monday week 2

Originally I was going to have students blog (graded) the first week of session, but now I'm glad I decided against that. It took most of last week to get everyone on the class listserv and blog roll (and added to my Google Reader). Assigned blogging would have been too much--and likely sent students to mySJSU to immediately drop the class.

This week starts the graded blogging. Although last week I read all the entries and commented on most of them, for the graded blogs students do the commenting--I only write about student blogs on my blog.

In her first blog entry this week, Gian focused on listening and the importance of letting others know that you are listening. My dad has always been a multitasker. He'd grade papers (he was a psychology professor, tho now retired) while watching TV with the radio on. When we'd (my 4 siblings and myself) would say something to him, he'd appear not to be listening--he'd never stop doing whatever he was doing. But then he'd repeat back what we said. Still, I'm not convinced he was always listening. Repeating back the words doesn't mean he really processed the information. He became a better listener over time, especially about giving the feedback Gian described is so essential to effective listening.

How does the concept of listening translate to online communication, especially text? How do you let others know you're listening in email exchanges? Texting?

-Professor Cyborg