What did I learn over the course of the semester?

This semester I think the things I learned all were very relative to the course, and some of the readings, but for the most part it all is attributed to self learnings. For the most part, I really feel that I have come to terms with confrontation. Most of my life I turned my cheek when it came to confrontation, because I didnt like the animosity that came from it. With that, I also didnt like how confrontation triggers anger for those who dont know how to have a productive confrontation. I think that the number one most important learning from this course was the S-TLC system, more importantly the stopping and taking a time out. Too many times when engaging in a conflict, my temper and irrational thoughts would come out. I wouldnt give myself a chance to just think about things. I feel that taking a time-out is the most important thing for people to do when having some sort of conflict, because you really need to think about what is going on and thoughts need to be gathered. I feel that with that my relationship with my mother has become so much better. And in turn with that S-TLC has been good for me, because I have been able to relay this and help my mom as well. I really think this course can be helpful for many people and I would actually make this course a basic requirement for all Comm majors, because it really can change your life with the learnings.

Likes and Dislikes of this class

What I liked most about the class, is how we are in a sense forced to communicate with each other even though its online. I like to almost draw a picture in my head of who is who as the semester goes and I think its really cool, that through a blog we can see each others growth. I think that having this class is very convenient and I like the fact that its consistent and we know what to expect each week. The last thing I really liked about this course is how Carol, was very quick to respond to each and every one of our questions, she was very reliable and thats good to have in an online class. As far as dislikes in the course, there was only really one thing, I wish that the group could meet at least one time during the semester, just so we can put names to face. But besides that, I felt this was a really good course and I enjoyed working with Carol once again.

Ch.16 #1

I think that people feel negative about conflict, because most people are scared to confront their problems with other people, and confrontation scares people. Most people like to run away from problems just to avoid a conflict. I think that for sure the more people know about conflict they fear it less, and I say that because your more familiar with how people work. And conflict styles become more apparent. You learn strategies that allow to you face these problems comfortably and I really feel that with anything, the more you know the more confident you are about them. People fear conflict because it can be argued they have no knowledge of how to deal with it. Personally i've seen change it people with knowledge of conflict. And nothing but good things come from it, because your able to feel comfortable with approaching people of what may be of a concern to you.