User:Dtheriau

From UMassWiki

[edit] Dan's Amazing Wiki Page

[edit] About Me

I am no good at "about me" things.

[edit] What have I been up to all semester?

- Not too much. Sike Sike sike! This semester has been pretty hectic overall and I must admit how happy I am to be almost done. In addition to this Comm352 group dynamics deal I am also taking Spanish, a film history class, junior writing, and an advertising/public relations course. Pretty much all Comm at this point. In my Spanish class, we learn spanish, pretty standard really. In my History of film class, we explore the history of film through watching movies, also pretty standard. In my Junior writing class we write news articles and journalistic essays to prepare us for possible future careers, and in my advertising class we explore advertisings power to manipulate and persuade. All pretty straight foreward stuff. Which brings me to the real point, Comm 352 Group Dynamics. Our class Not exactally straight foreward stuff, but I did learn a thing or two.

[edit] Group Dynamics and What I Contibuted

[edit] Presence

As far as being attending class and being present for the group dynamic, I was there for it all. Starting from day one I was in class and curious about what it was all about, and to a certain extent you could say there is still a level of curiosity. Although I cant think of a flashy way to show it though pictures or links, I was indeed in every class this semester. Not to take away anything from people who missed a day or two for legitimate reasons, but I feel that getting to every class, especially a 3 hour class is a pretty decent accomplishment. Of course there were a few weeks that I truely dreaded going to class, or weeks that I just was not on my game, but I still managed to show up and contribute every week and I hope that counts for something.

[edit] Involvement

Just by coming to this class one really has no option other than to be "involved". On the very first day of class we had to jump in head first and involve ourselves with our classmates, seeing as the teacher was nowhere to be found of the first half hour. The act of having just words on a board to go by as instruction in a way sums uo this class. We were not encouraged to always look to the teacher, the authority for guidance and direction. We relied on eachother and ourselves to get tasks accomplished throughout this course, and as individuals there was a need to stay up to date and "involved" in order to keep up. And starting from the very begining of the class, there was no shortage of things, tasks, and groups to get involved in. Here is a way to see the groups that I was involved in over the course of the semester. Week one- Followers Group Week one Week two- Followers / Content Group week 2 Week three- Content / Decision-Making (Fireballs) Week four- Decision-Making Weeks five-nine Decision-Making Weeks ten-twelve- Wiki Groups, Music & Study/Informed Consent week 12

[edit] Participation / Contributions

As far as participation is concerned, I definately feel that I pulled my weight in class. Not only did I attend every class, but I feel that I added some valuable insight, feedback or ideas in just about every class meeting. Sure it was pointed out to me in my feedback that I sometimes don't speak as much as others or I am too quiet sometimes, but who doesnt have those days? Its tough to come to a three hour class thirteen times and be a cheerful ball of productive energy each meeting. And i am not a very cheery person in general. So for participation I would say that I did a pretty good job overall. I kept up with the blog potings and did many i am fairly proud of.Hippies I was in many fishbowls and large class discussions and made it a point to add valuable thoughts to the class about the task at hand. In addition to the fishbowls, i also participated in, and contributed too a variety of subgroups created in class. As early as the process group I attempted to throw out my ideas on how the wiki should be pieced together. And in the Decision-Making Procedure Schein team, my group members and myself spent hours in class observing our classmates and their decision making behavior in discussions. And our Schein team reports reflected our efforts. More recently my participation and contributions have been focused on these wiki groups. With help from Steph, the Informed Consent/Study group came up with a agmeplan on how this "social experiment" of sorts would play out.Study We came up with some theories and a solid thesis, then designed an evaluation and assessment form for the class to fill out, in addition to an informed consent form for the class to sign. In the Music group, my group members and I explored the local music scene and attempted to bring some of the interesting musical aspects of the area to peoples attention. Music Group From show schedules and pictures to band reviews and song links the music group helped show how talented people visit the area all the time, and how to capitalize on this fact. To be honest I feel that my classmates and my contributions speak for themselves, and I do not feel that we need to explain and justify them. Sure these links and examples can give you some visual as to what I contributed or partcipated in, but they do not tell the entire story. It has been a long semsester and I feel that I have contributed a lot to the class and the group. Blog In a way I feel that the class' work should speak for itself.

[edit] Learnings/Conclusion

In retrospect I think that I have learned a good amount in taking this class. Maybe not the hard facts and definitions commonly learned in a college class, but concepts and thought processes were definately explored throughout this semester. The concepts and theories developed by people like Edgar Schein are important in daily interaction, and this class helped me understand this. We are presented with the task of working in a group on almost a daily basis, if we realise it or not. This course had made me realise just what goes into these group interactions and dynamics, and how we use roles within groups to accomplish tasks. Working with my Schein team we observed the decision making processes used in making a variety of decisions in class. In this class, although I identify myself as a follower, I have learned the importance of stepping into a leadership role when neccisary. We have also learned that in a group setting, sometimes conformity is key to work with others on common ground. Problem solving was one of the major aspects of this class. Every day we seem to have had tasks to accomplish as a group, and we usually didnt get much guidance from the teacher. This made us rely on eachother to get things done and solve problems. And as with any group if this size there is bound to be disagreements and conflict. This is where the mediation and conflict resolution skills came into play throughout the course. We were certainly in the "storming" period for a while but we got through it as a group. As I said before, I have learned a good deal in this class, just through very unconventional means. Our Website