Reflective Essay on Effective Communication

This reflective essay explores the importance of effective communication and the challenges faced in a presentation. It discusses the use of verbal and nonverbal communication and proposes actions for improvement.

A Reflective Essay

This report is a reflective piece which will reflect upon my experience of education. This
report will utilise Driscoll model of reflection which will evaluate my experience of effective
communication and will help me improving my performance.
PART A
What?
The Driscoll model of reflection is used to reflect upon my experience
of working in a team of two individuals. In my experience, my tutor
asked to present create a short presentation and present it in front of
my entire class.
What is the
purpose of
reviewing this
situation
The purpose of re visiting this situation is to analyse the importance of
communication. Communication is the activity of conveying ideas and
messages from one end to other by using signs, symbols and language
(McNair, 2017). There are four types of communication which are visual,
verbal, nonverbal and mixed (Thompson, 2017). Understanding the process
of communication was important as communication helps in effective
presenting our ideas to the audience.
What happened at
that situation
My tutor teamed me up with a student and provided us a task to create and
present a power point presentation of ten minutes. For this presentation, we
used principle communication type which verbal. Verbal communication is
a process of conveying ideas using spoken words orally (Morton and et.al.,
2016). This technique was used by me in this task. The issue faced while
this task was my inability to verbally communicate effectively.
What I did or
observed at the
time of occurrence
of situation
While delivering the presentation in front of the class, I observed that I
don’t have appropriate knowledge and aptitude due to which I was unable
to effectively present my thoughts.
What was the
reaction at the time
of situation
When I was given this task, I was sure to excel but when I started to
present my workings in front of the class, I observed that presenting in
front of few individuals and presenting in front of whole class has a big
difference. Facing this situation my reaction was an unpleasant surprise.
What other people
did at the time of
situation
Not only me, but all my class mates faced similar situation and they were
also unable to communicate in front of larger audience.
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What was the
reaction of other
people
Reaction of all my class mates was similar to me and they were also
shocked to see that communicating in front of the whole class is not easy.
PART A
So What?
Analysis of the event
My feelings during
the event
During my presentation, I felt demotivated and all my confidence washed
away as I realised that I was living in a delusion.
Difference in my
feelings and my
class mates’
feelings
I don’t think that there was any difference between me and my classmate’s
feelings as we all were quite disappointed with our performance. The sense
of shock was experienced by all of us when we encountered that
communicating in front of the whole class was way too complex as we
thought.
Difference in my
feelings during and
after the event (if
any)
There is a slight difference in my feelings after the event as my feelings are
changed from being discouraged and disappointed to encouraged to learn
more and bring changes in my personality.
Do I still feel
troubled?
I still feel troubled as fulfilling the lack of language experience is difficult.
What happened
due to the event
The event resulted in discouraging me but it also resulted in providing me a
motive to improve my communication skills.
Positive aspects of
the event
This event of ineffective presentation has various negative aspects and the
only positive aspect I can see is that this event has provided me a motive to
improve myself by using other techniques of communication which can
surpass my lack of verbal communication knowledge.
Noticed changes in
my behaviour
By taking a more measured look at it, I experienced that my behaviour has
been change towards other forms of communication which are nonverbal
communication using signs and symbols.
Observations Well the observation would have changed my entire perspective about this
event as now I am perceiving my presentation as a presentator but with the
help of an observator I could also perceive it as audience as well.
PART B Proposed actions following the event
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Now what?
What should I do
after analysing and
describing the
event
I should improve my communication skills and should consider using other
communication types such as nonverbal. Nonverbal communication is a
process of conveying information without speaking anything with the help
of expressions and signs (Burgoon, Guerrero and Floyd, 2016). I once used
this communication while receiving feedback which helped me to be polite
in front of my mentor. This even persuade me to improve my listening
skills which are defined as the knowledge of listening to a presented
knowledge effectively so that it can be use further (Korkmaz, 2019).
What difference it
can make if I
choose to do
nothing
Doing nothing will not improve my communication skills but it will even
worse my situation.
If the similar
situation arises,
then from where
can I get informed
about what to do
If the similar situation arises in future, then first of all I will create a written
plan using my written skills (Cottrell, 2019). Writing skills are the
presentation of thoughts in written form so that they can be preserved for
future. Using the written plan, I will piece by piece plan my actions.
Do I need any
assistance
Any feedback can help me in improving myself.
What are the
prioritised aspects
To improve my communication skills.
How will I know if
I am different in
clinical practice
I will know that now I am different when I will receive positive feedback
against my presentation.
Learning acquired
by reflecting this
event
After reflecting on an event which is experienced by me, I believe that for
future references no event will be a shock or me and I will be ready to face
anything.
After reflecting upon this event I feel encouraged that I can do better when in future I
face similar situation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
McNair, B., 2017. An introduction to political communication. Taylor & Francis.
Thompson, P. ed., 2017. Narrative and genre: contexts and types of communication. Routledge.
Morton, J.B. and et.al., 2016. Verbal communication with providers improves acceptance of
antimicrobial stewardship interventions. infection control & hospital
epidemiology. 37(6), pp.740-742.
Burgoon, J.K., Guerrero, L.K. and Floyd, K., 2016. Nonverbal communication. Routledge.
Korkmaz, S., 2019. Evaluation of aesthetic listening skills of pre-school children. Journal for
Educators, Teachers and Trainers. 10(2).
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
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