Week of November 30-December 6

Read Chapter 13

This week you have a quiz on Chapters 11 & 13. Please log onto Blackboard before December 6th to take the quiz.

Work on your Concept Application Paper this week, as it is due by December 5th before 11:59pm. If you would like, I can read over your paper to give you tips on what to improve upon before the paper is actually due. If you choose to send your paper early, please make sure to send it by 11:59pm on Wednesday night of this week in order for me to give you feedback and get it back to you by Thursday night.

I will be holding office hours on both Tuesday and Thursday of this week as usual from 10:30am to 11:30am. I will be on Yahoo Messenger during those times and checking my email regularly in case there are any questions. I will also be on campus on December 5th on Friday. If you would like to stop by and chat for a few minutes, let me know so I can plan some time in my office to meet with you. I will be available from about 11:00am to 12:00pm. Just shoot me an email and let me know if you want to come by.

Paper reminders/tips

Evidence

You should include evidence from the reading in your paper. This can be in the form of paraphrasing or direct quotes. Of course you can always bring in outside sources if you'd like. If you do quote or paraphrase, make sure you are citing your sources in proper APA or MLA format.

Like I have mentioned before, this information is review, so bear with me if you have heard this over and over again.

I will post what is required for the coming week tomorrow morning. Have a great night!

Another Tip

I hope that you all had a great day yesterday. Every year I shop early in the morning on the Friday after Thanksgiving, today was no exception. Do you all shop early in the morning the Friday after Thanksgiving? Do you have any interesting stories you'd like to share?


Here's another tip for writing your papers:

Paragraphs
1). You should have a topic sentence in each paragraph that is included in your paper.
2). Make sure you have full and complete sentences throughout, avoiding fragment sentences.
3). Avoid 'mini' paragraphs. Make sure you have decent sized paragraphs (follow the rule of 5 sentences or more if you need to). Also, make sure you do not have paragraphs that are longer than a page. This could easily mean that you need to break up your long paragraph into two.
4). Develop a justification to shift from paragraph to paragraph.
5). Try not to begin or end paragraphs with quoted material.

Look for another tip tomorrow, and I look forward to hearing any stories about today's shopping experience (either from this year or past years). Until tomorrow.....

Turkey Day

For those of you that celebrate today's occasion,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Posts will resume tomorrow! :)

Weaving in Course Concepts

Upon review of the assignment sheet, it is easy to see that there are some pretty interesting course concepts that you should apply to your paper. On the assignment sheet there are 12 categories listed. You should choose 6 of these categories to analyze in your paper.

I suggest that you review these course concepts prior to watching the movie of your choice in order to allow the concepts to really sink in. Take notes if possible on the course concepts listed on the assignment sheet, then apply them to the movie of your choice.

As the assignment sheet states, subhead your paper as you see fit. But keep in mind that the paper must act as a whole. For some this will be review, so bear with me here. In your Introduction Paragraph, you should introduce the ideas or categories covered in your paper. In other words, you should Forecast or Preview each major section of your paper in a single sentence in your introduction paragraph. Also, in your conclusion you should summarize or review each major section that you have covered in the body of your paper in your last paragraph. This will round out your paper nicely.

Transitions.....you should develop a justification to shift from paragraph to paragraph. Doing this will ensure that your paper is linked together at all transition points (from paragraph to paragraph and section/category to each other).

More tips to come....

Week of Novmeber 23-26

I WILL BE holding office hours on Tuesday!!!

Thanksgiving week is a work week. For this week, please work diligently on your last assignment for this course. Over the next few days I will be posting reminders about the final assignment. I will post tips for completing the assignment and reminders of how to write an essay, which most of you already know, but it's nice to have a refresher from time to time.

Here is Tip#1
*Review the ENTIRE assignment sheet. Read over the assignment sheet prior to watching the movie to remind you what the assignment requires.

*Choose a movie that you think would be entertaining for you.

*Review ALL course concepts listed on the assignment sheet (prior to watching the movie) to get a preliminary idea of how you would like to formulate your analysis.

*Watch the movie, and take notes. Pausing the movie to jot down some notes at different points will help with this process. If you try to analyze the movie after watching it, you may indeed miss something important.

Of course some of these tips will be common sense to most. If they are indeed common sense for you, please pass over them and use the tips you do find useful.

If you need ANY clarification about the assignment, please either leave a comment on my blog or email me directly.

More tips to come...... :)

Blogging this week

I was excited about the posts this week, and really enjoyed reading what you all have wrote so far. The question of cyberspace friendships was particularly interesting to me. I found it quite fascinating that the majority of the class has no 'cyberspace only' friendships and few desire to create or maintain them.

I personally have a number of cyberspace only friendships that I keep up with on a normal basis. I do this through keeping a personal blog, commenting on blogs of people that I have met online, and of course conversing through email with people I have no met in person. These relationships serve a specific purpose, one that can be quite different than a f2f friendship. Of course these relationships carry a set of rules all unto themselves, some of which carry over to f2f relationships, but some quite different.

Like most of the class, I was leery at first develop and keep these friendships going. But overtime I have found that they are quite useful. In what ways do you think these friendships could be useful to you or to others?

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.

Chocoyuko
Daron Story
EMadden11
Lady In Society
me010400
Molly McMuffin
Sakishot
Stephany
Zamoradesign

Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start. Nice job everyone!!!!

Week of November 16-22

Here is what's on the schedule for this week:

Read Chapter 11

Class Discussion: Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 24 hours apart:

· Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

· Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

· Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

· Remember to post 2 responses to your colleagues blogs at least 24 hours apart.

Reminder: We have only 2 discussion weeks left, let's keep up the momentum. :)

Getting an Early Start

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.

Blondie
Cherry
Chocoyuko
Daron Story
EMadden11
Molly McMuffin
Persiangirl
Stephany
Zamoradesign

Let's congratulate these folks for getting an early start. Nice job everyone!!!

Reminder: Most of you are doing exceptional in this area, but as a reminder, try to keep up with your blog posts. Blogging is fairly easy, and has quite a few points associated with it. If you will notice on the syllabus, there are 250 points associated with blogging. While 5 points here and there may not seem like a lot of points, they can quickly add up and drop you down an entire letter grade or two. In short, try to keep up with your blogging. :)

I can't wait to read the rest of your blogs this week.

Week of November 9-15

***Read Chapter 8, Organizational Communication
***There is a quiz this week on Chapters 6 & 8. I have included quite a few True/False questions to give you a small break in the middle of your busy semester.
***Participate in the discuss for this week!

Discussion Questions:

Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 24 hours apart:

· How are organizations tied to the environment? What is the relationship between the school you attend and the city or town in which it is situated? What, if any, ethical obligations does an organization like a college or university have to the local community?

· Review the etiquette rules suggested in the text. Respond to each one. Have you ever been bothered by cell phone, answering machines, or beepers? What do you feel about call waiting? Is it rude to put people on hold to take another call?

· Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

· Remember to post 2 responses to your colleagues blogs at least 24 hours apart.

Returning Papers and Other Stuff

Hello Class! As most of you have noticed, I have started commenting on your blogs. That is, if you have posted a blog by Thursday. You are more than welcome to comment back (on your blog) if you'd like. But remember, it is still necessary to comment on two other blogs during your participation week. I do like reading your comments though. :)

I will start returning papers today. This process will continue throughout the weekend. I should have all papers returned to you by Monday at the latest. Read over your comments and let me know if you have any questions. I will be available all weekend for questions. I have enjoyed reading your papers so far this week, and will continue to enjoy them over the next couple of days.

Nice blogging this week by the way. I really enjoyed reading your opinions about which patterns (rigid complementarity, competitive symmetry, or submissive symmetry) you think would be the hardest to change, most damaging, etc... Each person seems to have a difference of opinion with no clear consensus.

Look out for my email this weekend! Until then.....

Beginning the Week Early

A number of people have blogged already:

Daron Story
Emadden11
Molly McMuffin
Stephany
ZamoraDesign

A good start to the week! To get an early start on commenting, stop by these blogs. I can't wait to read what the rest of you will write this week.

Week of Nov. 2-8

REMINDER: Daylight Savings Time ended this morning at 2am. Set your clocks back an hour. :)


Here is what's on the schedule for this week:

Read Chapter 6, Interpersonal Communication and participate in the discussion for this week:

Answer one in each of your three posts, at least 24 hours apart:

*Which pattern (rigid complementarity, competitive symmetry, or submissive symmetry) do you think would be the most difficult to change? Why? Which would be the most damaging to a relationship? Which would be the most potentially damaging to the self-esteem of the individuals involved?

*Think about the filters you use to eliminate people from consideration as potential romantic partners. What characteristics or behaviors lead you to judge others as unattractive? Does Duck's theory make sense to you? Have you ever eliminated someone by using a sociological or pre-interaction cue only to reconsider them based on interaction and cognitive cues?

*Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

***Remember to post 2 responses to your colleagues blogs at least 24 hours apart.