Online: Communicating

What will I learn?
In principle, every communication process always consists of the same three components: a sender, a message, and a receiver. Communication starts with a sender conveying a message to a receiver. The receiver subsequently provides a reaction (feedback) to the sender's message, and this is repeated. This process often works well, at least if the message is not subject to too much noise. In this online communication course you'll learn the different aspects a message can carry. You'll get started with the levels of listening and learn to use the type of questions you could ask.

What will I do?
Listening is one of the three basic skills for good communication: listening, summarizing, and questioning further (LSQ). Listening is also the trickiest of the three. This is because we all believe that we listen well, but this is often not the case! Sometimes we do nothing more than "hear." You're going to work on establishing the difference in practice.

Here's an example. You're at a party and someone is talking to you, but your thoughts are somewhere else entirely. You still hear what the other person is saying. You may occasionally nod affirmatively. However, the other person's message does not really get through. It goes over your head. What usually happens next is that the other person changes topics. Or the conversation comes to an end. This is a typical case of non-listening.

This communication course offers you – through you taking action – insight into the different forms and ways of listening and observing. This learning journey also addresses the communication skills of summarizing and questioning further.