my travels in the communication field

In Chapter 4, Griffin provides a map of the communication discipline, identifying seven traditions in the field. Staking out my place on the map requires a bit of history.

My father is a (now retired) experimental psychologist, so I was raised in the socio-psychological, empiricist, logical positivist tradition. When I was growing up, if I couldn't quantify and measure it, it didn't exist. Then I took a class in interpersonal communication from Peter Northhouse at Western Michigan U and was introduced to a phenomenological approach, which I found quite appealing. I started my master's at the U of Massachusetts, where classes with Barnett Pearce and Vern Cronen introduced me to the coordinated management of meaning (CMM, Chapter 6), which falls within the socio-cultural and phenomenological traditions. At Central Michigan U, where I completed my master's, David Ling's class in rhetorical criticism got me interested in Kenneth Burke's (Chapter 22) and Ernest Bormann's (Chapter 3) work; my thesis was on the rhetoric of Al-Anon.

When I began my doctoral work at the University of Kentucky, I pursued my interest in the cybernetic tradition, but soon realized I was more interested in conversations than network links and nodes. So Jim Applegate became my advisor at UK, and my research turned to a constructivist approach to social support in health care teams (Chapter 8). Although the author of your text places constructivism within socio-psychological and rhetorical traditions, recent work my colleagues and I have done takes a more interpretive, socio-cultural approach. Finally, my latest publications in organizational storytelling, metaphors of disability, and organizational surveillance take a decidedly critical stance. As you can tell, with the exception of semiotics, I've roamed the communication theoretical and metatheoretical territory.

~ Professor Cyborg

nearing the end of week 1

I've spent most of this week organizing my classes, adding students to the blog roll, Google Reader, and the wiki. It's also been a heavy advising week--a lot of students with a lot of questions. The new department website that I developed this summer has proven a useful advising tool. Unlike the old site that was way out of date and difficult to update, the platform for the new site is fairly easy to use--and the information is current.

I hope you've all had a chance to read the first three chapters of your text. They provide an important foundation for the rest of the book. Chapter 3 is particularly useful because Griffin goes through a systematic analysis of Bormann's symbolic convergence theory--an analysis template you can apply to any theory.

The week ends tomorrow. Be sure you've completed all your process tasks so you have a good start in the class this semester. And enjoy the holiday weekend!

~ Professor Cyborg

off and running

The class is off and running! Over half the students have set up their blogs and signed up for the listserv. Several have accessed the class wiki and tried it out. So by Sunday, the first day of the second week, everyone should be ready to read, blog, and take the first quiz.

There's plenty to blog about in the first few chapters. I like how the author discusses images and definitions of theory in Chapter 1 and defines communication. He personalizes the theory process, which makes it more accessible and less mysterious.

So read Chapters 1-3 this week, post your first blog entry, and comment on others' blogs. Week 1 isn't graded, but it's good to get into the blogging habit right away.

~ Professor Cyborg

class launched, students messaged

I just contacted the COMM 101 students about the class via mySJSU messaging. I emailed eCampus twice about what information that office as sending out this semester. No response. In the summer session, the staff at eCampus didn't bother to contact the online students about how to get started and it led to the not unpredictable mess. And the staff also managed to give incomplete instructions for logging on to Blackboard. Thank goodness I only use it for quizzes and grades.

The good news is the class website is up and running. The wiki is waiting for me to invite students to join, which I'll do once I get their email addresses.

Ted, River and I are on our way over the hill to set up the office for the fall and then go to the department welcome party. I'll be spending this weekend putting the finishing touches on my class materials and responding to student emails. Let the fall semester begin!

~ Professor Cyborg

the new comm 101

I haven't taught COMM 101 in four years. The first time I taught the course was when it was still COMM 105. Then the faculty reinvented the major the second or third year after I was hired. COMM 105 became more of a survey course for nonmajors and COMM 101 became the introductory course for majors. So the course has undergone many changes in my time at SJSU.

If you've read my COMM 144 blog, you'll know that eCampus's transition from WebCT to Blackboard led me to completely reconceptualize my online teaching. Rather than rely on the user-unfriendly proprietary software Blackboard offers, I moved to locate my classes primarily on the open internet. I posted all my class materials on my own server and used Google tools for other classroom functions, such as blogging and listservs.

This semester I'm adding another feature, a class wiki. I learned about wikis in a 3-day workshop on classroom technology offered by SJSU's Center for Faculty Development. I implemented several for the department while I was acting chair. The wikis proved essential to completing numerous tasks and preserving institutional memory (e.g. a place to store meeting minutes and agendas that all faculty can access easily). For this class, students will use the wiki to develop their ePortfolio.

So there's a lot of new going on in COMM 101--new teaching and learning tools, a new textbook, new assignments. I've just started working on the class website and hope to have it launched soon. I'll be interested in feedback from students on how the class is designed and structured.

~ Professor Cyborg