Volume 2
An International Forum for Innovative Teaching
CONTENTS
1
Commentary
Donn Dupree
3
Using Special Teams for
Teaching and Not Team
Teaching, Part 2
Roger D. Lee, Ph.D.
6
Learning By Teaching
Leah Savion, Ph.D.
7
Putting Popular Culture
to Critical Use
Alfred G. Mueller II, Ph.D.
9 Managing Student
Interaction in Cooperative
Work Groups
Cynthia A. Irizarry, Ph.D.
11
Meet the Authors
• • • • • • • • • • •
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Issue 4
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November 2 0 0 3
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Teaching in the Middle East:
Some Observations
Donn Dupree
English Lecturer
Petroleum Institute
United Arab Emerites
donnbuxton@yahoo.com
The following commentary is the Editor’s
interview with Donn Dupree in summer 2003.
Editor: Donn,what do you teach? For whom?
Donn: For the past two years I have been
teaching English as a foreign language and
freshman English at the Petroleum Institute
in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The
Institute will eventually offer baccalaureate
and graduate degrees in engineering and
applied science that support the petroleum
industry in the UAE.
Editor: What is the profile of your students?
Donn: Our students are all male Emirates who
have just graduated from high schools throughout the country. Most enter the Foundation
program, a bridge between high school and
college consisting of classes in English, science,
math, English, and computing, all, of course,
in the English language. I teach either Foundation English or freshman composition.
Editor: How do your students perceive you as
an American?
Donn: As an American, I feel very little tension
with my students or with anyone here for that
matter. My students see me as a professor who
can ultimately determine whether they succeed
or fail. Of course, what goes on in their heads
and among their peers may be a completely
different story, but our students receive stipends
while attending school, and I’m sure most
would want to keep a good thing going.
Editor: How is the educational system there
different from the one in the United States. If
so, how have you adjusted your teaching to
account for the differences?
Donn: From what I can gather, rote memorization and repetition are still emphasized and the
classrooms are teacher centered. Many students
find themselves most comfortable doing mechanhanical exercises from their language textbooks,
copying from the board, or doing other very
controlled learning activities. I also found that
they actually enjoy memorizing and performing
dialogues in front of the class. Our job, however, is to train them to do more than parrot
back to us what we give them. We have to train
them to be independent learners who can go
out and get information, synthesize and organize it, and present it to us orally or in writing.
Of course, to do this they have to develop their
reading skills, which one of their biggest challenges. Many don’t read that much in their own
language, so we have to develop their reading
habits.
Editor: Describe any unusual experiences you
have had as an American teaching Islamic
students in the Middle east?
Donn: I can’t say I’ve had any unusual experences teaching here. Some of my colleagues who
have taught in all girls schools in the Emirates
have had a few. One of the British instructors
mentioned that several years ago at the end of
continued on pg. 2..........
Teaching in the Middle East
continued from pg. 1..........
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one of the semesters one of the girls in his class
came up to thank him for the course; but before
she extended her hand for a handshake, she
not only put on a pair of gloves but also reached
into her bag to take out a shawl to wrap around
the glove to avoid any possibility of touching
the man. Another colleague mentioned that
several of the students brought their maids with
them to their classes.
Editor: Tell us some of the specific challenges
you have faced teaching English as a Second
Language in the Middle East to your students
living there as opposed to your international
students living in the U.S?
Donn: The biggest challenge is to give them
as many opportunities as possible to use the
English language in the classroom. All of our
students speak Arabic as a first language, and
it is unrealistic to expect them to use English
when communicating with their peers outside
class. Even in class English often gives way
to Arabic within a few minutes, so there has to
be strict control. We do, however, give oral
tests and require the students do presentations;
so they know that they will ultimately have to
perform. They also know that just about everything they do—reading, writing, and listening—
is geared toward their college career as they
advance to freshman and upper division
classes and ultimately toward their career
with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the
company that sponsors the Institute.
In the States my ESL classes included
students from a variety of countries who were
forced to use English to communicate both
in and out of class, so there was no problem
motivating them to use the language. In addition, we were able to make use of a wider
variety of materials,many of which incorporated popular culture and contemporary political
and social issues. In this more culturally sensitive
environment, we are restricted in what materials
we can choose. We also feel the need to give
the students exactly what they need as future
engineers. A listening exercise with a setting at
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
an opera house just wouldn’t be appropriate.
Even topics that we would normally feel comfortable with like “family members” can pose
problems. It’s a private matter. Students would
never bring pictures of their parents and
siblings to class. It just isn’t done.
Editor: Do people you meet, including your
students, assume that you are the spokesperson
of the American government’s policies or the
bearer of American culture?
Donn: If they do, they certainly don’t let on.
In our institute the discussion of religion
and politics is highly discouraged, so it is
difficult to know what is going on in the
students’ minds. Outside the classroom we
are surrounded by Pakistanis, Palestinians,
Jordanians, Syrians, Indians, Philippinos, and
Europeans who mostly see us as we see them,
that is, as expats who have found financial
advantages in working overseas and who
prefer to enjoy those advantages as long as
they last. Many may feel that we speak for
our government, but they don’t seem that
concerned. They have a more important
priority, which is to make enough money to
send money home to their families. Why
get political when it can lead to conflict and
possible deportation? Moreover, many see
enough media coverage on CNN and the BBC
to know that not all Americans agree with
governmental policies.
Editor: What are your students’ perception
of the U.S. and specific features of American
culture? Which ones are most attractive and
most repellent to them?
continued on pg. 3..........
2
Teaching in the Middle East
continued from pg. 2..........
Donn: Many of our students really do
want to visit the States and some already
have. They are exposed to a good amount
of popular music, which leads to a lot
of curiosity. Most know who Madonna
and Britney are. They frequent the cinemas here which show the latest American
films, so they all know a lot of the major
stars and have some notion of what it
might be like in the States. They also
frequent restaurants like Friday’s, Chili’s,
Fuddruckers, Burger King, KFC, and
other chains, so there’s no doubt that there
is a lot of American culture they enjoy.
The intermingling of unmarried men
and women in public, however, is something I’ve rarely observed, at least with
the locals; and affection between a man
and woman in public can land a couple in
jail regardless of where they are from or
what their marital status is. Apparently,
religious law forbids it just as it forbids
the eating of pork. Public intermingling
of local unmarried men and women here
is more frowned upon than just about
anything else. This does not mean we
don’t see it with other nationalities,
though. My son and his friends, both
boys and girls, go to the movies or restaurants together, but it’s a group activity.
I have never seen any of my students
or any other young unmarried Emirates
escorting a girl around.
Editor: What cultural features do you
feel comfortable sharing with your students and other people you encounter?
Which ones do you find essential to
share as part of their learning the English
language?
Donn: We all share sports. During Ramadan we play sports—such as basketball,
soccer, and rugby—and have rowing
contests. At the Institute we often have
dinners with the students which include
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lamb and rice in the traditional Arabic
fashion on the floor using our hands. Our
students are all also interested in cars. In
fact, this topic is one of our favorites for
generating language. In one of the computer classes the students do a spreadsheet comparing their favorite cars with
regard to economy, speed, comfort, and
style and then follow up the spread sheet
with a composition. Many have BMWs,
Land Rovers, and Land Cruisers and enjoy discussing the differences among
them. If there is any culture we share, it
is consumer culture. They are as big shoppers as we are. Cars, mobile phones, and
computers are as available here as they
are in the States, and my students are
aware of the latest upgrades. Here in Abu
Dhabi we have two new malls; and if it
weren’t for the ethnic diversity of the
shoppers, I would think I were back home.
•••••••••••••
February Commentary
Dr. Susan M. Fredericks and Dr. Andrea
Hornett from Penn State University, Delaware
County, will author the Commentary of the
February 2004 issue with their article entitled
“Learning from Students: Teaching Ethical
Leadership in an Unethical Time.”
Using Special Teams
for Teaching and Not
Team Teaching, Part 2
Roger D. Lee, Ph.D.
Professor
Salt Lake Community College
Salt Lake City, Utah
Roger.Lee@slcc.edu
Part 1 of Dr. Lee’s Article was published in
the September 2003 Issue of TSP.
Part 2 of the article begins by discussing
the remaining roles that must be filled by
faculty. These roles are mentor, integrator,
and assessor. Similar to the previous roles
of pedagogue, researcher, lecturer, and
discussion leader addressed in Part 1 of
this article, the remaining three roles need
to be filled by faculty who possess the
skills and passion for the different roles.
As with the previously-discussed roles,
the basic premise is that those faculty
who fill the various roles discussed below
must also possess the competency to
teach the subject material of the course.
Mentor
Perhaps this role could be considered new
for a faculty member to play because
it means far more than merely setting an
hour aside daily for student consultation.
Similar to mentors in the workplace,
faculty mentors would enrich their role
of faculty advising and become involved
with their students’ personal growth and
development. Research has borne out
the positive impact role modeling and
mentoring have on work associates and
students.
Golian and Galbraith (1996) suggest
the following six mentoring functions:
continued on pg. 4..........
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
3
Using Special Teams, Part 2
continued from pg. 3..........
● Building and establishing relationships.
● Providing information and support.
● Facilitating change.
● Challenging and confronting ideas.
● Modeling appropriate behavior.
● Developing a vision for the students.
(pp. 10-27)
Moreover, an in-depth analysis and
research of mentoring by Golian and
Galbraith reveal that similar themes are
embedded in the process of mentoring.
These common themes of mentoring
include the notion that mentoring is a
process within a controlled contextual
setting. Mentoring involves a relationship
between a more knowledgeable and experienced individual and a less experienced
and educated individual and thereby
provides professional networking, counseling, guiding, instructing, modeling,
and sponsoring. Moreover, mentoring
establishes and develops a personal, professional, and psychological support
mechanism and builds a social and reciprocal relationship. Finally, mentoring
provides an identity transformation for
both the mentor and the mentee.
Integrator
Because learning is a holistic experience,
college educators should focus on educating the whole person in an age of specialization and high technology. Integrating
the material learned in the classroom with
what occurs outside the classroom is
indeed a formidable but worthy challenge.
According to Bess and Associates (2000),
this role builds a “collegiate learning
environment” and places the faculty
member in the position of a manager,
overseeing learning in a much larger
context (p.14). Also, the integrator role involves merging the traditional separation
or bifurcation between academic affairs
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and student affairs. The primary function
of the integrator is to link curricular and
co-curicular experience. Learning does not
occur entirely within a singular isolated
domain such as a classroom. Rather, learning, according to Rhoads and Black (1995),
is an integrated and evolving process
in which academic and non-academic
experiences are inherently interconnected.
Student life outside the classroom is an
important venue, whereby the opportunity
to synthesize and integrate the material
introduced in the formal academic environment is nurtured. The intent is to
enable the students to understand and
interpret knowledge gained in the classroom and apply this knowledge to subsequent non-classroom experiences. Thus,
students are empowered to interpret what
is learned in the class from their own
cognitive structure and to make their own
decisions about the meaning, value, and
validity of the material.
Assessor
Traditionally, a college teacher has always
had the responsibility of evaluating students’ performance and assigning grades
at the end of the course. However, this
role goes well beyond end-of-the-semester
grades. It consists of integrating both the
formal and informal learning experiences
into a comprehensive outcome assessment.
The Assessor as envisioned by Speck
(1998) has a six-fold task:
● Analyzing, with the other team
members, what should be evaluated.
● Designing and establishing an
evaluation process of the students.
● Managing and controlling the
evaluation process effectively and
efficiently.
● Evaluating the data derived from
the previous tasks in the assessment
process.
● Interpreting and reporting those data
to the other team members.
● Using the data to create a common
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
body of knowledge about effective
teaching and learning based upon
valid empirical research.
Some may argue that the approach
of using special teams for teaching as
an organizational structure in higher
education as presented herein would be
inefficient and costly. If seven faculty
members were required to teach a single
course formerly taught by one, then
indeed colleges would price themselves
out of business by having to raise tuition
to pay for the additional faculty members.
However, for specialized team players to
work collaboratively as a single team, the
new methodology of faculty specialists
would have to involve teaching more
than one course at a time. Thus, a matrix
organization structure would be most
appropriate. The seven faculty specialists
would be arrayed with various courses
as shown in Table 1 on page 5.
Conceivably the faculty specialists
would have some familiarity with the
discipline and, therefore, would provide
their expertise in the preparation and
delivery of each course. Thus, a pedagogue, for example, would still be teaching five different courses, of which some
of them would be the same but a different section. Moreover, it is likely that the
specialization in research would be rotated so that all faculty members would
have the opportunity to enlarge and
sharpen their core of knowledge in the
discipline. Accordingly, there would be
numerous faculty members who specialize in specific areas and who would teach
according to their specialization to various sections of the same courses during
a particular semester. Thus, the teams
formed would be composed of different
combinations of specialists, who are not
only knowledgeable of the subject material but also have the interpersonal
compatibility and skill to maximize the
continued on pg. 5..........
4
Using Special Teams, Part 2
continued from pg. 4..........
Specialist
Course
#1
Course
#2
Course
#3
Course
#4
Course
#5
Pedagogue
Researcher
Lecturer
Discussion Leader
Mentor
Integrator
Assessor
Table 1 Matrix Organization Structure of Teaching
fruitfulness of the joint teaching venture.
The critical issue with matrix organization structures in the academic environment is the management of communication among the team members and the
challenges to their task authority. The
pattern of professional authority is unquestioned in the traditional classroom
settings. Because of the interdependent
complexity of the teaching with team
specialists, the psychological dynamics of
team behavior must be well understood.
According to Bess and Associates (2000),
team members must be learners within the
learning community in which “doubleloop learning” is engaged (p. 243). This
implies correcting ineffective practices by
questioning fundamental organizational
beliefs and challenging long-standing
perspectives rather than by relying on the
past routines and habits. Because teams do
not become effective and self-managing
instantly after they are created, phasing
in the process is necessary. Initially, as
envisioned by Bess and Associates, faculty
development consultants would be needed
to work with the teams collectively and
with faculty members individually. The
consultants would function as interim
leaders, gradually relinquishing their
consultive roles or delegated ones, as the
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team specialists learn how to manage
themselves.
Conclusion
In summary, Bess and Associates (2000)
argue that the foregoing faculty roles
require such a mix of tasks, talents, and
temperaments that the faculty “sub-roles”
must be performed by more than one
faculty member. “In all work organizations, for successful outcomes to emerge,
in addition to proficient workers performing the required tasks, there must be a
compatibility among the three elements–
the tasks to be performed, the talents
needed for the tasks, and the temperaments
that are likely to result in satisfaction and
motivation” (Bess and Associates, p. 8).
Accordingly, faculty should consider
assembling teaching teams, whereby
individual faculty members would be
assigned different roles and collaborate
to create more effective teaching and
learning outcomes.
The notion of faculty members assuming different specialized teaching roles
within a collaborative team environment
is truly unique. If the approach were
implemented, it could significantly transform higher education in the twenty-first
century. Successful implementation of
such an approach turns on two basic
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
questions: First, can the faculty roles be
unbundled within the present traditional
college teaching environment? Second,
can faculty members make the cultural
shift from “my work” to “our work” and
begin teaching together rather than teaching alone? The future of the faculty role
within higher education is predicated on
the answers to those two questions.
References
Bess, J.L., and Associates. (2000). Teaching
alone, teaching together. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Golian, L.M., & Galbraith, M.W. (1966).
Effective mentoring programs for professional
library development. In D. William & Garten
(eds.). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Rhoads, R.A., & Black, M.A. (1995). Student
affairs practitioners as transformative educators:
Advancing a critical cultural perspective. Journal
of College Student Development, 36(5), 413-421.
Speck, B.W. (1998). Grading student writing:
An annotated bibliography. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press.
•••••••••••••
5
Learning By Teaching
Leah Savion, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
Indiana University—Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana
lsavion@indiana.edu
The culture of disconnection that undermines teaching and learning, says Parker
Palmer in the famous book The Courage
to Teach, is driven in part by our Western
commitment to think in polarities. The
distinction between the teacher (the sage
on stage with all the answers) and the
student (the obedient recipient of knowledge) may be beneficial in some domains,
such as driving and open heart surgery, but
it fails to be effective in academic settings,
where the goal is to turn students into
thinkers and not merely containers of information.
Effective learning, not being a spectator’s sport, calls for active participation
of the learner in the process. Studies
indicate that learners remember 10% of
what they read, 26% of what they hear,
30% of what they see, 50% of what they
see and hear, 70% of what they say, and
90% of what they say as they are engaged
academically. “Learning takes place only
when the synopses that enable understand
ing are used repeatedly until they are
stabilized. . . . Simply getting students
active or talking in groups will not alone
produce learning,” warns Robert Leamnson in “Learning as a Biological Brain
Change” (Change 2000). Students must
become inspired to engage actively in the
material, in and out the classroom. Perhaps
the ultimate in the “super active learning”
required for real learning takes place when
the student plays (temporarily) the role
of a teacher. The benefits of incorporating
appropriate teaching techniques that
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render the student into a (temporary)
teacher include the following:
● Reduction of well-embedded misconceptions that normally inhibit the
acquisition of the academically
sanctioned theories and explanations.
● Familiarity with one’s own learning
styles and possibly the development
of cognitive flexibility, such as
moving from the serialistic style to
the holistic style when coping with
new material.
● Development of metacognitive skills:
awareness of one’s approach to
problem solving, monitoring of the
process, and revising unsuccessful
methods when necessary.
● Critical awareness of diverse (even
wrong) approaches, which enriches
one’s understanding of complex
material and helps prevent future
mistakes.
● Understanding of different levels of
understanding, e.g., as demarcated
by the abilities to summarize,
criticize, analyze, synthesize, etc.
● An appreciation of the distinction
between knowing and being able
to teach properly and of the role
of the instructor as facilitator of
comprehension via active learning.
The following suggests four distinct
techniques or settings of enhancing learning through “learning by teaching”:
Student–Peer
In-Class Study Groups
Student–Peer Tutoring Groups are best
formed by the students without the instructor’s intervention, with the single restraint
of being able to meet outside of class at
least twice a week. If experience shows
that a large number of such self-forming
groups are dysfunctional, the instructor
may intervene and device some procedure
for group assignment. The procedure may
create random groups or be a deliberate
effort to match students with different
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
Effective learning, not being
a spectator’s sport, calls for
active participation of the
learner in the process.
strengths of understanding and instructing.
Groups need re-enforcement that can
be easily achieved with group-work in
class, exercised at least once a week for
10-15 minutes. To cement the existence
of these groups as learning units outside
of class, some group assignments can be
incorporated into the final grade. Group
mates are responsible for each other’s
understanding; they are expected to help
each other to cover lost material and to
prepare for tests and are encouraged to
rotate the role of the “writer” and the
“teacher” among them.
Expert–Novice Tutoring
Expert–Novice Tutoring is a remarkably
successful device, in which everyone
wins. Lower class (e.g., introductory class
in your field) students can ask for a free
tutor by handing the teacher a note with
their e-mail addresses; the notes are then
distributed among the upper class volunteer students who provide three tutoring
units (60-90 minutes each) for some extra
credit points.
The Expert–Novice project involves
students on a voluntary basis, and both
groups work diligently and benefit greatly
from the experience. The novices come
prepared for their tutoring sessions; they
are expected to complete all assignments
given to them by the expert (on top of
their regular class work) and know exactly
what they need help with. The experts
prepare carefully by completing all the
work given in the novices’ classes, make
sure they do not participate unknowingly
in directly helping with assignments to be
continued on pg. 7..........
6
Learning By Teaching
continued from pg. 6..........
handed in for a grade, anticipate difficulties, and develop their own exercises and
homework for their students. Pairs should
be invited to come together to consult
with the instructor when they encounter
academic or social difficulties, and toward
the end of the semester they write a report
detailing when they met, where, and what
material was covered. The self-selected
experts are often not the fastest students,
who have no need for extra credit points,
but are the B and C students who gain an
A status as a result of having to teach
the material they may struggle with. The
reports from “experts” and “novices”
show an outstanding effect on both. The
sense that develops very quickly is that
of accountability for the novice’s progress
during the semester, a sense shared by
both parties. Most pairs continue working
together well beyond the extra-credit
reward limits, rewarding both the novice
and the expert with knowledge, deep understanding, and intellectual satisfaction.
Teach the Lay Person
Teach the Lay Person takes place when a
difficult concept or distinction is conveyed in class or when an explanation for
a theory or a phenomenon tends t o
contradict “common wisdom,” creating a
contrast with commonly held naïve
misconceptions. In this active learning
strategy, each student is assigned the
task of teaching that material to someone
outside of class (parent, sibling, friend,
roommate), who is probably confused
about this concept or rule, and “set them
straight.” Each student submits a detailed
report about his or her teaching assignment: who was the lay person? How did
the lay person detect his or her confusion
about the topic at hand? What methods did
the students use for explaining the difficult
point?And how did the students test the
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lay person for comprehension? Of all
methods for reducing the effect of prior
false beliefs and of incorrect approaches
on learning, Teach the Lay Person seems
most effective.
Enlighten the Teacher
Enlighten the Teacher is a requirement the
instructor can make for the mid-term or
the final paper. The tables are turned
when the teacher asks the students to
teach her something she does not know
or has not thought about. Students tend
to become very excited when given such
an opportunity. They engage in long
conversations with the instructor, attempting to find out what areas in their studies
(within or outside the field) they can
branch into for a term paper and make
connections with material covered in
class in innovative ways that will impress
and enlighten the teacher.
Turning students into momentary
teachers allows the professor to sit back
in her chair and watch them in action.
Teaching involves preparation, deep engagement with the material, awareness of
oneself as a learner, realization of muddy
spots and less intuitive constructs, such
as thinking “on your feet,” and reading
another’s mind. The least of all possible
impacts of any of these strategies is an
unmistakable wave of admiration for
the difficulties the professor encounters
and overcomes everyday in the teaching
profession.
References
Leamnson, Robert (2000). Learning as a
biological brain change. Change, Nov.-Dec.,
34-40.
Palmer, Parker J. (1998). The courage to
teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
•••••••••••••
Putting Popular
Culture to
Critical Use
Alfred G. Mueller II, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
of Communication Arts & Sciences
Penn State—Mont Alto
Mont Alto, Pennsylvania
agm6@psu.edu
Introduction
On a nearly constant basis, the media
bombard us with their messages whether
in the form of TV or radio programming,
billboards on our highways, or even name
brands on our clothing. This constant
bombardment has inspired a number
of critical tracts within the fields of
communication, sociology, psychology,
management, and business, to name a
few. However, when presented with these
critical perspectives on popular media,
many students “tune out.” Valuable
teaching moments are thereby lost, and a
student’s ability to evaluate critically
a mediated message remains underdeveloped. To address that situation, I
created the following pair of assignments.
The first encourages students to illustrate
to classmates how their favorite advertisement reveals important insights into their
personalities. The second encourages the
student to trace out the main claims and
strategies used in the advertisement and
to evaluate both critically. Through such
ego involvement, this pair of assignments
enables instructors to recapture those
lost teaching moments by dramatically
showing students the consequences of
failing to consider critically advertising’s
social impacts. After outlining each of
the assignments, I will discuss briefly
continued on pg. 8..........
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
7
Popular Culture
continued from pg. 7..........
issues that emerge in debriefing students
and suggest strategies that instructors in
other fields can use without compromising the assignments’ effectiveness. First,
however, let me establish briefly the
context that inspired me to create these
assignments.
Context
I am responsible for instructing students
in general education courses in public
speaking at a branch campus of a large
public institution. Due to financial and
institutional constraints, the advertising
courses offered as part of the campus’
four-year business degree tend to be
geared more toward the administrative
and technical sides of marketing and
minimally cover advertising’s social
effects. As the only full-time professor
whose home is in speech communication,
my teaching load does not permit me to
address the situation more substantively
through a course on advertising’s social
impact. However, given that my course is
a graduation requirement for all students
in a four-year degree program, I saw
a way that I could address the problem
and that was to substitute the selfintroductory and informative speech
assignments that are normally covered in
my public speaking course with the
following two assignments.
Assignment One
In a brief three- to four-minute presentation,
students are expected to introduce themselves to the class through their favorite
advertisement. The students are free to
choose any advertisement that is or was
available in any mediated form. For
example, one student chose to use a
Honda motorcycle commercial because
he was involved in motorcross racing and
told us that he spends much of his free
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time working on or riding his motorcycle.
Another student identified with a Victoria’s
Secret commercial that featured a young
woman dancing on a chair in her lingerie.
The student informed us that she saw
herself as the kind of free–spirited person
that the young woman in the ad seems to
exemplify. The basic point of the assignment is that the presentation should not
resemble an autobiography. Instead, it
should tell us dramatically and vividly,
using concrete analogies, anecdotes, and
illustrations, how the advertisement the
student chose represents or in some
substantive way reflects the student’s
personality.
Assignment Two
After spending several weeks discussing
more advanced presentational skills, the
nature of imagery and social consequences of different uses of imagery, I present
students with their second assignment.
Using the advertisement chosen for the
introductory presentation, the student is
to construct a five- to seven-minute presentation that analyzes the advertisement’s
effects upon consumers. Hence, I expect
students to analyze the main visual and
verbal claims the ad makes and the main
strategies the ad uses to entice consumers
into paying attention to it.
Although I do not require students to
be overly critical of the advertisements
they analyze, the student’s own analysis
frequently requires rethinking of his or her
initial identification with the advertisement.
For example, the student who chose the
Honda commercial noted how the advertisers used extreme speed as a factor
to draw in customers. That misuse of
extreme speed, he noted, would place the
customer in great risk and would encourage unhealthy attitudes toward safety. In
retrospect, he noted that he was always
concerned with safety and questioned his
initial identification with the ad. Similarly,
the young woman who identified with the
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
Victoria’s Secret commercial explained
to us how the woman dancing in lingerie
became nothing more than “eye candy”
and, as such, was someone whom we
would not take very seriously. As a
woman in the early stages of her career,
the student rejected her earlier identification with the ad, noting that she would
want to find more credible and less
demeaning outlets for her free-spiritedness than the woman in the ad did. This
assignment, then, moves beyond being
simply a concrete application of basic
critical thinking skills. It literally forces
students to create teachable moments.
Debriefing
When presenting this sequence of assignments, I have always waited until after the
second assignment to conduct debriefing
since the students would not necessarily
have the desire to begin taking apart the
advertisements they have chosen. By the
midpoint of the semester, however, and
in light of some of the revelations that
emerge from the second assignment,
students are much more willing to engage
in frank discussion about the social impact
of advertising. Among the discussion
topics that usually emerge are corporate
and consumer accountability, ethics, our
own complicity in perpetuating attitudes,
and the government’s involvement or
complicity in the business of advertising.
In my circumstances, these topics
provide a useful and critical transition
into my discussion of effective ways to
approach problem-solution persuasion.
So, for example, a student who notes that
we are often complicit in perpetuating
negative attitudes in society is less likely
to overlook the fact that attitude formation
may play a critical role in such continuing
social problems as recycling and conservation. Likewise, a student who finds the
continued on pg. 9..........
8
Popular Culture
continued from pg. 8..........
government to be supportive of certain
business practices will be less likely to
propose a governmental solution to a social problem and will instead propose
creative ways that everyday people can
contribute to ameliorating that problem.
Indeed, since I began using this assignment sequence two years ago, I have
noticed a tangible increase in the quality
of both problems and solutions that
students and student groups have incorporated into their final speeches. However,
others should feel free to adapt these
assignments to their own circumstances.
Adapting (to) These Assignments
At professional conferences, I often speak
with faculty who find themselves in
institutional circumstances similar to
mine.Therefore, I suspect that these two
assignments may have strong appeal.
However, many may be concerned about
facilitating a discussion on advertising
because it is beyond their areas of expertise. I use Jean Kilbourne’s book Can’t
Buy My Love (Touchstone, 1999) and
the video The Ad and the Ego (Parallax
Pictures, 1996) to supplement my own
discussions since my area of expertise is
traditional rhetoric and public address.
The Media Education Foundation (www.
mediaed.org), Insight Media (www.insightmedia.com), and Films for the Humanties
& Sciences (www.films.com) also produce invaluable video series that one
might use to pursue these topics further.
One should not, however, feel constrained to employ popular culture
modules as speech assignments or as
assignments that focus specifically on
advertising. Written assignments, either
as formal papers or as journal entries,
work just as well. Similarly, one could
choose to use these assignments to explore
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popular music lyrics, television programming, news coverage, or even fashion.
The basic point is not to decry the pervasiveness of popular culture. Popular
culture artifacts already have our students’
attention. Why not make extensive and
enthusiastic use of them as the effective
tools they are in the education process?
Conclusion
By incorporating this two-step sequence
into my own basic public speaking course,
I have addressed a perceived gap in subject
matter discussions on my campus. Taking
the initiative in this way, I have forged
deep inroads with faculty members in
business administration and management,
providing for them a pedagogical service
that they could not provide on their own,
given financial and institutional circumstances. A fringe benefit of the assignments, then, has been an increase in my
department’s status around campus:
instead of being perceived as just a “service” department, we are now regarded
as an integral part of the campus community. But the true beneficiaries of
these assignments are the students. The
two assignments outlined in this article
employ advertising to show students
dramatically the consequences of failing
to consider critically advertising’s social
impacts. The result is a two-step process
that encourages students to become egoinvolved in their own development and
application of critical thinking skills.
Consequently, students themselves recapture teaching moments previously lost
to apathy and resistance. And just as
importantly, discussions of the need for
critical appraisal of the social impacts of
various media are met with less tuning out
and more tuning in and turning on.
•••••••••••••
Managing Student
Interaction in
Cooperative
Work Groups
Cynthia A. Irizarry, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication
Studies
Stetson University
Deland, Florida
cirizarr@stetson.edu
A voluminous amount of information
supports the concept of cooperative group
work in educational settings (Johnson,
Johnson, and Smith 1991). For many
college professors, including myself, the
use of formal cooperative work groups is
an ideal way for students to learn concepts
other than through lecture. The defining
characteristics of these groups is that they
have fixed membership and work on a
well-defined task that may last from one
day up to a few weeks. Unfortunately, the
task focus of such groups often obscures
important interpersonal issues that instructors must also tend to. Even within group
research, we see a historical trend that
places relational issues as secondary to
the task components of groups (Keyton
1999). Many times, we may see them as
separate functions when in fact they are
interdependent. Thus, member relationship development and maintenance are
essential to a group’s ability to successfully complete its task assignments. I
offer an exercise that may help instructors
guide students in managing group member relations.
Why Are Some Cooperative Work
Groups Not Cooperative?
Students bring with them a host of varying communication attitudes that will
continued on pg. 10........
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
9
Cooperative Work Groups
continued from pg. 9..........
potentially affect group functioning.While
groups are often regarded as singular
entities, they are composed of individual
personalities that vary in many ways. The
following factors are just a few ways in
which students may vary attitudes that
affect small group performance:
● A sense of shared responsibility for
group success.
● The ability to self-monitor
communication behavior in groups.
● Leadership preferences ranging from
democratic to authoritarian.
● Communication apprehension.
● Sensitivity to giving and receiving
criticism.
● Idea flexibility and open-mindedness
on group issues.
Wide variance on one or more of
these attitudes is a recipe for small group
conflict. Professors may deal with this
issue in several ways. On the proactive
side, cooperative learning literature
suggests building interpersonal skills
through team-building activities. The
Internet is a useful source for learning
about different team-building exercises.
However, many of these activities require
a significant degree of time and organization that might not be possible in large
courses. On the reactive side, some professors prefer to wait until a relational
conflict over attitudes emerges and intertervene at an early stage. Unfortunately,
some students may be reluctant to draw
attention to interpersonal group problems
in the hopes that the conflict will repair
itself. A professor may become aware of
a relational conflict in a small group only
after it has become a critical issue.
Sowing the Seeds of Cooperation
One way to manage formal cooperative
groups effectively is to have students
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engage in group processing activities
where they may openly discuss how their
communication attitudes affect group
outcomes. One of the most frequent
attribution errors people commit is that
they tend to think that others are similar
to themselves. Processing activities gives
students the opportunities to discuss
attitudinal differences and to seek compromise on those that may lead to conflict.
Prior to the beginning of a formal cooperative activity, I give students a list of
questions for them to address as a group:
● What are the characteristics of groups
that you have enjoyed working with
on class assignments? What are the
characteristics of groups that you
have disliked working with on class
assignments?
● What type of behavior characterizes
a responsible group member?
● What characteristics do you think
make an effective group leader?
● Do you believe that groups or
individuals working alone complete
tasks more effectively?
● Under what circumstances should a
group member be fired?
● Do you feel that group members
should assume full leadership if they
know how to best achieve the group’s
goal?
● Do you think it is important for group
members to state their ideas even if
you feel their input is not significant?
● Are there times when the feelings of
group members must be ignored in
order to get a job done?
● Should you try to change a person’s
mind even when he/she remains
steadfast in his/her opinions?
● What behaviors would lead you to
believe that a group member was
open-minded? Close-minded?
● Is it important for group members to
“tell it like it is” when expressing
ideas in a group?
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 4
● Should shy group members be “just
left alone” when the group engages
in discussion?
● How would you give criticism to a
non-performing group member?
I normally allow students 45 minutes
to discuss the questions. For courses
pressed for time, instructors might encourage the group to meet outside of
class to complete this exercise. However,
I prefer to have the activity conducted
in-class where I am available to answer
student concerns and inquiries. Once the
questions have been discussed, each group
develops a contract that expresses those
norms, rules, and values that will guide
group discussion. The groups are also
encouraged to specify what actions and
procedures they will utilize in the case of
rule infractions. Students may also want
to consider reward structures for members
that engage in cohesion building efforts.
Each member signs the contract and
provides a copy to the instructor. The
contract acts very much like a course
syllabus in that it delineates the rights
and responsibilities of group members.
In groups that meet on more than one
occasion, students are encouraged to
review their cooperative efforts and make
consensual adjustments to the group
contract as necessary. Research shows
that groups which provide reflective feedback on member contributions lead to
greater group productivity and more
positive relationships (Archer-Kath,
Johnson & Johnson, 1994).
The activity serves two purposes. It
allows students to become aware of the
importance of attitudes that may vary
among its membership. It also serves
as a way for students to arrive at a consensus as to which attitudes are deemed
acceptable to the group. It has been
my experience that groups that clearly
continued on pg. 11..........
10
Cooperative Work Groups
continued from pg. 10..........
communicate the ground rules for interaction are more likely to resolve conflict
more productively. Moreover, students
feel more empowered to manage group
interaction when they are given the opportunity to determine their own ground
rules.
Group process activities such as this
one have become standard practice in
courses devoted to group dynamics and
small group communication. For instructors who wish to use formal cooperative
group activities but are limited in the
amount of time to devote toward teambuilding, this activity may be an efficient
way to focus on relational issues.
For further information on collaborative group learning, consider the following
Internet sources:
http://clte.asu.edu/active/lessteam.htm
http://www.psu.edu/celt/clbib.html
http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/
Papers/Coopreport.html#IssuesAnd
Answers
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cll/cl/
http://www.co-operation.org
http://www.has.vcu.edu/group/gdynamic.
htm
References
Archer-Kath, J., Johnson, D.W., & Johnson,
R.T. (1994). Individual versus group
feedback in cooperative groups. Journal of
Social Psychology, 134 (5), 681-694.
Keyton, J. (1999). Relational communication
in groups. In L.F. Frey, D.S. Gouran &
M.S. Poole (Eds.) The handbook of group
communication theory and research.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R. (1989).
Cooperation and Competition: Theory and
research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book
Company.
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., & Smith, K.A.
(1991). Active learning: Cooperation in the
college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction
Book Company.
•••••••••••••
The Successful Professor™
Meet the Authors
Donn B. Dupree received his M.A. in English at the University
of Dallas in Irving, Texas. For the past 29 years he has taught
ESL, freshman composition, technical writing, and developmental
writing. As an English lecturer at the Petroleum Institute in the
United Arab Emirates, he teaches both English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) and freshman composition to Emirates
pursuing careers in the oil industry. Before this appointment, he
had spent 5 years in Saudi Arabia teaching ESL for the Royal
Saudi Air Force.
Roger D. Lee, Ph.D., is Professor of Management at Salt Lake
Community College. He earned his first master’s degree in
public administration from Brigham Young University and two
additional advanced degrees from Utah State University, his MBA
in business administration and his doctorate in public
administration and management. His non-teaching experience
includes working as an industrial engineer, a trial court executive,
and a research analyst for the Utah Department of Community
and Economic Development.
Dr. Leah Savion has been teaching for 30 years, the last 14 in
Bloomington, Indiana. Her specialty is analytic philosophy
(logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, rationality theories),
cognitive science, and pedagogy theories. She is also teaching
the only campus-wide pedagogy course offered at IU by the
Graduate School. She gives numerous workshops and talks
about teaching-related issues, such as metacognition, motivation,
heuristics and biases in learning, models of human inference,
and the components of effective teaching. She also teaches
international folkdance, swing and Latin dance, and Israeli singing.
Alfred G. Mueller II, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of
Communication Arts and Sciences at the Penn State, Mont Alto.
His research on the rhetoric of the former Soviet Union
has appeared in such journals as Ethnologies and the Western
Journal of Communication. His first book, In the Name of God:
Rhetoric, Religion, and Identity in post-Soviet Ukraine, is
scheduled to be released in summer 2004. At Mont Alto, he
offers courses in public speaking, media studies, and organizational
communication.
Cynthia Irizarry, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of communication studies at Stetson University. She is an instructor of interpersonal communication, small group communication, and
organizational communication. She currently is serving as the
President of the Florida Communication Association.
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