Paper Submission

I will respond to each of your emails that contain your papers at some point tomorrow. It may be tomorrow night, as I will be away from my computer almost all day.

I hope each of you have a safe and enjoyable Halloween tomorrow.

UPDATE: I emailed each person this morning at approximately 6am on Oct. 31st confirming your paper submission. If you turned your paper in early, you would have received a confirmation email prior to this.

Impressive

Hello Class!

I had to take a minute to let you know how impressed I am. I have never had quite as many papers turned in so early before. Good job!!!!!

:)
Carol

Cultural Event Paper Reminders

Hello Class!

I have already started receiving submissions for the Cultural Event Paper. As a reminder, please review the link called "Assign#2 - Cultural Event Rubric" located on the "Projects" page on Blackboard. This is how I will be evaluating your essays. Remember, I strive for total transparency when it comes to grading in this course. If there are ever any questions, please email me for clarification. I'm always here to help!

Also, please review the assignment sheet one last time before turning in your papers to make sure you have included everything required. There are two pages to the assignment sheet, so make sure you look at BOTH pages.

I look forward to receiving your papers, no later than 11:59pm on Friday, October 30th.

Week of October 25-31

Here is what's listed on the Schedule and Participation Pages for this week:

*Read Chapter 7

*Quiz on Blackboard (Chapters 7 & 12)

*Cultural Event Paper due by Friday, October 30th by 11:59pm. (Please review the grading rubric on Blackboard BEFORE turning in your assignment).

Cultural Event Paper

Hello Class!

The deadline is fast approaching for the Cultural Event Paper. I hope you have had a good time at your chosen events so far.

As a reminder, there is a grading rubric on Blackboard located on the Handouts Page. It is called "CulturalEventRubric". This is the exact rubric I will use to grade your papers. Please look over it before turning in your final drafts - it will help you tremendously.

Also, use your Pocket Wadsworth Handbook for writing tips and follow the principles contained within that little book. It is amazingly helpful! (You can also go to the Writing Center on campus. Those guys are extremely helpful as well.)

I strive for absolute transparency when it comes to grading in this course. There should be no surprises or ambiguity about my grading practices if you look over the rubrics for the course projects (Cultural Event Paper, Concept Application Paper and Journal Assignment). If there is any residual ambiguity, please let me know and I would be more than happy to clarify anything that is unclear. I'm here to help! :)

Midterm

Hello Folks!

I am very please with the results from the midterm. Overall, your scores were higher than I expected - y'all are AWESOME!!!!! :)

A couple of people emailed me about one of the questions on the midterm. Since most people got the question wrong, I omitted it from the midterm.

If you check your score on the midterm you will notice that 4 points have been added to your original score. I added 2 points for the omitted question, and another 2 points to round out the curve. I normally do not grade on a curve, but I thought it was appropriate in this situation. So as a little gift to each of you, I have added 4 points to your midterm grades.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Early Bird Posts

Hello All! Here is a list of folks who have blogged already this week. Go ahead and stop by their blog to get a start on your comments for the week.

Rbros
CrushedVelvet23
GCL
1986dman
Rena
nessaw27
marikamania


Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start! Good job!!!!!

Week of October 18-24

Here is what's on the Schedule and Participation Pages for this week, along with a reminder at the end of the post:

*Read Chapter 12 - Intercultural Communication
*Participate in Week 9 Discussion
*Work on Journal #3

Class Discussion: Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 12 hours apart:

1). Do you agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict that we are "creatures of our culture" and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture? If so, how can we break through the limits of our cultures?

2). Do you believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises? What social institutions and practices are based on these beliefs?

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussed during this discussion week, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.

Remember to post 3 responses to your colleagues blogs during this discussion week.

REMINDER: Your Cultural Event Paper is due next Friday, October 30th by 11:59pm. I need to approve ALL events prior to attendance, so please email me with your choice of event if you have not done so already. Any papers received without a prior approval will receive a grade deduction.

Office Hours Reminder

Hello Class!

I will be holding office hours today from 10am to 11am on Yahoo Messenger. I will be online quite a bit more than that today, on and off. If you see me on Yahoo Messenger, I am available to chat.

Let me know if you have any questions about the coming Cultural Event Assignment, midterm, or Journal Assignment.

I hope you all stay well on this wonderfully stormy and windy day! Stay warm, dry and safe today!

UPDATE!!!! It's about 10am right now and I'm actively on Yahoo Messenger. The wind is blowing really hard and the power might go out (I am not on campus in case you were wondering). If the power goes out, which is highly likely where I live, I will be unable to complete my office hours within the allotted time - but will be checking my email regularly when the power is on. I'm crossing my fingers that the power will stay on. :)

Week of October 11-17

Here is what's on the Schedule and Participation Pages for this week:

Midterm Examination on Blackboard. Please log into Blackboard during the week of October 11th-October 17th to take the midterm exam. The midterm covers Chapters 1-5 & 9-10. A study guide of terms is available on Blackboard, so download that and use it to guide your study sessions. The midterm is open book, open notes. Please DO NOT share answers, give assistance or accept assistance from others, or reveal test answers/questions.

Please plan ahead to take the midterm. Your midterm must be submitted prior to 11:59pm on Oct 17th. It is highly suggested that you take the midterm early in case you run into any technical difficulties.

You will have 75 minutes to complete the 50 question test. MAKE SURE you submit your test PRIOR to the end of the 75 minute time frame - watch the clock carefully!!!! Any questions that are submitted after the 75 minute time period will be disqualified from the exam and deducted from your total test score.

Good luck on the midterm! :)

As a reminder: The Cultural Event Paper is due on Oct 30th. It is required that I approve each Cultural Event PRIOR to the attendance of the event, and of course prior to the paper's due date. Please make sure to email me with the event you would like to attend for approval if you have not done so already.

Grades are posted

Hello Class!

I have posted grades for the discussion week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 3. Please look over your grade and let me know if you have any questions.

Grading in this course should be fairly straightforward and fair to every student, however, if there are any questions about grading please email me for clarification. I am always here in case something is ambiguous or unclear.

Reminder: Tomorrow is a scheduled furlough day.

Chapter Outlines Posted

As a reminder, Chapter Outlines for the entire semester have already been uploaded to Blackboard. If you would like to review them, or print them out, they are located on the "Handouts" page.

Early Bird Posts

Hello All! Here is a list of folks who have blogged already this week. Go ahead and stop by their blog to get a start on your comments for the week.

Kolby
jrmcomm105
Rena
Commeleon
1986dman
marikamania
Ibirapuera
Rbros

Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start! Good job!!!!!

Nonverbal Communication

I am very excited about this week's discussion. These are the weeks I wish I could talk to you all face to face so we could really get into a deep discussion about nonverbal communication and share what we have learned through our reading, and of course through our life experiences. While I was in school I participated in a Nonverbal Research Study as a research assistant, which was quite interesting. Although the statistics in that particular research study did not prove to be significant, my conjecture was that the sample size was too small.

Now that you are probably asking, "What was the study about?"....I'll tell you briefly in case you are interested. Dr. Tim Hegstrom who is the Dean of Social Sciences at this point in his career, videotaped dyads to see if their body positioning matched each other during the course of their 10 minute conversation. Most of the participants did have matching body language at some point in the discussion (An example of this would be where one person crosses their arm, and the other follows shortly after. This could either be matching or mirroring with body positioning with legs, arms, etc...). I analyzed the videos one by one (I think there were 50 or so 10 minute videos) and recorded their body positioning to reflect matching, mirroring, or no correlation at all. I stopped the video every minute and recorded their body positions. Like I said, when we ran the statistics through SPSS (a statistical database), the results were not significant. But, had the research been done a bit differently, it absolutely would have produced statistically significant results. Had it proved significant, we probably would have been published in a Communication Journal, but alas, it was not written in the stars. :)

Needless to say, Nonverbal Communication interests me quite a bit. My husband's family is constantly trying to figure out if I'm analyzing them. Just this past weekend, one of his family members looked over to a few people and asked me what their body language was saying. Of course this sparked a very interesting conversation between a few people, myself included.

Have fun with this weeks discussion, and don't forget to download the midterm study sheet from Blackboard to prepare for your midterm next week.

Week of October 4-10

Here is what's on the Schedule and Participation Pages for this week:

*Read Chapter 5: Encoding Messages: Nonverbal Communication

*Reminder, your midterm exam is due next week. Please print out the Midterm Review sheet from Blackboard.

*Start working on Journal #2! (I will post the evaluation sheet this week, so be sure to look at that and tailor your entries accordingly. I will post a note on my blog when that sheet is uploaded.)

Discussion: Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 12 hours apart:

1). Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation. Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someones nonverbal message? Describe what happened. How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal message?

2). Although nonverbal messages are more universal than verbal messages, nonverbals do not always carry the same meanings in other cultures. Can you give examples of some of the nonverbal displays that take on different meanings in other countries? If you have moved around within this country, have you ever encountered regional differences in nonverbal meaning?

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussed this week, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

Remember to post 3 responses to your colleagues blogs during this weeks discussion.

REMINDER: October 8th is a furlough day. I will not hold office hours, answer emails or conduct other SJSU business on that day.

Listening in Action

Every time I read through Chapter 3 I am reminded of a very important process - Paraphrasing. This concept is part of Empathic Listening as discussed on page 60-61. I love this concept for a few reasons, but mostly because I try to practice this continually with family, friends, loved ones and even students. I think it's very important that people feel like they are heard, especially those folks who have close relationships.

I have found that most students think they practice Empathic Listening, but most listen for other reasons. Some folks listen just long enough to gain enough ammunition to fight back, but never really hear what the other person is saying. Deconstructing messages, and really trying to hear the other person is quite important when in a discussion, and even more important when two people disagree. Of course each party wants to be heard, but as I mentioned, a lot of folks listen just long enough to find something that they are able to respond to. Some folks do not listen at all, rather formulate what they are going to say next while the other person is expressing how they feel.

Have you ever actively engaged in paraphrasing when in a discussion? If so, what was the outcome of the situation?

There are many other interesting concepts that are covered in Chapter 3 such as, Improving Attention, Improving Interpretation, Improving Evaluation, Improving Responses and Improving Storage and Retrieval. Of course other sub-concepts in this chapter are really interesting as well such as Person Prototypes (page 51) and Responding (page 61).

At the beginning of every semester in my f2f (face to face) classes I discuss the idea that "One cannot not communicate". (I am not a big fan of Wikkipedia, but here is a link to Paul Watzlawick's page which describes his five (5) basic axioms. A quick read, and interesting if you have never heard about Watzlawick). Back to my point: On page 61 it talks about this very idea. It says, "...you are always responding in some way to the people around you, whether you are saying anything or not". Messages are constantly being sent by you and by those around you. I try to explain this to students by using their body language during a long lecture as an example. What does it say to an instructor when you lean back in your chair, are staring out the window, or my personal favorite - drawing pictures when you should be engaged in the lecture or discussion? Is this a message you would like to send? Or is this a byproduct of boredom?

In short, Chapter 3 is pretty cool for a number of reasons. It really breaks down the listening process and points out how we can improve this process if we pay a little more attention to our behavior.

What do you think about this chapter?