So we are off to our new start, a new semester, where I will not be teaching and Linda is now joining us as one of the thinkers and shapers of the Managerial Communication Course. Though I will not be teaching this semester, I am committed to doing research and posting information and ideas for the course. I also will push all of us to post ideas and teaching experiences so this can be a community project, not just each one of us alone in our corners trying to do the “right” thing.
I have started a new Page on technology where anyone using this blog can go to look up articles on organizations and technology. “Pages” are located on the upper right corner of the blog home page and are reference areas to find research, articles, chapters, and URL links all of which in someway relate to Managerial Communication. The definition of how they relate to the course is open to interpretation, so do not feel compelled to just post or link credible information. It can be something that just makes us think or laugh as well.
Last semester Caryn and I had talked a great deal about how IT and communication is a new field of study in Managerial Communication and that it will probably keep growing as an area of interest to students and scholars alike. So I will look into some of the work out there and hopefully post a few interesting pieces. And again feel free to add to the collection in any of the Pages.
I would like to suggest to everyone that we begin to link our blog to other blogs dealing with some of the same faculty development questions. In order to do that we will have to take off the password protection, meaning anyone who wishes to see out blog will be able to do so, in short open to the world. Yet to see it someone will have to actually search for it, as we can make it only available at Baruch and not on a google search engine. I will let you all think about it, but I want to hold up the idea of how this is one of the new uses in IT and organizations; how do we work in a format that is semi public? Many educational institutions are beginning to look at these questions, IT now allows the transmission and development of knowledge across the world. So how do leaders, teachers and researchers continue to work and teach yet use the far reaching elements of this new IT communication world?
This is all just food for thought….
suzanne –
i don’t have a problem opening this up . . . i’m just wondering who and/or when people would be looking at the content? should we also invite other, let’s say, 3102 and/or 3150 baruch people on here as well and/or have separate pages for them to add content? maybe that would help with us sharing and minimizing duplication across classes . . .
maybe you can tell us more about the advantages of this at our meeting tomorrow.
here’s a possible agenda for tomorrow:
1. suzanne, tell us more about the issue of opening it up in a semi-private way. and, how we might talk with other com studies faculty this way as well.
2. let’s share ideas about how we’re using technology in the course of teaching this class and teaching communication theory about technology . . .
3. finally, i’d also suggest we talk about how we’re working toward a relatively common core of communication theory that’s a part of the course. we can/should all have various special topics that we integrate into class, but what’s the common core of managerial/organizational communication theory we think is essential to have in class and which is different from 3102 and 3150.
Also:
At one time last year, Suzanne and I talked about developing 4 threads or core principles for the course. We tossed out (1) diversity, (2) ethics, (3) technology, and (4) history.
Finally, I’ve uploaded a few more readings which might be of use to share.
See you both tomorrow. Suzanne, thanks for pushing us technologically. Linda, thanks for the twitter article.
See you 1:00 at Gregory’s.
Take care, c
Hello Everyone:
I hope this message finds you all well and surviving the semster!
This is a long overdue blog about a recent brainstorming conversation Suzanne, Linda, and I had about 3068. My hope is to share some of my recollections of our conversation and then, Suzanne and Linda please chime in . . .
Bob and Jana, we met in March to continue discussions about the philosophy and goals of 3068 as well as just to ‘compare notes’ and share ideas. Although we haven’t been able to meet again lately, we hope to continue this dialogue.
Part of our conversation was a discussion of the various backgrounds we all bring to our teaching of 3068.
Our backgrounds span the fields of organizational communication (coming from the communication studies discipline), management communication (coming more from management studies), and business communication (a combination of communication studies, management, and english, and others). And, because of this, we all come at the class in ways that are both similar and different.
One way we came to this realization was through a comparison of teaching materials. For example, I use the Miller book, partly because it is written by an organizational communication studies scholar and reflects what i know. Suzanne has used other books in the past, but has been experimenting with Miller as well. Linda’s background and expertise draws her to Argenti’s text, particularly its case study focus and inclusion of crisis communication (one of her specialties).
We have also compared TOCs – there is a great deal of topical overlap between these texts; there are also differences with respect to the theoretical ideas being presented and history of ‘the field’ (as they vary) being presented. We all see strengths in both of these resources.
Yet we also talked about the need to reduce overlap between 3068 and, for example, 3102 as well as the pre-req management classes that are a part of the program. We also talked about the need to continue to develop a course that fully brought together a focus on *communication* with respect to management and organizing. What makes this class different, unique, and/or special in relation to other classes which may also talk about issues of leadership, conflict, etc. in the workplace?
I am putting up (as soon as I send this) a ‘working’ draft of a course philosophy emerging out of these conversations. The goal of this philosophy is for us to come together on some broad goals we want to accomplish in 3068, understanding that we may (probably will) get to these goals differently. Yet they give us some place to start. Please get on to the blog and comment, edit, revise, etc. I’m just putting up a first draft with the expectation that we’ll all add our thoughts in the coming weeks.
We all decided to share ideas via this blog, although we recognize that time is scarce these days. Linda noted that her case study approach is ’emergent’ by nature but there may be ways for her to help teach Suzanne and I more about doing case studies in the classroom.
I think this is the jist of what I remember from our conversation. Suzanne and Linda, please add in your thoughts. Although time is scare to meet, our hope is that this blog will allow us to interact and continue to share ideas on 3068.
Have a super weekend.
Caryn