Communication Skills

• University of Belize
• Faculty of Education and Arts
• Belize City Campus

COURSE OUTLINE

• Semester 1 06-07 (Aug. – Dec. 2008)

=Course: =Communication Skills (CMCN 209)= Section1 Page 1 of 7)

• Lecturer: Ethnelda Paulino

• Schedule: Section 1: T/TU 3:30 - 4:45 SM – U4

Section 2: M/W/F 9:00 – 9:50 SM –U4

• Office Hours: 4:45 -5:45 (on Wednesdays or by appointment)

9:00 -10:00 (on Tuesdays or by appointment)

• Telephone: BMP 822 -3680 ext. 354
• Email: epaulino@ub.edu.bz

Course Description

• This course is designed for students to explore the principles and functions of human communication. It provides a thorough grounding in the theory and concepts used behind effective communication. Development of students’ communication skills in both the personal and business arenas will allow students to improve their abilities to adequately assess various communicative situations and react appropriately. Both traditional and emerging communicative devices will be explored.

• RATIONALE

Living in a multi-cultural society means we have to associate and relate with people of all backgrounds in both our private lives and in the public. Students need to know the basic functions of effective communicative skills and apply these to specific situations ever aware of the cultural dimensions. The idea is to enable students to develop strategies for themselves becoming effective communicators.

• Objectives

As a result of taking this course, students should be able to:

• Understand human communication as a multi-layered process that is simultaneously

created by all communicators involved

• Recognize the interrelationship between language, thought and emotions
• Appreciate the role of communication in human relationships
• Differentiate various communicative contexts
• Refine their own communicative skills

TEXTS and RESOURCES

• Required Text: Devito Joseph A. HUMAN COMMUNICATION: The Basic Course. -11th edition
• Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 2006

• Required text: Tubbs, Stewart L; Moss, Silvia. Human Communication. 8th ed. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

• Resources:Local and regional newspapers and broadcast media

Professor Lisa Stefani at Grossmont College – www.grossmont.net/lisa stefani *

• Instructional Methods
• Activities: these will be both planned and impromptu
• Group work with samples/case studies
• Lectures, Demonstrations, discussions and role-play
• Presentations
• Interactive website assignment

REQUIREMENTS

• 15% Intercultural Communication component – Stereotyping Assignment
• 10% Test 1
• 10% Test 2
• 10% Test 3
• 15% Group Presentation
• 40% Final Exam

100%

Course Outline 07/08 – Semester Two

Units

• Unit One
• Introductions/ Preview of the required text and Course Outline: student input in eliciting

initial question suggestions/thoughts for Stereotypes intercultural exchange assignment

• Discussion of the Preface/Defining Communication
• DUE by Monday____: e-mail in your "Stereotypes Questions” to ethneldabz@yahoo.com

with subject line stating “cmcn questions” (See Guidelines)

• The Communication Model
• The Process of Human Communication
• Required Reading: Chapter 1 “The Process of Human Communication”

and Chapter Two: “Person Perception”

• Unit 2
• DUE: "Stereotype Assignment - questions component
• Share and discuss submissions
• Communicative contexts
• Illustration of Small Group communicative context as a way to get groups formed

for Presentation Final Project (if not yet formed) w/ NGT activity from Chpt. 12 to determine initial topic preferences using text’s Table of Contents as a guide

• Perception and Communication: Review Chpt. 2
• Required Reading: Chapter 12 – Small Group Communication to preview/read as

   Background

• The Verbal Message
• Required Reading: Chapter 3 “The Verbal Message”
• Required Listening: two separate radio newscasts, inclusive their ads/messages

• Unit 3
• The Verbal Message continued
• activities;
• language considerations/ Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
• The Non-Verbal Message
• Required Reading: Chapter 4 “The Non-Verbal Message”
• Required Viewing: two different local TV newscasts
• Review - Activities: Verbal/Non-Verbal communication
• Review for Test 1:
• Ensure all will/can access Stereotype Assignment posted today on Bulletin

Board

• Unit 4
• TEST #1: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4: 50 minutes
• Preview possible communicative scenarios ref. September ___ assignment
• Attend Belizean, cultural event of your choice  : Test Two will

contain question choices calling you to explore communicative aspects of this event

• Final Project Directed Groups meet: begin to determine topic possibilities and
• Consider the use of audio-visuals and make necessary arrangements.
• Required Reading: Chapter 5 on “Listening”

• Unit 5
• Listening Feedback/Activities
• Required Reading: Chapter 6 “Relationships in Process”
• Communication and Relationships
• Required Reading: Chapter 7 “Conflict and Negotiation”

• Unit 6
• Conflict and Negotiation
• Group Presentation Planning Meetings update
• Required reading continued: Chapter. 7 “Conflict and Negotiation”
• Status check on Stereotyping Assignment

• Unit 7
• Conflict and Negotiation cont’d
• Ethics and Communication:
• Required Reading: Chapter 8 “Ethics in Communication”
• Continue Ethics and Communication
• Review of Intrapersonal Communicative Strategies discussed in Chapters 5,6,7,8

• Unit 8

• Test 2: Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8 – includes question choices based on Sept. 7th activity
• Status check on Final Projects – interpersonal communication (activities)
• Interpersonal communication: Required Reading Chapter 9
• Interpersonal communication continues (activities)
• Required: Be prepared to orally update individual roles in Presentation final

 Project 

• Required Reading: Chapter 10 “Intercultural Communication”

• Unit 9
• Intercultural communication
• Belizean – Belizean scenarios /views on Pan American…naming/labeling/stereotyping
• Regional and International scenarios * check up on Stereotyping Exchange Assignment
• Required Reading: Chapter 11 “Interviewing”

• Unit 10
• Interviewing/ activities
• Interviewing continued
• Small Group Communication previewed
• Required Reading|: Chapter 12 “Small Group Communcation”

• Unit 11
• Small Group communication continued/activity
• Organizational Communication
• Required Reading: chapter 14
• Organizational Communication: review using past students’ non-confidential

reports on organizations they had visited

• Organizational communication activity

• Unit 12
• DUE: Stereotyping Assignment posted on Bulletin Board
• Oral debriefing of the experience
• Overview of Mass Communication
• Required Reading: Chapter 13 “Public Communication”

and Chapter 15 “Mass Communication”

• Mass Communication
• DVD samples/ Local media samples –A/V room tba

=Final Project=

• Groups meet: determine final format/outline

• Unit 13
• Mass Communication continued w/activity

• TEST #3: Chapters 9, 10, 11, 15

(Note: Content of Chapter 12’s Small Group Communication, begun early in the semester when groups were being formed, is incorporated into grading of Group Presentations

• Required readings: chapters 13 and 14 “Public communication” and “Organizational

Communication

• Unit 14:
• Nov. 14: Public Communication and Organizational Communication – sharing from non-

confidential reports from previous class organizational visits

• Continue Public and Organizational Communication
• Group Presentations Final checklists/Pointers

• Unit 15

GROUP PRESENTATIONS

• Unit 16
• Review for Exam which occurs in the week of Nov. - Dec.

Class Policies

• MATERIALS AND TEXTBOOKS: For this class, you will need to rent or purchase the required Tubbs text available at the UB bookstore. You also need to ensure that you read at least one local newspaper each week and keep up with local news events. If you do not get papers in a timely manner, then you need to use the weekly collection at the UB library or on-line versions. Access to a computer with Internet is necessary at least twice during the semester for a specific intercultural communication exchange assignment on Stereotyping. If this poses a major challenge to anyone, please consult with the lecturer.

• ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY: Because this is a communication class where interpersonal student interaction forms a vital part of the explanations of concepts, you are expected to attend class sessions and to participate in all in-class discussions and activities. Students who miss sessions or who attend less than 80% of the classes scheduled for the course may receive a grade that reflects less than optimal mastery of the full course content, and will not be eligible for consideration of full points for the Interpersonal Participation component of the grade. Arriving more than 15 minutes late for class will result in your being marked absent. Note, however, that frequent use of this “grace period” can ultimately affect your performance. No interruptions via cellular calls will be entertained; please turn off your cell, including its vibrate mode, before the sessions begins; but, especially during examinations. If you forget and your cell rings during a test/examination, please immediately turn it off. If you answer it, even if you leave the room to take a call, you will be asked to leave the session; the use of cell phones during any tests and exams will result in a grade of (F) for that paper/presentation, except in cases, pre-arranged with the lecturer, where the cell phone may form a part of a presentation.

• DEADLINES FOR COURSEWORK: These are all indicated in the Course Outline and must be submitted at the beginning of the class date they are due. Should a change be necessary, you will be advised. Note that failure to turn in work when it is due impedes a student’s progress and disrupts the lecturer’s planning and evaluation of other student’s work. Students who, because of emergency extenuating circumstances, are not able to complete work on time must seek the lecturer’s approval to rearrange in advance. If no advance notice can be given, the lecturer must be informed as soon as possible and the student must request the extension. However, note that the instructor is not required to accept or evaluate work submitted beyond established deadlines.

• SCHOLASTIC HONESTY: Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of scholastic dishonesty will result in a major course penalty or most likely failure of the course. Passing off the work of others as your OWN can be either plagiarism or collusion. Both are scholastic offences that the lecturer will not tolerate. If you have any questions during the course of the program about the use you are making of source material, talk to the lecturer before turning in the assignment in question. Cheating during texts or the exam or during any in-class writing/presentations will result in an automatic grade of (F) for that paper/presentation.

Refer to the UB Student Handbook for more on Plagarism and Cheating. In case you or your lecturer has a question about your work, keep any drafts, notes, papers or research materials that you produce during the course until after you receive a final grade.

• ALSO REFER to the UB Student Handbook for the full complement of university policies.

G*uidelines for Assignments – CMCN 209: Sem. I, 2008

• Guidelines for Group Presentations:
• Preliminaries to Human Communication – chapter 1
• Groups of 2 or 3 students: Study the Chapter from the text that is relevant to your topic and find additional material from: the library, your environment, your own reading, your own experiences/anecdotal references.

• Topic Ideas for Presentations could be:
• Perception is everything: Chapters 1 and 2
• Nonverbal Communication: The Importance of Eye, Hand & Body Movement (Ch. 4)
• Communication in Families (Chapters 5 and 6)
• Communication between the Sexes: Do we really understand each other (Ch 5, 6, 7)

- The Successful Job Interview (Chapter 11) - Organizational Communication (At UB – or other choice) Chpt. 14

• The Communicative effects of Local Talk Show Radios Chpts. 13 and 15
• The Impact of Local Music as a Communicative Tool Chpts. on Interpersonal/ Mass Comm.
• Intercultural communication: Avoiding Misunderstandings: Ch. 10

• Your group’s presentation must be accompanied by a typed outline presented to lecturer before the presentation and a CD a week after the presentation.Each group member must deliver at least 5 minutes of verbal communication. The presentation may take the format of speech with mini-drama; speech with demonstration; speech with examples; it may use visual aids/role-play – please check with lecturer for feedback on the format of your presentation. Note that simply reading aloud a paper will not do. Time per group presentation: 20 minutes.

• Guidelines for Stereotyping Assignment
• Submit your e-mail address on the first day of class.Bring in your "Stereotypes Questions" on February 02. After we have discussed your questions, you will be free to post them on the Bulletin Board. Professor Lisa Stefani at Grossmont College – has designed the Bulletin Board on her on-line class website. It forms an exchange with students in another country. You will both ask questions of each other and respond to questions asked. All questions will be posted on the Bulletin Board by February 09. You will then post on the Bulletin Board your responses to the questions from the foreign students by Monday, February 23 by 11:55 PM: (confirm with lecturer at class session). Post on the BB as per the Assignment directions. This complete assignment is worth 15% of your grade – the Aug. 02nd portion is worth a third of this.

• Tests: All three tests are noted on the course outline; the tests, tied to the chapters as indicated, will also cover the material discussed in class as relevant to the listed test chapters.

• Examination: comprehensive examination on chapters and class discussions