Week 4 Intercultural Communication

Week 4 of Intercultural Communication has given me the opportunity of presenting and discussion facilitator of the topic “Connected but, alone?” The assignment was to lead a discussion on a topic throughout the week, which means acknowledging and following up with your classmates' posts, asking clarifying questions, and summarizing the discussion for the week. The topic is based on a Ted Talk hosted by Sherry Turkle giving her perspective on modern communication and how they are redefining human connections and communication. Sherry says, “What I've found is that our little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don't only change what we do, they change who we are.” (Turkle, 2012) I think
Sherry has brought us awareness on the subject. There is no doubt that modern technology has changed the way we communicate and will continue to evolve in the future with an emphasis on the effects on our children. One of the most rewarding aspects of the assignment was the personal responses from all the classmates. My classmates not only included addition perspectives on the topic but also personal experiences and how they have addressed the topic. I believe my classmate's experiences helped correlate to the topic or awareness of the effects of modern communication. The most challenging aspect of the assignment was using what I have learned so far in Intercultural Communication to present the topic free from bias.
To present the topic free from prejudice or favoritism in order to allow my classmates to respond from an honest place. I also found it challenging to determine a classmates tone when reading responses and in some cases how to respond to them. Leading the discussion did offer different perspectives on your topic than I had considered when you originally developing my presentation. In my presentation, I covered both the negative and positive aspects of modern technology with a focus on the negative influence on modern communication. I started with a personal story of how modern technology had influenced my personal relationships while other classmates told stories how modern technology had positively influenced their relationships. I believe the opposing examples brought a new perspective to the topic discussion. The insight from this assignment that I would apply in my own life to increase the effectiveness of your intercultural communications is to be genuine, honest, and preparation. What I found was being genuine and honest when it comes to personal experiences helped to bring awareness to others perspectives through discussion. I also believe it is very important to do your homework or research the topic from multiple vantage points to aid in presenting to a diverse
group. Overall my experience as a presenter for Week 4 Intercultural Communication has been an enlightening one. First of all, I have a greater respect for the teachers and instructors at Champlain College. It was not easy to address a diverse group while taking into account being non-bias. It is challenging to relay a topic without showing favoritism or prejudice. The assignment was successful in helping me build my Intercultural Communication skills.