Linda C. Lederman

Debriefing: toward a systematic assessment of theory and practice

Experiential learning in the educational context incorporates real-life-based processes into the educational setting in order for them to be used and scrutinized The heart of these sorts of learning experiences is the postexperience analytic process, generally referred to as the debriefing session. This essay focuses on the debriefing process as it accompanies one form of experiential learning, simulations and games. It provides a review of the existent literature on debriefing, an analysis of the debriefing process, and effective strategies for its use. It provides an analysis of the process, identifies its components and essential phases, and presents a systematic approach to the assessment of the conduct of debriefing sessions.

Assessing educational effectiveness: The focus group interview as a technique for data collection 1

This essay describes the focus group interview (FGI) as a technique for data collection for researchers interested in a variety of educational issues. The technique was originally used by communication researchers interested in responses to mass media messages. Its three decade history, primarily in market research studies, is summarized. The technique is explained, its underlying assumptions examined, and its advantages and limitations discussed. A series of steps for implementation of the focus group interview technique is described and discussed.

High Communication Apprehensives Talk about Communication Apprehension and Its Effects on their Behavior.

One rich, yet untapped, source of data about high CA is the thoughts about it of these people who suffer from it. An exploratory study was conducted to examine the possibilities of using the Focus Group Interview (FGI) technique to enable people suffering from high CA to discuss and report on their feelings and behaviors. Three FGIs were conducted, resulting in the generation of information from high CAs about their feelings about talking, feelings about not talking, the relationship between feelings about talking and behaviors, difficulties associated with talking, and reactions to the PRCA as a reflector of attitude. The information generated sheds some further light on the experience of CA.

A Case Against "Binge" as the Term of Choice: Convincing College Students to Personalize Messages about Dangerous Drinking

The most recent literature on the prevention of problematic drinking on the college campus includes a growing controversy about approaches to the reduction of college drinking. On the one hand, there is an increasing body of literature reporting success in driving down drinking on college campuses using social norms-based approaches (Haines, 1996; Jeffrey & Negro, 1996; Lederman, Stewart, Barr, Powell, Goodhart, & Laitman, 2000; Perkins & Wechsler, 1996). Advocates of social norms-based approaches claim that students operate under the misperception that everyone on campus drinks excessively (Butler, 1993; Burns, Ballou & Lederman, 1991; Jeffrey & Negro, 1996). Social norms strategies target these misperceptions by providing students with actual norms, reporting that this approach both changes perceptions and drives down actual drinking. On the other hand, some well established researchers report finding increased

Addressing College Drinking through Curriculum Infusion: A Study of the Use of Experience-Based Learning in the Communication Classroom.

This study examined whether the use of a norms-based simulation in a communication class can influence students’ misperceptions about college drinking. Participants (N=462) were enrolled in two undergraduate communication courses: one in which the simulation was used and another that served as a control. Results indicated that participating in the simulation resulted in a decrease in beliefs about college drinking myths; moreover, students’ perceptions of social drinking norms were related to their actual drinking behaviors. Findings indicated that the campus atmosphere and social networks promoted alcohol consumption. Results support using a norms-based simulation to provide information about dangerous drinking behaviors while at the same time teaching relevant communication principles.

Systematic assessment of communication games and simulations: An applied framework

This article reviews a framework for the assessment of instructional simulations and games advanced by Ruben and Lederman and applies it specifically to communication games and simulations. The article specifies the common components of simulations and games (roles, interactions, rules, goals, outcomes) and the three criteria (validity, reliability and utility) by which they can be assessed. Finally, the article provides a model for the step by step inclusion of these criteria into the selection/design, use and assessment of simulations and games.

Binge drinking: Not the word of choice

Abstract Educators and researchers strive to use terms that reflect a replicable measure of behavior. A term commonly used to describe drinking of a problematic nature is binge drinking. Binge drinking defines behavior by a number of drinks of an alcoholic beverage consumed in a space of time. The authors argue that the term does not describe drinking behavior that students believe is problematic. They claim that students define problem drinking not in terms of quantity, but rather by the outcome (and occasionally by frequency), and attribute different negative connotations to the term binge. They suggest using a term that has shared meaning with students, such as dangerous drinking, to describe the drinking behavior that results in undesirable or unintended consequences.

Believing is Seeing: The Co-Construction of Everyday Myths in the Media about College Drinking

This article argues that ordinary and mundane everyday life myths are the products of co-constructed meanings. It examines how images that students garner from the media may shape their views of everyday experiences in subtle and often pervasive ways. The myth of dangerous college drinking as a pervasive social norm is examined as a case in point. Despite the reality that most college students do not drink dangerously, news reports, media images, and extraordinary experiences converge to create a misperception of drinking as the norm. This article uses a classical metaphor of image and reality to discuss these issues.

Give a small child a hammer and soon everything needs hammering

The essay reviews the use of simulations and games in communication education over the past 25 years. After a rapid embracement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, disenchantment set in for many not trained in the use of simulations and games. In reflection, the author writes about three important things that she and others like herself have learned in the design and use of simulations and games: the nature of participation in simulations and games, the importance of debriefing, and the implications of both of these for the relationships between students and teachers in the classrooms.

Using simulation in a dangerous-drinking prevention campaign

The Advanced Health Communication (AHC) Simulation models a subdivision of an actual campus organization, the Communication and Health Issues Partnership for Education and Research (CHI). To address dangerous drinking at Rutgers University, CHI created a dangerous-drinking prevention campaign, RU SURE? and designed the AHC simulation for students to participate centrally in the campaign. The simulation was incorporated into an advanced course in health communication. The three major sets of activities in the AHC simulation are (a) the design and pilot testing of campaign messages and materials, (b) the implementation of the campaign, and (c) the evaluation of the campaign. The simulation provides a structure in which students learn about a set of behavioral processes regarding campaign design and organizational behavior on the macrolevel while learning about their drinking-related behaviors on the microlevel. Participants reported learning about working in a complex organization, designing and implementing a prevention campaign, and decreasing their own drinking-related perceptions and behaviors.