Elizabeth Armstrong, PhD
 Lecturer, James Madison University
SCOM 123
SCOM 123 is an introductory course officially named "Fundamental Human Communication." It is a General Education Cluster one required class, which serves to introduce students to Public Speaking in groups, as well as group interaction and interpersonal communication.
SCOM is helpful for students because it teaches the skill needed for other college classes, as well as preparing students for real life situations like group work. Since studies show one of the top qualities desired in hirees is communication skills and ability to work in groups, this class is essential as a life skills course.
SCOM 242
​SCOM 242 is Presentational Speaking, a class in the SCOM core, and essential for learning to perfect presentation skills.
Presentational Speaking is a core class in the Communication Studies major. This class is a skills class that prepares students for professional presentations, including learning how to organize information for better audience reception, honing citation skills for credibility, effective delivery skills, and self evaluation skills. Students will be confident polished speakers when finished with this course.
SCOM 318
Creative Problem Solving in Multidisciplinary Groups is offered only in the Spring semester. This class addresses real life group work and competition. Students participate in a world wide creative problem solving competition. SCOM students focus on Team Managing Projects. It is real world experience in Team dynamics, giving these students the opportunity to prove success through competition results.
This class is structured through the challenges issued by the organization Destination Imagination, and participates in their competitions. In th last 10 years, teams from this class have won 6 first place trophies in Global competition, and numerous other places and awards.
SCOM 261
Public Relations Writing Techniques I is meant to introduce mass communication writing to students in the concentration of PR.
SCOM 331 and SCOM 425
Courses like SCOM 331 (Conflict Communication) and SCOM 425 (Leadership Communication) are theory and context courses in the SCOM program. Each contributes to the student's experience of communication influence in various fields and situations.