Personally, I find that communication is an essential part of our daily lives, and the ability to effectively articulate our ideas and emotions is an art. Yes, the idea of communication might sound simple! After all, we are in constant interaction with others daily. However, much of our daily interactions are unknowingly lost in translation. Think about the last time you had a sustained conversation. What idea or emotion were you trying to convey? Are you sure your exact message was what they received?
Since every person and interaction is unique, the only way we could improve our personal communication skills is through continuous practice. In this module, the discussions, peer-teaching, and presentations serve this exact purpose. Under the watchful eyes of our entire class, we would be engaging in endless group work. As a feedback session follows, we could definitely use their response to decide what works for us, and what doesn't. After all, communication is learned through doing and improvising.
Different aspects of communication would be studied in greater detail. We often do not realize that the ideas we are communicating could be lost, in a haze of distractions and personal filters. In becoming a skilled communicator, it is important to avoid social and cultural faux pas, as well as to understand the non-verbal cues of the other party.
Personally, I have undergone numerous uncomfortable experiences that could have been avoided with effective communication. Despite my well intentions, business relations that I wanted to cultivate had turned cold. And I am sure many could relate to how easily a conversation could take a really awkward turn. Hence, these experiences motivate me to learn as much as I can from this class, and to emerge as a better communicator.
In conclusion, I would end my post with a quote.
The quote that you included accurately describes what effective communication is. Many a times we do find ourselves in situations when we wished we knew a better way to bring forth our ideas and emotions.I definitely agree with you that practice would make us better communicators, given that its skill like any other that can be honed.
ReplyDeleteheys peter! :) being a chemical engineering student myself, I could totally empathize with you. We as engineers, are often stereotyped as THE ones who are knowledgeable; good with math, theories and what nots, but seriously lacking in our communication skills. It is good that you are making the effort to take this course in your earlier engineering student life, than wait till the last minute (like me) to really do something to improve on my skills. And I couldnt agree more that one of the biggest challenge I face is "how to prevent THAT awkward silent moment" in which we are all so familiar with and helpless at the same time. So, lets brave whatever challenges this module presents us with; make mistakes in class, learn from there and use it to our advantage in our industry to prove that engineers CAN communicate effectively! :D
ReplyDeleteHello Peter,
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that your post illustrates the importance of practising communication. Doing and improvising, very true, it reminded me of this quote, "practising not till we get it right, but till we can't ever get it wrong" as is the case with all skills, of course.
I'm glad to know that many of us are in here for this reason, and it makes me look forward to see how much we could improve ourselves through the course of this semester.
Hi Peter!
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you on the importance of communication. I certainly too have been through more than enough instances of those awkward moments! Its time we start learning how to improvise like you said, in such times to save the situation! Best of course is to be able to avoid such moments in the first place.
By the nature of this module, we do tons of practice in class and employ peer-teaching as one of the many methods to improve. Hence, its great to know that we all have similar reasons for taking this module and by that, help each other out to reach our common goals!
Thanks, Peter/WeiZhe, for this dynamic response to the assignment. I like the way you mix the hypothetical with the real, bringing your readers into our classroom scenarios and using that vantage point as a means of highlighting your own comm skill needs.
ReplyDeleteThere is a danger, of course, in mixing perspectives (real and unreal), just like there is when mixing past and present. Verb tense chaos.
Please check out these examples, thrown together with other language issues:
1) Are you sure your exact message was what they received? >>> they? who? I know, but you need to use the noun (called an antecedent) before using the pronoun referent.
2) we **could** improve >>> why past tense?
3) we would be engaging >>> ???
4) we could definitely use their response >>> we can definitely use the responses of classmates
5) would be studied >>> ???
6) the ideas we are communicating could be lost, in a haze of distractions and personal filters. >>> in this case **could** is acceptable because this is a hypothetical situation
7) And I am sure many could relate to how easily a conversation could take a really awkward turn. >>> And I am sure many CAN relate to how easily a conversation could take a really awkward turn.
Despite the problems, I appreciate your views and the effort!