teaching

Undergraduate Course Preps

Organizational Communication

This course examines the importance of the operation of communication processes within organizations and between organizations and their environments. In this course, students will learn about the major concepts and theories in organizational communication. The primary goals for this course include:

• Providing students with an overview of foundational organizational communication concepts and a basis for advanced study.
• Developing students’ ability to use organizational communication concepts to enhance their own work experience and career.
• Inviting students to think critically about organizations and processes of organizing through the lens of communication.

Syllabus

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Research Methods in Communication

This course is an overview social research methods course for students in communication studies. In this course, students learn a variety of common research methodologies in the social sciences and their application to lines of inquiry in communication. Some primary goals of the course include:

• Provide students with an overview of general social research design principles, quantitative research methods, and qualitative research methods.
• Develop students’ ability to review and interpret published scholarly research on a topic.
• Develop students’ capacity to evaluate different research methods in the context of a research question.
• Develop students’ ability to formulate research questions and appropriate research designs.

An understanding of research methods can equip students to problematize research questions and develop empirical strategies to answer them, whether in an academic or applied context. This course will survey a variety of research methodologies and emphasize their strengths and weaknesses in solving different kinds of research problems.

Syllabus

Quantitative Analysis for the Social Sciences

This is an introductory course in statistics for social science majors. Statistics provide powerful tools for conducting academic research and solving practical problems. In this course, students learn foundational concepts and methods in statistical analysis including:

• descriptive statistics
• sampling and sampling distribution
• hypothesis testing
• bivariate association
• factorial and non-parametric analysis
• regression analysis

This course emphasizes understanding statistical concepts, interpreting results, and applying statistical analysis to solving problems relevant to social science students. This course also introduces students to R and R studio, offering an opportunity to develop foundational skills with a modern, industry standard statistical analysis software.

Syllabus

Playlist

Undergraduate Mentorship

I have served as a graduate mentor for UNC Charlotte’s summer Undergraduate Research Experience programs, working with students on their first independent research projects. In my role as VICE research group manager I have also mentored undergraduate students through their first research presentation experiences.

Undergraduate research projects:

• Yang, E., Blanchard, A., Karach, A., Childs, C., Chapman, T., Duran., J.M. (2024). Observer and Self-Report Entitativity Assessment. 2024 InGroup Annual Conference, Charlotte NC.
• Torres, K., Bourque, L., Duran, J.M., & Blanchard, A. L. (2022). Similarity of Characteristics Effect on Group Leadership Style. Poster presented at UNC Charlotte Undergraduate Research Conference, Charlotte, NC.

Equity and Inclusion in Education

I have volunteered as a mentor for the The Dr. Shawn Long Organizational Science Institute, teaching research skills and coaching students with applications to graduate school programs in organizational research.

Prior to my graduate education, I served as a Summer Teaching Fellow for Breakthrough Central Texas.