Week 1:

Communication: Definition, Components, and Process

1. Think about the following questions. Keep these in mind as you read through the assigned material in Step 2:
a. What does it mean to communicate?
b. What are the differences between Verbal and Non-verbal communication?
c. In what ways does communication fail? What are the different factors involved?
d. How do culture and context affect communication?

2. Read Reading Material 1 - Verbal & Non-verbal Communication

3. Review the questions from Step 1. Reflect on how different your answers are now, and what changed.

4. Reflect on the following questions:

a. Why is it important to understand the difference between Verbal and Non-verbal communication?
b. Who do you find to be an effective communicator? How and Why?
c. Who do you find requires improvement in their manner of communication? How and why?
d. What situations have you been in where effective communication would have made a big difference?
In what ways would the results have been different?

5. Observe how people communicate. Think about the clarity, and/or efficacy of:
a. What their key message is
b. Who the audience is
c. What their goal is
d. What medium was used
e. How effective the process was and why
Week 2:
Reading and Listening Techniques
1. Think about the following questions. Keep these in mind as you read through the assigned material in
Step 2:
a. How well do you read and listen? Do you do one better than the other?
b. What difficulties do you encounter when reading? Listening? In what situations do you
usually experience these challenges? What do you think will help?
c. How would you be different as, say a student or a friend, if you read and listened better?

a. Read Reading Material 2 - Reading & Listening Techniques

b. Review the questions from Step 1. Reflect on how different your answers are now, and what changed.

c. Reflect on the following questions:

a. Which of the techniques you read are actions you already do? Which ones are new?
b. Which Reading Technique do you think will be of most use to you? In what ways?
c. Which Listening Technique do you think will be of most use to you? In what ways?