SYLLABUS COM 227-01: Interviewing Principles and Practice Fall 2017 Thursday Night: 5:30 to 8:00 PM, Room: Murphy 219 Interviewing- Fall 2017 1 Professor: Dr. Christopher Bond Cell: 816.261.5993 Office: Murphy 207-L Email: cbond3@missouriwestern.edu Office Hours: M: 3:45 to 5:30; W: 2:00 to 3:15 PM Th: 1:30 to 3:30 PM & by appointment This course is designed to improve student skills as both an interviewer and an interviewee. We are in numerous interviewing situations throughout our lives: as journalists, scholars, as employees, as employers, as patients, researchers, as friends, as car buyers, etc. Because interviewing is pervasive, we then should seek to understand it at a deeper level. We will practice interviewing as both interviewers and interviewees. We also will consider interviewing in several different contexts. Course Description: Study and practice in interviewing skills in a wide range of contexts, including selection, appraisal, discipline, negotiation, research, and media/journalistic interviews. Students practice the verbal and nonverbal communication skills involved in interviews and will learn to deeply listen for details. The course will focus on the skills needed for both the interviewer and interviewee. Knowing how to be a good interviewee also prepares you to be an great interviewer. Course Objectives: Develop practical skills in interviewing as both the interviewer and interviewee Gain theoretical, conceptual and an applied understanding of interviewing as a central communicative practice in various social and professional contexts Offer opportunities for practicing interviewing including journalistic, medical, job interview, investigative and more. Learn to become a wiser and more efficient communicator Learn deep listening skills Learn how to use interviewing as a research tool Learn how to discern between relevant and irrelevant information Required Textbook: - Stewart, C.J. & Cash, W.B. (2006). Interviewing Principles & Practice (12 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. - Additional readings may be assigned and distributed in class. - Recommended: A field notebook (small notebook for field assignments) Class Policies Attendance: You are expected to attend every class period. Attendance is required. Each day I will circulate a sign-in sheet. You have one unexcused absences. After your second absence, you will be reported to the registrar s office for nonattendance and will automatically
Interviewing- Fall 2017 2 fail the course unless you have a university level excused absence. Unexcused absences on exam days, scheduled interview days, or presentation days will result in a zero (0) being recorded for your grade. This is NOT intended to be harsh, but realistic. If you miss an interview for a job, you will not get the job. Late Assignments Policies Exams: Exams cannot be made-up. You may take an exam at an earlier date, but no exam can be taken after the scheduled time. Interviews (as an interviewer, interviewee, or observer): An interview requires two people to be present during a scheduled classroom. Many times you will be participating in an interview as an interviewer, interviewee or serving as an observer who will be doing a critique. You must be present for these interviews. They cannot be made up at another time. Assignments: All assignments should be turned in on time. Late assignments will not be accepted. 10 minutes after the start of class, no assignment may be turned-in. Deadlines are crucial within many fields, especially communication, PR and journalism. Prepare now for the unexpected (e.g., computer breakdowns, bad weather, hungry dogs). Be alert to the due dates. If you must miss a class, you can always send your assignment that is due with another student to turn-in. Unless otherwise noted, assignments will be due at the beginning of class. Not turning-in an assignment on the due date will result in a zero. Assignment Breakdowns: NOTE: Assignments are VERY tentative. Based on time and scheduling, assignments may be changed at the discretion of the professor. Employment Interview (The Video Interview on Zoom): Being interviewed by a video conferencing software is becoming more and more common for job interviews due to the ease of access and time saving capabilities. For this assignment, each of you will be assigned a partner for this assignment. You will develop an organizational profile and job description for the probing interview for this assignment, and you will also create a resume and cover letter applying for this position. These application materials will be given to a classmate who will interview you for that job during a scheduled Zoom interview. So, this means that for half of the project, you will be the interviewee. For the other half of the project, you will be the interviewer. The interviewer will prepare an interview guide based on the information provided by the interviewee, and conduct a 10-minute interview on Zoom at a scheduled time. Students will record the video and upload to a designated folder. Specific details for this assignment will be given in class. The Sales Pitch Interview (Motivational Interviewing): Students will have to interview another student, and based on answers to profile and probing type questions, will pitch a particular topic/product to the other student. More details will be provided in class for this interview.
Interviewing- Fall 2017 3 Interview Critique: You will complete one critique as assigned during class when we are interviewing in class. The rationale behind these critiques is two-fold. First, critiques provide helpful feedback to fellow students. Second, critiquing others assists you in analyzing the process of successful interviewing. Response Paper: There is one, two (2) page typed response to a case studies on interviewing provided by the professor. Each case will have its own questions to answer. You should type a two page response to this interview, double-spaced and should provide a very thoughtful, planned-out response including any questions the case addresses. Your answers should encompass information covered within the textbook and class. In some cases, you may need to choose fellow classmates to be the interview actors in the case. You will also lead the class discussion (not a formal presentation) about your particular case, and you will turn-in your answers to the professor after class on the day the case is discussed. Case discussion dates and sign-up will be distributed later in class. The Investigative Assignment (Journalistic Interview): This interview assignment will be your capstone interview assignment for this class. You will be utilizing many interviewing techniques learned prior in class for this larger project. For this assignment you will work as a group and will conduct a minimum of three journalistic interviews over a current event and write a news story using AP style using information from background, investigative research as well as the interviews you conduct. The end product will be a three to five page story which you will also orally summarize for the class in a presentation at the end of class. Each group will provide a bibliography of 15 sources for this project. Your primary resources for this assignment will be Chapter 5 and other materials referenced on the web or other areas. Your group should begin by selecting a national, state, or local current societal concern, phenomenon or larger event to investigate. Although any event would be appropriate, you should keep in mind that you will need to be able to interview at least three "experts" on the subject. You should conduct background research on the event. This background research can include newspaper and magazine stories, WWW material, or other similar resources. After researching the current event, you should find three or more "experts" to interview about the topic. For this assignment, an expert can include anyone who has some expertise or interest in the topic. Depending on your topic, these may be people involved in the topic somehow. After selecting the interviewees and scheduling a time to interview them, you should prepare interview guides for each interviewee which you will turn in with your story. The format and content of the interview guides will vary depending on the topic and interviewee. Your interview guide should contain a place for the interviewee to sign, date, and provide their phone number so that the interviews can be verified by your instructor. This project will be discussed during every class period and will begin during your second class meeting. Groups will be formed during your third class meeting. Field Interviews: This project allows each student to be working in the field collecting responses/data regarding a topic provided by the professor. You will be working individually, in pairs, or in groups. You will develop questions from the topic and record your responses in a field notebook. Typically, this assignment is done during class. However, since this is a night class, you will have one week to complete the interview. You will type these questions, responses, and your evaluation of each field assignment process into a field assignment portfolio
Interviewing- Fall 2017 4 that will be turned-in at the end of the semester. More information about each field assignment will be distributed in class. Exams: There will be two exams during this semester held at midterm and the final. Your midterm will be computer based on Connect, an online learning system similar to Moodle. Your final exam will be during your scheduled final exam time at the end of the semester. Material for each exam will be taken from the text, lectures, and handouts. The exam will be a combination of multiple choice, and true/false. You are responsible for all assigned reading, whether or not we cover the material in class. You also are responsible for all lecture notes, whether or not they are in the book. Healthcare/Counseling Interview: Based on time in class, this interview may take the place of one of the previously mentioned interview assignments. Grading Breakdown Grade Breakdown Field Assignments -3 (50 points each) 150 points Employment Interview Assignment (As Employee 75 points) (As Employer 75 points) (Resume & Cover Letter 50 points ) Exam One (online) 150 points Exam Two (online) 150 points Case Response Paper: 100 points Group Journalistic Project 225 points Interview Critique 75 points Total Points= 1000 points Grading Scale (based on 1000 points): 1000 to 900 earned points; Grade received is: A 899 to 800 earned points; Grade received is: B 799 to 700 earned points; Grade received is: C 699 to 700 earned points; Grade received is: D 699 and below earned points; Grade received is: F
Interviewing- Fall 2017 5 Course Schedule of Topics (tentative) for Fall 2017 1 2 Course Overview; History of Communication & Interviewing Introduction to Interviewing; Structuring the Interview (Chs 1, 2 and 3) 3 Types of Questions and their Uses (Ch 4) 4 The Heath Care Interview (Ch 12) 5 6 The Health Care Interview (Ch 12 and other readings from instructor) 7 The Selection Interview -- The Employer (Ch 8) 8 The Selection Interview -- The Employee (Chs 8 and 9) 9 10 In class Interviews, Group 1 The Selection Interview and Guest Speaker from Career Services Office (Chs 8 and 9) 11 In class Interviews, Group 2 & 3 12 I13 14 15 The Performance Interview (Ch 10) and Guest Speaker (Manager from Local Business) Journalistic/Probing Interview (Ch 5); Discuss Survey Interview Assignment (Ch 6) 16 Extra Day for Catch-up or Vacation 17 (Final Exam Week) Final Research Presentations Other Classroom Policies Inclement Weather Policy During the winter and spring months, our university is prone for severe weather. Please check the MWSU main website at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/ for closings or changes in university schedules due to inclement weather. Local television stations will also provide university closing information. The professor may, on occasion, cancel class due to hazardous road conditions even if the university is open. Please always check your university Email account during severe weather outbreaks. The professor will always Email as soon as possible during hazardous weather events.
Interviewing- Fall 2017 6 Disability Accommodation Students seeking accommodations must first provide documentation of needed accommodations to the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) located in Eder Hall, Suite 203. Once accommodations have been approved by the ARC, students are responsible for notifying their instructors of those accommodations. This should be done within the first two weeks of classes. Accommodations are not retroactive.. Writing Standards: In this class, I will expect that all written work should be typed, doublespaced, well-organized, free from spelling and grammatical errors, and stapled in the upper lefthand corner. These are requirements are enacted unless an assignment sheet states otherwise. Remember that most computer programs have spell-checking options that will help you find many, but not all, spelling and typographical errors it s important to proofread your own work. In addition, you are expected to keep a copy of written assignments for your records. Academic Dishonesty: This is a very serious offense. One act of dishonesty can destroy a career, whether academically or professionally. Plagiarism includes but not limited to copying someone else's words and claiming them as your own without giving the original author credit, using materials during an exam, paraphrasing someone else's words and/or ideas and claiming them as your own without giving credit (not quoting or citing properly), or collaborating excessively with another person or persons and claiming the work as solely your own. Additionally, falsifying information (making information up, such as an interview, sources, a service assignment, etc.) and turning one assignment into multiple professors without their prior permission constitutes academic dishonesty. If you are unclear about what constitutes academic dishonesty, please come see me and I will be happy to explain things to you. I would also recommend reading your MWSU Student Handbook s (pg. 36-37) regarding academic honesty. Access the handbook here: https://www.missouriwestern.edu/studentaffairs/student-handbook-2/.. **Academic dishonesty on any assignment in this class will at minimum result in an "F" for the assignment and potentially the course. A report will be filed and I reserve the right to pursue further disciplinary action if appropriate (e.g., any student caught cheating on an exam will receive an "F" for the course). Students will be expected to turn in all preparation work related to major assignments.** Grade Appeal Process: Please consult the MWSU Student Handbook s regarding grade appeals. You may access these statements at https://www.missouriwestern.edu/studentaffairs/student-handbook-2/. Email & Twitter: NOTE: THE BEST WAY TO CONTACT THE PROFESSOR IS IN PERSON. Students are expected to check their MWSU Email frequently (two-three times a week) for class related announcements. Students will also be expected to post/email course work as assigned. Grades cannot be discussed via Email. Feel free to contact the professor about anything course related via Email or in person. Twitter is simply another form of communication between the professor and students and among other students. The Twitter Hashtag used for this class is: #InterviewME
Interviewing- Fall 2017 7 Students Recording Classroom Lectures: As a professional courtesy, students are expected to inform a faculty member if they plan to make audio or video recordings of a class. However, students should understand that there are times when the faculty member may prohibit this activity. For example, in order to protect patient confidentiality in health-discipline classes, discussions pertaining to protected patient information may not be recorded. The redistribution of audio or video recordings of statements or comments from the course to individuals who are not students in the course is prohibited without the express permission of the faculty member and of any students who are recorded. Unauthorized distribution of such materials is a violation of academic standards and may violate copyright laws and/or privacy rights. Violations may result in disciplinary action. My Class Buddies Name: E-mail: Telephone #: Name: E-mail: Telephone #