From UMassWiki

February 11, 2008

Who looks like a leader to the outside? Rafael congratulates the writer of About a Protest.

Contents 1 Today's in-class activities 2 Homework assignments 3 What we did last week

Today's in-class activities

• Return Self-Evaluation #2 and Test #2 (from February 4, 2008).
• Test #3.
• Reviewing Schein. Describing your own contributions to the group. Compare what you wrote on Test #2 with the lists of specific examples in Schein. Where do your contributions fit? How could you have been more specific? Make notes for yourself.
• Name Game, courtesy of Angela. Thank you!
• Analysis and observation activity: fishbowls

SET-UP four teams: communication, decision-making, task/maintenance, and self-oriented, to observe fishbowls for indicators of these behaviors.

Fishbowl A) What is the most important info from Schein? (Handout, results from Self-Evaluation #2)

Fishbowl B) How do people's self-descriptions of their "contribution" to class help us learn about group dynamics? (Handout, results from Self-Evaluation #2)

Fishbowl C) TWO Representatives from each of the four teams, what did you observe in terms of process and content? (Handout, results from Self-Evaluation #2) and hey, what about those observations that aren't being shared?! :-)

• BreakOUT - - a "Process" group and a "Content" group

CONTENT: Wiki Design (the what). What will be the content of your final product? Recall the Course Description. What do you care about? What do you want to say to or show the world?

PROCESS: Self and Peer Evaluation (the how). Recall the questions about the syllabus. What needs to be evaluated? How will you measure success?

Time runs out! Still on the agenda:

FISHBOWL D) What is gist? Getting to quality and substance. (Handout, results from Test 2)

FISHBOWL E) On utilizing resources (e.g., how to be a leader...). (Handout, results from Test 2)

• Self and Peer Evaluations #3 (the surveys)

Homework assignments

1. Schein Teams: be prepared to give a two-three minute oral report on the patterns of interaction that you observed in class, using classmates' names, the categories and examples from "What to Observe in a Group", and any additional terminology related to group dynamics.
2. Read the first 120 pages of After Dachau. Note all passages in which you wonder, "What is going on?" Particularly note those if, when, where and what goes against what you think is "real" or "actual" or is otherwise out-of-sync with your own experience, understanding, and/or knowledge. Write down or mark the exact page number and sentence! (No minimum or maximum but however many times you come across.) Bring your book to class.
3. Read the comment linked above concerning a recognition of leadership within our class by someone who is outside of our group.
4. Read and comment to Steph's post, Time to DECIDE, What will YOU create? Review the choices, read any comments that have already been made, and offer your contribution. Be thoughtful and specific. You are not limited by the examples posted, they are simply to give you a sense of the range of possibilities (technologically). The actual content of each project listed does, however, provide a sampling of the kind of projects that might pass muster.

What we did last week

If you missed class, or if you want a refresher, please check out the photos and some results from our large group discussion. (The pictures came out better this time.)  :-)