I teach this course online (Blackboard on the Internet) during the summer and online plus ITV during the fall and spring semesters. If you will take this course in the summer, it will be delivered entirely online. Fall and spring it is a combination of online and ITV. So, you will need to have access to the Internet and a browser (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer or Safari). While you do not need to be a computer wizard, you need to be able to get to a web site and it would help to be able to use a word processor to create a simple file. We ought to be able to take it from there. We will meet at a web site for the course set up on Blackboard at:
(http://www.courses.maine.edu).
Once you are at the screen for Blackboard, you login with your userid and password. The course is organized into weekly units, much like a classroom course, and you will be expected to keep up with assignments on a weekly basis, to read comments on our site and to write to our site.[See the SCHEDULE HERE]. I will work hard to make this work well and you need to work hard, too. My courses get excellent evaluations from students. I will do what I can to continue that tradition with this online course. Oh yes, I am Professor Leonard Shedletsky, but my students call me "Lenny" and I am comfortable with Lenny.
This course is about human communication. It is an introductory course in a vast field. We are supplied with information from psychology, anthropology, communication, psychiatry, linguistics, philosophy, mathematics, literature, sociology, political science, physiology, business, not to mention our own insights. We will attempt to pull together various perspectives on human behavior under the concept "communication." One aspect of this course that is bound to make the course challenging, and hopefully valuable, is its focus on theory. We will read about a variety of social scientific theories in their attempt to help us understand and describe human communication. Another aspect of this course that should make the course a good learning experience is its focus upon real-life communication incidents, which I will refer to as Critical Incidents. Your main task is to integrate theory and practice. Of course, there is far more material than we can study. The topics and approaches I've chosen do not exhaust the possibilities.
Introductory courses in communication vary widely depending upon (1) the amount of attention given to the experimental method, and (2) the view of human nature postulated. On the extremes we find the "Objective Scientific" approach which treats "the human as a machine," and the "Humanistic Celebration" approach which has an affinity with the nonacademic aspects of the therapy group: consciousness raising, self-acceptance, assertiveness training, and generally the promotion of self-actualization. In this course, we will take an approach which borrows from the extremes-- it relies upon the scientific tradition of the social sciences but it also shares with the humanities a view of the human being not as a machine, but rather as a thinking, creating, meaning-using actor: the "Humane Scientific" Approach. In rough outline, we will begin with a consideration of what a theory of communication could be and what it could be about. We'll consider the processes that go on within a person, such as labeling or naming, concept formation, memory, and learning. After a look at some of these intrapersonal processes, we will turn to social processes in face-to-face communication, interpersonal communication, and organizational communication. Finally, we will spend some time on processes of telecommunication. Specifically, I would like for us to consider what impact, if any, broadcasting and computer-mediated communication (CMC) have on us.
The course is built upon readings, exercises, essays (or analyses of critical incidents), a journal, discussions, and a final essay. I would like for our discussions to be a free give and take of ideas. For that to happen people must participate. [To insure participation in group discussion, you are required to post at least 2 times for each group exercise; I hate to quantify and require postings, but it is critical to the well being of each group.] If people do not take part in their group, I will move the active participants together--at their request--and leave others behind.
The assignments are listed along with each week or unit. (Each assignment is marked with an asterisk). Please do the assignment for each week and be prepared to discuss the week's reading.
My main objectives in this course are to introduce you to the study of communication and to get you thinking about communication. We will consider some questions that apply very generally, such as: What is the nature of human communication? And we will also consider some questions that apply very specifically, such as: How do I respond when I think that what I have to say will hurt someone else's feelings or may cause conflict or may make me appear some way that I don't want to appear? Even a full description of human communication does not insure that we will improve the communication in our lives. At the very least, we would have to put our knowledge to work. That is up to us. To aid in putting your knowledge to work (and at the same time deepening and expanding it), you are asked to keep a journal of your communication. I will say more about the journal. Also, you are asked to write one Critical Incident, i.e,a communication episode that was problematical or in some way stood out for you. I will say more about the Critical Incidents later.