The Communication Playbook- Vantage Learning Platform

FAVORITE SAGE VANTAGE FEATURES

• Enables Easy, 3-Step Course Creation. Our simple interface enables you to create your course in minutes so you can focus on content. Just enter your course information, select your assignments and grading preferences, and review your settings.  
• Drives Student Engagement. An evidence-based learning design integrates text content with frequent multimedia activities and learning assessments to facilitate better student preparation, engagement, and learning retention.  
  • A student dashboard offers easy access to text content and visually tracks progress on assignments and assessments.  
  • Study tools, including flashcards and note-taking, highlighting, and definition look-up capabilities, give students all they need for class preparation and course success.
  • Assignable Knowledge Checks (with helpful hints) provide formative assessments after each major section of text content to reinforce retention of key concepts. 
  • Critical Thinking Checks and Chapter Quizzes provide summative assessments at the end of each chapter to measure progress and long-term retention.   
  • Assignable multimedia activities with assessment—including video and self assessments—build critical thinking while consistently engaging students in an interactive application of text content. Focused feedback on correct and incorrect answers eliminates any guesswork in the learning journey. 
• Ensures Student Accountability. Auto-graded assignments feed your gradebook while instructor reports complement your ability to track student activity, assignment completion, and learning objective mastery. These real-time analytics provide quick insights into individual and class performance for tailoring course instruction to help you address the needs of struggling students.  
• Delivers First-day-of-class Access and Flexibility. With our 2-week grace period access, all students can use Vantage on the very first day of class. The flexibility to use Vantage on mobile, desktop, or tablet devices means your dynamic Vantage content will consistently be available to learners any time they need it.   
• Offers Best-in-class Technical Support and Training. Our personalized support for instructors, students, and LMS administrators facilitates an easy transition to Vantage and the quality service you’ve come to expect from SAGE.
  • Customizable Learning Management System (LMS) Integration. Our approach to integration empowers you to drive students to the content you want them to see in your LMS immediately following Single Sign On (SSO). In addition, automatic grade sync and full gradebook integration options can bolster timesaving, streamlined access to all your course content. 
  • Dedicated Technical Support. We are proud to offer robust technical assistance from our team of SAGE educational technology experts based in New York. Instructors and students can access extended weekday and weekend support via phone, email, and online communication.
  • Live and Self-Service Training. Synchronous training sessions are available to every Vantage adopter and complement our full suite of self-service “how-to” tools. Guided walk-throughs of basic and advanced Vantage features and live Q&A discussions empower you to personalize your course design and determine how Vantage can best support your teaching goals.

NEW & KEY FEATURES OF THE COMMUNICATION PLAYBOOK, SECOND EDITION     

• Contemporized chapter openings to ensure they appeal to students, capturing their attention and engaging them in the chapter’s content (New).
  • Enhanced coverage of mindfulness, technology’s influence on communication, and cultural influences on communication (New).
  • Reorganized interpersonal and group communication chapters for a more natural progression that makes the material easier for students to follow and digest (New).
  • Updated examples throughout the text for currency and relevance (New).
  • New annotated speeches on timely topics (New).
• “Skill-Builders” learning activities empower students to practice and improve their communication skills by placing students in everyday situations, encouraging students to assess their own and others’ face-to-face and digital communication practices, and offering strategies that students can practice to communicate more effectively.
• “Career-Builders” exercises and checklists connect communication skills to careers success by providing insights into the types of skills employers seek such as the ability to speak so that others listen, listen when others speak, adapt to differences in cultural perspectives, handle conflicts and solve problems, and make sound decisions.
• “Exploring Diversity” activities encourage students to think critically about how different cultures and genders communicate and puts these differences into context so students develop a more global perspective.
• “Ethics and Communication” discussions help students define for themselves the meaning of “ethical communication” by guiding them through various ethical quandaries that question the moral principles, values, and beliefs of society.
• “Self-Assessments” within each chapter encourage students to complete a self reflective questionnaire of their communication behaviors and attitudes to determine their level of proficiency and identify areas for growth.