Presentations --- Danna Ospina

For our first class assignment we were divided in three groups and each group was assigned a chapter that we went over in class. In each chapter there was sections and each person in the group had to choose a section. Once the section was chosen, the group leader created a google drive powerpoint where we all had to do 3 slides talking about our section. The chapters that we were covering were, chapter 3, Intercultural Communication. Chapter 9, Communicating in Groups and Chapter 10, Group Leadership and Problem Solving. Personally, when it comes to groups projects and presentations I get pretty timid and I struggle with being able to be comfortable when presenting to my peers. I understand it is a battle many fight with but I am hoping that by assignments like these it will help us to overcome our shyness and anxiety when it comes to presenting. With these presentations I did not see someone be overcome with nerves, it was actually the opposite, each person in each group was able to present with complete calm and speak with clarity. 

I was in the first group, which had chapter 3, Intercultural Communications. The learning objectives this chapter had were to define culture and the role of communication in it, explain the relationship between dominant and co-cultures, describe seven dimensions in which cultures differ and practice methods to improve intercultural communication competence. The goal for each group presentation is to be able to complete with the objectives and for all of those listening to the presentations, they can understand and know the objectives of each chapter. In each chapter there are numerous subsections and each subsection connects with title of the chapter. Chapter 3 starts off talking about culture and communication. Culture is the system of shared values, beliefs, attitudes and norms that guides what is considered appropriate among an identifiable group of people. In this subsection it talks about directly of what Intercultural communication is, it refers to the interactions that occur between people whose culture are so different that communications between them is challenging. It tells us what we need and what we have to do in order to be effective intercultural communicators. The first subsection was the foundation needed for the other presentations to come and build on top of that and like that be able to complete what was chapter 3. 

Group 2 was assigned chapter 9 which talked about communicating in groups. The objectives for this chapter was for us to identify the different types of groups, describe the characteristics of healthy groups, explain the stages through which groups develop and to employ strategies to manage group conflict effectively. As someone that was not apart of this group and was listening and watching he groups presentations, I can say that the objectives where completed. They talked about the nature and types of groups. They shared how group communication, consists of all the verbal and nonverbal messages shared among members, is what makes participating in groups a positive or negative experience. Some of the group types that we have are, families, social groups, supports groups, interest groups, service groups, work groups and teams, virtual groups and mediated communication in virtual groups. The foundation of this chapter was to understand first the different types of groups that there are and from there identify in which groups do we participate in and how to have a successful and healthy communication in those groups. One thing that I loved about the chapter that group 2 talked about was the section of "Characteristics of healthy groups". In their presentation they said that healthy groups are formed around a constructive purpose. They talked about how healthy groups are characterized by ethical goals, interdependence, cohesiveness, productive norms, accountability and synergy. This group presented their chapter with excellence and I really enjoyed learning from them. 

Group 3 presented about Chapter 10 which was titled, Groups leadership and problem solving. Like each chapter, there are objectives. In this chapter the learning objectives were, to explain how leadership functions in teams, how to run effective meetings, engage in the six steps of systematic problem solving, communicate group solutions in a variety of formats and evaluate group effectiveness using key criteria. It starts off by giving us the definition of leadership which means, process "whereby an individual influences a groups if individuals to achieve a common goal".  The most interesting part of all this was that although one person can be designated to be the group leader, all of the members participate in various aspects of leadership in order to achieve synergy. It continues to explain all of the different leadership roles and responsibilities. It gives us tips and steps in order to be able to problem solve. Not only how to solve the problem but how to communicate the groups solutions. Group 3 explained their chapter so well that I was able to understand with clarity, what the chapter was teaching. 

In conclusion, I can say with complete certainty that out of the many presentations and group projects that I have done in may school career, this one is by far my favorite one. What I loved about this project is that even though we were divided in 3 different groups and each group were working on the same chapter, everyone had their own way of decorating and designing their 3 powerpoint slides. This gives us the opportunity to learn a little more about our classmates and how their different personalities that we see by the way we each decorate and present our portion of the chapter. Even if the goal was the same, we had the freedom to present the information given to our best ability and everyones was unique. The pictures each group used were amazing and another thing I really enjoyed were the videos each group included in their presentation. The pictures and videos made the assignment a lot more enjoyable to watch then just having a whole presentation filled with words. Each group worked amazing and I can not wait to see all of the other presentations to be made.