Small Group Communication
Speech 225
Winter 2004
Office: R230C
Phone: 425-564-3083
Email: ayabui@bcc.ctc.edu
Office Hrs:
Textbooks: Tubbs, S. L.
(2004). A Systems Approach to Small Group Interaction. 8th Ed. McGraw Hill (
Frazier,
Ian. On the Rez.
Speech 225 is a Social Sciences distribution requirement course and may
not be used for Humanities.
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS:
This course as presently formatted has been taught in this present format for the past eight years, therefore, you are going to experience what other students who completed this course accomplished through individual hard work and teamwork.
This course is designed to be a small group communication competence course. You are expected to use the concepts discussed in class or discovered in your own research in your communication with other individuals in small group situations. The respect of multiple perspectives and the creation of mutual co-created meanings through the communication process are the primary goals of this course. Only you can make this happen!
Another goal of this class is the development of individual learning strategies with the objective of having each student becoming a self-directed learner. This includes learning to use Toolbook Instructor as a tool in your learning strategies. The computer multimedia project is designed into the course to provide a common learning group experience. Developing computer skills are not the purpose of the course. Learning how to communicate, collaborate and cooperate with others in a small group communication learning environment are the intended foci of the course.
Your small group communication learning in this course will be experiential as well as academic. You need to participate with your group members to make this course successful. Use multiple means of staying in touch with your group members.
Have fun learning!!
Course Objectives:
1. To develop small
group communication competence and the ability to work with others i
2. To develop confidence to work with others as a team and to complete a complex computer multimedia project, through coordination, trust, mutual respect, and personal advocacy toward accomplishing personal and group goals.
3. To develop critical thinking and academic 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.
5. To learn to negotiate a shared 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 alternative 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 learn how to analyze small group case studies in a small group setting.
10. To use the Internet and Toolbook Instructor as learning tools in the course.
11. To participate in the BCC READS program by using Ian Frazier’s book On the Rez in classroom discussions and as the source for small group project themes for the course.
12. To develop skills of a self-directed learner.
Grades:
A 100--93 percent (4185 Points)
B. 92.9--86 percent (3770 points)
C. 85.9—78 percent (3465 points)
D. 77.9--71 percent (3150 points)
F. Less than 71.9 percent (2835 points)
Evaluations:
Toolbook Multimedia Project 1500 points
On the RES Exam 500 points
Email Learning Journals 900 points
Case Study Analysis 800 points
Class participation 800points
Total 4500 points
Students will be evaluated on the following assignments:
a. E-mail Learning Journals. You are required to turn-in
nine (9) Internet learning journals, one per week, beginning the second week of
class. Send your journals to In order to
maximize the utility of the learning journals and assigned readings, you are
encouraged turn-in e-mail journals on a timely basis. The email journal must have all three parts:
summary, analysis and lessons learned. 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 summaries
by expanding your discussion 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). Conclude your journal by writing
two lengthy paragraphs on “what you learned doing the journal activity.” Be specific in your discussion about what you
learned, since this is your feedback to yourself about how you are progressing
in this course. If you would like to
address specific issues to me, write your comments after the “lessons learned”
section. I will respond to your issues
in a timely manner. Journals that are turned in late will be assessed
penalty points. To get full credit for
journals, all nine journals must be turned in.
No journals will be accepted after the last day of the course!! Points: 900.
Journal 1, Reading Overview, Chapter 1 (2 Articles)
Journal 2, Reading Overview, Chapter 2 (2 Articles)
Journal 3, Reading overview, Chapter 3 (2 Articles)
Journal 4, Reading Overview, Chapter 4 (2 Articles)
Journal 5, Reading Overview, Chapter 5, (2 Articles)
Journal 6,
Journal 7, Reading Overview, Chapter 7, (2 Articles)
Journal 8, Reading Overview, Chapter 8, (2 articles)
Journal 9, Self-assessment on your own and group’s performance in Milestone 4—Self-assessment of your individual participation and small group communication learning.
The format for the Journals:
(For each of the articles in the chapter
Author and Article
title
Summary: State the thesis and summary at least three major points associated the thesis in the article.
Analysis: Provide SPECIFIC examples for each of the major points you mention in the summary. After groups are formed, at least one example must be from your group’s weekly activity.
Lessons learned: Provide feedback to yourself in this section
by reporting in the first person, what you learned from doing the article’s
summary and your analysis of the summary.
(This paragraph should state
“What I learned…”
NOTE: Journals are due on the first class day of
the week. Late journals will be
penalized points. All 9 journals must be
submitted for receive the 900 points.
Small Group Project: Each
group will develop a computer multimedia project using Click2Learn Toolbook Instructor
8.5 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 through out 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:
Milestone 1: Initial project theme. For
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. A written project outline, including a
reference page containing at least ten (10) references must be turned in at the
start of the 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: Title page, the project outline, group’s work plan from
milestone 2 to milestone 5, at least one imported graphic image, and the
ability to navigate from page one to page two.
Points 200.
Milestone 3: Development of a Storyboard to measure
progress of the project. Each group will
present their storyboard to the class. The grade on this portion will be based on
the group’s ability to demonstrate non-linearity in their storyboard, and
connectivity to the resources collected in Milestone 2. Poster boards or “butcher 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.” Points: 300
Milestone 4: Initial preview of project (approximately 80
percent completed) Project must be on a CD
ROM, and presented in R201 for the project to be graded as 80 percent
completed. Points: (Journal 9 is a report on
each team member’s participation in this milestone.) Points:
400
Milestone 5: Final phase project presentation (100 percent
Completed.) 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. Points: 500
Case Study Seminars
and On the Rez Discussion:
Mandatory participation. There
will be 8 case studies analysis sessions and 3 discussions on Frazier’s book in
the course. Some case studies will be on
current event topics. This exercise is
intended to help you learn how to do case study analysis and how to communicate
in a seminar setting. Grades for each
discussion/seminar session will be awarded as group points, and may include an
assessment of individual contributions in a class discussion. The Instructor
will judge each student’s competency in this area (competence may be demonstrated
in any of the eight case study sessions.)
800 Points.
A
written examination will be administered on January 16 based on “On the Rez.”
500 points
Jan 12, Case Study 2, page 42, On the Rez
“How to Read”
Jan 20 (Tues) Case Study 3, Page 93
Jan 26 Case Study 4, Page 143
Feb 2 Case Study 5, Page 193
Feb 9 Case Study 6, page 250
Feb 17 (Tues), Case study 7, Page
283
Feb 23 Case Study 8 page 316,
Mar 1 Small Group Process, Chapter
10
Mar 9 Small Group Process, Chapter
10
Class Participation: Attendance
will be taken randomly throughout the quarter.
Each unexcused absence will be a deduction of 100 points fro
Schedule of
Assignments:
Jan 5--9 Chapters 1, 9, 10. Email address, self-concept email
Jan12--16 Case Study 1, 2, 9, 10, Chapters 2, On the Rez seminars (Jan 13 chapters 1-5, Jan 14, chapters 6-10, Jan 15 chapters 11—15, Jan 16, written test on “On the Rez”) Journal 1
Jan 19 Martin
Luther King Day, no class
Jan 20--23 Case Study 3, Chapter 3, form groups Jan 22, Journal 2
Jan 26--30 Case study 4, Chapter 4,
Journal 3 (Milestone 1,
Jan 28, 29)
Feb 2--6 Case Study 5, Chapter 5, (Milestone 2, Feb 4, 5), Journal 4
Feb 9--13 Case Study 6, Chapter 6, Journal 5
Feb 16 President’s
Day, No class
Feb 17--20 Case Study 7, Chapter 7, (Milestone 3, Feb 18, 19),
Journal 6
Feb 23--27 Case Study 8, Chapter 8, Journal 7
Mar 1--5 Chapter 9, 10(Milestone 4, Mar 3, 4), Journal 8
Mar 8--12 Chapter 10, Milestone 5 (Marb10-12) Journal 9,
Special exercise
Mar 15, 16 Milestone
5
Mar 19 Final Examination,