CMST 280 Intercultural Communication

Winter 2014 Course Syllabus

Item 0881

"We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race." –Kofi Annan

 

Instructor: Amanda Jankus

 

Class Meeting: Daily 8:30-9:20 in Room C168

 

Phone: Office – (425) 564.2120

 

Office Hours: Please email me to set up an appointment.

 

Email (Best): a.jankus@bellevuecollege.edu

 

Required Text: Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures by Myron W. Lustig & Jolene Koester, 6th (or) 7th  edition. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2010.)

 

Required Readings: There will be many additional readings required including book excerpts, newspaper articles, and opinion columns. You will be responsible for obtaining these either in class (when available) or online in Canvas.

 

You will be responsible for checking or Canvas site daily and printing other necessary documents as well as reading in class handouts. There will also be various assignments that you will be responsible for submitting using Canvas.

 

Canvas is a new program that Bellevue College uses to offer distance education courses. If you took online or hybrid classes from the college prior to this quarter, you likely used Blackboard/Vista. We have said goodbye to Blackboard/Vista and hello to Canvas. I hope that you will find it to be a user-friendly system.

There are some useful links to consider. Specifically, I would suggest the Canvas Student Orientation that our Distance Education Department created: https://bc.instructure.com/courses/411354

Course Description and Objectives

This course provides an introduction to communication between people from different cultures. Course content focuses on the application of theory and research to intercultural communication. Specifically, this course is designed to:

  1. Increase understanding of the relationship between culture and communication;
  2. Provide an intellectual framework that allows description and understanding of communication between culturally heterogeneous individuals;
  3. Explain the role of cultural patterns, verbal codes, and nonverbal codes in the development of intercultural relationships;
  4. Describe obstacles to competent intercultural communication;
  5. Develop communication skills that improve competence in intercultural communication;
  6. Examine the role that gender has in influencing communication.

 

 

Course Activities and Approach to Learning

Class experiences will include lectures, group discussions, activities, and intercultural simulations. Student participation is essential to learning the course material. 

 

This area of study contains theories that can be challenging and thought provoking. Course assignments are designed for application to your everyday encounters with individuals from other cultures. We will work through the theories as a class, but a college reading and writing level in English is needed to succeed in the course.

You are expected to be a participant in this class. If you do not understand an idea, theory, or assignment, please ask for clarification.

 

IMPORTANT LINKS

Public Safety: The Bellevue College (BC) Public Safety Department’s well trained and courteous non-commissioned staff provides personal safety, security, crime prevention, preliminary investigations, and other services to the campus community, 24 hours per day,7 days per week. Their phone number is 425.564.2400. Public Safety is located in K100 and on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/publicsafety/

 

Academic Calendar: The Bellevue College Academic Calendar is separated into two calendars. They provide information about holidays, closures and important enrollment dates such as the finals schedule.

 

Enrollment Calendar: http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/deadlines/. On this calendar you will find admissions and registration dates and important dates for withdrawing and receiving tuition refunds.

 

College Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/holidays/1011.asp. This calendar gives you the year at a glance and includes college holidays, scheduled closures, quarter end and start dates, and final exam dates.

Assignments

You will be given an appropriate amount of time to complete all assignments. Deadlines for all assignments will be announced in class and posted online. Assignments must follow assignment guidelines in order to be graded. In the event that you will be absent on the day that an assignment is due, you must make arrangements with me regarding the due date BEFORE it passes. All assignments must be handed in IN CLASS unless otherwise specified. Late Assignments will not be accepted.  Seriously.

Course Policies

Respectful behavior is expected at all times during class. The purpose of this class is to embrace the diversity that comes from different communication styles with an open mind. Offensive language or behavior of any kind will not be tolerated.

 

Students are expected to come to class prepared and ready to participate. Any form of disruptive behavior will not be tolerated, including but not limited to: cell phone use/texting, talking, sleeping, etc.  If you are doing something in class other than participating in the class you will be asked to leave, this will count as an absence.

 

If your behavior is in any way disrespectful to your classmates or myself you will be asked to leave class for the day, this will count as an absence.

 

I encourage you to share your stories as I will share mine. By analyzing real life situations we will be able to learn the material using both the text and ourselves.

 

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory for the successful completion of this course. Attendance will be taken daily at the beginning of class. You are responsible for signing in every class on the attendance sheet. Excessive tardiness is unacceptable and will not be tolerated; this includes arriving late and leaving early. If you are more than 15 minutes late it is considered an absence. In accordance with the Arts and Humanities attendance policy, missing more than 10 classes will result in failure of the course. If you are absent for a course period it is your responsibility to obtain the notes and assignments for the day.

 

Statement on Academic Integrity

You should know that plagiarism is a serious violation of your contract as a student and will be treated severely. It is important for you to understand that plagiarism is any representation of another person’s words or ideas and in a manner that makes it seem as if they were your own, in either oral or written form. Obviously, this means that you may not copy another person’s papers. Students caught cheating on an exam or assignment will not receive any credit for that portion of the class and will be reported to the Dean of Student Programs.

Special Needs

The Disability Resource Center serves students with a wide array of learning challenges and disabilities. If you are a student who has a disability or learning challenge for which you have documentation or have seen someone for treatment and if you feel you may need accommodations in order to be successful in college, please contact us as soon as possible. If you are a student with a documented autism spectrum disorder, there is a program of support available to you. 

 

If you are a person who requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as a fire, earthquake, etc, please meet with your individual instructors to develop a safety plan within the first week of the quarter.

 

The DRC office is temporarily located in the Library Media Center (D126) or you can call our reception desk at 425.564.2498. Deaf students can reach us by video phone at 425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-564-4110.   .    .  Please visit our website for application information into our program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc

 

Please meet with me if you have any questions.

 

 

R.E.S.P.E.C.T : What it means to this class

Free your mind. Essential to a liberal arts education is an open-minded tolerance to ideas and modes of expression that might conflict with one’s personal values. By being exposed to such ideas or expressions, students are not expected to endorse or adopt them but rather to understand that they are part of the free flow of information upon which higher education depends. To this end, you may find that class requirements may include engaging certain materials, which may, in whole or part, offend you. If you decline to engage the required material by not reading, viewing, or performing material you consider offensive, you will still be required to meet class requirements in order to earn credit for this class. This may require responding to the content of the material, while not fully participating in required discussions. Bellevue College upholds an “Affirmation of Inclusion” which states, “Bellevue College is committed to maintaining an environment in which every member of the campus community feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free from harassment or discrimination. We value our different backgrounds at BC, and students, faculty, staff members, and administration are to treat one another with dignity and respect.” This affirmation sets forth the expectation that we will treat one another with respect and dignity regardless of whether or not we agree philosophically. This expectation is in line with the principle of free speech in a free society: we have the right to express unpopular ideas as long as you don’t show disrespect for reasonable people who might believe otherwise. These expectations also refer to the courtesy with which you communicate with one another through emails and discussions.

 

Part of your success in this class is dependent upon your development of competent skills in dealing with people who are different than you. These differences may be in worldview, beliefs, and/or values.

 

“Bad human communication leaves us less room to grow.”

Rowan D. Williams

 

Grades will be based on the following:

Exams

4 @ 100 points

Media Lens/ Think Fast

10 @ 10 points

Participation & Attendance

100 points

Group Facilitation

50 points

Think Tanks/Journals

5 @ 20 points

Film Analysis

2 @ 25 points

Quizzes

10 @ 10 points

 

An explanation of each assignment along with guidelines for completion will be available as assigned.

 

This is a tentative schedule. Examples of why the schedule may change: weather, The Chicago Bulls, passionate discussion, elaborate explanation, because I said so.

 

You get the idea: things here can (and probably will) change. You should check Canvas everyday, multiple times. It will be the place for you to: find assignments, get the lowdown for what went on in class, check due dates, get links to really cool material, find out if class is cancelled, etc. All assignments guidelines and due dates will be posted on Canvas.

 

The assignment column is blank so that you can record due dates and scores that you earned. This will help you to keep track of your progress in class.

 

 

Week                               Activities                                   Assignment

1 (Jan. 6-10)                     Chapter 1                                  

 

 

2 (Jan. 13-17)                   Chapters 2-3                                        

                                       

 

3 (Jan.  20-24)                  Chapter 4                                   Exam 1

                                                                                         

 

4 (Jan.  27-31)                  Chapter 5                                  

 

 

5 (Feb. 3-7)                      Chapter 6              

                                                                                         

 

6 (Feb. 10-14)                   Chapter 7                                   Exam 2

                                                                                                   

 

7 (Feb. 17-21)                   Chapter 8                                  

 

 

8 (Feb. 24-28)                   Chapter 9                        

                                       

 

9 (Mar. 3-7)                      Chapter 10                                 Exam 3                                                                                                            

                                       

10 (Mar. 10-14)                 Chapter 11                      

                                       

 

11 (Mar. 17-21)                 Chapter 12                                

 

12 (Mar. 24, 25, or 26)                                                        Final Exam