I agree, the subject of this course hit home. It actually made me happy that what I go through everyday, is so real that someone like Melissa, writes about it.

the smaller the group, the greater the opportunity to tap into areas of the lesson that are not covered or to be able to expand our communications into other areas of the subject matter.

I've changed my approach thanks to this course.  Now I include at least one partnership or team communication project in my course.  This has been received very well by the students.

Yea I agree the small group idea works well as does partnership.  I have had good success with students pairing up for presentations where they can split the workload and lean on each other's strengths.

I am always interested in learning more about soft skills. Hard skills are for most much easier to teach/learn, but the soft skills can be a challenge.