Wanda, Well said! Listening, we feel, is one of the most important things you can do when communicating. What things can you do to ensure the student or other person you are communicating with knows you are listening?
Dr. Jean Norris
for me listening is an important key factor of communication it helps to understands the students needs and wants.
Dennis, Interesting! We agree that empathy is key. It's best to help the student identify their best solution, not to join in their problem and solve it for them.
Dr. Jean Norris
I think empathy is key - try to understand what things are important to the prospect, and speak to those; likewise, try to determine what their concerns are, and address those too. I like to relate stories about former or current students that share some traits, problems, concerns, interests etc. with the potential student, so that it's not just a case of "oh don't worry about being deaf, you'll do just fine" (which most likely won't put them at ease) but rather "oh don't worry about being deaf, we've had a number of deaf students, and they've all done really well! We know how to overcome that hurdle, you'll do just fine" (odd analogy I know, but I have dealt with that one quite a few times!)
Dennis, I really like your approach. It's sincere and upbeat. What are some other things you can do to help ease the fears of the student, other than attitude and tone?
Dr. Jean Norris
I agree 100%. A lot of times when people call, (or you call them) they are wary, and not very forthcoming with the information you need to properly guide them. Maybe they had a bad "used car" sales approach from someone else, or maybe they are just afraid to commit to learning a new career or are afraid of failing at it. By maintaining a friendly, cheerful tone with them, they will start to feel more comfortable and they will be more willing to really listen to what you have to say and to share their true fears and concerns with you, which is key to allowing you to address those concerns so they are no longer a stumbling block. Once at ease, your cheerful enthusiasm will be infectious, and you can work on building their excitement at their future prospects...
Asmir, Great awareness! It becomes easier to change something when you are aware of it, great job!
Dr. Jean Norris
LeAnn, That is an interesting perspective! As you said, the conversation does not always go as planned. How can you change the way you are currently doing things to adapt to the student's needs?
Dr. Jean Norris
Tone is the one that I would want to work on. Using the phone it is easy to misinterpret what I could be saying. English being my second language does not help.
My telephone communications skills are always getting better, and could still stand to improve. Often times I am thrown off by an unexpected response, and then struggle to respond clearly and in a timely fashion; I tend to feel pressure on the phone to respond quickly since dead air time can feel a bit awkward. If I can plan the conversation and think about directions the conversation could head ahead of time, I might be able to avoid being taken by surprise and have a thought-out response.
MARTA, Interesting! Do you feel that all students feel the same way about face-to-face communication?
Dr. Jean Norris
My best method of communication is through face-to-face conversations, because I am able to have direct contact with the individual that I am speaking with.
Virginia, That is a great way to make communication via the web easier. Thank you for sharing!
Dr. Jean Norris
Zachary, All those acronyms can be confusing! It's a great idea to be concise. What is your general telephone communication?
Dr. Jean Norris
The environment where I work in all web based education where all the communication happens in written form. Definitely the written form of communication is the one I do need to focus. Sometimes it is very hard to convey to the students methods and step by step instructions. I have found the graphics included in the body of the message helps immensely and brings an almost immediate response from the student.
It seems that I am being required to use telephone and texting to communicate to students more and more. I find that texting can be confusing if too many acronyms or abbreviations are used, so I try to be concise and get directly to the point by using simple words and punctuation.
ALICIA, Thank you for sharing. What specifically do you do to work on this form of communication?
Dr. Jean Norris
I enjoy face to face communications because you can easily read the other persons facial expressions
Kevin,
It's great that you have so much variety though - even if you don't see your students face-to-face. What communication methods do you prefer outside of work?
Dr. Jean Norris
The best communication skills that I use are emails, text messages, and phone. Since I am an online professor I never see my students face to face. So developing these skills are the most important areas that I can work on to get better communications between myself and my students.
