Comm 360, Theory Bro. Compton

Winter, 2005 Office: 3627

MFB, 211 Home: 9589

Office Hours

TBA

Readings

Keagan, R. (1994). In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press

Articles on blackboard.

Course Description

After all is said and done in a university education, there is theory. Theory comes first and knowledge claims come second. That is, we generate analysis which produces “knowledge” from theoretical perspectives. The “stuff” we study does not pop up out of thin air, it is generated from within the logics of theoretical paradigms. If we shift the theoretical framework from which some bit of information has been generated and understood, it is like pulling the rug out from under someone—it falls. Thus, it would be a mistake to study the information that constitutes any discipline without eventually becoming aware of the theoretical paradigm that generated it. In summary, studying theory is beneficial because it sinks us deeper into the mechanisms of production. So, what come before theory?

In this class we are going to take explore in more depth the role of communication in socially constructing our world. We are also going to try and understand “this” view of communication in terms of how it influences our psychologies and relational experiences. Most of you have had ICS 251 by now and most of the theories from that class are considered to be theories of communication. Communication is such an expansive concept that it embraces the cultural processes that are embedded in the studies of psychology, political science, sociology, anthropology, the humanities, etc. The birth of communication as a discipline in fact, was accomplished by simply collecting communication theories that had been generated among disciplines throughout mathematics, engineering, the social sciences, and the humanities. At one time or another, all of these disciplines had paid particular attention to the primary importance of communication within their particular areas of study. Accordingly, our journey through communication theory will be partial and partisan.

My Expectations of Students

In his book, In Over Our Heads, Robert Kegan discusses the demands that have been generated of successful employees in the modern and post modern world. It gave me some things to think about and serves as a nice statement of what I expect of students in my classes. Sucessful employees/students do the following:

1. Invent their own work (rather than see it as owned and created by an employer).

2. Be self-initiating, self-correcting, self-evaluating (rather than dependent on others to frame problems, initiate adjustments, or determine whether things are going acceptably well).

3. Be guided by our own visions at work (rather than be without a vision or be captive to the authorities agenda).

4. Take responsibility for what happens to us at work externally and internally (rather than see our present internal circumstances and future external possibilities as caused by someone else).

5. Be accomplished masters of our particular work roles, jobs, or careers (rather than have an apprenticing or imitating relationship to what we do).

6. Conceive of the organization from the “outside in,” as a whole; to see our relation to the whole; to see the relation of the parts to the whole (rather than see the rest of the organization and its parts only from the perspective of our own part, from the “inside out”).

Course Requirments

Midterm 100

Final Exam 150

Quizzes 50

Paper 50

*Exams are a combination of multiple choice, short answer and essay formats.

Late Assignments

Assignments turned in late will be graded but then penalized10% if it is was not turned in at the beginning of the class period in which it was due and 5% for each consecutive day thereafter. In the past I have been lenient in receiving work late. Doing so has consistently created problems for me and I fear failed to cultivate the right habits among students. Thus, this is now a hard and fast rule.

Besides turning in a hard copy of your assignments, you must also place a copy in the digital drop box on blackboard prior to the due date and time. This creates a safety net in the event of lost paper, etc.

Special Needs

Brigham Young University-Hawai'i is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere, which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the students with Special Need Coordinator, Leilani A'una at 293-3518. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875.

Preventing Sexual Harassment

Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds, including Federal loans and grants. Title IX also covers student-to-student sexual harassment. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875 (24 hours).

Final Examination

All students should be aware of the BYUH policy that there are no early final exams. An exception to this policy is the case of a school sponsored activity which takes an individual or a team away from the University at the time an examination is scheduled to take place. Faculty and Administration who are responsible for scheduling official University activities attempt in every way to avoid scheduling activities in conflict with the scheduled examinations. Students must plan travel, family visits, etc., in a way that will not interfere with their final exams. Emergency situations should be presented in writing as soon as possible to the Dean of the college or school of the student’s major.

Blind Grading

All exams and papers should be identified only with your student number. Do not put your names anywhere on your tests or papers.

Grading

Final grades are based on the following grading scale:

100-92% A 76-72% C

91-89% A- 71-69% C-

88-87% B+ 68-67% D+

86-82% B 66-62% D

81-79% B- 61-59% D-

78-77% C+ 58% & below F

On Learning and Being a Student

The Dead Sea is mostly dead because though it receives fresh water it has no outlet. All living systems share three elements: input, throughput, and output. If any one of these three fail to function properly, the system begins to whither and die. Learning is much like this; there must be good input, throughput, and output. The quality of input is a product of reading and listening for understanding. The quality of throughput is driven by the extent to which the information is interpreted through application and analysis. The quality of output is determined by the extent to which we engage others through the written and spoken word. In many ways, learning is more of a creative act of making sense of information than it is an act of being told “facts” from an authoritative source. Don’t misunderstand me, my role as a professor is to profess, but knowing my professings or those of the authors you are about to read, is only the beginning of learning. Your learning becomes a vibrant and living phenomenon when you interpret the information and engage others in conversation about it. Our classroom time will be split between helping to make sure that the input has been good, i.e., that you understand the information, and two, that throughput and output are of a high quality by engaging one another in conversation about it. This is the nature of authentic learning and communication.

The modern university, as with modern organizations and by and large for the same reasons, is not particularly well suited for authentic communication or learning. That is to say, the structure of the modern university and organization are not designed to maximize the quality of communication and learning. Nevertheless, a great deal can be done to improve both if we so choose and if we understand the structural forces that are impeding them. Courses in communication and culture should almost always heighten our awareness of these impediments.

Some argue that undergraduate education should be focused primarily on input, coming to understand the thoughts and ideas of others. I agree. However, to fully embrace the nature of learning, it must also be about actively constructing the meaning of those ideas and engaging others in conversation about them. As I said earlier, we will use our class time to do some of both. But class time is not sufficient for the learning process. The material must be consequentially engaged outside of the classroom, in reading, thinking, and speaking with others. As you have probably learned by now, you can work inside the educational system, get a high GPA, and yet be doing very little real learning. The choice is each of ours.

I’ll conclude with a pregnancy metaphor. On two occasions my wife has been nine months pregnant. Each time she has desperately wanted and feared giving birth. Have you ever been pregnant with an idea that you have constructed from something you read or heard? Something that was immensely important to you? In such circumstances we often become desperate to communicate with others about it, to give birth to it if you will. We need to tell others and we need to hear their responses as part of the ongoing lifelong process of growing and changing. Just as a mother gives birth to a child, learning always includes giving birth to our thoughts and ideas, even if we too fear doing so.

Reading Schedule

Winter 2004

Date	Chapter/Subject	Location
1/6	Course Introduction
1/11	Communication Theory and Scholarship, Littlejohn	Blackboard
1/13	Symbolic Interactionism, Mead	Blackboard
1/18	Chapter One of Presentation of Self in Every Day Life, Goffman	Blackboard
1/20	Chapter Three of Presentation of Self In Every Day Life (Regions of Behavior)	Blackboard
1/25	Chapter Six of Presentation of Self in Every Day Life, (Art of Impression Management)	Blackboard
1/27	Communication and The Human Condition by Chapter Two: Coordination	Blackboard
2/1	Chapter Three: Coherence and Mystery	Blackboard
2/3	Chapter Six: Ethnocentric Communication	Blackboard
2/8	Chapter Seven: Modernity	Blackboard
2/10	Chapter Nine: Cosmopolitan Communication	Blackboard
2/15	Chapter One of Pojman, What Is Ethics?	Blackboard
2/17	Chapter Two of Pojman, Ethical Relativism: Whose to Judge What’s Right and Wrong
2/22	Midterm Exam, Testing Center (Must start the exam between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., no time limit)	Blackboard
2/22	Chapter Three of Pojman, The Case for Moral Relativism	Blackboard
2/24	Chapter Four of Pojman, Egoism, Self-Interest, and Altruism	Blackboard
3/1	Chapter Eight of Pojman, Virtue-Based Ethical Systems	Blackboard
3/3	Relational Dialectics, Baxter and Montgomery Blackboard Reading #1 and #2	Blackboard
3/8	Keagan, In Over Our Heads,	pp. 1-36
3/10	Keagan	pp. 37-73
3/15	Kegan	pp. 73-106
3/17	Kegan	pp. 107-147
3/22	Kegan	pp. 147-197
3/24	Kegan	pp. 198-234
3/29	Kegan	pp. 234-270
3/31	Kegan	pp. 271-304
4/5	Kegan	pp. 307-352
4/7	In-Class Review
4/12	In-Class Review
4/14	In-Class Review
4/15	Final Exam 7-10, 8-12 testing center	Testing Center