Making a Difference: (Re)Connecting Communication Scholarship with Pedagogy

Abstract

If communication research is to make a greater difference in society, change is needed in the ways that communication scholarship is taught to and produced by students. To do so, I contend that changes must occur in two areas. First, change must occur at the undergraduate level where students must be given the opportunity to become directly engaged with scholarship through service learning. Second, change is necessary at the graduate level where students should be challenged to use and conduct applied research. Overall, I argue that for research to make more of a difference in society, change must first be made inside the academy. If students learn how to apply and conduct research that makes a difference, they can become the vehicles to take that research from the academy into society.

Keywords:

• Applied Communication Research
• Service Learning
• Action Research
• Undergraduate Education
• Graduate Education

Notes

1. This essay is part of a joint Communication Monographs and Journal of Applied Communication Research special project titled, “Has Communication Research Made a Difference?” The other responses to the joint forum can be found in Communication Monographs, Volume 77, Issue 4 and the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Volume 38, Issue 3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David H. Kahl

David H. Kahl Jr. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College