What I Have Learned

I have learned that conflict is not a bad thing. Understanding that conflict is okay and a necessary part of life was huge for me. It made me much more relaxed and it really improved my relationship with my boyfriend. I have learned that conflict is healthy, as long as everyone involved works together to come up with a solution. I have also learned that I need to listen to other people. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own thoughts and emotions that I forget to pay attention to the other persons needs. This is a problem that I have had since I was little and I wasn't even aware of it until I took this class. It is really hard for me to mention everything that I have learned because there is so much I have taken away from this class. To sum things up, this class made me learn a lot about myself and the choices I make while handling conflicts. This course was a huge eye opener, and I plan to continue using the concepts that I have learned in this class in my personal and professional life.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• The professor was easy to contact. I never had to wait more than 24 hours to hear back from her.
• The book was helpful and easy to read.
• I really liked the weekly posts. It was a nice way to get to know the other students in the class.
• The assignments were helpful and really pushed us to understand class concepts. 
• The workshop assignment was my favorite part of the class. I had never done anything like that before. I was really intimidated at first, but ended up learning a lot from it.
• Class material is useful for my professional and personal life.

Weaknesses

• I do not think there were any weaknesses in the class. Everything was very useful.

I would definitely recommend this class to my friends. I learned a lot and had fun participating in the class discussions. I think everyone could benefit from this course (:

Chapter 16- Conflict

Before I took this class I definitely had a negative view of conflict. I always thought conflict was bad because it meant confronting an issue and usually arguing about it. However, this is not necessarily true. Now that I have taken this class, I understand that conflicts are normal. Not all conflict is bad, as long as you follow the right steps or methods to work through them. If conflicts are handled correctly, everyone involved should be happy with the outcome.
In the past when my boyfriend and I would argue, I would get really worried that he was going to get sick of the arguments and leave. He always told me he hated conflict and avoided it. During the semester, I would talk to him a lot about class concepts and encouraged him to try having a different outlook on things. We now understand that conflicts are completely normal, that how we handle them is the most important part. It is definitely important for people to know that it is normal and okay to have conflicts.