Group Observation Project

1). Discuss your Group Observation Project.  Was it a useful exercise?  What did you learn?  What was good about the project?  What can be improved?

After completing the Group Observation Project, I thought it was a useful exercise in which we were able to relate and link our learning from the texts to a real life situation. During the course of observing my small group, I noticed some concepts from the text that they would continuously use during their meetings. I thought this was a useful exercise because I noticed that I was able to describe what concept/method of communication they were using (both negative and positive) amongst themselves. Prior to taking Comm 141P, I would not have been able to point out these certain styles of communication. It was rewarding to know that I had the ability to distinguish what type of communication ultimately helped or hurt them. 

I learned that I am able to put my learnings from the text and apply them to certain situations. In this particular case, I was observing a group of cheerleaders at a high school. Through my observations and time spent with the group, I learned that this group uses many concepts of small group communication in order to function well. I was also able to determine the flaws they were using that made the communication process a bit more difficult. 

An improvement I would've made is to have attended more meetings outside of their practices. Although I attended one of their games, it would've been nice to observe how their communication styles change outside of practices. It would've been very interesting to see how the interact with one another during school hours when cheerleading isn't their main focus. If I had more time, I definitely would have loved to go on their campus during school hours and observe the group in a different setting. 

Overall, I thought this project was a great way to experience real life situations of small group communication. It's different being the outside observer when you were normally used to being part of the group. It was a great experience because I was able to play a different role as an observer rather than a group member. This made me see a lot of things I had never experienced before. It was interesting to see the interactions within the group and be able to observe their behaviors. As students, I believe that we are usually the ones being observed rather than being the ones observing. This is why I thought the project was great because we were given the opportunity to play the role as an observer and look inside a group process without being part of it. It definitely helped me see more in detail on what works and what doesn't. This was a great project to experience in Comm141P and believe it can help students practice their new knowledge on small group communication to  a real life experience/situation.