week of december 6-8 question 3

What I liked about this class is the fact that I never had an online class before. It was very different than any other class I have taken in my college education. Even though it is online, when we do are online blogs we get to comment on our classmate’s blog entries. I never had a class where we turn homework we get to comment on our classmates work. I like the fact that this class makes the homework more relevant to our lives by having us do journals. What the journals does it helps us analyze a social interaction that we had with someone who experiences the world differently than we do. Or it could help us analyze a conflict that we had with a loved one. Because if the journals it gets us as a class to see what we did right or wrong in a social situation. I don’t feel that this class needs any improvements. I feel that even though it’s a online class I felt that I could communicate with the instructor if I wanted to.

week of december 6-8 question 2

Another concept in communication that I feel needs further discussion is the concept of mass communication, mostly the functions of media. The book discusses the functions being surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission, and entertainment. I feel that all of these functions are important and I will tell you why. I feel that the first two are very important because it gives us information about what is going on in the world around us. But there is a downside to this function. The thing about it we as a nation cant accept the news that is put out at face value. We need to dig deeper other than just accepting what we are told. Cultural transmission is important because it allows us to learn about other people’s culture. It allows us to see the world at the comfort of home. The last one is entertainment. Need I say more. Entertainment gives us joy in our life and that’s one of the most important things.

week of December 6-8 question 1

One of the most interesting concepts I found in the book is the subject of nonverbal communication. I find this fascinating due to the fact that you can tell if someone is mad or happy based on their stance. I find it fascinating about how you can read a situation without the other person saying a single thing. Due to this class I could tell if someone is mad at me. Characteristics of someone being mad and trying to identify these using nonverbal cues are easy for me now. When someone you love is mad at you they tend to use only one word answers. For example when you ask how they are doing, they say “fine”. If you say that you love them, they say “ok’. But also you learn to read the whole situation instead of going with your gut. If you think that someone is mad, you must first ask what the weather is. It might be cold and the other person is cold, but they don’t want to say anything.