Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

[edit] Something About Me

I'm a Communications Undergrad here at Umass. I'm writing here because of class called "Group Dynamics". This class is run by Steph, who does so in an unorthodox manner. Often she is not directly teaching, but moderating or facilitating our learning process. We are basically learning by doing, reflexively. Through the process of making our site, which you no doubt found getting here, we've learn about how groups function.

So that my page isn't so boring I'll explain my name. It's taken from a song called "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples," which is off of the Parliament album "Mothership Connection." I was listening to this song while I was doing my first homework assignment, which was to make a blog. Even though I like this funky tune, I don't like to dance.

[edit] What I've Done

[edit] January 28th, the 1st Day

There was a lot of confusion the first class. I remember walking in and seeing some vague instruction on the board. This should have been a sign of things to come. Steph wasn't there yet, so for a while people talked as I sat in back, listening to my headphones. Eventually some people did what was asked, which was to list some groups.

Steph came in, said what we did was inadequate and left. Once everyone was present and settled, we were asked to state whether we were "leaders" or "followers." This didn't really make much sense to me, because I didn't think anyone always leads or follows. Also, when I think of true leaders, I think of people like Gandhi or at the other side of the spectrum, Hitler. Not people sitting around in Machmer, or a professor who is taking orders from the administration. Anyways on that basis I chose to deem myself a "follower." Once the (4) followers were separated, we described qualities of "leaders" and "followers" on the board. I volunteered to write for the group. I had a picture of this writing but because it was so large it was ruining the formatting of this page so I removed it.

From what I remember for the rest of the class we talked about syllabus-type stuff. For homework that night we had to write about whether or not we would not attend a protest in Boston. Here is the link to my post: http://thumpasorus.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/about-a-protest/. These posts ended up being the basis for more homework later. An organizer of the protest, Rafael, congratulated me on my blog post.

[edit] February 4th, the Second Week

On this day Steph gave us a handout listing a bunch of activities. Then she asked us to either associate the word "content" or "process" with each activity. It didn't really make much sense to me, so in the group I was in I tried to work it out with the other members. I believe we broke out into our fishbowls to discuss the distinction between "content" and "process." I'm pretty sure I volunteered to be in this one, because I remember suggesting or maybe reiterating the fact that the "content" is the noun and the "process" is the verb of activity.

[edit] February 11th, the Third Week

On this day I think we started getting into the swing of things. We played a name game. We did three fishbowls. I remember being in the first one, which debating what the most important information in the Schein article was. I recall arguing that I thought all of the information was equally important. Also, I mentioned that I thought it was strange Schein was making a distinction between self-oriented behavior and non-self oriented behavior. I was saying that I think all actions are self-oriented.

While the other fishbowls were going on, I was taking notes looking out for self-oriented behavior. We had all been broken up into Schein groups, mine was the soon to be disbanded self-oriented behavior group.

Later in class we were broken up into process or content groups, in respects to our class project. I was in the process group, and I recall playing the role of the critic, raising a few questions.

[edit] February 18th, the Fourth Week

To start this class off we did presentations with our Schein teams. I recall doing a bit of talking during this, however we didn't have much to present.

On this day's quiz, there was a question regarding my original blog post. We engaged in two fishbowls this day, I volunteered to participate in this first. In this fishbowl, we discussed what answer from the last week's test was closest to the "gist" of a discussion between the protest supporter and Steph. I recall arguing that the one proposal that was being accepted was too detailed and that a gist is more broad and general.

[edit] February 25th, the Fifth Week

We started off this class by doing a "sculpting" exercise where we had to strike a pose exhibiting some emotion. Steph told us to look surprised, or maybe shocked, and I asked her if we were supposed to do so positively or negatively. I think that was her aim was for people to assume one or the either, demonstrating a frame. I don't recall much else from this class.

[edit] March 3rd, the Sixth Week

This week the Self-Oriented group was disbanded, and I joined the Task team. The first fishbowl discussed After Dachau, but I chose not to join that one.

Instead I joined one of the following two fishbowls in which we talked about the future of our Wiki project (I think). If I recall correctly, these were heated discussions. I raised severals concerns I had about the efficiency and function of our proposed idea, which was a "Umass Survival Guide." The challenges that I and others raised to the proposed idea sparked a vote on how we feel about the guide. I was really into it; it was fun to be in such an intense debate and I had something to say. Here's what happened:

[edit] March 10th, the Seventh Week

This was our first day in the computer lab. A lot of the work we did this day in the lab was individual, however we got together in our Schein teams briefly. We had the option of either emailing our work to Steph or posting it ourselves. I suggested we just do it ourselves, as I didn't think it would be very difficult. I volunteered to take care of this. Heres the product

Later in the class, I was also a member of what I think was one of the most important fishbowls, at least in regards to the Wiki production. During this I tried very hard to facilitate the process, keeping us on track and pushing to reach a conclusion. I think that this fishbowl was pretty successful.

[edit] March 24th, the Eighth Week

This week's class was lecture intensive. Steph talked at us for a long time. It was complicated.

We also arm wrestled. I tried really hard to win, but it ended in a stalemate.

[edit] March 31st, Number 9

During this class we did more work in the lab. I wrote a reflection which John Elder Robinson, author of the book we studied Look Me in the Eye, responded to. When we came back there was a fishbowl that I observed.

[edit] April 7th, Class Ten

On this date we joined content and process teams. A classmate and I decided we wanted to write about volunteering at the Paper City Brewery. I also joined the evaluation, process and Schein group, however I did not intend on staying with all four. I got together with my groups. Together with my group mates, I accomplished a lot of planning for the Brewery page. I was disinterested in the process page and didn't say much during our group meeting. Together we proposed what we would do.

[edit] April 14th, Class 11

This was a chaotic class. I got up with my group and made my proposal to the class. John Elder Robison came to our class and bought us pizza which was sick. We had an interesting fishbowl with him. Unfortunately I did not take part in this.

[edit] April 28th, Class 12

On this day we did a lot of wiki work. I worked for a while putting together the Brewery page

[edit] May 5th, Class 13

On this day this did more wiki work.

[edit] Learning

All the while we were toiling with this Wiki page, we were learning about group dynamics. On the first day of class, we received a pseudo-syllabus. It listed six concepts we would address through out the semester. Here is how I learned about them.

[edit] Leadership

For me the reality of this concept took a long time to form. I was confused the first day of class, as Steph seemed to suggest we were either a follower or a leader. From then on it seemed we were functioning without leadership, except with the lectures of Steph and the directed activities. Still, the direction for these activities was often so vague it felt like there was no leadership. Throughout the entire semester I thought Steph was assuming someone would step up as an authoritative leader. This didn't happen, although at times some people exhibited leadership qualities. For a long time I didn't know what exactly to think about leadership, as Steph seemed to be implying it is not necessary. Visibly, however, it was. I think Steph let us flounder to draw attention to other group member roles and the process of accomplishment. She wanted us to see that we could function without complete direction. While it true we did function without a typical leader, in terms of productivity with our wiki we did so with little efficiency. We did learn a lot during this time however. I learned that a leader is just another equally important member of the group.

[edit] Networks

Networks is a pretty broad concept and can be applied in a lot of different ways. In essence, a network is connection between at least two groups. Networked, the actions of these groups effect each other. This was quite evident once we started getting started with the wiki. For example, at one time had to choose to either be in the "content" or "process" group. The "content" group basically decided for the class what we would do. In the process group we tried to devise a strategy for agreeing upon and creating a wiki page. These groups did not withstand, however we both sides were effected by the efforts of the other. Later in the semester, similar "process" groups had great impact on others. For example, the "evaluation" group in theory will determine how we are graded.

[edit] Conformity

Nobody wants to be a conformist, at least here in the USA. This was demonstrated clearly by all but three of our class defining themselves as "leaders" on the first day of class. One thing I took from this class is that conformity can be necessary and is not always negative. For example, when we were storming about what to do with the wiki, one proposal was clearly dominant but there were other ideas as well. So that the class could function, some people had to conform (if only slightly) just so that they could be functioning members in our group. If people were acting entirely independently, we would have been a group only by association. People were conforming at a level they may not have even been conscious of simply by enrolling and participating in class. Basically what I'm trying to say is that conformity is necessary for groups to get past the early stages and function.

[edit] Problem Solving, Mediating and Conflict Resolution

We had to solve numerous problems throughout the semester. Some problems have even yet to be solved. Our biggest problem as a group arose when we were asked to decide what the basis for our wiki page would be. One group was able to reach a decision (which I believe they did with relative ease) without any input from the other group. This idea was popular, however others found it problematic. We attempted to solve the problem by opening a discussion. In this discussion various group members negotiated their ideas. This was a process of mediation which all interest group participated in. In this mediation process a lot of compromises were made. This process was not a short one, as we spent multiple classes involved in it. Also, as a group at times we had to mediate our concerns with Steph over issues such as homework assignments. Today, I believe we will be mediating with different interest groups the issue of our grading criteria. Basically, in our class we resolved conflict by mediating in open discussion.