Reflection: Interview Experience and Enhanced Collaboration Skills

This report is a reflection on an interview experience, focusing on the development of skills and knowledge gained through a course, particularly within a virtual environment. The author highlights the immense difference in their knowledge and understanding compared to a previous interview, attributing this growth to self-learning, research, and improved communication and collaboration skills fostered by virtual settings. The report emphasizes the complexities of intercultural communication, improved team working, and the importance of building virtual trust to foster intercultural awareness. The author also discusses the benefits of regular discussions, group activities, and projects in enhancing collaborative skills. The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of building virtual trust to improve intercultural communication and collaborative techniques in future projects. The report also references academic sources to support the author's observations.

Reflection - Interview Experience
Compared to my experience in the last interview, I have seen an immense difference in my
knowledge and understand that has been developed through the course. However, working in
a virtual environment improved the quality of my learning process and enhanced my
collaboration skills for sharing knowledge and ideas. Working in virtual environments
introduced me to the complexities that lie in understanding and collaborating with people that
share different ideas, interests, backgrounds, and cultures. This has primarily come about
through the exercise of self-learning and research, along with sharing that information with
greater flexibility and better communication in the virtual world. While conducting the
interview as well as summarising and interpreting the transcript, I realized that along with
improved knowledge base, regular discussions, group activities, and projects improved my
collaborative skills and knowledge. Additionally, opportunities to interact and communicate
actively in virtual environments contributed to my interview experience in a more facilitated
manner as compared to the last interview that I had conducted. Collaborative technologies
used in a virtual environment kept me motivated to learn more through the use of knowledge
resources (Arshavskaya, 2017). My team working skills improved, resulting in improved
knowledge sharing, collaboration, and intercultural communication. The different activities
conducted in virtual environments has allowed me to explore ethical and collaborative work
practices and has allowed me to work independently as well as with other people. I was able
to conduct the interview with an open mind and became more capable of exchanging and
providing feedback with the interviewee. Improved interaction and communication through
feedback helped me to conduct the interview successfully while at the same time, allow
enough time to reflect and introspect to help me understand the other’s views and opinions
(Ilie, 2019). Apart from relying on individual knowledge and expertise, one of the best things

that collaborating on virtual environments has taught me is to be attentive to the views and
opinions of others and create a space for effective exchange of ideas. This helped me gain
further insights into the interviewee’s personal and professional life since living in Canada,
which further encouraged me to explore the faceted and complex nature of multicultural
understanding.
In a virtual environment, I believe that there are a few things that can generate better results
in similar virtual projects and activities in the future. Building virtual trust will not only
improve collaborative techniques on such platforms but also improve results in similar
endeavours, especially when considering my interview experience. Hereon, I plan to focus on
building virtual trust as I have realized the importance of doing the same to foster
intercultural communication. Participants cannot open-up unless a level of trust has been built
with them, which can be done by developing small talks and informal conversations on
virtual platforms. Building virtual trust and rapport with team members and participants can
also help become more aware of the cultural differences and foster intercultural awareness
between both parties (Zaugg, Davies, Parkinson & Magleby, 2015).

References
Arshavskaya, E. (2017). Promoting intercultural competence in diverse US classrooms
through ethnographic interviews. Teaching Education, 29(2), 194-210. doi:
10.1080/10476210.2017.1373277
Ilie, O. (2019). The Intercultural Competence. Developing Effective Intercultural
Communication Skills. International Conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED
ORGANIZATION, 25(2), 264-268. doi: 10.2478/kbo-2019-0092
Zaugg, H., Davies, R., Parkinson, A., & Magleby, S. (2015). Best Practices for Using Global
Virtual Teams. Techtrends, 59(4), 87-95. doi: 10.1007/s11528-015-0875-5