Listening and interpersonal skills

Being able to listen and absorb information is a core skill in both academic and social situations.

Assess your listening skills

Assess your listening skills and receive advice on how you can improve your weaker areas. The listening skills audit is available in two formats:

• Online listening skills audit (activity)
• Listening skills audit (PDF)

Improve your listening skills

• Identifying poor listening habits (activity, requires sound)
  Consider whether you have any poor listening habits that you need to work on
• Listening for specifics (activity, requires sound)
  An activity from the BBC to help you listen for specific information
• Maintaining concentration (activity, requires sound)
  You might be hearing what's being said, but are you really listening?

Listening in lectures

• Good lecture habits
  Tips for what you can do before and during your lectures
• Skills@Library note taking page
  Detailed advice and activities on note taking strategies, including note taking in lectures.
  

To build relationships in both social and academic situations you need to understand how others are feeling. Recognising body language and facial expressions can help.

Non-verbal communication

• Understanding non-verbal communication (activity, requires sound)
  Observe a conversation without sound. By noting the non-verbal communication it is easier than you think to understand what is going on
• Spot the fake smile (activity).

Working in a group

The LearnHigher group work video resource highlights the challenges of working as part of a group, and ways of overcoming them. Over ten episodes, it follows five students through the journey of a group project. The two episodes below relate specifically to interpersonal skills:

• Episode 4 - Managing conflict
  Conflict is preventing the group from progressing with the task
• Episode 9 - Support and feedback
  A feedback session turns into a tense argument
• Making group-work work homepage.
  

Listening is just one part of the equation. You also need to be able to keep the conversation flowing by not interrupting, develop the conversation using appropriate questions, and bring the conversation to a close.

• Question types overview
  An explanation of the different types of question, and examples of when they can be used to best effect
• Identifying question types (activity)
• More practice on identifying question types (activity)
• Questioning skills (activity)
  Practise rephrasing closed questions to elicit a fuller response.
  

Communicating online requires a whole new set of interpersonal skills. If you're not face to face with a person you can't read their body language - you need to gauge mood and inference from the written word.

• Creating your online profile (activity)
  Explore what makes a good online profile in an academic context.

Online chat conventions

• Using emoticons (activity)
  Learn more about how emoticons add meaning to online communication, and identify the meaning of some common ones
• Identifying chat acronyms (activity)
• Chat acronyms glossary
  You may find these definitions of common chat acronyms helpful if you are new to this area.

Netiquette

"Netiquette" is a contraction of "internet etiquette", and refers to a set of social guidelines and conventions which apply to various areas of online communication. An understanding of netiquette is important to avoid causing offence when interacting online.

• Email guidelines
  A set of netiquette guidelines, compiled by ISS, specific to using email and newsgroups
• VLE guidelines
  The VLE support website has a page on netiquette tips when using online discussion forums. It relates particularly to the VLE, though the tips do also apply to any form of online discussion.