Answering total of 3 questions. Questions are in bold. Around 100 words for each
1. Lession 8 blog post
Identify and define four listening styles.
woman listening In communication courses, you may spend so much time focusing on
what is coming out of your mouth that you might forget to focus on what is coming
into your ears. Before you continue, take a moment to listen to The 5 Communication
Secrets that Swept Obama to the Presidency, an engaging video about the importance
of listening.
Did you know that listening is a skill? Just like getting better at playing a sport or a
musical instrument, you can become a better listener. With practice, you can learn to
filter out stimuli that compete for your attention in a listening situation. To become a
better listener, it is a good idea to first identify your listening styles. Learn more about
them by clicking on the icons below.
People-Oriented: People-oriented listeners are empathetic listeners who are
comfortable listening to other people’s feelings and emotions.
Action-Oriented: Action-oriented listeners are listening for the main point in the
message so they can figure out what to do with the information.
Content-Oriented: Content-oriented listeners like to listen to information-rich
messages with complex, detailed information.
Time-Oriented: Time-oriented listeners are aware of the amount of time they have to
listen, and prefer brief messages.
After learning more about listening styles, have you narrowed down which style best
suits you? By knowing your listening style, you can enhance your skills as well as
practice other styles so you will be able to adapt to different situations. From the
COM230 course homepage, click on Blog located on the main navigation on the left.
Select the blog entry My Listening Style. You will see the Add a Comment form.
Enter a title in the Title entry blank. Then, in the Body textbox, write about your
listening style.
2. Lession 9 blog post
Explain how to deal with difficult group members.
As students of small group communication, understanding how to effectively
collaborate with others in conflict situations will encourage your conflicts toward
more productive outcomes. Unfortunately, people may have a difficult time separating
people from the problem, focusing on shared interests, looking for alternatives, and
using objective criteria. Like Harry Potter, who attempts to avoid the struggles with
his family in the opening of the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
dealing with difficult group members can be a challenge, especially when it is unclear
who the deviant is. As Beebe and Masterson note in the textbook, "You're more likely
to label someone a deviant if you think you are not deviant in your own team
behavior" (p. 187). Carefully review this scene from Harry Potter now. Next, consider
the following tips for dealing with difficult people.
Given these tips, in this fictional scene, is Harry the deviant, or is his family?
How well does Harry handle his family? What about his house elf? What would
you do? Take some time to record your thoughts in the course blog and see what
others think.
3. Lession 2 blog post
Explain the usefulness of theory in small group communication.
Understanding small group communication theory creates a firm foundation for study
and assists in building your awareness of communication choices. Theories are drawn
from observations that lead to conclusions for the purpose of explanation and
prediction. In small group communication, the explanatory function showcases how
small groups can perform more efficiently, and the predictive function allows for
members to forecast outcomes.
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Explanatory function:The power of a theory to explain things.
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Predictive function:The ability of a theory to predict events.
Think back to the list of small groups in your life that you made in Lesson 1. Was one
of the groups on your list members of your family? Sometimes overlooked, families
function as small groups with high levels of complexity. For instance, families change
as people marry or separate and new members are born and other members pass away.
Families may engage in varying levels of conflict and utilize a variety of roles and
norms, as well as navigate different environments such as physical locations like a
home or virtual situations like text messaging. In this video, Family
Ties...Strengthening the Family Unit, meet Raymond and Veronica's family.
From this brief introduction and considering what you learned in Lesson 1 about
small group communication, what theoretical statement could you develop about
this family?
4. Lession 11 blog post
Describe how to evaluate Web resources and use virtual communication in problem
solving.
With advances in technology, when you have a problem to solve, where do you go? If
you answered a smartphone or the library, it is likely that within your research, you
will stumble across a Web page or two. Beebe and Masterson note, "Although
traditional library sources are still excellent for gathering evidence used in group
discussion, more and more research is conducted via the internet" (p. 87). The Internet
is an amazing tool to access a variety of resources, yet it brings a false sense of
security because anyone can publish their thoughts, opinions, and findings whether
they are credible or not. As students of small group communication, it is important to
understand how to evaluate Web resources. Check out Waking Up, Inc. to apply a set
of criteria you can use to determine if the Website is worthwhile.
Accountability: Know who is placing the information on the site.
Objectivity: Consider the interests or biases of the organization or individual
responsible for the site.
Accuracy: Is the information accurate and verifiable? Web resources should be
relatively free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
Recency: Check to see when the Website was last updated. As a general rule, the more
recent the information, the better.
Usability: Consider whether you can actually use in the information and whether it
relates to the group goal.
Along with the virtual environment of Web resources, small group problem solving
can occur in a virtual environment. Just as you have seen in this class, a variety of
different online venues are available for people to connect and solve problems. Beebe
and Masterson stated that though people use virtual communication, they still like to
meet face-to-face. Yet, in a recent study conducted on patients in psychological
therapy, the transcripts do not reveal a noticeable difference in "humanness" between
the virtual therapist and the face-to-face therapist (Cristea, Sucala, & David, 2013).
Therefore, whether technology is used or not, people still connect. Technology
has advanced enough that the medium for connecting does not matter, or does it?
What do you think? If you had the choice, would you rather meet virtually with
a small group or meet in person? Why? Share your thoughts now in the course
blog.
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