Preface

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Welcome to the Introduction to Communication Open-Sourced text prepared by faculty at Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota. The project to create this free online resource began with our concern that the increasing cost of textbooks was interfering with student learning. If students cannot afford a $90 text, how would they manage when the price of those books rose to nearly $200? The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MinnState) also pondered that question. One answer that they offered was in the form of grants available in the 2016-17 academic year. Faculty interested in preparing an online text that would be available to all MinnState colleges could apply for grant funding to support the development of such texts. We applied and received funds in the spring of 2017. Then the real work began.

Fortunately for us, Keith Green had laid the groundwork for this text some years prior. He generously offered to us the text he had written for his Introduction to Communication course. Not only could we use his text as a starting point, he also invited major revisions that would allow the text to fit our varied pedagogical approaches.

The result is a text that covers the basic concepts of communication as they might be taught in a hybrid introductory communication course. We kept the text lean, so faculty could adapt and supplement according to their own preferences. We also made it flexible by using a structure of modules with sections within them, so faculty could select the parts and the order they want.

Working on this project has deepened our understanding of communication, teaching, and each other’s philosophy. From the start, we prioritized our friendship. At the end, that friendship had deepened.