In addition to serving as President of my performance intervention business in Dallas, Creative Communication Network, I also teach part-time in the College of Business MBA program at the University of Dallas, and for two community colleges in the Dallas County Community College District.

I thought the format of one of the books that we have adopted at Brookhaven Community College for the freshman course in Speech Communication is quite revolutionary.  The book is entitled Think Communication, authored by Isa N. Engleberg and Dianna R. Wynn (Allyn & Bacon, 2011).

This is a 4-color, ultra-glossy book, that looks more like an oversized magazine.  The  pages are 8 1/2 x 11″ in portrait format.  It is 386 pages long.  It is “snazzy” with a busy, nontraditional format on each page, with different and striking headers.  The book also links to a web site for interactive exercises and reflections (www.thethinkspot.com).

You are probably thinking this book sounds very expensive.  In fact, I have seen some accounting textbooks that are 4-color run more than $350.  You will be as shocked as I am to find that the book is only $57, and on Amazon.com, sells for just $45.

The book should be a major hit for Generation Y and Z college students.  Each page looks just like they are used to on computer and television screens.  The pages are busy, filled with format that changes as they go through a chapter.

This book is part of a larger series that all have the same format.  There are books for courses in government, psychology, sociology, public relations, human sexuality, and critical thinking.

We are just now starting to use this book in the fall 2011 term.  I am interested to see how students like it, and more importantly, if it results in higher test and course grades.

How do you react to this?

Let’s talk about it really soon