I really enjoyed presenting on yesterdays topic. The presentation itself actually got me thinking about listening even more than my research did. While presenting, I noticed something I'm sure a lot of our professors deal with on a daily basis, the way electronics can create such a barrier for listening. I noticed throughout our presentation a lot of my classmates on their computers or from time to time, phones. While other classes computers may be essential, they really aren't in ours. I must mention that I certainly have also done this in our class more than I would like to admit. But I wondered how our class would have gone if we had asked everyone to put their technology away and actually actively listen. With how much participation we had, I think that everyone listened much more than I had realized. But there were certain people that stuck out to me that were really giving the presentation their undivided attention. Going off this in the future, I am definitely going to strive to keep my technology away during this class and follow the example of my other classmates. I think that participation is really the way to get the most out of this class whether that is in class or through this portfolio. I don't think that banning technology necessarily creates a class full of active listers. However, I feel it is our responsibility as students to not allow technology to be a barrier to learning and participation.
Telephone was definitely my favorite activity of the class. I was actually kicking myself for not realizing this was a great listening activity earlier in my research. I also loved this video of Dwight learning active listening. I learned a lot about my own habits through my research. My mind tends to work extremely fast so when I am listening to a friend telling a story I tend to interrupt with clarifying questions because I like to have all of the information and if I don't ask when it comes to mind, I will forget the question all together or just focus on the question so I don't hear the rest of the story. Clearly this is a bad habit and something I need to work on. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed presenting this topic and will work to use my knowledge to become a better listener.
As we talked about during our appointment, there are a lot of professors who would agree with you about technology. Every now and then I walk around the classroom while I am teaching and see exactly what people are doing on their laptops - and in most cases it is usually not taking notes - it is reading e-mail, shopping, or looking at Facebook. I've chosen to ignore the fact that people are doing that. I figure even if I forced them to close their technology, it doesn't guarantee their brain will be engaged in the class.
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