Reflective Blog Post - Overall ALES204

 Online resources plays an important role in our daily life. We can communicate, learn, or share on the internet freely. The syllabus of ALES204 states this course covers the principles of professional communication, including written, oral, and electronic components. And now, come to the end of this course, I have learned all of those objectives or even more. First of all, I have tried to use different online tools that I have never used before, for example using twitter or a blog. I think those tools are really useful. They are all different ways to communicate with a person, a whole bunch of people, a class or even worldwide. We are asked to tweet after class or type blog posts after an assignment is done. Those are helpful ways to keep track on our learning process, we can share our feelings or ideas and sometimes think even deeper : How to link the things that we have learned in class to our future learning. In my opinion, I think communication highly relates to my future career. A dietitian often needs to write scientific reports and meet with patients, hence what I have learned in this class would help me in improving relative skills.

The most impressive lesson that I have learned from the lecture is the introduction to Linkedin. It is an online tool to find people who are currently working in the company or position that I am interested in. It is more serious than facebook, however their features are similar. No party photos but a regular business profile. I have learned to list my working experiences in a more detailed way in the profile, as employers would be interested in knowing them. I think it would help a lot when I am looking for a job in the future. Moreover, by communicating with the person that have found in Linkedin, I could know more about the company or position that I am interested in. I could know what basic requirements that I need to achieve in order to get into the company, or once employed, what would be the type of work that needs to be done. Furthermore, by simply typing the company's name or type of career in the Linkedin's search bar, lots of results are found. This is an important method of communication, and we need to fight for what we want. On the other hand, I have also learned different writing skills that relates to business. I have learned how to write formal business emails, which needs to use less words to include most information. Also, a formal way is preferred as to show professional, some words are needed to avoid. Before taking this course, I always send email beginning with "hey", or just "hi", now I know the appropriate way to write and I would not make the same mistake ever again. Moreover, during the last week of class, we have introduced to Google doc and peer review, which also helps us in communication. I have never used Google doc before, and after taking this course, I would say I love it. It is really convenient that we can share ideas or information online, especially when doing a group project. First, We do not need to install any Microsoft programs. Second, We do not need to send lots of copies to every person in the group, but just simply upload a Google doc and then everyone would be able to see it. Also, we could choose to share the doc with particular group of people, or open to public, or only to ourselves.


In addition, Peer review is another thing that I have learned and I found useful. As to relate to my study field, peer review would be helpful once I need to submit my work. We would never know we have made mistakes, unless there is a person to point out them. It could also improve our quality of work, which is very important in science. I think I may need to write some scientific papers on nutrition in the future, thus peer review would be a good method for me to edit my work to improve its reliability. In the world of communication, besides writing, there is also speaking. I have also learned skills on public speaking and interview, and those are all learned in lab sections. First of all, in one of the lab, we are told to finish a poster within 30 minutes and then do a presentation. We do not have much time to prepare what are we going to say or write a script as we spend most of the time doing the poster. As I am not a native English speaker and I am quite shy to talk in front of the class, I finally have done it with confident. Also, we have been told to record an interview during a lab section. I need to plan what I need to talk and tell the employer within 2 minutes. That is the same skill as writing a formal email, use less words to describe most information. After doing those practices, I am proud of myself and this will surely help me to be well-prepared to face future interviews. On the other hand, I have found a website on attitude. It analyzes the reason why people at work do not like you, and how to improve the bad relationships. In my point of view, I think sometimes people do not mean that kind of rude way however they have used the wrong expression to tell. And this is an example of "miscommunication".
Miscommunication will cause conflicts which lead to bad relationships. This problem should be solved at work in order to create a peaceful working environment. Again, it brings out the importance of communication and besides online communication, how is it highly related to daily life. I have also read one of my classmate's blog : Amanda. In her reflective blog post, she has also included the things that she has learned throughout the whole course, for example twitter in communicating and updates in science, or skills learned in wikipedia to do future research. I like the way she writes and we have a similar image posted! I totally agree with what she is saying and I am sure we both learn a lot from this course.

In conclusion, I have improved a lot in my writing and speaking skills after taking ALES 204, as well as gaining knowledge in other aspects like peer review. A big thanks to Jess and Angie and I will apply what I have learned in this course onto my future studies!
And lastly, here are my comments to other students' blogs:
1. Kate Carlson - Reflection Time
2. Sydney - Are you IN?.... LinkedIn
3. Angela Komarnicki - My Facebook Business Profile!
4. Paula - Wikipedia Entry
5. Lisa - Delicious..

Thanks for reading,
Stephanie