What I've Learned

This semester, I've learned quite a lot.

First of all, that conflict isn't a bad thing. It's a great way to solve issues that have already occurred and prevent issues from becoming larger than necessary. If one is able to properly address conflict, it really does not need to be a larger issues.

STLC: This is a great tool, and I am glad I was able to learn about it. I think that part of my problem in conflict before taking this course was that I was so quick to interrupt others and not listen to them because I did not always find their feelings to be valid because they were not how I was viewing the situation. However, now I am aware of how to stop, think, listen, and communicate with the person with whom I have a conflict.

I-Feelings are huge, too. I have always had a tendency do assign my feelings to someone else and make them own how I was feeling instead of owning my own feelings, which is wrong. In order to truly solve a problem and avoid defensiveness, it is important to OWN how we are feeling rather than make it someone else's doing.


I think learning about different types of communicators was helpful for me, too, because I learned the ways in which my style was ineffective. I always thought that I was good at communicating because I always gave my opinion. Although this does have its pros, it also can make situations worse by being too assertive and not listening to the other's side and actually HEARING them.

Also, i thought that it was extremely beneficial to learn about mediation. Throughout life, you will be stuck in the middle of an issue and it's a great skill to know how to maturely and fairly. I think that in knowing rules that the mediator is supposed to follow (equal speaking time, no assisting in the conclusion, no personal attacks, ect) is helpful. It was also helpful because these same rules can be applied if I am ever in a situation that is being mediated, I am aware of how I should be acting and what is normal.

ch. 16/2

I truly enjoyed the content of this class this semester. Before I took it, I always viewed conflict as being something completely negative and something that always just ends in an argument until people are able to pull it together and come to some sort of conclusion about why they're upset and how they can resolve the issue they are dealing with. I appreciated that the book was really easy to read and had a lot of great information that was relevant and I could apply to my life. I also liked that we did the blog. Because I prefer live interaction and we did not have a time when we actually met as a class, I appreciated that we still had interaction and were able to collect ideas from others in the class.

I am not a fan of online classes, so any issues I had with the class directly relate to that. I didn't like that I wasn't able to get a write out for the blog entires so I knew what was wrong with them and could get a better grade. I also like having an actual relationship with my teacher, which, in my opinion, is sort of hard to do when the class is online.

I would 100% recommend this class to others. I think it has a great amount of life skills (like all COMM classes do) and would be very beneficial. I think if people were able to get a better idea of how to deal with conflict, they would not have such a negative view of it. I think even if you're not a communication studies major,it's great to know because you will ALWAYS have to deal with conflict, no matter who you are, where you work, or what you do.

CH. 16/1

I think the reason people typically have a negative view of conflict is because they are intimidated by it because it involves, as most people think, either having to let someone attack them in some way, or having to deal with someone who has hurt them in some way, which can be really painful. Many people are probably also view conflict negatively because they end up not fully resolving their issue, and if they do, the channels they use are probably not the most effective.  If you are able to successfully address and manage conflict, it is not necessarily a horrible situation. Although conflict can be uncomfortable, if it is handled responsibly, it is much less so. I do think that as people learn more about conflict they fear it less because it starts being viewed as something that is actually really helpful, not hurtful. If you are able to handle conflict in such a way that is productive, it will most likely end well with mutually satisfying results that both parties are pleased with.