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CCOG for COMM 215 Spring 2024

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Course Number:
COMM 215
Course Title:
Communicating in Teams and Small Groups
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Explores the theory and practice of communication in team settings. Examines the composition and function of teams, developmental stages of small groups, leadership, diversity in teams, norms and roles, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and decision-making. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  1. Describe group/team roles and leadership theories and strategies.

  2. Explain how diversity influences group process.

  3. Analyze the impact of others’ communicative behaviors within a small group.

  4. Demonstrate learned listening, verbal, and nonverbal communication strategies to create a supportive communication climate. 

  5. Apply learned approaches to conflict management, problem-solving, and decision-making.

  6. Manage projects, presentations, and teams using learned communication strategies.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

Communication is essential to being human. Communication courses inherently provide a foundation for understanding human interaction. While all humans use some form of communication to navigate the societies in which we live, each culture has its own set of ethical and social communicative norms. This course examines those norms by teaching students how to organize and make meaning of their own and others’ experiences, and meet personal goals in a team or small group setting.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

  • All students are required to participate in and be evaluated on at least one oral presentation.
  • All students are required to participate in and be evaluated on at least one group project.
  • Other forms of assessment will be determined by the individual instructor.

Assessment strategies may include:

  • Qualitative examinations
  • Quantitative examinations
  • Essays
  • Journals
  • Research papers
  • In-class participation
  • Portfolios
  • Service learning
     

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Themes, Concepts, and Issues:

  • Group Communication Theory           
  • Conflict Management 
  • Group presentational skills
  • Leadership                            
  • Rules & Norms
  • Task & Social Roles              
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Power                                  
  • Diversity
  • Perception                           
  • Language
  • Decision making                    
  • Groupthink
  • Types of groups                    
  • Group development

Competencies and Skills: 

 Students will:

  •  Be able to think critically, creatively, and systematically in groups. 
  • Be able to recognize the relationships between task and social-emotional aspects of  group decision-making.
  • Be able to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses as group participants.
  • Be able to demonstrate flexibility in assuming alternate roles to enhance the small group process.
  • Be able to monitor a small group’s progress towards achievement of its goals.
  • Be able to determine how their cultural perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs influence the communication process.
  • Be able to engage in discussion with an attitude of openness, interest, and respect.
  • Be able to give an effective oral presentation as part of a group project.

A textbook is required. Approved texts are listed below. Alternative texts need Department/ SAC Chair approval.

Communicating in Small Groups:  Principles and Practices, Beebe and Masterson

In Mixed Company:  Small Group Communication, Rothwell

Effective Group Discussion, Brilhart and Galanis

Working in Groups w/ MYCOMMKIT PKG, Engleberg