Course information contained within the Bulletin is accurate at the time of publication in August 2023 but is subject to change. For the most up-to-date course information, please refer to the Course Catalog.
AOD 0836. Interpersonal Communication: Critical Competencies for Professional and Personal Success. 3 Credit Hours.
The primary goal of this course is to help you enhance your interpersonal communication competence so you have successful interpersonal communication with your family, friends and work colleagues. In the first phase of the course you will assess your own communication skills. You will develop and set personal goals and an action plan by which to create the change you wish to see. In the course you will learn the basic components of interpersonal communication situations (communicators, content, and contexts) and you will investigate how interpersonal communication needs and effectiveness change throughout life (in early childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and old age). The course includes frequent small group discussions which will allow you to integrate course and research information for personal skill development. The course will provide a reflective and supportive environment in which to expand your communication skills and knowledge. NOTE: This course fulfills the Human Behavior (GB) requirement for students under GenEd and Individual & Society (IN) for students under Core.
Course Attributes: GB
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 1001. Practical Application in Adult and Organizational Development. 1 Credit Hour.
This course is a 1-credit course aimed at helping students become familiar with the career opportunities, create network contacts and develop a deeper understanding of the breadth and depth of the Adult and Organizational Development Field. Various professionals and industry leaders will speak to the students so that students are able to understand the trends and foreseeable changes in this dynamic field. This course will help students understand the curricula structure of the program. It will also allow students to understand how the curricula structure aligns with their unique career interests.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Undergraduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 1016. Introduction to Adult Learning and Training. 3 Credit Hours.
Provides a basis for understanding human behavior in professional and personal settings from a communication perspective. Emphasis is given to skills and analytical abilities related to challenges professionals face in a wide range of settings including: interpersonal and professional relationships, public presentations, team leadership roles and responsibilities, and organizational change in management roles.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 1166. Interpersonal Processes through the Life Span. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines the development of effective interpersonal interactions in relationships in family, work, and social settings. Examines how interaction preferences, demands, and skills change across the age spectrum, with an emphasis on talking, thinking, and listening abilities central to interactive situations across life situations. Assists students in developing professional skills needed to manage interpersonal challenges in diverse personal and professional settings.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2115. Conflict Resolution in Education. 3 Credit Hours.
Introduces students to the broad field of conflict resolution education, including social and emotional learning, anti-bullying programs, peer mediation, negotiation processes, expressive arts and conflict resolution education, restorative justice programs, and bias awareness programs. It provides students with examples of programs, gives them an opportunity to interact with experts in the field, and encourages them to consider how they can support these programs as teachers and administrators.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2176. Team Process in Education. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines ways of managing the communication process in small group, decision-making settings. The course covers core concepts and theories of group interaction and emphasizes their practical implications for understanding and influencing small group decision-making. Topics include cohesion, social influence, facilitation, group tasks, and group/team development. Students develop their personal skills in being effective team members and team leaders.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2201. Research Methods. 3 Credit Hours.
Introduces quantitative and qualitative research methods in organizational settings. Covers a variety of study domains including field/descriptive, correlational, survey, clinical, ethnographic, and experimental research designs. Students learn various research methods for addressing particular types of research questions.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2214. Conflict Processes. 3 Credit Hours.
Covers conflict process in interpersonal and organizational relationships. Concepts examined include conflict styles, phases of conflict, face-saving, attribution and conflict, cooperative and competitive approaches to negotiation, and methods of third party intervention. This course provides a basis for managing and intervening in difficult conflicts that occur in schools, professional organizations, and interpersonal relationships.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2215. Mediation: Principles and Practice. 3 Credit Hours.
Provides an overview of the development and use of mediation in diverse conflict settings. Students learn the various models of mediation that third parties rely on to intervene in conflicts in organizational, family, school and community settings. Emphasis is placed on the communication skills and practices that form the basis for the mediator's role in two-party or multiparty disputes.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2218. Leadership in Organizations. 3 Credit Hours.
Examines the theories and research on effective leadership in organizational, school, and community contexts. Concentrates on skills critical for leading change processes in a wide range of organizational environments. Attention is given to the personal leadership development of students enrolled in the course.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2307. Interaction Analysis. 3 Credit Hours.
This course teaches a system of verbal communications that examines individual style and its effect on the listener. The purpose of the system is to teach those in power positions, such as teachers, supervisors, team leaders, psychologists and other medical professionals, how to communicate with others so that their messages are fully understood and the consequences of misunderstandings and misinterpretations are minimized.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 2900. Honors Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.
Special topics. Content varies.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AOD 2915. Honors Mediation: Principles and Practice. 3 Credit Hours.
This is the Honors version of
AOD 2215. Provides an overview of the development and use of mediation in diverse conflict settings. Students learn the various models of mediation that third parties rely on to intervene in conflicts in organizational, family, school and community settings. Emphasis is placed on the communication skills and practices that form the basis for the mediator's role in two-party or multiparty disputes.
Cohort Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Cohorts: SCHONORS, UHONORS, UHONORSTR.
Course Attributes: HO
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3316. Negotiation Processes. 3 Credit Hours.
Teaches students about collaborative and competitive approaches to negotiation. The emphasis is on the integration of negotiation theory and practice as applied to two-party and multi-party negotiation situations. Students learn to diagnose a conflict situation to prepare an effective negotiation strategy. Examples in the class focus on educational contexts to encourage students to apply class material to their work as teachers and administrators.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3317. Adult and Workforce Development. 3 Credit Hours.
Adult and Workforce Development is a course that focuses on the lifespan years following young adulthood, with a particular emphasis on adults and their relationship with their work and career. The need for this course is clear: research shows that population aging will be the major demographic phenomenon affecting the nation's health and social institutions over the next half century. Professionals will need to have an understanding of adulthood, aging and workforce development in order to effectively lead and support for-profit and non-profit organizations. This course will help students to understand aging as a dynamic process that is complex and allows adults to choose a wide variety of life paths. The course will cover adult development topics including relationships, learning, problem-solving, coping, adaptation, and spirituality. A continuing thread of discussion and debate will be the social policy implications of aging and career development. Work and career development is a process that is no longer only a young adult developmental milestone. Adults are retiring later and many individuals work well into their older years. The skills of workforce development are no longer only for those in specific career development positions: the skills and knowledge will serve any individual both in terms of their own career development and their abilities to support others as they progress through adulthood. Students will explore the historical, sociological, psychological and ethical implications of work force development. Learners will engage in discussions and in-class activities examining adult development theories about stability and change and how these theories relate to workforce motivation, performance, and professional development planning. The course will also have a focus on the inter-generational workplace which they will be joining as they find their own career path. This course requires 3 to 5 hours of fieldwork and clearances are required.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Undergraduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3318. Systems Approach to Organizational Change. 3 Credit Hours.
This course aims to help students understand organizations - the various types (e.g., public, private, profit, non-profit) and to learn to "see" systems, linear and nonlinear in how organizations are managed and changed. Students will explore various roles and how they can be an agent having influence. This class will consist of experiential in-class activities in large and small groups. The aim is to explore how organizations can better serve society and improve social conditions.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Undergraduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3319. Skill Building for Social Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is designed for students who want to gain community engagement and leadership skills in a context of social entrepreneurship. Viewing community engagement as an entrepreneurial venture encourages ideas and strategies to be forward thinking, creative and grounded in a business-oriented change model. Utilization of the change model encourages project funding diversity, long-term sustainability, and widespread scalability. This course will prepare students to effect community change through a variety of entry points. These starting points may be current service within or outside of the university, enrollment in a social service related major or minor, or a desire to develop creative solutions to community challenge: now or in the future. Becoming an entrepreneur and/or a community change agent is a challenging task. This course is built on the premise that many of these obstacles can be successfully mitigated if students have developed and practiced a core set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to community change. This course will focus on leadership, communication, conflict management, teamwork, community needs, and assets identification, and working within a community change model. A continuous thread throughout the course is the focus on leadership as a starting point of any entrepreneurial, civic engagement initiative.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Undergraduate.
Course Attributes: SI, SP, SS
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3376. Facilitating Group Decision-Making. 3 Credit Hours.
Focuses on the various approaches to facilitating decision-making in task-oriented groups. Students learn how to facilitate groups that follow voting and consensus decision-making formats and how to meet the challenges of being an internal or external facilitator in any group process. Special attention is given to learning how to lead groups through difficult conflicts in schools and other professional organizational settings.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 3396. Organizational Processes. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines classical and contemporary theories of organizational structure and management and their relationship to interpersonal and group processes with an emphasis on organizations as cultures and analysis of cases and real life situations.
AOD 3396 supports students' ability to act as effective managers and change agents in a wide array of school and organizational settings. We live and work in large and small organizations. As our relationships are intricately interwoven within formal and informal social systems we may be unaware of or challenged by the nature of these relationships and of our capacity to influence how we view and may affect these relationships. Organizational processes shape us and our organizations. Conversely, we shape relationships and organizations through our interactions. Our capacity to be effective in social systems is affected profoundly by our understanding and action. This course is designed to facilitate learning alternate ways of assessing and understanding organizations, so also increasing awareness of varying process/influence possibilities as organizational members in diverse role relationships. Students will examine assumptions about self and social systems that may limit or enhance collective and individual contributions.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 4016. Advanced Adult Learning and Training. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is an in-depth study of the methods, tools and techniques employed in facilitating adult learning and designing and implementing training programs. The focus is on the preparation and process of delivering leader led effective group training activities in workshops, seminars, and project meetings. Students will gain the advanced knowledge and skills which are necessary for the professional roles of an instructional specialist such as a facilitator, trainer, or teacher of adults. Students will learn the basics of performing as an internal or external trainer. The course requires that students have completed the
AOD 1016, Introduction to Adult Learning and Training course.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
Pre-requisites: Minimum grade of C- in AOD 1016.
AOD 4376. Innovation and Mission-Driven Organizations. 3 Credit Hours.
This class will explore the field of Social Entrepreneurship and provide students with a set of skills that will be crucial as participants move into the non-profit sector and become social change agents. We will explore the idea of social entrepreneurship as a way of solving social problems through innovative approaches. Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing and changing business field in which business and nonprofit leaders design, grow, and lead mission-driven enterprises. It is important that students understand the opportunities and challenges in this new landscape.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 4382. Independent Study. 1 to 3 Credit Hour.
Provides students an opportunity to explore topics not fully covered in coursework. Under faculty supervision, the student will identify and read relevant literature in the theory and research of the topic area.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AOD 4385. Internship in Adult and Organizational Development. 3 Credit Hours.
Work experience in a communication-related job in schools, business, government, or private agency. Analysis of the work experience in light of the skills and abilities obtained in students' prior coursework in AOD.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AOD 4396. Field Research: Practice in Professional Settings. 3 Credit Hours.
Provides students an opportunity to discover how their knowledge and skills in relationship, team, and organizational change processes are managed by designated professionals in schools, agencies, organizations or other work settings. Students are guided through the design of an individualized professional development plan and an approach to exploring the link between their own backgrounds and the professional roles they seek to obtain. Special attention is given to development of personal presentation in writing, interviewing, and interning roles.
College Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Colleges: Education & Human Development.
Course Attributes: WI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5301. People-Centered Community Development. 3 Credit Hours.
People-Centered Community Development offers a broad perspective on community development (CD), focused on the United States of America. The course covers many of the major considerations of CD. We will analyze CD from different standpoints: bureaucratic; research; historical; theoretical; ethnographic; grassroots; activist; policy maker; and, funder. The course emphasizes people-centered, participatory, and holistic approaches to CD. We will explore how intervention strategies, available resources, gender, race, inequity, and competing development ideologies play out in community development. A framework that stresses holism, dialogue, field research, and the emic perspective inspires the course.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5302. Introduction to Mission-Driven Organizations: Theory and Practice. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is a graduate-level introduction to theory and practice of the non-profit sector and for-profit organizations focused on social, cultural and environmental change, with a heavy emphasis on practical application. This course will provide an introduction to some of the special management and leadership issues facing these mission-driven organizations. Course readings and discussions will include topics such as writing and fulfilling mission statements, facilitating governance, designing effective fundraising tactics, and engaging in advocacy or lobbying. We will also cover the formation of the nonprofit sector and its differences from public and for-profit sectors.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5401. System Dynamics. 3 Credit Hours.
Frameworks for understanding dynamic social systems that form the bases for research, assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation of social entities are explored. Linear and nonlinear theories are examined, especially as they may be applied to group and organizational training and development.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5402. Negotiating Conflict. 3 Credit Hours.
The course examines the role of communication in setting where there is an attempt to manage conflict among individuals or groups. The course provides: an overview of social science theory on conflict processes; an understanding of the major forces that influence conflict interaction; an increased ability to negotiate and intervene in difficult conflicts; and an increased awareness of one's own conflict style and personal responses in various conflict settings. In this course, you will have the opportunity to develop more self awareness and to improve your negotiation skills, including: identifying the difference between needs and positions, applying appropriate negotiation and conflict resolution strategies, developing an appreciation for how bias, perception, power, and culture impact dialogue, learning to deal with anger and other behaviors in conflict situations, and gaining a better understanding of your role in these conflict situations.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5403. Facilitating Adult Learning. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines teaching and learning transactions in adult educational settings and the methods and techniques appropriate for facilitating adult learning.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5404. Organizational Development. 3 Credit Hours.
This course integrates psychological theory with tools and methods for understanding organizations, dealing with human capital problems in organizations and for making organizations more effective and more satisfying as places to work. During this course, students will explore evidence-based practice with regard to recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5515. Conflict Resolution in Education. 3 Credit Hours.
Educators need to know how to develop safe and constructive learning environments. Effective management of conflict in educational settings and the creation of conflict competence in students and staff are key. This course provides an overview of proven programs in conflict resolution education in K-12 contexts.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5516. Negotiation Processes. 3 Credit Hours.
Negotiation is a critical skill in any professional or personal context. This course teaches students to engage effectively in cooperative and competitive orientations as a means to negotiate dyadic and multiparty situations.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5518. Third-Party Conflict Intervention. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines the various ideologies and roles that third parties adopt as they intervene in conflict in interpersonal, group, organizational, or cross-cultural settings. Students learn the fundamentals of various third-party roles, including mediators, arbitrators, ombudspersons, and facilitators. Emphasis is placed on how conflict interveners' purpose drives their practice as they work toward transforming difficult conflicts.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5522. Interpersonal Skills Training. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines training methods to develop interpersonal and team effectiveness in the workplace. Skills included are understanding others, clear communication, asserting needs, exchanging feedback, influencing, resolving conflict, collaborating, and shifting gears.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5524. Sociocultural Dynamics. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines contending frameworks for understanding conditions and dynamics of sociocultural diversity and scenarios for preferred outcomes. Contemporary and evolving issues of human diversity in our global, local, and personal contexts are explored, especially as these relate to professional practice.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5527. Training Design and Delivery. 3 Credit Hours.
This course examines the design of training programs in public and private sector organizations. Students learn to design active, experientially based training programs.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5532. Leadership and Management. 3 Credit Hours.
This course addresses the theoretical understandings that guide appropriate implementation of professional managerial and facilitative roles in adult and organizational development. Students gain increased clarity regarding contextually appropriate practice of both management and leadership.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5533. Team Development. 3 Credit Hours.
This course blends academic inquiry and experiential learning in exploring the nature and dimensions of teams. We focus on: Characteristics of teams; Processes of teamwork; Issues teams face; and Organizational context of teams.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5534. Group Facilitation and Consultation. 3 Credit Hours.
This course focuses on the skills needed to assist groups and teams in their decision-making processes. Students learn both voting and consensus processes and develop the skills needed to facilitate either approach to decision-making. The course also covers a range of specialized formats for assisting group decision-making such as brainstorming, nominal group technique, problem solving, incrementalism, and mixed scanning.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5535. Organizational Assessment, Design and Strategy. 3 Credit Hours.
This course explores applied research and evaluation in organizations. It highlights methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, administrative data analysts, and "tests" used for organizational purposes such as employee selection, performance appraisal and employee motivation/satisfaction. Students are expected to explore a relevant organizational research/assessment proposal.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 5540. Current Topics in AOD. 1 to 3 Credit Hour.
The topics of this course vary. Its inclusion in the curriculum allows faculty and students to explore emerging issues in the field.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AOD 8101. Training and Organizational Development: Theory and Research. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is a doctoral level graduate seminar that focuses on critical conceptual and empirical issues facing the field of training and development. The course is structured around major training themes such as training needs assessment, design, evaluation and transfer. The course is not specifically designed to "train" trainers but to give participants an appreciation for the critical research issues that must be addressed in the training literature. To appreciate these issues, participants will also be involved in projects designed to simulate the practical issues and constraints in designing a training program. Thus, the course is based on the principles of action learning and learner control of the learning process.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
AOD 9187. Practicum in Adult and Organizational Development. 3 Credit Hours.
This course provides students with the opportunity to translate adult and organizational theory into practice by gaining experience working in contexts in which change and learning are being fostered. Students work under the auspices of the Training and Development Center and are placed in a variety of contexts. This course should be taken near the end of the student's program.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
AOD 9231. Proseminar in AOD. 3 Credit Hours.
This capstone course provides students with the opportunity to design and complete a culminating project that applies the principles of AOD theory and practice.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
