A500.9.3.RB – Course Reflection

My End of Course Thoughts On MSLD 500

     I have been taking this Leadership course for 9 weeks now. It is coming to an end and here are my thoughts on this course. 

     First, I absolutely loved this course. I feel that it has made a crucial turning point in the way I now think about things. I realize that prior to this class; my thinking was very close-minded, contrary to what I would have said about myself prior.  

     Second, I had a pretty great learning experience in this class, so I am not sure that there is anything that could be improved upon. The discussion posts, the homework assignments, and the final project all helped to enhance the course and my learning. The reading material was perfect as well. It thoroughly described the content and allowed me to really understand the subject.

     Third, in a lot of the classes I have taken, not many professors bother with commenting back on discussion posts. There have been a few, but the way the professor in this leadership class commented was more thought provoking. She would prompt our thinking based on our posts. It really allowed me to see what critical thinking looked like and how it should be addressed.

     Finally, in my future courses I fully expect to think about them differently. I will address them from a different perspective and this will allow my thinking to be more open to understanding the subject matter more clearly. A lot of times, when I start a new course, I get overwhelmed right off the bat with the amount of work that needs to be done and even with the material. However, after taking this class I realize it is because I approach the course and the new material with a very close mind. This causes me to get overwhelmed from the start. Now, I don’t think I will do this. Since I know how to break things down and take each section at a time and analysis it, I will be more receptive to the information.

     I always feel a little smarter after each class I take, but with this course I not only feel smarter, I feel that I have been armed with new tools to help me get the most out of every class I take.

A500.8.3.RB – Good Presentation Design

It’s All About the Presentation

How things our presented has a huge effect on our daily lives. For example, when we go to a restaurant we most likely selected it not only because of the type of food they serve, but a large part of our decision in the first place was based on the presentation of the restaurant itself. Once inside, our decisions were based off of the presentations of the food. We select our mates based off of their presentation of themselves, and the same can be said about our friends. The point is, presentation (much like marketing) is what gets us interested in the first place.

The same is very much true when it comes to presenting new idea’s to your workplace, potential buyer, or whatever your particular job situation is. NO ONE enjoys sitting through mundane, boring, monotonous Power Point slides with the presenter literally reading word for word. In fact, it’s actually pointless if you think about it. Most of us tune them out, have wandering minds, or just plain ignore what the presenter is talking about. It’s a huge waste of time.

After taking this Leadership course and in particularly after this week’s assignment, I have realized more than ever just how important a good presentation is. Hans Rosling had one of the most fascinating presentations I have seen. I would have never paid attention to his topic if it were not for the way he presented it. He engaged the audience by keeping things moving. His video presentations were not full of boring facts and statistics. In fact, at one point it looked like some sort of game. He threw a few jokes in there and he moved around. I feel that the most important thing that he did was to keep things moving. There were not long pauses or any, “um’s”. He was confident in the material he was presenting and that made you want to listen.

In the future, even if I do not get as creative as he did with his presentation slides, I will definitely make sure to keep things moving, not bore people with tons of facts, and I will be more engaging. Also, no matter how I might be feeling about giving the presentation, I will not show it. People will think I am the world expert on that given subject.