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"TeamRules/ E-Mail/ DiscusionForums

Connected Learning Community

"To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding, in spite of distance or thoughts expressed, can make of this earth a garden." --Goethe

 

The course will create a Connected Learning Community-- utilizing new technological tools-- to explore issues currently confronting the American presidency. The course seeks to enhance your knowledge of the essential technological skills that any UTC graduate entering the 21st century workforce must master.

Team Rules

As stated in the course goals--and rewarded by the class grading system--teamwork has become an important component of the 21st century workforce. In an excellent article, "Decisions, Decisions" (Psychology Today, November l971), Jay Hall shared some of his observations on how team (small group) decision-making can be most effective. His findings revealed that the synergy of group decisions proved more "correct" in experiments than the approach of any one team member. I'd like to share Hall's guidelines on how to achieve consensus decisions to help you in the formulation of the rules and organization for your team's Discussion Forum collaboration and class presentations.

l. Avoid arguing for your own viewpoints. Listen to how others repond to your ideas and suggestions.

2. Do not assume someone must win and someone must lose (political scientists call this zero-sum games) when discussion reaches a stalemate. Look for the next most acceptable alternative.

3. Do not change your mind simply to avoid conflict and to reach agreement and harmony. (We will later discuss Irving Janus' idea of "groupthink" and its hazards.) Yield only to positions with objective and logical foundations.

4. Avoid confict-reducing techniques such as majority vote, averages, coin-flips and bargaining.

5. Differences of opinion are natural and expected. Disagreements help team decision-making because they provide a wide range of information and opinions.

E-Mail
All UTC students were given an email account when they enrolled at UTC. The University will use your UTC email address (firstname-lastname@utc.edu) for all communications. See http://onenet.utc.edu for your exact e-mail address. If you have problems with your email account, contact the Help Desk at (423) 425-4000.

This network with allow Dr. Swansbrough to communicate to class members additional information (e.g. discussion topics), focus attention for classroom discussion of current news events (especially newspaper stories, foreign policy addresses, or polls available through the course's web page links), and reiterate homework and team assignment deadlines. Students will be able to communicate questions directly to Dr. Swansbrough from their homes/offices.

You must assume the responsibility of checking your e-mail everyday. If you encounter some interesting news stories, polls or web sites, that might be helpful to other class members, please e-mail me the site's URL address on the Internet.

Many e-mail addresses don't clearly identify the name of the sender, so sign your messages with your full name. Also, since I receive e-mail from other classes, the subject line should include the course name or number and the topic of the message, Subject: PolSci 242- Rwanda Case.

Use the team e-mail listserve for most communications concerning meetings, assignments, reminders, and other general housekeeping matters. Employ the Discussion Forum for substantive posting of ideas, information and outlines of the presentations.

Before the midterm and final exams, I will ask each team to submit to me some possible essay exam questions (post and modify on your discussion forum). I'd also suggest using your teammates to help you understand topics in the book or lectures when preparing for the exams. The team may become a study group to dissect the questions you pose for the exams. Of course, I'm glad to directly repond to such querries in my office or via e-mail.

REMEMBER TO USE PROPER AND COURTEOUS NETIQUETTE. Check this link for ten core rules of netiquette--with explanations. It's quite good.

Discussion Forum (Click to use with assigned ID & Password)
Students will use the campus Discussion Forum software for asynchronous threaded small group discussions of their team assignments. To access Blackboard's Discusssion Board go to: http://bb2.utc.edu/webapps/login. Only students assigned to that team will be able to read your comments. Your Team Participation grade will include both a Peer Assessment (15% of the course grade) and an Instructor Assessment of your Team Forum Postings and Team Participation (10 %) in class discussions on a case or topic.

Your team posting grade will be based on the frequency of substantive comments, not simply “me-tooing” an observation by a teammate, scheduling out-of-class meetings or glib comments not pertinent to the Team Forum topic.

The instructor will evaluate each posted comment on the Forum debate topic, giving greater weight to perceptive postings that integrate the theories discussed in lectures to the assigned case, bring in additional relevant information from prior cases, another class or the daily news, and provide a “value-added” content through a solid analysis that enriches the team’s discussion and presentation. In other words, more thoughtful postings have a greater impact on the team’s in-depth understanding of the topic/case as well as manifest a deeper and more valuable contribution to the team, which my individual team grade will reflect. To paraphrase George Orwell [Animal Farm], “Some postings  are more equal than others.”

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Last updated: January 16, 2006.

 Please e-mail comments to: Bob Swansbrough.

Mail address: Dr. Bob Swansbrough, Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403. Tel: (423) 425-4635 or 425-4240.