Final Course Reflection

Just completed my popular press analysis for my nonverbal communication course! Currently feeling accomplished because I worked hard on it. Having finished this big project, I’ve been reflecting on my experience in this course and the process of creating my ePortfolio. I think this eP has improved my professional presence by creating a place for me to put all of my important works and qualifications for anyone to see. Having this document ready not only shows possible employers and colleagues that I am organized, but also that I have a lot to share about myself and my aspirations and skills. The aspect I like most about this eP is the course projects section. In the past, I used to wonder how I would store all of my work from college that I felt would assist me in my professional career, and I especially wondered how I would keep track of and submit everything. With this website, I now have an easy way to update and store any documents or media that I feel are important to keep, and it also provides future employers with an easy way to view all my works in one place and access them at their own convenience. The most challenging aspect of this eP was definitely just getting it started! It took me a long time to first design my website and figure out how I wanted to organize it. I looked at many other portfolios, which was helpful, but did not assist me in making this website my own. I think it took me about 3 straight hours to add everything I wanted and be happy with the end result! It was definitely much more challenging than I expected, but I think it was worth it because I can actually use this resource in the future now that the most difficult part is done. 

As far as the course I just finished, I learned a lot of information that I can carry with me in the future. The most interesting component of this course was honestly the amount of terminology that I learned! I suppose I didn’t expect nonverbal communication to be as in-depth as it actually is, and at first I had a hard time keeping up. However, with a lot of studying I learned many new things and now I feel as though I can identify more aspects of nonverbal communication in real life. For example, learning that eye behavior could be separated into many different categories, such as cognitive and emotional components, made me appreciate how complicated and intriguing the concept actually is. Speaking of eye behavior, the popular press analysis I just completed honestly taught me less about actual information regarding eye contact and more about the importance of supporting any claims with research. There are many popular press articles out there that people will blindly follow and believe, and having to find extra sources to compare to my chosen article opened my eyes about how careful an audience needs to be with the information they consume. Credibility matters a lot, and it should raise some red flags if that credibility cannot be established in the article itself and the audience has no choice but to search for their own discoveries to believe anything stated in the article. 

As far as my career, I hope to be a school psychologist one day. I know that I am going to have to use my critical thinking skills because not every issue is going to be explicitly or verbally expressed to me. Having background knowledge in nonverbal communication will not only strengthen my confidence in my work, but it will also help me in making sure any people I work with truly receive the best care based on what they need and express through nonverbal communication.

-Sydney Cross

April 28th, 2024