Nonverbal Comm Final Reflection Blog

This blog post is a final reflection of the curation of my ePortfolio as well as of my nonverbal communication course.

• In what ways do you think you improved your professional presence after completing the eP?

Throughout this semester I have been curating my existing ePortfolio and have found it to be very helpful. In previous courses I had created and posted on Wix but I had never been told what changes could be made to improve my professional presence. From this curation of my eP, I found that though the content I had was mostly good, the way it was being presented needed to improve significantly. 

• Identify and explain what you like most about your eP.

My favorite part of my eP is all the different pictures I have included on it. I really like how they all represent me well in more of a casual way but showing the different jobs I have worked. I also like how the home page ended up coming together and the way the pictures are embedded in it. 

• Identify the most challenging aspect of the eP.

What I found to be the most challenging aspect of the eP was the course projects page. I found this most difficult because I tried to create a theme to make the eP flow better as a whole and also tried to set it up to work best for viewers. I think the way the links are provided on the page still doesn’t look great and I do not really like the page as whole.

• What advice would you give future students about the eP?

I would recommend that future students are open to the changes that they will likely have to make while putting their best effort forward. It is super easy to ask for help on the eP and I would absolutely recommend that everyone does. I would also recommend trying to get ahead on completing the eP when the assignments open to have enough time to put it together.

• What component of this course was most interesting to you?

I found our discussions on physical appearance to be what was most interesting to me in the course. The concept of beauty bias and the halo effect, specifically the example in class of a social experiment, I found to be really interesting. The discussion in class that followed was also really valuable to hear how my classmates had understood the video and the different things we picked up. With physical appearance, I also really enjoyed the discussion of tie signs connecting two people.

• What did you learn from the Short Film Analysis or Popular Press Analysis?

Between the Short Film Analysis and the Popular Press Analysis I learned the value of asking for help and sending in drafts. The difference between how both papers were received, the first with no help and the second with a lot of help, was very obvious. Getting help ahead of time was able to take some of the stress away and prevent procrastination. If I was doing the Short Film Analysis again, I would absolutely send drafts ahead of time. Also from the Short Film Analysis, I learned how much we as viewers take away from things we see without context such as oculesics and artifacts. From now on I will be paying more attention to what I am assuming versus what I have actually been told.

• How do you think this course could benefit you in your chosen career?

I think the most obvious way this course will benefit me in my future career is the aspects of nonverbal communication in the workplace we discussed. It is valuable to know how everyone functions in the workplace and the order that is carried out and that information was really informative. This course will also benefit me with a better understanding of how I am controlling myself when interacting with others which I will be able to keep in mind in the future.