Reflexivity

Class today was great. Thoughtful debate about face-to-face and computer-mediated communication (F2F, CMC) ~ are they both, equally, “interpersonal communication”? We’ll tease this out a bit through our use of the class weblog: how will it compare to the interactions we have in class?
We only got through a small portion of what I’d planned, but the time was well-spent and will serve us well as we develop norms for classroom discussion.
The goal of today was to demarcate what we’ll study in this class, compared to other communication courses. The group charged with the task of giving us an initial definition of interpersonal communication came up with: “Any form of interaction between two or more people.” We took each part of this definition and wound up reducing “any form” to F2F (mostly) and some CMC – physical presence, in the moment, simultaneous give & take, responsive. We eliminated all forms that are essentially monologic or performance-oriented (to an audience), and mass media. The word “between” took on a lot of meaning to several; and “interaction” emphasized connection and contact…we kept adding to this things like the importance of emotion and timeliness, as well as distinguisheing between intra- and inter-personal.
I went ahead with the reading assignment (on listening) even though we didn’t get through all the small group share outs today. Most folks (if not everyone!) seem to be listening carefully, but there’s nothing wrong with moving ahead on two fronts simultaneously.

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I am wicked psyched for my interpersonal communication class. They jammed on thier first blog posts. What an amazingly upbeat and inspiring tone they’ve already set for the class! No glitches with getting in, everyone posted on time, no drops (yet, smile). As far as I know, I still have a few slots open…

Popularity: 1% [?]

None of my friends with disabilities will be surprised at this story in the NYTimes: School Achievement Reports Often Exclude the Disabled.
“Federal officials have acknowledged permitting a growing number of states to exclude many special education students from reports on school progress, on the grounds that they account for only a small portion of enrollment.”
Kinda makes one wonder what other “small portions” of people are excluded from consideration, acknowledgement, and other features of basic human regard.

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Maybe I’ll assign punkhermit’s blog to my interpersonal communication class this fall…?
She posted a link to QuarterLife Crisis.

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Teaching Foundations of Education with [the FP] this semester gives me the opportunity to review and critique my own philosophy and style of teaching. I’ve been quite influenced by group relations theory and its emphasis upon authority relations: this has led me to pay particular attention to structure and boundaries, and to think about the roles and task(s) inherent in an academic setting. In the college classroom, I consider the students to be equal participants in the process of learning. The structure of my courses reflects this, I think, in my clarity around boundaries (such as a no late work policy), which has the effect of situating a significant amount of responsibility upon the student to embrace the role of learner.
My style is to respect the choices that students make, with the real world caveat that choices have consequences. The work gets done or it doesn’t, students come to class or log in, or they don’t. All I can do is remind them of the criteria and expectations. When students do embrace the role of learner, everyone benefits from the discussions that ensue, including &emdash; most definitely! &emdash; me. In some ways I guess this is a selfish mode. If I put my energy into the nitty-gritty details of clarifying and enacting expectations right up front, then we can move into the subject material more deeply, without having to worry too much about logistical distractions.
Which isn’t to say everything runs smoothly! The writing class I’m teaching at UMass is a required course that most students approach reluctantly, and I have my own ambivalences &emdash; English is not a subject I have ever studied. I am more confident this semester though, the second time around and I think I have found a way to ground the curriculum with assignments that I can get excited about. If I’m jazzed up, it’s much more likely that I can bring some, perhaps even most of the students around. Our first class was rather grim, very few smiles, although voluntary participation was pretty good. I’m not much of a punster, but I am a group dynamics person, and what I enjoy most is identifying dynamics without judging them. Naming things opens them up for discussion and can often be done humorously. In hindsight, I realize that I didn’t feel free to make these observations the first time I taught this course.
Online the boundaries are even sharper, and the lack of face-to-face accountability really puts the onus on the student to embrace their role. It requires a completely different kind of trust &emdash; that ’someone’ is really ‘out there’ reading, thinking, and writing conscientiously about the topic at hand.

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