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

Inside Scoop Vol. 6

This week has been a very busy for me in COM 320 with the Japan crisis group project and also with the Service Learning Project because our cornhole tournament was this past Saturday, April 2nd. In my Japan crisis group my group members were Andrew B., Brady, Mark, Victor, and myself. We worked great together. It was much different collaborating with them as it has been collaborating with Prestige Worldwide...wide....wide. With the Japan crisis group, we first exchanged contact information and recognized that we needed to meet on that upcoming weekend. Before we left class that Friday, we had all ready decided that we were going to meet at 9 PM in the Stewart Center Library on Sunday. In class, we also made it clear that everyone needed to have their sections done by Saturday, so that Sunday we were able to make the final touches and comments. The main difference between this group and Prestige Worldwide is that we did not take the time to get to know each other. In the Japan crisis group the deadline was short and their was a goal that had to be met. This was the main reason I felt that we did not take the time to get know each other because their really was not any time to do that. As a crisis group, we were very efficient in the way we worked.

Tyler C.

Sparky and Me

So we made a decision, whether it was a good one or not we are not sure just yet, and brought my puppy from home back to school.  His name is sparky and he is just that!  His is about a year old and he is a mix between a jack rustle, chihuahua, and a beagle.

After being inside for no longer than 10 minutes he peed twice and started chewing on a shoe.  Its been extremely fun so far, but I am sure he will test our patience soon enough.

I wouldn't have thought it to be possible, but things I have picked up this semester have already helped us with him.  It is a lot of nonverbal communication.  Body language has been very prominent in how he acts around us.  He has known me for quite a while so he approaches me intimate space which is 0 - 1.5 feet all the time.  For my roommates who he just meet he tends to stay in the social space which is 4 to 12 feet.  As he warms up to them he will be more comfortable in the closer zones.  It's weird how it is works the same for dogs as it does people.  We have also noticed that he responds a lot to body language.  If you are happy he is happy and wants to play.  He recently did this,

 and he could tell right away how I was looking at him that I was not happy and he was in big trouble.  I'm hoping that the skills I have learned in Com 320 will continue to help us.  I know we will need it.

Gary Burgin

Communications helps you make deals

Today I went with a friend to negotiate an arms deal.   Let me clarify that that isn’t as bad as it sounds.  We weren’t buying machine guns or explosives, just considering a bunch of old rifles.  I had seen them before, and knew which one I wanted to buy.  My friend examined the guns and found one he liked.  When we began to talk with the seller, I was reminded of things I had learned in communications class.

Most communication is done in an informal setting.  The buyer, the seller and I were all college students, and none of us were representing a business.  Nevertheless, many rules of communication apply, no matter what the setting is.

The seller had a price that he wanted us to pay, and we had a price that we wanted to pay.  We then had to use our respective communication skills to arrive at a price that satisfied everyone.  Negotiation skills are a valuable thing to learn in communications.  They’re useful in many situations, from haggling on a price, to bargaining on international agreements.

What is negotiation, though?  I’ve think that negotiating is really about persuasion.  For instance, I had to try to convince the seller to accept a price lower than he originally wanted me to pay. 

I got a fair price and skills from communications class helped me do it.

-Mason Moyer

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

Back in Action

I got back to Indiana two days ago and I can say I miss it already. Some other people and I went to Daytona for spring break and had a blast.  I was really suprised that over half of the people I met down there were from Purdue, so that was pretty sweet.  Daytona, Florida was sunny and  warm and was a lot of fun, but it's back to business.

 I feel like we have a lot of things to do to get ready for project day and it is getting close; two weeks from now and we will have be all ready.  While we do have a lot to do as a group, I feel like our group will get things done without a problem so I'm not getting stressed out.  The only thing that will hurt our progress will be the fact that we all have other classes and other things that we need to get done besides Com 320, but we have done well so far so we should be ok.  If I do really get stressed out I'll just pretend that I'm back in Florida on the beach.

Inside Scoop Vol. 5

No comprende? This is literally what I had to say my entire Spring Break. I am on the Purdue Baseball Team, but did not travel with the team this week, so, at the last minute I decided to go to San Juan, Puerto Rico with my fiancé. We stayed at one of the nicest resorts in Puerto Rico. It was awesome. Whenever I go on vacation, I always ask myself when I get home, “Why the hell do I live in Indiana?” In Puerto Rico, it was really nice waking up every morning and it all ready being 80 degrees and then everyday it got up to about 92.  

This was my first time to Puerto Rico and I would recommend anyone to go. There is a lot of stuff to do, including to go see Old San Juan, which has a wall all the way around the city and was used to keep Pirates away, very cool. The resort was on a reef, so we were able to go snorkeling there, but there was also a beach ,which was awesome. I would say that one of my favorite parts of the resort was the pool bar, especially at 1pm everyday because they had free pina colada samples, and the number of samples was unlimited. 

Tyler Calder