The Use of Application Essays as an Effective Tool for Assessing Instruction in the Basic Communication Course

The assessment of student learning in general education courses is of critical importance in higher education. This study examined the utility of a particular writing assignment, application essays, as a course assessment tool in a basic communication course. Application essays are one page compositions asking students to describe a communication event and to use a single concept from class to analyze that experience. A content analysis of 369 application essays contained in 140 student portfolios coded (a) categories of communication events, (b) categories of course content, and (c) the quality of the linkages between them in the student writings. In general, students focused on mass media events, and utilized concepts developed early in the class. Seventy percent of the conceptual connections were appropriate. Results were used to subsequently modify the application essay assignment to encourage more diverse topical coverage.