It is expected to write papers in an English class, and therefore that is what I expected out of English 250. However this course has aided me in improving many different aspects of communication which will be directly involved in my future career. While I personally believe that I grew and made improvements as a communicator during this semester, I also believe that communication is not something you can perfect. Communication is constantly changing and evolving, and there is always room for improvement. In order to succeed in the public relations field I need to continue to better myself as a communicator and listener both in the classroom and the professional realm.
Evaluating my strengths and weaknesses based on the work I have done this semester, I see that some of my forms of communication need more work than others. I have more confidence in my written communication than some of the other forms that I don’t use quite as much such as formal oral communication which is noticeable in my work. I hope to continue to improve my oral communication skills as I move forward, and I plan on doing that simply by forcing myself out of my comfort zone more often in order to gain more experience. As far as written communication goes I feel confident that I have found my voice in the classroom setting, but rarely change my voice to better suit the audience. This also will come with time, and I plan to practice this as I continue in English and higher level public relations courses, as well as writing for the Iowa State Daily. Working for the Daily has really helped me to stop continuously writing in the same style, as I have to tailor the message to the platform and story. If the story is made to be pushed out as a quick social media story rather than a full news article it must be written in a different way. My electronic and visual communication definitely are not up to speed with my other forms of communication as I simply haven’t had to use them very often. This is apparent in my visual analysis video, where even though I felt confident in the words I was saying I struggled to find graphics to match with what I was saying. This also will come with time, but this is something that I will probably have to make myself work on outside of class in order to truly improve these forms of communication and get them to the level that I want to feel secure as I pursue my career. Up to this point I haven’t had to use this communication very often other than a few Powerpoint presentations, and unless it becomes more frequent in future classes I don’t think the class time alone will allow me to fully develop my visual and electronic communication. I look forward to bettering my communication in its many different forms for different audiences, because I strongly believe that the more confident I feel in the communication process I use, the better my final product tends to be.
Looking back I have made major improvements not only in my final products of communication but also in the process in which I form these products. While there is always room for improvement and there are some forms of communication that I haven’t quite gotten the hang of, I feel reassured when I look at where I started at the beginning of the semester to where I am now. Improving communication is difficult and not always a perfect upward slope, but as I face problems and obstacles it better prepares me for the next time and my career. I am thankful for the improvements I have made and am excited for where my communication skills can go.
