C-I Course Certification

At LSU, we believe it is the responsibility of the entire faculty to help students improve their communication skills. This is why C-I courses are embedded across the curriculum within the disciplines. C-I pedagogy promotes deeper learning of course content and provides advanced instruction on effective, discipline-specific communication. In the interest of protecting the quality of teaching and faculty-workload, we recommend C-I courses have a student/faculty ratio no greater than 35:1 (TAs count toward faculty ratio).

Requirements for Certified Communication-Intensive Courses

  • Engage students in use of informal communication for learning and formal communication for sharing ideas publicly
  • Teach and assess proper communication techniques throughout the course
  • Emphasize at least 2 of 4 modes (written, spoken, visual, or technological communication)
  • Focus on genres and audiences appropriate to the discipline or profession
  • Use feedback loops to advance communication skills 
  • Allocate 40% of course grade to communication-based work
  • Uphold ethical and professional standards for all class work

Mode descriptions and example assignments

Worksheet for planning a C-I course

Apply for C-I Certification