Over the course of this semester, I feel I've learned a great deal about functioning around people. Specifically, I feel I've gained some understanding into the world of perception: the perception of your message ultimately supersedes the intent. This wasn't exactly something we actually studied in the class curriculum, but by operating in the medium of this online classroom, I've come to find that the intent of my messages can be lost if not explicitly stated. Sarcasm doesn't translate over text. Neither do inflections or tones, etc. In a sense, this factor was both my least favorite and favorite part of the course. I initially found difficulty, but felt that (by the end) I had finally learned to adapt, and could even take these lessons away from the course for every-day application.
In hindsight, I'm not sure I would change anything about this online course. The lessons were concise and to-the-point, and the discussions were incredibly relevant. Overall, I had a pleasant experience :)
I know exactly what you mean about tones not translating into text. I have been in many conversations through text, that where things that I have sent are not read the way they are intended to be. I also think that punctuation skews the way something should be interpreted as well because, you may put an exclamation point that may seem as though you are yelling but really you could just be excited. I see why that would be your least and favorite part of the course because although it can be frustrating to not be able to determine a message, I think that the more that we read people’s writing, the more we are able to pick and choose how certain things were said.
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