Developing your communication skills
It is always a eye opening to learn all these different methods related to communication. I have been communicating all my life and thought I was doing an excellent job. Taking this course proved that there's are room for improvement. Especially, communication in adult learning career environment, with a diverse population. Paying attention to delays, body language and getting a feedback from the students is always a great way to go. I would recommend this course to all instructors, because when you think you know somethings because of experience on the job, it is a epiphany hearing how well you did by getting the feedback's from your target audience.
Getting feedback is important but can be a distraction and time consuming when an active class has almost everyone involved but, I like the feedback too!
I focus on the way the students interact with me and their classmates. At some of the "not so fun" lectures I try and liven it up a little bit. This semester has been a little bit more trying as the class is not as motivated as classes that I am used to. I have tried many different approaches but I have recently fallen back to my normal approach, which is positive happy and encouraging. This class needed a little disipline to realize the seriousness of their lab time. Now that I can count on them taking action I can give them the same instructor that they had in the begining. I have seen a major change in maturity from the begining of the semester until now and we have 5 more weeks to go.
I focus on students learning styles and the feed back they give me. I feel this helps me know how to better communicate with each individual.
Courtney,
yes, getting the feedback from your students is a great way to improve your communication & your effectiveness.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
