Week 16: D3

Pick a favorite concept that we have covered through this course and post about it.  Explain the concept to refresh our memories.  Tell the class why you have chosen this concept, and what it is you like about it.

My favorite concept in this course is listening in groups from chapter 7. There are four components of listening: sensing (hearing the message), interpreting the message, evaluating the message content, and memory: retaining and responding to the message. Of course there will be barriers to listening; lack of interest, external and internal noise, thought speed and ambushing to name a couple of barriers.

I chose this concept because it was fun reading about the barriers when it comes to listening to others. Personally I liked this concept because I saw how each of the barriers applied when I had to listen to others. In groups, I believe that it is harder to listen due to the number of people in the crowd. I thought that being able to listen without barriers is a good skill to have in any type of conversation, whether it’s with one person or with twenty other people. It is important to practice active listening because we need to fully understand the other person’s message. 

Week 16: D2

What have you learned throughout this class?  What was your favorite thing about the class?  What was your least favorite thing about the class?  How can this class be improved? 

I learned how to observe a group and how people interacted with one another. Since there are more people in the group I learned that others easily zone people out. Not only that but I learned how to watch for non –verbal messages from others in a group, which can tell me if they like what was going on in the discussion or event.

There were many aspects of the class that I liked. One of my favorite things in this class must be the flexibility of it. I like how we are able to do our assignments and quizzes when we have the time to. Even though there was a deadline, I liked how there was always a set date and time throughout the semester of when we are suppose to turn our assignments in.  There was not much that I do not like about this class, but one thing that did bug me was how we had to wait for other people to write their entry in order to comment. I saw how that was helpful to get the class to interact with one another. But there were weeks when I wanted to finish early, but I had to wait for some blogs to be written so I can comment on them. I thought this class was fine the way it was, I do not see the class needing any improvements. 

Week 16: D1

Discuss your Group Observation Project.  Was it a useful exercise?  What did you learn?  What was good about the project?  What can be improved?  

The group observation was a useful exercise for the class. I thought that it was helpful because I got to use what I learned from the class and apply it. Since I focused on a high school volleyball team I was able to see a lot of the flaws I once had when I was on volleyball team a couple of years ago. I learned that working in a group is a hard deed. With research, it deepened my understanding for some of the concepts that I applied on the project. I also saw how nonverbal messages were very apparent in larger groups and how sometimes it speaks louder than words. What was good about the project was that it actually showed me what I personally learned from the class that I did not before. I thought one thing that I can improved on my project is being more detailed with my observations. For instance, I should have observed more practices and games, which could be helpful in my determination of how the group interacted with each other. It was a fun project examining people and their interactions with one another. 

Week 13: D1

(Regarding Chapter 11) Distinguish among a forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium as a means for making a public presentation.  Why one would you prefer?  Why? 

A forum is for a larger audience. Everyone in the audience participates by examining the topic or problem. A panel means that there is a small group of experts discussing the topic in front of an audience. Normally the audience does not get involve with the panel until after the panel is done with their discussion. The discussion consists only of Q&A. The colloquium consists of a small group of experts with varied views to discuss the issue, develop and work through it in front of the audience. The audience in this case does participate. A symposium is when there are a couple of short speeches made about the issue. The audience can discuss afterwards.

Personally I think I like panel option more than the others. I feel like it is nice to have the people who are on the panel to finish what they would like to say before the audience gets involved. I feel as if this might save a lot of time because the audience does not get involved until the end. Also I think it is better to have a question and answer session instead of a full on discussion. It seems to be simpler in a big group setting. 

Week 13:D2

Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in.  Contrast that with a competitive conflict.  Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party? 

In a collaborative conflict resolution it is basically a win-win situation. This means that the members of the group are open to contribute and listen to ideas. A lot of communication is involved with this option. A personal example would be when I play volleyball with a group of friends. Everyone has a position that they are play better at, while there are some who cannot play at any position. Also some people might have multiple positions of where they can play. After a discussion, everyone was put into a position on the court where everyone thought it might benefit to the team.

On the other hand the competitive conflict resolution is a win-lose situation. In this case, people do things for their self-interest. During my senior year of high school, I had some friends who wanted to design the senior class shirt and sweatshirt. Of course we can only have one design for the shirt because we did not want to buy more than one shirt. So in order to solve this conflict the class president set up a date of when they had to turn in the best design they could so the class can vote on it. The designers had to compete with each other to bring the best design in a short amount of time.

For me I think the better approach is the collaborative resolution. This is because it is better to have everyone working together to come up with the proposition. 

Week 13:D3

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.

One concept that I found interesting was accommodation in dealing with conflict. It means that one is giving up all or most of one’s opinion and position for the other person. This is a lose-win situation and it is not ideal. Sometimes being able to accommodate to others is beneficial, but there are times when it’s not. I thought that this was interesting because I believe that we accommodate to people everyday. Whether we are in a conflict or just dealing with everyday issues, we seem to accommodate to the other person’s wishes because we want that harmony within the relationship. I personally believe that it there is good reason to accommodate to the other person. For instance, if it were small things, I would normally let the other person have what they want because I do not mind. But I also see how there are times when we should not give in so easily. I can see how being able to always accommodate to one person in the group can cause conflict within the group, because others might be resentful and angry with the person. Whatever the issue is one should be careful when they want to accommodate to the other person. 

Week 12: D1

Provide an example of creativity from your own experience.  How does it fit with the chapter’s discussion of creativity? 

             Creativity is trying something new, creating a new method to solve a problem. I think creativity is relevant in my current job. I am constantly thinking of new way to solve the issue because the previous solution did not work well or it did not work at all. I was thrown into the fire when I had to be head coach for middle school boy’s volleyball. With some previous experience behind me, I had to think of new ways for these boys to grasp the concept of volleyball. They were mostly new players, and they were all relatively young. I continually had to think of new drills for them that were fun but yet helpful to develop their skills so that we would be able to win some games. One drill I recall having them do was the blind man drill, this is where someone was blindfolded and the team had to tell the player where to stand so that the blinded player can receive the ball. This was fun for them as well as it helped them build team chemistry and talk to each other on the court. This fits into the chapter’s discussion because helped the player look at this game a different way, a game in which they needed to rely on each other to talk. It also helped solve the problem of them not being able to communicate on the court. 

Week 12:D2

Name five cultural barriers to creativity.  Why do you think these would keep a group from being creative?  Have you experienced any of these personally?  Explain. 

The five cultural barriers to creativity are requirement for conformity, expectations of practicality efficiency, expectations of politeness, rules for social order and dependence on generalizations.

People like to follow the rules of a certain culture because they do not want to get left out or mock for what they are thinking or doing. A lot of the time the culture builds its own norm and one does not want to break out of the norm. It is because different cultures look at numerous things with a different light. By thinking outside of the box, it might offend the culture due to the cultures values and beliefs.

I personally do not think I have experienced any cultural barriers because my parents and family members do no really care about the things that I do. They also do not really stick to our “culture” and traditions, so my uncle, aunts, and older cousins are the one loosening the rules for my generation. For instance, in the Chinese culture we have a party to celebrate the baby’s 100^th day birthday, it is also called the red egg. Why this is celebrated I have no idea. But often times my cousin will not do this party but instead just throw a huge first birthday party for their child, breaking the rules of the culture. 

Week 12: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I think one concept that was interesting was maintaining openness in a creative group climate. By being open we are able to see what others are thinking and create a better idea with others’ thoughts. The book describes how group creativity depends on the climate itself. By giving off a supportive climate, members will trust and respect each other. Creativity comes from all sorts of people and ideas, so it is helpful when groups are open to the different ideas.  People are self conscious, especially in groups so it is helpful for groups to upkeep the concept of openness. I am one of those people who are self conscious in a group and do not like talking much because I am scared about what other people might think. On the other hand when I am in a group that seems to be more open to things, I tend to be able to contribute my ideas. I personally believe that when we keep openness in groups we are able to come up with the best and more original ideas. 

Week 11: D3

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

The idea of leading a CMC group meeting is pretty interesting. I think it is important to have a leader in a CMC meeting because I see how it is harder to conduct and keep the group on task over the computer or media. There are some common traits between leading a F2F and CMC group meetings, for instance being encouraging and being able to organize meetings. But as a CMC leader, as the book states, be aware of the nonverbal communication in the meeting. This might be hard because we cannot see the nonverbal cues in the messages through CMC. As leaders we should take that in account sometimes. Honestly I think that being a leader of a CMC group is a harder than being a leader in a F2F group. Overall I thought it was a neat idea since I never really think about the “leader” in a CMC group. 

Week 11: D2

How do anonymity, group size, and proximity influence participation and communication in CMC groups?

By not knowing the group members in a CMC group can be beneficial.  This is because people can communicate more freely with one another, not worried about the judgments others will make. For example last year I had to do a group project through CMC. Everyone was comfortable to share ideas with one another. Group size can be tricky with this type of communication. I believe that communication will be more effective because it will be convenient to everyone to meet up. More ideas can be thrown out as well. I know for me I tend to not participate as much in a big group during F2F because I feel like my voice and ideas get drowned.  As for participation, I believe it will be easier since no one will seem to be intimated. Since we can see others we would not be afraid to share. For proximity CMC allows everyone in the group to communicate with each other anywhere.  

Week 11: D1

How does CMC differ from f2f communication? 

CMC means that the communication takes place though the media such as the Internet and text messages. Face to face communication means that it takes place between two physical people. CMC differs from F2F communication in a lot of ways. One thing that is different is the interaction in CMC can be much slower. Because it is over the media, people tend to take their time while responding with each other. Another difference is that when we communicate through CMC we are able to think about what we say to the other person, giving a more thoughtful response. When communicating in person we are put on the spot and we have to basically speak what we could currently think of in that moment. CMC cannot capture the non-verbal cues of the person speaking due to the media barrier, unless the communication is done through video conferencing. This actually might be more convenient when meeting in bigger groups. Personally I like seeing those non-verbal cues during my conversation. 

Week 9: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it

The thought speed for a barrier of listening is pretty interesting. This happens because we tend to think faster than we speak. I believe that we are all unintentionally applying this concept in our daily lives. I am guilty of wandering with my mind when I am "listening" to someone because I am more concentrated in my own thoughts. When this happens I would thinks out what I am and will say but when it finally comes down for me to say it I forget. For example when I am in an argument, I would tend to think faster than I speak because I have so much to say. So when the other party is talking, telling me their views, I would jump ahead and start to think about how I would reply along with my new comments. This is a bad habit because I feel like I am not giving the person my attention and that it is a form of disrespecting the person as well.

Week 9:D2

Give a personal example where you have had selective attention.  Why do you think this is?  Is there a way you were able to overcome it?

Selective attention means choosing a message that seems to have importance to us over another. We tend to pick out, sometimes unintentionally what we would rather listen to. It is also hard to give our full attention sometimes because of our internal noise. We tend to see how important our thoughts are over what is actually happening. For example when I am attending a conference or a big meeting where there is just one speaker, I tend to not listen as well. I would actually be thinking about what I would do next after the meeting or thinking about what an issue I have, totally zoning out the speaker. When the topic seems too hard or it doesn't interest us, we tend to not listen very well either. This can be overcome if one just listens to the speaker and give an undivided attention. It can also be helpful if one just looks at the speaker by giving them eye contact.

Week 9: D1

Think of a recent situation in which you found listening difficult.  Which one (or more) of the four phases of presented the most difficult for you?  Why?  How could this have been overcome?

For me I think the hardest part of listening is remembering the message. I am especially bad at short-term memory. I have to say that I am guilty of not remembering people’s name. Normally I would dismiss the facts or information because it does not seem important to me, or maybe because I just suck at remember things. When I am arguing with someone I seem to never really remember what he or she said because I am too distracted by my own thoughts. I could overcome this by just paying more attention to details and trying to take what they are saying important and having open ears. I can also try to remember what they are saying by not being distracted with outside noise or inner thoughts. I believe that being able to remember the message is important, especially during an argument. It might help prevent future arguments because I recall what their points of views were. Also I can just reflect on what the other persons said after the argument so I can try to remember what they said.

Week 7:D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it

One concept that I thought was interesting this week was eye contact as a type of nonverbal communication. It is somehow ingrain in us to use our eyes to react a certain way to bring out a different message to our audience. I believe that eye contact gives a strong nonverbal message. I agree that eye contact can be used to increase and decrease the amount of interaction in the discussion because I can totally see this being applied to my daily life. When I do not want to talk to someone, or I feel uncomfortable with someone it shows by the way that I do not make too much eye contact with him or her. When I don’t like someone in a group it also shows through my eyes because I will never gear them towards that person.  Often times when I am intrigue in the conversation with someone I will keep my eye contact with him or her which can tell them that I am fascinated in what they are saying and I am still listening. 

Week 7:D2

Explain proxemics and chronemics.  Are there universal rules for all cultures regarding these concepts?  Give personal examples if possible. Give examples of personal experience in other cultures regarding these two concepts. 

Proxemics is study of how people use the space around us to communicate. The book states how the seating arrangement gives off a non-verbal message. I believe that this can be true because I have seen it. In the Asian culture, or at least my culture, the person who sits at the head of the table is consider to be the more powerful one. The people sitting next to this person will be the second/third most powerful and so on. Whenever my grandpa has a meeting with his siblings, I would see them hanging out on a round table more than a rectangular one, because it shows that there is no one really in a higher position.

Chronemics is the study of how we use time. People will always have deadlines that are to be met. Sometimes deadlines aren’t met on time that can be okay, but sometimes it is not okay. When I am late to my friend’s house to hang out, it is okay. For us it is normal to be late and we don’t mind the extra wait. It does matter if I am late to my grandparent’s house though. They consider it rude that I do not respect their time and that I am wasting their time because they are waiting for me to show up. I think it is important to show up on time to their house because it shows the importance of their position in my life.

Weel 7: D1

Return to the eight principles of nonverbal communication.  Pick two principles, and provide new examples of how they operate in a group or team.

The first principle that I pick is the quality of relationships among group members is established and perpetuate through nonverbal behavior. This principle is extremely relevant when we first meet someone. It is because we barely know that person, our nonverbal communication will help them determine how we feel about that certain person. This principle can also be applied to people who already know each other. An example of this would be someone grabbing extra handouts for a friend during a meeting or class. This shows me that they are close enough friends that this person would do this for the other, also stating that this person kept the other person in mind.

I thought the third principle was pretty interesting as well; nonverbal communication becomes meaningful when one of more parties assigns meaning to it. For example when I am leaning on my friend, it means that I am tired and I want to take a nap. We both get that message because it is kind of a habit of mine in which my friends took notice and came to a realization that is what happens when I get tired.

Week 6: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it

I thought the rating scales were an interesting concept to read this week. Rating scales helps the observers and the members of the group to comments, which are translated in some definable measure. In a rating scale, there are specific questions asked that can be answer with a simple checkmark on a 7-1 scale. I recall using the rating scales ever since I was in middle school. We normally use this when we had to rate our group members’ performance. I did not like this rating scale because at that time I thought it was not beneficial and that this can be manipulated to make one’s grades higher or lower.

A couple years later I realized that this is very important to evaluate a group performance. It is actually very effective because it evaluates with a score. This rating scale can also be applied and very common with surveys. I also think that rating scales are an easy way to give feedback. 

Week 6: D2

Outline and discuss the guidelines for providing observer feedback to a group.  

Here are the guidelines for providing feedbacks to the group.

1.   Avoid generalization

2. Focus on behavior

3.  Don’t debate or argue with the group

4.  Don’t micromanage the group process

5. Remember the role of an observer

6. Accentuate the positive aspects

7. End with specific suggestions

8. Be clear and concise

9.  Compliment in public and criticize in private

10. Develop positive relationships with the members of the group.

These guidelines are pretty useful because I can see how it can be applied to make the observer more effective for the group. I thought the guideline of don’t debate and argue was interesting because it is true. The observers should not bring problems to the group that they are observing; it sort of defeats the purpose of them there. Another helpful guideline is accentuating positive aspects. I have been coaching for a while and I seen how effective it was when I try to find and give positive feedback towards the team. As a coach I would compliment in public and criticize in private. When one of my players is doing extremely well I would compliment them during time outs in front of the whole team. But when one of my players aren’t doing so well, I would pull them aside during a time out to tell them what they can work on instead. I believe that they useful guidelines for an observer.