ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers paradigmatic analyses of the first-year course. It explains how team-based learning works as a model for the public speaking course. The book provides not only a compelling argument for the approach and a detailed explanation of its implementation but also a number of practical resources to facilitate adopting team-based pedagogy. It presents a paradigm for curriculum and assessment while accepting the diversity of courses that emerge at each institution. Working from the research of the National Communication Association Core Competencies Task Force, the book proposes several core competencies that can serve as the unifying objectives for all the various first-year communication courses. It describes the ecology of the first-year course. Being a long-time teacher of the course, a past department chair, and coauthor of a successful textbook, the book also provides a synoptic view of the ecology the course inhabits.
