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.