts, researchers determined the extent to which health communication articles appeared in various journals as well as the emphasis on specific topics in health communication research, methodological approaches, and theoretical frameworks. The article concludes with reflections on the implications of this study for future work in the area of health communication.

Organizing for Survival and Social Change: The Case of StreetWise

This study explores how members of StreetWise organize for survival and social change. Through the publication of a street journal by the same name, StreetWise provides employment opportunities for men and women without homes. Using feminist principles of organizing as a backdrop, we highlight the discursive moves that (1) reinforce StreetWises standpoint as counter to the practices and structures of the dominant culture, and (2) provide alternative ways of thinking about issues of poverty and homelessness. We highlight tensions that emerge between the dialectic of survival and social change, and in so doing position StreetWise as an “alternative discourse community” that develops counterdiscourses amidst cultural and material constraints. We work toward locating how members negotiate organizational irrationalities through moral deliberation.

Computer-Mediated Word-of-Mouth Communication: The Influence of Mixed Reviews on Student Perceptions of Instructors and Courses

The purpose of this experiment was to test the influence of mixed reviews appearing as computer-mediated word-of-mouth communication (WOM) on student perceptions of instructors (attractiveness and credibility) and attitudes toward learning course content (affective learning and state motivation). Using the heuristic-systematic processing model, it was hypothesized that students who received positive valence computer-mediated WOM about an instructor would perceive the instructor as more credible and attractive and would report greater levels of affective learning and state motivation to learn than students who received negative information, mixed-valence information, or no information (control). It was further hypothesized that students who received mixed-valence information would not differ significantly in their ratings of instructors or courses when compared to the control group. Both hypotheses were supported. Results are discussed in light of the heuristic-systematic processing model. The implications for instructional communication and online rating systems are addressed.

Theories of communication, human nature, and the world: Associations and implications

Although much scholarly attention has been devoted to conceptualizing communication, few attempts have been made to examine the practical consequences of individuals’ beliefs about communication. This paper reports the results of an initial investigation into the relationships among personal theories of communication (or message design logics), privately held philosophies of human nature, and personal assumptions about the world. Results demonstrated significant differences in participants’ philosophies of human nature and assumptions about the world as a function of message design logic. Implications and directions for future research are addressed.

Life is a Lab: Developing a Communication Research Lab for Undergraduate and Graduate Education

Tips offered center on classroom discourse, curriculum choices, and potential assignments. In this article, we present tips for creating a thriving undergraduate and graduate communication research lab. Based on our experiences developing and co-directing the Communication and Social Robotics Labs (CSRLs), we offer 10 best practices for acquiring resources and recognition, building a strong lab community, and attaining faculty and student goals for scholarship and beyond. Our overarching approach is framed by Dewey’s (1916) pragmatist educational metaphysic, which stresses studentand subject-centered learning, enlarging experiences, and the co-construction of meaning and knowledge. Although our labs are focused on human-machine communication (HMC), the strategies we present can be applied to any number of research contexts for both undergraduate and graduate education. John Dewey (1916) argued that an education is a “reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience” (p. 76). This “reorganization” can take the form of many different teaching and learning techniques and strategies. As one way to add to the educational experience, we have implemented a lab method to foster greater community and scholarly engagement. Central to our philosophy is the notion that in important ways life is a lab, which means that the skills, experiences, and sensibilities gained through involvement with a formal lab are broadly transferable to our larger, life-long pursuits of determining what questions to ask, how to answer them, and how best to live and work with others. Our labs, the Communication and Social Robotics Labs (CSRLs; www.combotlabs.org), are a product of our desires to build a cross-institutional collaboration that enhances graduate, undergraduate, and faculty learning in the form of a lab community. The CSRLs are located at Western Michigan University and the University of Central Florida and are autonomous, but function in similar ways. The labs include 77 Journal of Communication Pedagogy 1(1) both undergraduate and graduate student researchers who assist with faculty research and conduct their own research projects. Broadly, our research focuses on the emergent context of human-machine communication (HMC; Edwards & Edwards, 2017; Edwards, Edwards, Spence, & Westerman, 2016; Spence, Westerman, Edwards, & Edwards, 2014). More specifically, our labs focus on the theory and practice of interpersonal interactions with digital interlocutors including artificially intelligent agents (e.g., spoken-dialogue systems, chat bots), embodied machine communicators (e.g., social robots), and technologically-augmented persons, as well as interpersonal communication in the context of virtual and augmented spaces. Our recent scholarship has examined people’s expectations for, and communication behavior in, initial interactions with social robots, their information processing of machine-generated risk and crisis messages, and their perceptions of, and learning from, robot pedagogical agents. Through engagement with the research process, students are encouraged to (a) participate in producing knowledge of the personal, relational, and social implications of communication between humans and machines, in historical, present-day, and anticipatory contexts and (b) develop competencies in communicating with and about machine partners. In this article, we offer 10 best practices on creating a student-centered research lab that provides experiential learning. Although our labs are focused on HMC and human-robot interaction (HRI), we believe these tips can be applied to any number of research contexts for both undergraduate and graduate education, including (but not limited to) family communication, health communication, organizational communication, new media, political communication, argumentation and advocacy. Best Practice # 1: Develop Your Mission Developing a mission for your lab will set the tone and guide your educational outcomes to be achieved. The CSRLs seek to advance the knowledge and practice of HMC, whereas other labs might instead be focused on communication privacy management, positive communication, leadership communication, communication culture and diversity, or a host of other research concentrations reflecting current faculty expertise, student interest, and institutional priorities. To advance our mission, our labs created the motto “Connect, Discover, and Create.” We first want students to connect with not only each other in the lab, but also with students and faculty, alumni in related fields, and interested community members. We encourage students to invite visitors to the lab, to identify events in which the lab might participate, and to accept invitations to share our research results and practical applications with interested stakeholders. Doing so affords students with networking opportunities for careers and support structures. For instance, an undergraduate student representing the lab at a WMU recruiting event met the owner of a local virtual reality arcade and has subsequently been hired as manager. Discovery occurs when students engage in the research process. Both undergraduate and graduate students help conduct experiments, read the latest published research articles, and develop questions and hypotheses to test in the lab. Critical to the mission of the lab is the ability for each student to create. Creation can take many forms, but we believe that students should be active in making something. Previous creative works have included designing a virtual reality demonstration, scripting and choreographing performances for a robot, coding a message task for the lab’s A.I., and developing a children’s coloring page about robot communicators. For 78 Journal of Communication Pedagogy 1(1) graduate students, creation more often takes the form of authoring or co-authoring research papers, crafting poster presentations, or making documentaries or films. The creation portion of the mission is tailored to the needs and talents of the students working in the lab at the time. Although we tether the three directives of creation, discovery, and connection to our specific focus on HMC research, articulating a small set of general imperatives could work well in many research contexts to help prioritize certain activities that are at the heart of the knowledge-production enterprise. A lab mission will be most successful when it also aligns with the mission of the host institution. For example, WMU strives to be “discovery driven, learner centered, and globally engaged.” The ability to readily link our motto and mission to overarching university objectives has proven useful for garnering administrative support and for helping students understand how their efforts to realize the lab’s mission also contribute to realizing the overall mission of their institution. Whatever your mission for your lab, it is important to have all students understand how they play a vital role in bringing it to life. Best Practice # 2: Build a Democratic Spirit Because we believe in Dewey’s (1916) pragmatist educational philosophy, we encourage and seek to build a democratic community in the lab. Dewey envisioned the educational context as a simplified version of democratic society, or a training ground for “a mode of associated living” based on “conjoint communicated experience” (p. 99). Modeling democratic forms of life can occur in many ways. Often, local community groups will ask the labs to conduct demonstrations of virtual reality and social robotics. These demonstrations can be timeconsuming and utilize resources. Lab members discuss which groups to present to (and why) and build consensus on how to conduct the demonstrations. If there needs to be a policy change in the lab, we use a democratic spirit to guide these decisions (e.g., we use online polling systems to gather wide input and gauge the collective will). Because our lab is entirely voluntary, we want members to have a voice in how the lab functions and in the choices the lab makes. Relinquishing some control does not mean that faculty do not direct the lab, but that students have leadership in the day-to-day operation of their learning experiences. In this way, the aims of education belong to both student and faculty members. Of course, not all decision making and operations can emerge as a function of group deliberation. Often, student lab members are enrolled in independent study credit as part of their lab experience and so they must commit to working a certain number of hours per week, completing a series of research-related tasks, and delivering a final product. Likewise, when surveys or experiments are in session, members must be focused on their administration, sometimes to the exclusion of other lab activities. Furthermore, when conference or publication deadlines are approaching, teams must concentrate their efforts on meeting their targets for writing and submission. And, because academic research can sometimes span semesters or years, lab members may “inherit” some involvement with ongoing projects. Although the direction must be more top-down in these situations, we give weight to student priorities at all points when there is some flexibility in operations. Undergraduate students’ opinions carry equal (often greater) weight in our labs because of the learner-centered approach we favor. 79 Journal of Communication Pedagogy 1(1) Best Practice # 3: Embrace Experimentation Ralph Waldo Emerson (1909) journaled that “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better” (November 11, 1842). Our ways of doing things in the lab have changed a lot since we began in 2014, and this change is to be expected and welcomed. Many of our research projects employ experimental designs to answer questions about how people respond to the social machines that incr