Referencing Styles : Harvard Kim is a first-year university student and is excited at the prospect of entering an ‘adult learning environment’ where teachers don’t check on you each and every minute of the day and don’t contact your parents if your assignment is late. As part of her high school graduation reward, her parents even bought her a brand new laptop to use for her studies. She takes it to uni every day and is excited to find that on campus, wireless Internet allows her to surf the Net, update her Facebook status and chat with friends. She can even respond to text messages in class as long as she remembers to put her phone on silent. Even if you miss a class, most subjects have an e-learning site and the lecturers often put up podcasts of their lectures for students who are not able to attend, although the amount of information that you are expected to remember is very daunting. When Kim receives the results of her first assignment, however, she is very disappointed. The tutor has commented that Kim obviously did not follow the instructions that were given in the lecture and has not read the required reading, which was mentioned in the tutorial. She is asked to revise and resubmit her assignment. When she makes an appointment to discuss her grade, her tutor asks if she was attending lectures. Most of the time, she says, but it’s often hard to get there for a 9 a.m. class as she has to travel quite a distance. And besides, plenty of others don’t bother either. When she has made it on time, she finds that it is often more interesting to check her email and chat on Facebook than follow the lecture, especially when the theory seems so dry and she can’t see the relevance … and besides, she can always listen to it later. The lecturer also has a European accent and some irritating mannerisms which she finds distracting. She prefers to sit up the back of the lecture theatre but finds that other students carry on conversations around her and the low hum of these makes listening even harder. Kim complains that the assignment instructions were not clearly explained, but the tutor responds that if Kim was unsure, she should have asked for clarification, and she should have checked the sample assignment which the lecturer had placed online. What sample? And how can she ask when she doesn’t even remember the lecturer’s name? Kim goes away to revise her assignment, thinking that she needs to consider her listening behaviour. Discussion 1. What were some of the listening barriers that Kim experienced? 2. How could Kim have been a more effective listener? 3. What could the university have done to help students like Kim become more effective listeners? 4. What are your own experiences of similar situations? How was your listening affected? What have you learnt about listening from these experiences? 5. Are technologies such as mobile phones and laptop computers in classrooms a help or a hindrance to your ability to listen? Week 4 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘Act’). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Kaplan Business School is a part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN 86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Code 02426B. Answer the following question in a short essay format. It should be a maximum of 700 words and include references to at least three sources. Influence is a close relative of persuasion and logic. Discuss the various strategies of influence, using your own personal experiences as examples. In your essay, discuss the various tactics that were used to strengthen your argument.