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Integrative Assignment—Pedagogical Grounding
WHO ARE YOU?!? AN ASSESSMENT OF INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION IN A MEDIATED WORLD
Developed by Merissa Ferrara and RoxAnn Stalvey
College of Charleston
DISCIPLINES: COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION
LEARNING COMMUNITY PURPOSE AND GOALS
This learning community involved a Computer Science and a Communication course:
CSCI 199: Six Degrees of Communication
An introduction to computer based social networks. Six degrees, as a concept, is a
figure for the study of networks as the fundamental feature of a connected age. In this
class, we will explore the study, science, and application of networks with an
emphasis on computer social networks. Particular attention is given to the role of
information and communication technologies in social support, and communications
media in facilitating interpersonal connectivity.
COMM 220 Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
This course, organized into two sections, will examine theory and research on the role
of communication in the development, maintenance, and termination of interpersonal
relationships. The first section consists of an overview of the major (meta) theoretical
approaches employed by communication scholars in investigating relational
communication. After this, the course will take on a topical organization, roughly
tracking the progression of relationships from initiation through termination. The
class will be conducted from a lecture/discussion format. Since virtually everyone in
class has both personal and vicarious experience with relationships, the students are
encouraged to actively participate.
The purpose of this learning community is to challenge students to examine their
world, how they meet, interact in, and develop and end relationships. The community
is an interesting blend of self-exploration, application and social science research.
Students interact with the campus community and utilize academic resources and
student support services at the College of Charleston. By the end of the semester,
students should be able to articulate at least four interpersonal communication
theories, test and apply these theories to their lives, have a visible improvement in
their interaction skills, understand the fundamentals of computer networks, and create
simple databases and web pages to aid in technological communication.
Ferrara and Stalvey
Integrative Assignment—Pedagogical Grounding
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION:
This semester-long project involved a series of mini-assignments. Students had to
compile these assignments at the end of the semester in a format of their choice
(i.e., blog, video, scrapbook, movie, journal, etc).
The following is a list of some of the topics and specific assignments for each concept
that specifically touched on integrating the two courses. The entire project guidelines
are attached in PowerPoint form.
•
Uncertainty Reduction Theory: Theory posits the main reason why we
communicate is to reduce uncertainty about ourselves, others, or the situation
we are in. One portion of the mini-assignment was directly linked to the
learning community courses. Students were asked to discuss a time during the
semester when they received an email or message via social media that
“increased your uncertainty. What routes did you take to reduce the
uncertainty? Do the axioms of the theory hold?”
•
Social Penetration Theory: A theory predicting the gradual progression of
self-disclosure. Students were asked in the Computer Science course to
develop a Facebook page and webpage. In the Interpersonal Communication
course they had to do a content analysis of the levels of information they
posted for all to see on the Internet. We then debated in class the benefits and
risks of disclosure over the computer. Then students were asked to reflect on
whether social penetration theory is outdated in the world of social media
networking.
•
Deception: Students received the following instructions. “Record your lies for
the week. Identify the types of deception and motivations for deception.
Reflect on whether the wireless world makes deception easier or more
difficult.”
•
Attraction: Students worked in teams of three to do the following. “Create a
personal ad for one of you and post it on an online dating website. Using
attraction theories argue who you think the ad will attract and see if your
predictions are correct. Reflect on how the notion of attraction due to
proximity has changed with the evolution of the Internet.”
PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT:
There were four objectives for the assignment. Students were expected to:
1. Reflect on the theories, research, and terms they learned in the Interpersonal
Communication course throughout the semester.
2. Relate these terms to their own lives.
3. Assess themselves with respect to current self, ideal self, and others. By the
end of the semester, students should be able to articulate who they are as
individuals and how they interact with their social networks.
4. Broaden their scope of what interpersonal means. We wanted students to
know that use of social media widens their interpersonal network which has
risks and rewards.
Ferrara and Stalvey
Integrative Assignment—Pedagogical Grounding
QUESTION OR ISSUES THE ASSIGNMENT ADDRESSES:
We wanted students to start thinking about how who they perceive themselves to be
affects their verbal and nonverbal behavior which, in turn, affects the impressions
others form of them and others’ attitudes and behaviors. We wanted them to get the
idea that communication—whether face to face or mediated—is powerful. By the end
of the semester we wanted them to be able to answer these questions: Who are you?
How are you distinct from others through your perceptions and “communicationisms”? Explain how your perceptions and “communication-isms” affect other people
whether they are friends, family, classmates, business associates, strangers, romantic
partners, etc.
DISCIPLINARY GROUNDING:
The Six Degrees of Separation course devoted much discussion time to two social
networking topics relevant to this assignments: 1) self-disclosure on the Internet (i.e.,
once the information is posted, it is forever out of your hands; potential employers
may see what students post; etc.) and 2) computing ethics and the legality, and
morality, of ethical violations using the computer. Students were expected to
incorporate the readings and discussion from this portion of the course into the “Who
Are You?” assignment. This course was also responsible for the creation of the online
web pages and Facebook accounts that were content-analyzed for Social Penetration
theory.
Students were expected to define, relate, and reflect on each major interpersonal
communication concept discussed in class. For instance, it was not enough to say
uncertainty was reduced. Students had to articulate which of the three routes of
uncertainty reduction was taken, explain how that impacted future interactions, and
how their experience supported the theory predictions.
STEPS TAKEN IN EACH COURSE TO HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP DISCIPLINARY GROUNDING:
The project was essentially a series of mini-assignments for the interpersonal
communication course. Lectures, readings, class discussion, and group activities all
contributed to preparing students for the project. In Computer Science, we discussed
computing ethics and read several ethics papers; students wrote a report on a
computer ethics case study where they researched the legality and morality of ethical
violations using the computer.
OBSERVATIONS ABOUT STUDENTS’ WORK IN RESPONSE TO THE ASSIGNMENT:
(evidence of disciplinary grounding and purposeful integration)
The student projects surpassed all expectations. It was rewarding as instructors to see
that students understood interpersonal theories, noticed the theories occurring in their
lives, and applied them to make positive improvements in their relationships.
Students who typically sign up for interpersonal communication courses love to talk
and think narrowly about what interpersonal communication is. Students who did this
project as part of the learning community were better able to articulate the impact of
“six degrees of separation in a social media world” than those who were not in the
learning community. Our learning community students understood how social media
can broaden the scope of people they can “meet” and befriend, help and hurt their
communication, impact what other people learn about them, and affect how others
think about who they are.
Ferrara and Stalvey
Integrative Assignment—Pedagogical Grounding
INSTRUCTORS’ REFLECTIONS ON THE ASSIGNMENT AND STUDENTS’ WORK:
Again, the students surpassed our expectations. They loved the product and we loved
the product. We expected that most students would just identify terms that were
immediately applicable in their own lives, but most of them did a phenomenal job
providing relevant examples and analyzing how term X impacted their lives, whether
they would change it, and how it affects other people’s perceptions of them.
This project increased their levels of perception-taking and empathy and gave them
greater confidence in who they are and the power involved in choosing their
communication style, word choice, and medium. It also made students more aware of
the communication going on around them.
It has been a pleasure running into our learning community students on campus
because they tell stories about how they applied uncertainty reduction theory to a
situation; how they avoided falling prey to a low-balling tactic; how they tried to
avoid contempt, criticism, and defensiveness when arguing with a romantic partner;
how they called out another learning community class member on their attributions;
how they told someone to put their Facebook page on private or to take off pictures
that were inappropriate; or how they downloaded a song because it covers the love
and gender theory components. We believe this semester-long assignment helps
students internalize core concepts from both of our classes.
We would like to make the discussions of self-disclosure and deception a joint
discussion. We both had the topic on our syllabi but we wished we had at least
covered them at the same time or, even more ideally, presented in each other’s
classrooms during these discussions. We believe this would add to the integrative
nature of the learning community. We also plan to incorporate more discussions of
social media as examples in the Interpersonal Communication course. For instance,
we would like to discuss the following as case studies:
•
Mrs. Smith ranted on YouTube for all to see about her upcoming divorce
(covers topics like stages of relationships and self-disclosure)
•
The girls who ganged up on another girl and beat her up so that they could be
famous (covers topics like groupthink, persuasion, attribution theory).
•
Presidential candidates using social media to reach out to individuals (covers
nonverbal communication, persuasion)
•
Research on the type of person who creates a MySpace account vs. a
Facebook account