Submit assignments in a Dropbox AND in the body of a post in the Discussion Thread.

IMPORTANT:  SAVE EVERYTHING YOU WRITE in one file so you can synthesize all your work into your Communication Style Reflection due week 8.  eCollege may be set so you cannot go back and look at previous weeks (your old discussion posts).

Discussion Board - Overview - "R" or Revise Grade - Reflection "Papers"

Due Week 1  Intercultural Leadership Reflection and Discussion 1

Due Week 2:Discussion 2

Due Week 3: Complimentary Schismogenesis Reflection “Paper” and Discussion 3 and Color of Water Threaded Discussion Leadership

Due Week  4: Metatheoretical Assumptions Reflection “Paper” and Discussion  4 and Color of Water Threaded Discussion Leadership

Due Week 5: Discussion 5 and Color of Water Threaded Discussion Leadership

Due Week 6: Minority Group Experience Reflection “Paper” and Discussion 6 and Cultural Perspective Web Presentation

Due Week 7:  Discussion 7 and  Communication Style Reflection “Paper” and Cultural Perspective Web Presentation

Due Week 8:  Discussion 8 and Cultural Perspective Web Presentation No proctored final exam in this course.

Dr. Aitken wants you to put Reflection "papers" in the body of a discussion board post instead of the dropboxes so you can read and respond to each other about them..

Dr. Noe developed CA 529 online, so when you see a page in the course shell with "I," that is Dr. Noe speaking.  Your professor for this section is Dr. Aitken.  While it seems odd to write in the second person, referring by name hopefully will clarify who is "speaking" to you. 

Email Dr. Aitken if you have questions: joan.aitken@park.edu Remember, use your Park.edu email address because nonPark emails typically are sent to spam.

To make it easy to find all assignments in one place, Dr. Aitken provided a single external page with all the assignments: http://onlineacademics.org/Multicultural/Assignments.htm All the assignments and grade weightings are comparable to Dr. Noe's, but she will accept a shorter length on any paper, and she cut one assignment (Jayne's dilemma).

Instead of putting that contact info out on the Internet, Dr. Aitken's contact information is in the first course announcements.

Submit each assignment in a DROPBOX AND in a POST body in the discussion.  If reflection paper is long or personal, just submit a summary in the discussion board.  For an assignment that requires you to lead student discussion, copy your post and your responses to other students from the discussion, paste the information in a file, and upload it to a dropbox.

LABEL each assignment file with your name and the assignment name in the file name and at the beginning of the paper.  All reflections need a title page and at least one scholarly reference cited and in a reference list.

NO LATE assignments are accepted.  This course is designed with many assignments, so stay on top of them. 

If your grade is below mastery (100%) on a Reflection Paper, you have ONE WEEK after grading to revise and RESUBMIT IN THE DROPBOX.  For example, if the paper is returned during week 4, the revision is due in a dropbox by the end of week 5. Be sure to carefully read the assignment details and Example Grading Rubric on this page before doing the revision.

The "R" or Revision grade does not have to be revised if you don't want to do so. 

Each student is required to submit four intercultural papers on time (monochromic culture). The purpose of the papers is to provide students an opportunity to investigate the various contexts that constitute intercultural communication, while they build toward improved intercultural communication competence.

FORMAL ACADEMIC PAPER

Dr. Noe's assignment is that each paper should be about 4 pages, with the Communication Style Paper being 10-15 pages, but if you write in a clear and succinct way, shorter papers may work.  Dr. Aitken's desire is that your paper is "tight and right." You still need substance that shows learning of course principles.  You still need a formal writing style.  No formal, academic paper can begin with something like "I want to talk about. . . ."

For formal writing style: No abbreviations.  No contractions.  No slang or overused metaphors.  Be professional and write in a way appropriate for graduate level. Use a clear organizational pattern with headings for each aspect of the assignment. Remember, please post your "paper" in the body of a post in the Discussion Board for others to read and discuss AND the complete formal paper in a dropbox.

"PAPER" RESEARCH

You should use your own words in this course. Use quotation marks and a page number in the rare instances when you use a direct quote. Do cite and reference at least one scholarly journal from communication studies (2000 or more recent) in each paper: 

Only cite and reference peer-reviewed, communication journal articles--which you have read--from Ebsco Host’s Communication and Mass Media Complete. https://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp  in your reflection papers.  Use high quality research-based sources. Definitely NO Internet sources.  No Internet sources. No journals outside communication studies please.

STANDARD ESSAY FORM

Remember, use headings to indicate organization of content, be carefully proofed, use standard paragraph organization (paragraph 1 is the introduction ending in the thesis statement, paragraph 2 is key idea one, paragraph 3 is key idea two, paragraph 3 is key idea three, and so on, with the final paragraph serving as the conclusion.

APA STYLE

According to APA style, only cited sources can be listed and anything in the reference list must be cited in the body of the assignment.  If you have not read the article, do not use it.  Use quotation marks and the page number when you quote sources. 

Journal citations are not needed for the Color of Water Leadership and Cultural Perspective Web Presentation assignments.

USING HEADINGS--ORGANIZING YOUR “PAPER”

Even for a short paper, please use paragraphs and organize your paper using about 2-4 sub-headings.

Rent the HBO film "Into the Storm."  As you watch the film contemplate the Churchill's leadership within cultural contexts.  In addition, contemplate what cultural assumptions Churchill brings to his leadership that may not be present with Roosevelt, Stalin, or other leaders of the time.  Write a short reflection about culture and leadership evidenced in the film and post it to the Week 2 discussion.  Length should be about one page or about 250-500 words.

You may be able to find the film on the Internet, such as here http://www.entermovies.net/2009/08/into-storm-2009.html or http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/drama/watch/v19320657qaeAGcB2# Internet links often move, so you may need to conduct your own Internet search or the film. If you are unable to rent the film, there are other sources of information available through the Park University Library: http://www.park.edu/library/ .

PAPER DISCUSSION

DO NOT MAKE RANDOM POSTS in this thread.  Wait until a student has posted his or her formal academic paper, then use the RESPOND function for that student's post to make relevant comments about intercultural communication.

1 page minimum (250-1000 words). Please post in the discussion thread as post content.

Write a formal, academic paper revolves around the PowerPoint presentation from Week 1, Complimentary Schismogenesis. Students are welcome to review the presentation to identify the major factors involved in the process. This paper needs to be written in formal APA style, use the title COMPLIMENTARY SCHISMOGENESIS.  See the overview to writing reflections, click here.

MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE WEEK ONE LECTURE ON COMPLIMENTARY SCHISMOGENESIS before you write this formal paper.  You may want to download the lecture to use it for the paper. Make sure you label your formal paper COMPLIMENTARY SCHISMOGENESIS PAPER.

Demonstrate that you can apply the principles from Dr. Noe's lecture about complimentary schismogensis from week one.

Tannin called complimentary schismogenesis a mutually aggravating spiral.  Complimentary schismogensis is about the cross-cultural struggle between people of two groups with different perspectives (one dominant and one subordinate). Typically, the split requires that the cultural minority or less-privileged group support the dominant group in some way. 

Complimentary Schismogenesis Relationship

Be sure to explain how the COMPLIMENTARY SCHISMOGENESIS relationship works in the case you discuss. Your assignment is to choose one relationship from your life, personal or professional, that illustrates the concepts in the Dr. Noe's PowerPoint presentation. As you describe the relationship, use the terminology and ideas introduced in the lecture.

There may certain points where your relationship does not align with the concept as described. If so, you can simply note the points of departure and speculate about the reasons for the differences. 

Acceptable Topics

An overall application using one of these topic is appropriate: Gender, socio-economic status struggle, the effect of US use of resources on the rest of the world, or in-group white majority versus out-group minority (e.g., race, ethnicity, or immigration status).

Be sure to explain the concept using terms discussed in the lecture, such as independence and involvement, directness versus indirectness, elaboration, use of language, developmental differences, assumptions, and conversational style. 

You may consider yourself a member of the dominant (more powerful with privilege) or subordinate group (less powerful, less privilege). Whichever side you are on, talk about the communication spiral between people of the two groups.  Some scholars believe that minorities have certain advantages, for example, in that although they have fewer rights, they may be taken care of or have fewer responsibilities. Some of the positions of cultural privilege-subordination that could affect your cross-cultural communication may include the following:

·         Men typically have power over women.

·         People of some races or ethnicities have power over others.

·         People of a higher social class have power over others.

·         People with a higher education have power over others.

·         People who are born in the US may have power over others

Improving Your Cross-Cultural Communication Skills

You will want to discuss how complimentary schismogensis affects your cross cultural communication. Make sure you discuss the relationship between the dominant and subordinate groups and how the interactive relationship and spiral work.

Socio-relational variables are group membership and role variables. Micro-cultures are those identifiable groups of people within a dominant cultural milieu that differ in some way from the dominant cultural group (e.g., dress, language, endogamy, involuntary membership). You might highlight a particular micro-cultural group in the United States or any other culture. The paper should clearly describe the characteristics of the micro-cultural group and how they fit into the dominant cultural context OR you can take the reverse approach of how the dominant culture affects micro-cultural group(s).

DISCUSSION

Please DO NOT MAKE RANDOM POSTS in this thread.  Wait until a student has posted his or her formal academic paper, then use the RESPOND function for that student's post to make relevant comments about the paper.  Stay focused on discussion related to improving cross-cultural communication.

1 page minimum (250-1000 words). Please post in the discussion thread as post content.

The main purpose of this assignment is for you to analyze your personal intercultural operational framework. Refer to Dr. Noe's lecture in week one about Hofstede and Dr. Noe's lecture in week two about behavioral sciences.

Make sure you label your formal paper METATHEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS.

Use a clear organizational pattern with headings for each aspect of the assignment. In order to better understand the difference between the Behavioral Science and Cultural Science perspectives, consider your own ancestral term and metatheoretical assumptions, which relate to your multicultural communication.

Your ancestral term should be a word or phrase that serves as a metaphor for you at this point in your life (e.g. “survival of the fittest” is usually associated with Darwin). One student chose “rationalization” as her ancestral term because, as she explained it, she could rationalize any actions in her daily routine.

After choosing an ancestral term, state your responses to the four metatheoretical questions.  Many highly regarded researchers “straddle the fence” because they use both approaches.  For example, they are both “objective” and “subjective.”  You also have the option of having both approaches.  For each assumption, please give a brief example illustrating a time when you were objective, subjective, etc.

Explain The Resulting Communication Perspective

In this reflection, please discuss the kinds of operational perspectives you have, which create barriers to effective communication. 

Appropriate Topics

Individualism - Collectivism implications.

Uncertainty Avoidance implications.

Power Distance implications.

Masculinity - Femininity implications. 

Comments about Papers in the Thread

DO NOT MAKE RANDOM POSTS in this thread.  Wait until a student has posted his or her formal academic paper, then use the RESPOND function for that student's post to make relevant comments about the paper.  Stay focused on discussion related to improving cross-cultural communication.

METATHEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS

Reflection Example Grading Rubric

Mastery contains all elements 10 points—10 points

Missing 1—8 points

Missing more than one objective—7 or less—“R” grade for revise.

3-4 pages (750-1000 words). Please post a section or summary in the discussion thread as post content.  Put the full paper in the dropbox. Begin this early because it will take some time to arrange to actually attend an activity.

The main purpose of this assignment is for you to take the course material and apply it to your personal life through an experiential activity that stretches your intercultural communication ability. 

FOR THIS COURSE

This application experience must be done expressly for this course. No activity you already have planned.  No activity you typically would do. No activity from the past.  You must actually do something specifically for this course where you plan the interaction based on a self-analysis and what you learn about cross or intercultural communication, then stretch your experience by becoming a minority in a ethnic, sexual-orientation, or religious culture other than your own.

The idea is to allow you to explore a culture that is not normally part of your daily routine by trying something new.  Essentially, Dr. Noe says: "I want you to experience the unfamiliar, where you are a minority in a new context."  If you are Protestant, you might attend a Jewish synagogue and talk to a rabbi.  If you are middle-aged, you might spend time at a nursing home talking to the elderly.  If you are a heterosexual, you might spend time in a homosexual organization, bar, place of worship, or other institution.  If you have any question about whether or not your planned activity is appropriate for the assignment, ask your professor for approval in advance.

EXAMPLES

Former experiences by other students include a day with the Amish, a Native American pow-wow, a support group for alcoholics, a discussion with a Buddhist monk, a prison visit, a day in a homeless shelter, and an evening in a lesbian bar.

CONTENT

The paper should include a brief statement of where you went, where it is located, and the date and length of your visit.  What are your intercultural communication strengths and needs, and how do you plan to improve your skills through the experience?  The remainder of the paper should be an explanation of your feelings and how you felt being immersed in that culture.  As a part of your paper, describe the people and the setting.

Remember, DO something to help your improvement process, where you change your intercultural skills, showing how you applied the ideas learned in this course. Stretch yourself through experiential learning. Actually interact with people of a different culture! 

Additional examples include the following:

· ·  Look in your local paper and on the Internet to find an event, such as a Chinese American festival. Attend an intercultural event or festival. Introduce yourself to some people of that culture.

· · Attend an intercultural museum exhibit. Make sure you interact with a guide from that culture.

· · Visit a governmental agency that works with immigrants. Talk to immigrants about their lives.

· · Spend a day at a K-12 school with a different ethnic makeup than your own.

WARNING: Do nothing to put yourself in jeopardy because crossing intercultural boundaries may be misinterpreted and therefore risky.

Example Grading Rubric

Blue indicates included.  Yellow indicates not observed or not understood.

Hopefully, you have saved everything you've written so far so you can synthesize all your work into your Communication Style Reflection.  Stories you told that discussed your self development, implications about the measures you took, personal prejudices you noticed during your minority experience, everything can be put together in this final project.

Dr. Noe assigned this paper to be about 10-15 pages.  The assignment can be brief, but make sure it is substantial.  Please post a summary in the discussion thread as post content. You can submit week 7, but make sure you submit by Friday of week 8.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze your cross-cultural communication style in search of your potential as a communicator. By reflecting carefully on your strengths and weaknesses as a communicator you will identify areas that you might want to work on and discuss how you are going to improve your effectiveness in those areas.

I.    General description of your cross-cultural communication style.

Describe major sources of influence which have affected your cross-cultural style such as family background, educational background, age, gender, interaction with significant others, contrast with those from other cultures, etc. Put together some of the stories you've told about yourself in the discussion boards.  Discuss how your communication style reflects who you are (your self-concept) which has been established through interaction with others.

II.    Analysis of your communication style in specific situations.

Implications of Measures

Begin this section with a discussion of your intercultural communication style based on a synthesis of at least 5 self-assessment measures from the McCroskey site, which we have used in this course. You can use the same information you posted in the measures discussion threads, but cite and reference each measure in correct APA style. Remember, there were measures provided in class materials during weekly units (e.g., Bem). Use scientifically tested measures, such as Bem and those provided on the McCroskey site  http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/ or in the Neuiliep textbook. See, for example, http://books.google.com/books?id=tDkkUSOpmKMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=neuliep+intercultural+communication#v=onepage&q=&f=false p. 48.

You may want to select two cross-cultural contexts such as female-male, black-white, young-elderly or any other context that is important to you.  You may also select those from other countries as a cultural context or those who are significantly different from you in other aspects of your life (e.g. religion, lifestyle, disability, etc.).

For each of the two contexts you have chosen, describe your strengths and weaknesses (3 to 4 each). You may want to consider verbal/nonverbal skills, listening skills, conflict management, giving and receiving feedback, creating a supportive communication climate, relational skills such as self-disclosure or active listening, etc. Focus on those skills that are most relevant to your strengths and weaknesses.

Be specific and concrete in describing your strengths and weaknesses. General statements such as “I’m a terrible listener” or “I’m great with people” are not adequate. Use behavior descriptions that include the following three elements:

§  Who is involved?

§  In what circumstances does the behavior occur (e.g. at work, at parties, when I’m tired, when we discuss a certain topic)?

§  What specific behaviors are involved?  (These descriptions should be as concrete as possible.)

Give concrete examples of situations that illustrate your point. Describe some of the situations you were actually involved in, and where you think you were a very good and/or very poor communicator.

III.    Discussion of your specific plans to improve your weaknesses.

Now that you are more aware of your weaknesses as a cross-cultural communicator, you have a clearer idea about how you can improve your communication style or specific communication skills. This plan should be more comprehensive than the one you used to decide on your minority experience.  In this paper, discuss how you would like to use the knowledge you have acquired during this term to improve your cross-cultural communication skills. What kinds of specific actions would you like to take to achieve your goals? Justify your action plans drawing on the theories and principles in cross-cultural communication. Be sure to write a statement of your action plan for each weakness that you have identified.

This assignment carries a major value toward your total grade.  Please refer to the rubric located in the grading policy portion of the syllabus for grading criteria. 

Leaders

The scheduled leaders will lead the discussion over their assigned chapters. 

YOUR FIRST POST must be your summary and questions.  Here are the required elements of your presentation (leadership):

1. clearly labeling in all capitals the chapter(s) you are presenting, and

2. providing a brief summary of the chapter(s), and

3. providing two questions which will be posted on the discussion thread for their assigned chapters, and

4. leading the online conversation about the chapter(s) Tuesday through Sunday, by responding to each student who comments on your presentation. and

5. keeping student discussion on the topic of your chapter presentation and how it relates to principles of more effective intercultural communication.

By Tuesday of your assigned week, post your summaries and questions. The summary should be one or two paragraphs per chapter depending on the chapter length. The questions should be posed to generate a discussion with classmates and should be based on things the discussion leader found interesting. MAKE SURE YOU RESPOND TO EACH STUDENT WHO ANSWERS ONE OF YOUR QUESTIONS.

Color of Water Discussion Leaders

The grade book will indicate week 3 for everyone, but grades will be entered through week 6.

Week 3

Chapter 1-10

Week 4 Chapters

11-20

Week 5

Chapters 21-25 & Epilogue

As students add and drop the course, let me know if I need to make changes.

Non-Leaders

Other students--Non-Leaders--

DO NOT MAKE RANDOM POSTS in this thread.  Wait until a student has made his or her presentation, then use the RESPOND function for that student's post to answer questions.  Make sure you read the presentation and the url BEFORE making a post. You will want to respond multiple times during the conversation so they post by Friday and Sunday.  Make sure you post to each thread about Color of Water.  Stay on the topic of more effective intercultural communication.  Show your knowledge about applying cross-cultural communication to the reading.

EXAMPLE GRADING RUBRIC

Weeks 6, 7, and 8 will consist of weekly presentations by students. For the presentations, students will identify ONE web site that are relevant to the class. Make sure the website is valid with quality information, such as you would find from the US government or for a college course.

-Clearly label in all capitals CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE WEB PRESENTATION:  TOPIC

-Give URL link.

-Write a formal presentation and summary and how the url is relevant to our studies in this class.  Include an explanation of the validity of the group providing the URL.

-Respond to each student who comments on your presentation.

Leaders/Presenters

YOUR FIRST POST TO THE THREAD MUST BE YOUR PRESENTATION, including the summary, analysis, source validation, and url. 

The gradebook indicates week 6 for this assignment, but your grade will not be posted until a week after you have led the discussion.

Schedule

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Any student who hasn't posted already.

By TUESDAY of your assigned week, the scheduled presenters will lead the discussion by providing the site URL, a two to three paragraph summary of the web site, and a brief statement of the relevance of the site to the class (improving cross-cultural communication). Make sure you check the validity of the source and include that in your summary so we know we can trust the information. MAKE SURE SURE YOU RESPOND TO EACH STUDENT WHO COMMENTS ON YOUR SITE and KEEP OTHER STUDENTS ON TOPIC REGARDING CROSS_CULTURAL COMMUNICATION.

EXAMPLE GRADING RUBRIC

Non-Leaders--Cultural Perspective Web Presentations Discussion Threads

DO NOT MAKE RANDOM POSTS in this thread.  Wait until a student has made his or her presentation, then use the RESPOND function for that student's post to answer questions.  Make sure you read the presentation and the url BEFORE making a post.

For full Discussion Board credit, both leaders and non-leaders (all students) will need to post in EACH THREAD of Cultural Web Presentations. Look at each site and submit a brief response concerning your impressions about improving cross-cultural communication based on the information in the site.

Respond to the overview to each thread.  Stay on topic and discuss how to improve intercultural communication.  At a minimum, make sure you post to all required threads, which are ALL THE THREADS ABOUT papers, Color of Water, and Cultural Perspective Web Presentations.  In other words, always post and discuss items that have additional point assignments (e.g., reflections, Color of Water discussion leadership, Web site leadership).

According to Dr. Noe's guidelines, each week's discussion board is worth 2.5% of your course grade, which is 2.5 points.   In some classes, the course is all about reading research and writing about scientific information.  Diverse opinions are welcome, but please stay on topic. This course is about adaptation and change, so your personal perspectives are keys to your success in becoming a more effective intercultural communicator.