A study of the values, knowledge, and skills of effective human communication and interpersonal relations as necessary for planned change with individuals, groups, families, and communities. Includes observation, collection, and description of data, verbal and non-verbal communication, and their relevance to social work practice. Issues in communication regarding minority and oppressed populations are integrated in all course content.
Athena Title
Communication as a Helping Pro
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to describe interpersonal communication as a transactional event, identifying both verbal and non-verbal communication.
Students will be able to describe the social work value base, which undergirds both personal and professional interpersonal relationships including racial, cultural, ethnic, sexual, and disability issues.
Students will be able to define and exemplify the concepts of self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-disclosure and their interrelationship with human communication.
Students will be able to discuss roles and identify skills for the management of conflict in interpersonal relationships.
Students will be able to identify interpersonal relationships and communication within a group and begin to understand its relationship to group dynamics.
Students will be able to articulate the elements of a professional relationship and contrast such relationships with personal encounters, understanding the difference between an interview and informal communication.
Topical Outline
1. Social work values: Foundation for communication
2. Understanding communication: The challenge of human discourse
3. Listening: A guide for hearing
4. Perception: Seeing though the prism of truth
5. Verbal and non-verbal communication
6. The self: The journey inward
7. Self-disclosure: The journey outward
8. Emotions: Discovering our deeper selves
9. Relationships: The bridge to others
10. Conflict: From struggle to resolution
General Education Core
CORE IV: Humanities and the Arts
Institutional Competencies
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
