The Department of Speech Communication requested part of a class in their curriculum be taught experimentally last fall.

The Council on Academic Affairs Thursday will hear the experiment’s results.

Half of all sections of 1310G Introduction to Speech Communication were taught in a lecture-discussion format.

“There is no statistically significant difference between the lecture-discussion sections and the standalone sections,” said Mark Borzi, acting chair of the speech department, in a report to the CAA.

The department videotaped presentations and gathered survey data last semester.

The tapes show students seemed to demonstrate “stronger organizational structure, use of evidence and vocal delivery quality,” Borzi said.

The course will be kept in split format since the fall 2003 schedule was submitted in January.

By this summer, the department will have a more complete way to gauge student assessment and performance. This could change how the course is taught in 2004, he said.

The CAA will also hear a proposal for a new upper undergraduate or graduate course for a Family and Consumer Sciences major.

FCS 4752 Focus on Diabetes is to prepare students for in-depth knowledge in order to be stronger diabetes educators.

“The total cost of diabetes was estimated at $92 billion in 1992,” stated a proposal to the council. “The escalating high cost of direct and indirect diabetes cost is due to the failure to make the diagnosis early and control blood sugar levels.”

The course has been taught as a special course for four semesters in the consumer sciences major.

The proposal will give the class a regular course number. It is initially assigned to Melanie Tracy Burns, assistant professor to the School of Family and Consumer Science.