6.8 Reflection

Think of what context and what communication tool you would consider in the following situations:

1. You need to let your professor know you won’t be able to hand in your assignment on time. What will you say, when and where will you say it, and what form of communication will you use and why?
2. Your roommate wants to have friends over for a party and you aren’t sure you are up for that. What and how do you tell your roommate?
3. The weekend is full of activities, but you are expected home for a family gathering. How do you let your parents know you aren’t coming?

Check the methods of communication you would most likely use for each of the following. Then write an explanation for why you have chosen the various forms of communication and how your choice had a link to the purpose of communicating with these different people.

Take a close look at how you filled out the above chart. Do you find that there were definitely different purposes to how and why you used email instead of the phone, or Snapchat instead of a letter? It is good for you to reflect on your communication choices so that they are always most effective.

Look at the forms of communication you chose for “boss.” Perhaps you chose face-to-face and email as the two forms of communication you would use with your boss. Think through how those might have had an effect on the success of your communication with them. Now select two other forms of communication. Would you have been able to get the same response from your boss?

Read through your course presentations and find any guidelines for posting to forums. Create a checklist for yourself based on these guidelines and the rubric above.  What do you need to do to create successful forum posts in your course? Keep this checklist, and refer to it regularly as you post to forums.

Download a printable forum posting checklist