University of Indianapolis School for Adult Learning COMM 331 AU1: Interpersonal Communication. Summer 2015, Session 1 3 credit hours CRN: 41405

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1 University of Indianapolis School for Adult Learning COMM 331 AU1: Interpersonal Communication Summer 2015, Session 1 3 credit hours CRN: CLASS MEETINGS: May 5, 12, 19, 26 and June 2 (Tuesdays) 6:00-9:45 p.m. Esch Hall 202 INSTRUCTOR: Valerie Wahlstrom (UIndy Web Editor and SAL Adjunct Instructor) millervk@uindy.edu CELL PHONE: (evening/weekend) OFFICE PHONE: (daytime) AVAILABILITY: is the best way to contact me, or you can reach me via the phone numbers listed above. Since I work at UIndy full time, I am on campus M-F, 8-4:30, and am happy to meet with you by appointment. I also am available 4:30-6 on Tuesdays before class. OFFICE: My office is in the Stierwalt Alumni House (behind Good Hall). WELCOME/TIPS FOR SUCCESS Welcome to Comm 331! This course will provide you with a better understanding of interpersonal communication and the significant impact it has on relationships of all types. My hope is that you can take what you learn and immediately apply it in your interpersonal relationships with family, friends, coworkers and others. The following tips will help you succeed in this course: Read all assignments and come to class prepared to discuss those topics. Participate in class discussions and activities. Follow all instructions for assignments, and ask if you have questions or something is not clear. If you are willing to learn, I am happy to help! Use the feedback on past assignments to improve your work on future assignments. REQUIRED TEXTBOOK (SHOULD BE AVAILABLE IN THE UINDY BOOKSTORE) McCornack, S., (2013). Reflect & Relate: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication, Third edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s. ISBN 13: If you order your book online, I strongly recommend doing so at least two weeks before the first night of class to ensure enough time for it to arrive and for you to read the assignments. COURSE DESCRIPTION COMM 331 provides the student with information, insight, and current theory concerning communication on an interpersonal level. Emphasis is placed on self-awareness, selfdisclosure, barriers, supportiveness in verbal transactions, nonverbal messages, message 1

2 reception, and interpersonal relationships. The student is given the opportunity and specific means for learning and internalizing the relevant concepts through research and experiential vehicles. COURSE GOALS & STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES The purpose of this course is to help you understand the importance of competent interpersonal communication in building and sustaining meaningful relationships, and to help you build and improve your interpersonal communication skills. Upon completion of this course, the successful student will understand theories and concepts in the various aspects of interpersonal communication and have further developed his or her skills in these areas. This course fulfills the following University learning goals: Critical Thinking Students will apply what they learn in readings and class discussion to writing and speaking projects that encourage them to reflect on and improve their interpersonal communication skills. Creativity Students will look for ways to use communication to solve problems and present new ideas. Performance Students will demonstrate their communication skills through written assignments and oral presentations. Social Responsibility Students are responsible for their own learning and will engage with their fellow classmates to learn from each other s experiences as they relate to course topics. COURSE EXPECTATIONS & POLICIES Attendance & Participation Attendance is expected at all class sessions. Because this is an accelerated course, we will cover a lot of material each week, and much of the course will include in-class activities that cannot be made up if you miss a class. Participation in class discussions and activities also is expected. We each bring different life experiences to the classroom, and sharing your experiences that are relevant to the class topics greatly enhances the learning experience for everyone, so plan to participate in all class activities. Up to 50 points will be awarded each week for attendance and participation. If you know in advance that you will miss a class, please speak with me prior to the first class session so that we may work out alternate arrangements. Be aware that missing class will result in loss of attendance/participation points for the week, regardless of how genuine the reason, since you cannot participate in class if you are not present. Unapproved or excessive absences may result in a reduction of your final course grade or a recommendation to withdraw from the course, even if you are able to complete the required assignments. Because our class time is limited, it is important that we begin on time each week. Habitual tardiness is not acceptable (either at the beginning of class or returning from breaks) and may result in loss of attendance/participation points. 2

3 Withdrawal Should you decide that you don t want to take this course, it is your responsibility to drop the class following the proper procedures by meeting with or ing one of the SAL advisors from your UIndy account. You will not be automatically dropped you if you do not attend the first class, stop attending later in the session, or have excessive absences. To receive a tuition refund, you must drop by the Friday of the first week of class (May 8). To withdraw, you may do so after May 8 and no later than Friday, May 22 (a W will appear on your transcript and you will not receive any refund). After May 22, there can be no withdrawals or administrative withdrawals and you will be given a grade for the course that will appear on your transcript. Failure to properly withdraw yourself from the class will result in a failing grade in the course for nonattendance (FN). Dropping or withdrawing from a class may affect your financial aid eligibility. Academic Integrity Section I of the student handbook (available in My UIndy) outlines the University s policies on academic misconduct, including cheating and plagiarism. It is your responsibility to know what constitutes academic misconduct and how to avoid it. If academic misconduct is suspected, I will follow the procedures outlined in the student handbook. If you re not sure about something, just ask me and we ll work through it together. Services for students with disabilities If you have a disability (e.g. attention, health, hearing, learning, mobility, physical, psychiatric, or vision) that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please let me know prior to the first class session (or speak privately with me at our first class session) so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. If you have not already done so, please register with the Services for Students with Disabilities office (SSD) in Schwitzer Student Center 206 ( / uindy.edu/ssd) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable academic accommodations. ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING The following assignments are intended to help you develop and practice skills related to the course topics and connect these skills to your own interpersonal relationships. Grading rubrics for each assignment will be posted on ACE. Please note that some aspects of the assignments may change (especially the time limits for presentations) based on the final number of students enrolled in the class. Late assignments/make-up policy Late assignments will receive a reduction of one full letter grade for each day they are late, which may result in a failing grade for the assignment. Students may be allowed to make up missed or late assignments for full credit under extenuating circumstances. If an emergency situation arises that will interfere with your ability to complete your work, it is your responsibility to contact me immediately to determine the best course of action. If you don t let me know what is going on, then I have no way of knowing why an assignment is late and must grade accordingly. 3

4 Assignments Journals (4 x 100 points each) The reflective journal assignments will help you apply class concepts to develop your interpersonal communication skills. To get the most benefit from this exercise, choose questions and experiences that are most important to understanding your own interpersonal attitudes and skills, or that will help you make progress in areas you would like to work on. Each journal will consist of 3 entries: 1. Select a Self-Reflection from any of the assigned chapters for the week and respond to the questions asked. Make sure to respond to ALL aspects of the Self-Reflection prompt if the Self-Reflection contains 4 sub-questions, make sure you respond to each of them. 2. Select a Skills Practice from any of the assigned chapters for the week. If possible, follow the steps listed in an interpersonal encounter and describe your experience. If not, use the steps to explain how you will act the next time you have a similar experience. Make sure to respond to each step/question of the Skills Practice. 3. Analyze an interpersonal encounter that happened during the week (different from your Skills Practice and does not have to be related to the assigned readings). This might be an interesting or difficult conversation, a conflict, or other experience that illustrates a point we have discussed in class. These entries should include: a. Description: Describe the interpersonal encounter. What happened? b. Analysis: What course concepts helped you in understanding this experience? How do the concepts apply to this situation? c. Conclusion/Learning: What did you learn about yourself and your interpersonal attitudes and skills? What steps do you need to take, if any, to improve? The journal assignments should be typed, double-spaced (this makes it easier to provide feedback when grading). Each entry should be 1-2 pages (so each journal assignment will be 3-6 pages total). For entries 1 and 2, please indicate which Self-Reflection and Skills Practice you are responding to and include page numbers. A sample of the journal assignment format will be posted on ACE. Journal 1 (Chapters 1-3) 1. Self-Reflection response from Ch Skills Practice response/analysis from Ch. 1-3 Journal 2 (Chapters 4-7) 1. Self-Reflection response from Ch Skills Practice response/analysis from Ch. 4-7 Journal 3 (Chapter 8) 1. Self-Reflection response from Ch Skills Practice response/analysis from Ch. 8 Due 10 p.m. Sunday, May 10 via ACE Due 10 p.m. Sunday, May 17 via ACE Due 10 p.m. Sunday, May 24 via ACE 4

5 Journal 4 (Chapters 9-12) 1. Self-Reflection response from Ch Skills Practice response/analysis from Ch Due 10 p.m. Sunday, May 31 via ACE Culture project/presentation (100 points) Due May 19 (Week 3) As you will learn throughout this course, the way we communicate interpersonally and the way others perceive our communication is strongly influenced by culture. In order to become a competent communicator, it is important to understand the differences in cultural expectations. The culture project and presentation will help us gain a better awareness and understanding of the communication differences in other cultures. For this project, you will choose a culture to research (particularly focusing on the various facets of communication that we cover in class), and discuss your findings with the class in a 5-7 minute presentation. Your presentation should cover the following topics: Overview of the culture (nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, geographic location, population, economy, education, etc. CIA World Factbook is a good place to start) Display rules for communicating emotion Differences in gender/communication Individualistic vs. collectivistic High context vs. low context Language thought shaping and verbal communication guidelines Nonverbal communication kinesics, vocalics, haptics, proxemics, chronemics, physical appearance, artifacts, environment Power currencies and distribution In addition to your presentation, you will turn in an outline that cites your sources. Visual aids are not required for this presentation, but may be very beneficial in helping the class gain a better understanding of the culture. A grading rubric will be posted on ACE. Final project (250 points) Due June 2 (Week 5) For your final project, you will choose a specific aspect of interpersonal communication that interests you and do one of the following: Option A: Find examples of that aspect of interpersonal communication represented in popular culture (TV, movies, music, etc.) OR Option B: Select a current event and explain how that aspect of interpersonal communication affects the development and outcome of the event. You will present your findings in a 15 minute presentation/class discussion. If you choose Option A, you should have at least 3-5 examples to present/discuss (this will depend on your topic and the quality of examples you use). If you choose Option B, you should examine the event from all angles and use multiple sources to document and support your thesis. 5

6 Your presentation should include visual aids have the following basic structure: INTRODUCTION Get the audience s attention Introduce your topic and thesis and preview the main points BODY Present well-developed main points Cite sources used to develop/support them Use transitions to help the audience follow along CONCLUSION Summarize/recap your main points Leave the audience with something to think about Be prepared for questions and to lead the class discussion about your topic In addition to your presentation, you will turn in an outline that cites your sources. The majority of your grade will be based on the quality of your presentation and the accuracy of your analysis. A grading rubric will be posted on ACE. Extra Credit You can earn extra credit by sharing news articles that pertain to topics we discuss in class. To earn the bonus points, you need to post the link to the article in the ACE Forum Comm 331 in the news and briefly present the news item during the next class session. You can earn 5 points for each news article, up to 20 total bonus points. Grading Summary Journals (4 x 100 each) Culture project/presentation Final project/presentation Attendance/Participation (50 per class) Total 400 points 100 points 250 points 250 points 1,000 points Grading Scale A A B B B C C C D D D F Below 60 6

7 CLASS SCHEDULE Instructor reserves the right to make adjustments as necessary and will give you sufficient notice if changes will be made. Date Reading Assignments Due Class Discussion May 5 Ch. 1-3 What is interpersonal communication? Considering self Perceiving others Sunday, May 10 Journal #1 due at 10 May 12 Ch. 4-7 Verbal & nonverbal communication Listening Expressing emotions Sunday, May 17 Journal #2 due at 10 May 19 Ch. 8 Culture project Culture project presentations Managing conflict Sunday, May 24 Journal #3 due at 10 May 26 Ch Different types of relationships Sunday, May 31 Journal #4 due at 10 June 2 Final project Final project presentations 7