Communications Courses

Assessment Testing

Assessment Testing may be required for registration in some or all of the courses listed below.

CMNS 1104 Foundations of Intercultural Communication (3 credits)

This course presents the foundational knowledge and skills needed to improve students' abilities to communicate effectively in intercultural contexts. The course examines basic concepts in intercultural communication and emphasizes the identification and application of basic intercultural communication skills. Barriers to effective intercultural communications are identified and strategies for overcoming them explored. The course has a strong applied focus and will be particularly useful for students who are in frequent contact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Prerequisites: None

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Fall

CMNS 1105 Introduction to Workplace Writing (3 credits)

This preparatory course is designed for students requiring a review of the principles and practices of Standard English. This course is not a prerequisite for other CMNS and ENGL courses, but a refresher to help students to develop the writing skills necessary for the more complex writing tasks required in subsequent courses. The fundamentals of Standard English are emphasized, including spelling, diction, grammar, logical sentence connections and paragraph coherence. Course content is geared to students' educational and professional goals and focuses on straightforward workplace writing tasks: summaries, descriptions, memos, letters and short reports.

Prerequisite: See Writing Assessment Information

Lecture: 1; Workshop: 3

Offered: Fall, Winter and Summer

CMNS 1110 Workplace Writing for Child, Family and Community Studies (3 credits)

Communications 1110 is designed for students intending to enrol in the Classroom and Community Support Worker, Sign Language Interpretation, Child and Youth Care Counsellor, Community Social Service Worker or Early Childhood Education programs. Instruction is adapted for workplace settings in the social services field. Assignments focus on specific workplace writing tasks, with emphasis given to particular writing strategies tailored to particular purposes and readers: summary, correspondence, memoranda and the Project Brief.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: See Writing Assessment Information

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Summer, Fall and Winter

CMNS 1111 Workplace Communications for Selected Programs (3 credits)

Communications 1111 is designed for students enrolled in Business Management, Criminal Justice, Dispensing Optician, Animal Health Technology and Health Information Management programs. Instruction is adapted for workplace settings appropriate to each program area. Assignments are drawn from a number of possible components: correspondence, memoranda, reports and other program-related documents. Course work also includes instruction in writing strategies for effective on-the-job communication and may include instruction in oral communications situations such as oral presentations, employment interviews and meetings.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: See Writing Assessment Information

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Fall and Winter

CMNS 1115 Practical Writing (3 credits)

This course helps to prepare students for the complex writing tasks required in the workplace. Students learn rhetorical and genre theory and practise reader-based strategies for writing clear and concise workplace documents. This involves learning to differentiate between the different aims or purposes of workplace writing, analyzing and practising the conventions for achieving these purposes, and creating readable documents in a variety of written genres. Students also learn and practise the basic research skills of identifying, summarizing, and citing appropriate sources.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: Satisfactory result on college Writing assessment or substitution / equivalent as stated in College Calendar.

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Fall, Winter and Summer

CMNS 1118 Workplace Writing (3 credits)

This course is designed for Print Futures Professional Writing Program students as an introduction to what workplace writing should be: that is, writing governed by the constraints of audience, purpose and context. Students will learn to differentiate between informational, persuasive and researched writing tasks and to consider various organizational strategies for fulfilling specific purposes for specific audiences.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: Print Futures Program acceptance or permission of Coordinator

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Fall

CMNS 1125 Oral Presentations (3 credits)

In this course students have many opportunities to practice public speaking. Here students can develop vocal, verbal and nonverbal speech delivery skills. They learn how to organize the information they have gathered, how to present this information in persuasive or expository ways and how to complement their presentations with appropriate visual aids. A workshop approach is taken and learning activities are oriented toward small groups.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: None

Lecture: 2; Workshop: 2

Offered: Winter

CMNS 1215 Interpersonal Communication for Dental Assisting Students (3 credits)

What do I need to know and do to accomplish the human side of my job? How do I communicate with my patients? How do I work effectively with my co-workers? These questions often go unspoken by dental assisting students, yet feedback from the dentistry field indicates that effective communication skills are essential to office functioning. This course provides opportunities to investigate the communication process, phases of the helping relationship, facilitative verbal and nonverbal skills and the problem-solving process. The characteristics of effective teamwork will also be examined.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: None

Lecture: 1; Seminar: 1; Group Work: 2

Offered: Fall

CMNS 1216 Interpersonal Skills for the Workplace (3 credits)

Recent business and industry reports rank teamwork and interpersonal, speaking and listening, problem solving, and leadership skills as the top five skills sought in new employees. Communications 1216, a highly interactive course, provides opportunities for students to develop these skills. Core components include foundational interpersonal communications theory, verbal and non-verbal communications skills, basic conflict management, group dynamics, and ethical interpersonal behaviour. Course work may also include instruction in oral presentations, interviews and meetings.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: None

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Fall and Winter

CMNS 1217 Multicultural Interpersonal Workplace Communication (3 credits)

This highly-interactive course provides an understanding of the interpersonal communication skills required to develop constructive relationships in the multicultural workplace. In the first part of the course, selected foundational theory, sources of interpersonal difference and barriers to understanding are examined. The latter part of the course emphasizes workplace application of cross-cultural interpersonal communication skills and strategies. Leadership, small group communication and professional and ethical issues in the multicultural workplace are investigated.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: None

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Winter and Summer

CMNS 1218 Research Reporting (3 credits)

This course is designed to provide Print Futures: Professional Writing Program students with experience in producing client-based analytical research reports. Students will work through the typical production process: developing proposals, completing field-based and theoretical research tasks, collecting data, organizing material and ultimately producing a reader-based and purposeful document.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisites: PRFU 1102 and CMNS 1118

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Winter Semester for full-time Print Futures Program

CMNS 1221 Introduction to Media and Communication Studies (3 Credits)

CMNS 1221 introduces students to Media and Communication Studies by exploring major theories that explain how and why we communicate the way we do. Students explore theories that explain how communication influences our perspective of others, the world and ourselves. By examining media messages from journalism, entertainment and advertising, students explore how the media create meaning and how technology shapes the ways we communicate. Students will use the theories discussed to analyze excerpts from TV shows, films, news media and digital media.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisites: See Writing Assessment information.

Lecture 2; Seminar 2

Offered: Fall, Winter.

CMNS 1316 Understanding and Managing Interpersonal Conflict (3 credits)

In this basic course, focus is on the understanding and management of interpersonal conflict. Through intense interaction, students will gain an understanding of the theory, fundamental skills and attributes required to successfully address interpersonal conflict in a variety of settings.

To find out where this course transfers, check the BC Transfer Guide.

Prerequisite: None

Lecture: 2; Seminar: 2

Offered: Winter

CMNS 3100 Language, Institutions, and Power (3 credits)

This course gives students practice in using analytical approaches to the study of language and power to examine how language constructs ideology, institutions, and identity in the contexts of enduring struggles (e.g. struggles over human rights for prisoners, gays, women, the homeless, people with disabilities, language and cultural identity, and the environment). Readings on the theoretical perspectives that inform these approaches are combined with applications to enduring struggles between less powerful groups and institutions (e.g. the penal system, the law, governments, the medical system, corporations, the scientific community, and academia). Students leave the course with analytical tools that would be relevant in a wide range of disciplines as vehicles of inquiry and research, and with knowledge that will contribute to their civic and social awareness.

Prerequisites: ENGL. 1130 and one first-year course from the following list: Criminology, History, Humanities, Philosophy, and Political Science; OR other courses with instructor permission.

Lecture: 2; Discussion: 2