Small Group Communication
Communication
230
Summer 2011
Office: R230C
Phone: 425-564-3083
Email: ayabui@bellevuecollege.edu
Office Hrs: 3:30 PM TBA
Textbooks:
Tubbs, S. L. (2009). A Systems Approach to Small Group Interaction. 10th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill. (
modified edition sold in the bookstore will be used in this course.)
Leibovitz, L. and Miller,
M. Fortunate Sons. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.
CMST 230 is a Social Sciences distribution requirement course
and may not be used for Humanities at BC. (For transfer to
UW, this course
may be used as either a Social Sciences or
Humanities course.)
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS:
Here are some words of wisdom about
working in an academic small group from Dr. Randy Pausch,
the author of the book, “The Last Lecture. “ Dr. Pausch
was a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at
Carnegie Mellon University. He died of
Pancreatic Cancer in the Spring of 2008. In chapter 35 titled “Start by Sitting
Together,” he provides his tips of working in small groups: (pages 142—144)
1, Meet people properly
2. Find things in you have in common
3. Try for optimal meeting
conditions
4. Let everyone talk
5. Check ego at the door
6. Praise each other
7. Phrase alternatives as questions
Here are my recommendations that I
have given small group students over the years teaching this course.
1. Place No Blame! (From Peter Senge’s
Fifth Discipline).
2. Assume100 percent responsibility for the group’s
project
3. Group
work is based of interdependence (the collective
“We”)
4. Integrity
is paramount!!
5. Get to personally know the members of your
group!!
6. Address
the issues and do not “attack” person.
7. Actively
and equitably participate in your group.
8. Think and
speak positively!!
9. Engage
differences (conflict) early in the group process!!
10. Focus, commit, and align positively to attain
the group goals.
Your small group communication
learning in this course will be experiential as well as academic. You need to participate with your group
members in completing your group project to make this course academically
meaningful and successful for you. You
also have a requirement to complete all learning email journals using the
recommended format and using “academic excellence” as your standard!! Use multiple means of staying in touch with
your group members.
Have fun learning!!
Course Objectives:
1. To develop small group communication
competence by experiencing and learning positive ways of engaging with others
in a small group environment using multiple learning strategies to meet the
expectations of the course objectives and defined group goals
2. To develop confidence to work with (cultural
dissimilar) others and to complete a complex computer multimedia project.
3. To develop critical thinking and academic learning
skills while reflecting on, analyzing, and using the various concepts studied
in the course.
4. To collaboratively learn in an open academic
environment by listening and being exposed to multiple perspectives by
communicating with people with different viewpoints to accomplish defined group
goals.
5. To learn to negotiate a shared (We) vision
and to align creative energy toward group developed goals while working in
different types of management and leadership situations.
6. To participate and learn by mindfully
engaging in dialog and discussion to formulate and implementing group formed solutions
to solve “real time” group problems within the scope of the group’s goals.
7. To experience the frustrations, group
conflicts, and positive achievements that are a part of a group communication
environment, and to work through the conflicts by positively applying
strategies of conflict negotiations and intercultural communication to achieve
individual and group learning goals.
8. To
learn how to self-monitor individual learning by analyzing reading assignments,
applying pertinent concepts to the group process, and by reporting individual
learning in email learning journals.
9. To read, discuss and analyze the assigned
chapters in Fortunate Sons for the purposes of learning about the diffusion
and assimilation of “Eastern” ideas, technologies and inventions between 500
and 1800 that impacted the development of Western global economies today.
10. To write talking point papers and to learn
how to prepare and participate in a seminar-like discussion group. (See objective
#9)
11. To learn how to analyze small group case studies.
12. To use the Internet and Toolbook
Instructor as learning tools in the course.
13. To develop skills of a self-directed learner.
Grades: (Based on 5000
points)
A 100--94
percent 6650 to 7000 points
B.
93.9—87.0 percent 6090 to 6649
points
C.
86.9 –70.0percent 4900 to 6089
points
D.
69.9—60.0 percent 4200 to 4899
F.
Less than 60 percent less than 4199 points
Evaluations:
Toolbook Multimedia Project
3600 points
Email Learning Journals (1 to 8) 1600 points
Milestone 4/5 Assessment Journal 9 600
points
Fortunate Sons Daily quizzes 1200 points
Total 7000 points
Students
will be evaluated on the following assignments:
E-mail Learning Abstracts:. You are required to
turn-in eight (8) Readings: Overview (two articles) learning Abstracts (TBA) Timely
submitted abstracts maximize the utility of the learning journals and assigned
readings. Important Note about journal submission:
The
email Article abstracts must have all four parts:
(1) Major thesis of article.
(2) List at least four specific
concepts or vocabulary associated with small group communication in the article
(3) How is the article meaningful
for you at your group’s milestone stage (one paragraph)?
(4)
A summary paragraph on (a) “What I learned from doing the abstract and
(b) “How I plan to use what I learned in doing the group project.”
This is not a compliance exercise. The learning value of each journal is based
on the depth of the content analysis, and the self-monitoring learning
report. Support your article abstracts
by relating the concepts in the articles to your group activities, i.e., what
you did well and what were some problem areas (if any). To receive full credit for abstracts, all
nine abstracts must be turned in. Points:
1600.
Abstract1, Reading Overview, Chapter
1 (2 Articles) (in class exercise)
Abstract 2, Reading Overview,
Chapter 2 (2 Articles)
Abstract 3, Reading overview,
Chapter 3 (2 Articles)
Abstract 4, Reading Overview,
Chapter 4 (2 Articles)
Abstract 5, Reading Overview,
Chapter 5, (2 Articles)
Abstract 6, Reading overview,
Chapter 6, (2 Articles)
Abstract 7, Reading Overview,
Chapter 7, (2 Articles)
Abstract 8, Reading Overview,
Chapter 8, (2 articles)
Self-assessment
learning report. (600 points) Self-assessment on your own and group’s
performance in Milestone 4 and/or 5—Self-assessment of your individual
participation, your group’s interaction and your small group communication lessons
learned.
NOTE: All 8 abstracts must be submitted for receive
the 1600 points. The self-assessment
learning report is worth 600 points!!
Small Group Project: Each group will develop a computer multimedia
project using Toolbook Instructor 9.0 or higher. Each team will determine the theme of the
project. The grade for this project will
be incremental, i.e., you will be graded on the process of development and how
well you work as a cohesive group using the principles of small group
communication you will be exposed to throughout the course. There will be five major process milestones
that will be graded. Each of the
milestones will be discussed in class. Upon completion of the Milestone oral
presentations, each group member will be awarded the designated points for the
milestone based on presentation performance.
For Milestones 3, 4, and 5, participation and content points will be
awarded based on the content completeness and professionalism of the group’s
presentation.
The milestones are: (Please
follow the guidelines for each milestone report listed below in each of your presentations!!)
Milestone 1: Initial project theme. Form team, identify team name, specify group
goals and objectives, assign team assignment, draft group plan, and project a
schedule of activities to complete the project (coordination, resources, and
feedback strategies) 200
points
A PowerPoint
presentation is mandatory for Milestone #1.
Groups must turn-in a paper
copy of the PowerPoint presentation to receive full credit for this milestone. The presentation should include:
1. The title
of the project.
2. A brief narrative
description of the project (100 to 200 words).
3. Your group’s
goals and objectives for doing the project and for this course.
4. A team
work plan for each milestone.
5. Turn-in your group’s PowerPoint presentation
on day of presentation.
Milestone 2: Learning Instructor as a group activity,
feedback on plan, modification of schedule, coordination with other groups,
collection of information, script writing, accomplishing tasks identified in
plan. Groups must demonstrate that they
have a digital portfolio (Toolbook or PowerPoint) with
at least two digital images. Group must
also turn in a “signed” (by all group members) project written outline with
references. Grades for this portion of
the project will depend on proof of research. Points 400.
A written project outline
(APA or MLA format: APA Style Guide - M. Plonsky, Ph.D., [DOC] Outline Format - Mr. Oncay's Language Arts)
Include a reference page containing ten (10) or more references with your
group’s signed outline (paper copy) must be turned in before starting your
group’s Milestone 2 oral presentation. The
outline must be signed by all team members.
Each group must use Toolbook Instructor in this
presentation. The presentation will have
the following:
1. Title page,
2. The project outline and at least
10 references
3. Group’s work plan from milestone 2 to milestone 5,
3. At least one imported graphic image,
4. Demonstration of navigation from one page to the next and back in the Toolbook Instructor Presentation.
Milestone 3: Development of a Storyboard (poster paper
will be provided) One class day will be used for story board development. The story board must reflect all major points
of the group’s Milestone 2 outline. Each
group will present their storyboard to the class. Points: 600
The grade on this portion will be based on the group’s ability to
demonstrate non-linearity in their storyboard, and connectivity to the outline
and resources collected in Milestone 2. The
poster paper presentation demonstrating, project theme, navigation, page links,
and references are a must for the storyboard to be graded as “complete.” Additionally, and least one page of a
content “chapter” (one page of the storyboard) must be presented in detail. On this
page, the group must show a listing of all (word, visual, audio) files used on
this part of the project. (It is
recommended that all project pages have
a listing of all the digitized files used.)
The storyboard must show that the group’s Toolbook
multimedia project may be exited in “two clicks.” The storyboard must be signed by all members
of the group.
Milestone 4: Initial preview of project (the goal for this
milestone is approximately 80 percent of the project completed). Points:
800
Project must be on a CD ROM, and
presented in class for the project to be graded as 80 percent completed. Reminder:
there is only one academic week between Milestone 4 and 5. (Journal
9 is a report on each team member’s participation in this milestone.)
Milestone 5: Final phase project presentation
(100 percent
Completed.) Points:
2000
The completed project must “stand alone,” i.e., the user of your saved
final project will be able to comprehend your content without you being
present. It also must “be ready for a
production run,” i.e., no spelling and grammar errors, text descriptions are in
narrative format, and all multimedia used in the project are functional.) Project
must be saved as a *.exe” file. A final copy (CD) of the completed project
must be turned in to the Instructor.
Case
Studies: On the
first days of each academic week as indicated below, there will be a 10-minute quiz
at the beginning of the period on the case study indicated. A quiz on the case study in Chapter 5, and
chapter 6 will be graded quizzes and will be graded as class participation
points. No make up for the quizzes. Students
are also expected to be prepared to discuss each chapter case study on the
first academic class of the week. The
three basic questions for each case study are:
(1) What is the major
problem addressed in the case study?
(2) Who are the “major
actors” of the case?
(3) What are the causes
of the problem?
Alternative solutions will be discussed in class. (400
points)
D. Fortunate Sons report. On Seminar days, a quiz on the assigned
readings will be administered before the seminar discussions. You may use discussion notes and the book
during the quiz. Focus your points of interest in the chapter that you may be
interested in developing your group’s project for this class. Read fast!! (At least 300 words/ minute at 80 percent
comprehension)
Fortunate Sons: Group discussion recommended Talking Points
format:
Chapters
I. Theme
of the chapter’s reading. (Who are the
important characters, where, and what is the context of the chapters—place,
time, season, etc.)
II. Group
project ideas from the chapters read.
III. Possible topics that may be of interest, that
are indirectly related to the chapters.
Class Participation: Attendance
will be taken randomly throughout the quarter. Attendance and classroom group discussion is
critical in learning small group communication and team building in this
course. Class participation points will
be assigned to supplement awards for group presentations and classroom
discussions. On
days of group project presentations, class attendance is mandatory. Fifty percent of the group points will be
subtracted from each student’s group presentation grade for any unexcused
absence during group oral presentations.
Points: 1500 points.
Schedule of Assignments:
June 27 Introduction
and overview of course, Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunctions
of a Team”, Journal writing lecture. Permanent
project groups will be formed on June 29.
June 28—30 Group Exercise
“Farmer’s game June 28. Tubbs Chapter 1
July 4 Independence
Day (No class)
July 5—7 Tubbs
chapters 2, 3, Case Studies 2, 3;
Milestone
1 Group reports, July 7.
July 11--14 Tubbs,
chapters 4—6, Case Studies 4, 5, 6;
Milestone
2, July 14.
July 18—21 Tubbs,
chapters 7, 8;
Milestone
3, July 21
July 25—28 Tubbs
Chapters 6, 7, 8
Milestone
4, July 28
Aug 1--4 TBA,
project days
August 8—11 Milestone 5, Final Exam (Aug 11)
Aug 9—12 Milestone
5.