Multimodal Communications and Effective Communication

Abstract

Minerva’s Multimodal Communications cornerstone course brings together theory and findings in rhetoric, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, neurobiology, and design theory and applies them both to new forms of communication--made possible by the technological revolution of the last few decades--and traditional forms of expression, such as speech, gestures, music, and art. The aim of the course is to teach our students to become persuasive communicators who will have an impact in the world. The tools they hone in the course provide them with essential skills they can apply to careers in the sciences, humanities, business, the arts and in their everyday lives. This chapter summarizes the highly interactive and iterative approaches we use in the course to cultivate the core competency of effective communication, which students must master in order to meet their potential to become leaders and innovators.