With it being the last blog of the semester, I would like to reflect a little bit on my experiences in COM 320 this semester. Throughout the duration of the semester we have encountered many different aspects of small group communication; ranging from culture differences, to communication theories, to the different types of small groups. I will say that this class was much different than what I first imagined it would be when I signed up for it and to be honest, I've really enjoyed it. The way that Jasmine takes the material we have learned and puts them into practice through the activities we do in class is very helpful and also fun!
To reflect back on my favorite activity in the class would be a no-brainer. The service learning project gave us a chance to work in depth with our small groups, it allowed us to be very creative and design an event from scratch, and also help out the community. Although I have worked on community service projects in the past, I have never worked with such an elaborate type before. This gave us the chance to develop our own project, work out the problems, and actually make the idea a reality. We all had a lot of fun working on this and I would love to do it again.
With all that being said, even though this is our last blog, the class is certainly not over. There are still three weeks remaining and I'm looking forward to what is in store.
Tyler Oehlman
Showing posts with label Tyler O. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tyler O. Show all posts
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Service Learning Project
Yesterday was the day of our service learning project. The past week consisted of a lot of last minute preparations and and hustling around to get everything picked up and finalized. Finally, after weeks of preparing we were able to enjoy the fruits of our labor and play some corn hole for a good cause. We had beautiful weather for this event with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the middle to upper 50's. The turn out wasn't bad considering a few conflicting events that day, including Boiler Blast which involved a majority of our original turnout. We did try to compensate for this minor set back by moving back to original time of 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock. This did help and brought a few people that said they wouldn't be able to attend because of Boiler Blast.
The event was a lot of fun and everyone I talked to had a great time. In addition to corn hole, we had plenty of drinks in hot dogs, and rocking tunes. The complete tournament consisted of 12 teams and a double elimination bracket. The winning team consisted of Ben and Amnie, friends of Gary's. Everyone was really surprised by the dominant performance of Amnie. She was by far the most consistent thrower throughout the afternoon.
Here is a link to a video on the appropriate approach to throwing cornhole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEOfrK0Y-TU
Tyler O
The event was a lot of fun and everyone I talked to had a great time. In addition to corn hole, we had plenty of drinks in hot dogs, and rocking tunes. The complete tournament consisted of 12 teams and a double elimination bracket. The winning team consisted of Ben and Amnie, friends of Gary's. Everyone was really surprised by the dominant performance of Amnie. She was by far the most consistent thrower throughout the afternoon.
Here is a link to a video on the appropriate approach to throwing cornhole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEOfrK0Y-TU
Tyler O
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March Madness
With the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament coming to a close and two of the Final Four teams already selected, I figured it was about time to talk about this "Madness". On March 15th, 68 of the best Division I mens basketball teams from around the nation entered one tournament looking to be the BEST in America. Two weeks later we are down to 6 teams, and soon to be 4 after tonight's two games; and as the title says, it has been madness. Link to current updated bracket-http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket
Out of the 6 teams that remain, one of them is Indiana's own (and once again Cinderella story) Butler University. Butler started off the tournament ranked about right in the middle of the field of 68, so making it this far is quite the accomplishment in itself. Growing up a huge fan of basketball and having one of my siblings attend Butler, I have found myself to be an avid follower of the Bulldogs. Their team chemistry and drive to play to the best of their ability astounds me every game I watch.
Basketball teams are a great example of a small group setting. This should seem obvious to most people seeing as the word team is already there, but some people may not catch it. The definition of a team is a coordinated group of individuals organized to work together to achieve a specific common goal. Most basketball teams, especially high school and up, consist of 12-15 players; and out of those 12-15, only 5 are on the court at one time during a game. Communication between these players on and off the court is crucial to a teams success during the season. Teams that develop a strong bond and relationship amongst each other off the court tend, to find that they play a lot better together on the court. Everything you do together away from the game of basketball translates back to the court, and vice versa. Ernest Bormann's Symbolic Convergence Theory definitely comes into play in this setting when teams are developing their relationships. It helps that teammates already hold one thing in common, basketball, but it is important to further explore their personalities and find more common ground. When watching Butler play you can definitely tell these guys have great respect for one another and approach it as if they even are a family.
Communication and leadership also are key aspects that a team needs to perfect. When you watch a basketball team you can see how important communication is among the players in order to excel. Not only verbal communication, but non-verbal communication is important as well. Teams learn how to communicate with each other non-verbally so that they can relay information to each other without the other team knowing what is going on. These non-verbal cues come in the form of hand gestures, facial expressions, and just knowing what to expect next in a previously designed play. Leadership is important to have amongst a team for when times get rough. A team is not always going to play as well as they like or maybe its just things aren't going their way. It is important at these times to have key players step up and take control of the team, and let them know not to quit. When I watch Butler play you can definitely see players like Howard and Mack have developed this leadership position. Howard being a senior has been there and done that. He has been in the league for four years now and knows what to expect. It is his job to guide the freshmen and sophomores in the right direction to become great players like himself.
Well that's about all I got. There are only 5 more games left to be played in the tournament and you can bet I will be in front of the TV for everyone of them, especially to cheer on the Butler Bulldogs.
Tyler Oehlman
Out of the 6 teams that remain, one of them is Indiana's own (and once again Cinderella story) Butler University. Butler started off the tournament ranked about right in the middle of the field of 68, so making it this far is quite the accomplishment in itself. Growing up a huge fan of basketball and having one of my siblings attend Butler, I have found myself to be an avid follower of the Bulldogs. Their team chemistry and drive to play to the best of their ability astounds me every game I watch.
Basketball teams are a great example of a small group setting. This should seem obvious to most people seeing as the word team is already there, but some people may not catch it. The definition of a team is a coordinated group of individuals organized to work together to achieve a specific common goal. Most basketball teams, especially high school and up, consist of 12-15 players; and out of those 12-15, only 5 are on the court at one time during a game. Communication between these players on and off the court is crucial to a teams success during the season. Teams that develop a strong bond and relationship amongst each other off the court tend, to find that they play a lot better together on the court. Everything you do together away from the game of basketball translates back to the court, and vice versa. Ernest Bormann's Symbolic Convergence Theory definitely comes into play in this setting when teams are developing their relationships. It helps that teammates already hold one thing in common, basketball, but it is important to further explore their personalities and find more common ground. When watching Butler play you can definitely tell these guys have great respect for one another and approach it as if they even are a family.
Communication and leadership also are key aspects that a team needs to perfect. When you watch a basketball team you can see how important communication is among the players in order to excel. Not only verbal communication, but non-verbal communication is important as well. Teams learn how to communicate with each other non-verbally so that they can relay information to each other without the other team knowing what is going on. These non-verbal cues come in the form of hand gestures, facial expressions, and just knowing what to expect next in a previously designed play. Leadership is important to have amongst a team for when times get rough. A team is not always going to play as well as they like or maybe its just things aren't going their way. It is important at these times to have key players step up and take control of the team, and let them know not to quit. When I watch Butler play you can definitely see players like Howard and Mack have developed this leadership position. Howard being a senior has been there and done that. He has been in the league for four years now and knows what to expect. It is his job to guide the freshmen and sophomores in the right direction to become great players like himself.
Well that's about all I got. There are only 5 more games left to be played in the tournament and you can bet I will be in front of the TV for everyone of them, especially to cheer on the Butler Bulldogs.
Tyler Oehlman
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Small Group Importance
This semester I am taking a guitar making class as an elective. In this class each there are two lab sections and each lab section is divided into two separate groups. Each group is responsible for its specific design. Everyone in the group does get their own guitar, however each guitar is the same design, the purpose of this is to help demonstrate mass production and try to get the feel for manufacturing processes and the importance of keeping them consistent. Our group chose to go with a basic acoustic dreadnought design, rather than an electric guitar, it better fit the taste of our group.
Now that I've explained a little bit of what this class is about I can get to the point of writing this blog. As we move further into the semester the faster the deadline for completion of our guitars approaches. At the beginning of the semester the idea of finishing these guitars by the end of the semester seemed like an easy task and we should have no problem with this. However, none of us had ever made a guitar before and were unaware of what all went into this process. As week after week passes by we realize how important it is that our group works together to get everything accomplished and accomplished in a timely manner. Group communication has become key to keeping on track and staying on task. I feel like being in COM 320 this semester, while also taking the guitar class, has kinda pushed me into a leadership position in this group. I feel like I have a feel for how groups should be run and know what important concepts to stress to the group.
As the semester moves on the two of these classes in unison have accelerated my abilities of participating in groups and has been very beneficial. I will definitely continue to stress concepts I learn in COM 320 in all group interactions and will help me in the future when I am working in a company group setting.
I have included a few pictures of my guitar that I am currently working on, just to show how its going
-Bending the sides
- A few neck blanks
Tyler O
Now that I've explained a little bit of what this class is about I can get to the point of writing this blog. As we move further into the semester the faster the deadline for completion of our guitars approaches. At the beginning of the semester the idea of finishing these guitars by the end of the semester seemed like an easy task and we should have no problem with this. However, none of us had ever made a guitar before and were unaware of what all went into this process. As week after week passes by we realize how important it is that our group works together to get everything accomplished and accomplished in a timely manner. Group communication has become key to keeping on track and staying on task. I feel like being in COM 320 this semester, while also taking the guitar class, has kinda pushed me into a leadership position in this group. I feel like I have a feel for how groups should be run and know what important concepts to stress to the group.
As the semester moves on the two of these classes in unison have accelerated my abilities of participating in groups and has been very beneficial. I will definitely continue to stress concepts I learn in COM 320 in all group interactions and will help me in the future when I am working in a company group setting.
I have included a few pictures of my guitar that I am currently working on, just to show how its going
-Bending the sides
- A few neck blanks
Tyler O
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Service Learning Project
It hard to believe how fast this semester is flying by. It seems like every year goes by faster than the last. We are getting ready to start week eight of the semester, already half way through, where does the time go. With the coming of the eighth week, comes the beginning of the groups final project. Although we are already through 7 weeks, there are still 8 more weeks of the semester remaining.
During these eight weeks the groups of COM 320 will be working on their service learning project, the big project of the semester. Throughout the past week, Prestige Worldwide has put hours of work into creating hopefully a fantastic project that will help do great things for the community of West Lafayette. This project is important to us for many reasons, the obvious being its a huge part of our grade and we all want to succeed in this class. But also, this is our opportunity to work together to help out kids in need. I always welcome opportunities like this into my life and am glad that we have been given this amazing assignment.
As a member of Prestige Worldwide I will work very hard with my teammates to create a wonderful event that will produce an immense outcome to help out kids in need.
Tyler O
During these eight weeks the groups of COM 320 will be working on their service learning project, the big project of the semester. Throughout the past week, Prestige Worldwide has put hours of work into creating hopefully a fantastic project that will help do great things for the community of West Lafayette. This project is important to us for many reasons, the obvious being its a huge part of our grade and we all want to succeed in this class. But also, this is our opportunity to work together to help out kids in need. I always welcome opportunities like this into my life and am glad that we have been given this amazing assignment.
As a member of Prestige Worldwide I will work very hard with my teammates to create a wonderful event that will produce an immense outcome to help out kids in need.
Tyler O
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Beginning
This blog begins era of blogging for me. I have never before done any form of blogging until now and I can honestly say I am pretty excited to being on my way. The past week Prestige Worldwide has been meeting and created, what I think is a very presentable blog. We are about 5 weeks into the semester which means we have spent 5 weeks together and I would say we are doing really well. I am working with a strong and well achieved group of individuals.
Throughout our meetings we have been trying to put into practice the skills and lessons taught to us about group communication in this class. Working on becoming better group members and/or leaders is very important to each and every one of us and the only way for us to become better at it is to work day in and day out on these skills. We all try to think of it in a way that is pleasing to us. For example I try to think of it in the way of sports. I am a huge fan of sports and love playing almost every sport there is. When I am out there on the field, court, or whatever it may be; I try to be a part of the team and sometimes even take the role of a leader or captain. Thinking of our group setting in this way helps me relate better and develop a better understanding of what it means to be a team.
Tyler Oehlman
Throughout our meetings we have been trying to put into practice the skills and lessons taught to us about group communication in this class. Working on becoming better group members and/or leaders is very important to each and every one of us and the only way for us to become better at it is to work day in and day out on these skills. We all try to think of it in a way that is pleasing to us. For example I try to think of it in the way of sports. I am a huge fan of sports and love playing almost every sport there is. When I am out there on the field, court, or whatever it may be; I try to be a part of the team and sometimes even take the role of a leader or captain. Thinking of our group setting in this way helps me relate better and develop a better understanding of what it means to be a team.
Tyler Oehlman
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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