Some parts of this course were good and some weren't. I would have liked to have heard less of telling stories and more focus on communication. I totally disagree with the whole concept that there is any platform where threats are a good idea. I would have like to have seen more clarity in the lectures about core and non-core violations. The lecture veered off into stories about well's Fargo, Martha Stewart, David Letterman and political figures. I would have liked to have seen the quizzes do a better job of reflecting the lectures instead of being a game of chance. Or, whack a mole. Mostly, I found this course to be a bunch of crap mostly because of the stories which had no real bearing on the course. After the second week, I quit watching the lectures and downloaded the scripts. There probably needs to be further readings if a topic isn't covered very well.

I felt that this course was mis-labeld or mis-advertised. The purpose for which I took this course was to learn how to communicate better in business presentations. The first part of this course seemed more like Social Psychology 101, and there was not very much effort to relate what the content was to a business environment. The few examples that were there to give business context I felt were rather un-ethical and in my view promoted an unhealthy business attitude.

I didn't agree with the instructors points on a few things, most notably that threats are a valid option on a business environment. In my opinion the use of threats is a last resort and should not be encouraged except in extreme circumstances. And this was the longest lesson which makes it sounds like the most important part of the whole thing - which in my mind puts the focus of a business mindset in completely the wrong place.

Overall, I found this course to be very basic and in some cases downright insulting and counter to my personal ethics.

In re-reading the syllabus - I can see how it can be described like it is - however for the "who should take this course " section you need to add - people who want to understand the psycology of basic communication principles" - for which this is probably a great course - but for myself - who have been in the business world for 20+ years and who was looking for some help tot get to the next level this was not it.

I liked so much this course. The examples were so good to connect the concept and the real scenarios. Soft skill are so important and I'll use it to increase my communication with my colleagues.

I loved the course, its is simple clear and share a critical view on how we can communicate.

The examples and teaching helped in understanding and diagnosis of each problem in communication.

Very basic information. Would like a more in depth course which would more completely cover JUST communication and how to improve it on a verbal and written level. This course felt very elementary and more employee/business focused especially in the marketing field. The fourth week was the only week I felt I learned a few new tidbits. Week 1 - 3 was not very well put together, examples were weak and uninteresting and the quizzes were not very well focused on the material.

I did really enjoy the course. I gave a different perspective on situations and personal behaviour. The approach was very effective and the knowledge sticks in your mind. Very good.

Professor Maurice Schweitzer is obviously an expert in this field, and it was great to be able to learn from him. Course was very useful and thoughtfully presented.

Thank you!

Great overall course, multiple nuances, and insights presented on a variety of subjects related to communication. On the negative side, the evaluation could be more interactive, not only consisting of multiple choice quizzes but maybe include some written task or even video eschange.

What a great class!! I enjoyed every bit of it! and learned alot about how trust and deception work. The mechanism of Goal setting and ideas about how to have an effective conversation.

I particularly like Prof. Schweitzer and you can actually download most of the papers he authored and co-authored from his university website. After reading at least abstract and discussion / conclusion of most of his paper (and with some already quite a lot more) published after 2000, I noticed that this course really does distill his work quite well. A lot of the practical implications can be learned in this course and whoever wants to dive deeper has his papers, for free.

I found most inspiring so far that negotiator self-efficacy moderates negative effects of anxiety on negotiator behavior (Schweitzer et al., 2009), which very much motivates me on learning even more about negotiations than learned in this course already. Apparently, University of Michigan just started offering a specialization on Coursera.

Working in the Customer Service Industry I found the whole course very illuminating. I use some of the concepts already but learning about context and theory behind them certainly will aid me in further developing on my tactics and influencing others in my company so that we can offer better service to our customers.

Thank you Prof. Schweitzer, University of Pennsylvania and everybody involved. Cheers

I find the course simplified and therefore effective. I enjoyed it and believe it is going to be useful moving forward. However, I believe some quizzes were not clear enough and lead to confusion.

The course is good. I would like to see exercises and tools that can we used, practiced in daily life.

I'm very satisfied with this Course, a huge amount of informations that enhances my knowledge, and which enables me to communicate effectively both in my professional and personal life, the program is rich and wealthy, it includes many important parts such as building trust, using our verbal and non verbal communication skills, how to analyse our interlocutor, how and when to act ? ..... thanks a lot

An absolutely wonderful course on communication skills. Its a course every professional should take as it teaches the very basics of communication that we all should incorporate and practice everyday.

Great material, the professor does a great job explaining complex topics in a straightforward and plain way. You will get very insightful takeaways for your life and work afterwords.

Gave me strategies on communicating with others

It was a good course but kind of vague. Lectures were too long and full of talking instead of pause questions to keep the learner involved rather than just listening. I hoped if there were assignments and games to keep us more engaged and to assure that we fully understand the content. Otherwise, Professor Maurice Schweitzer did a great job with providing engaging examples in each video and I got to know a lot of new stories worldwide.

too condensed and the irony that it is a communication course yet too vague. The instructor condensed a probably one semester course in three or four hours course. He might want to focus more on verbal non verbal communication with some listening skills. But a whole module on deception and lying in a four module course, really. As for quizzes were horrible as they focused more on memorizing rather than understanding.

Excellent course, althought -- as some reviewers before me observed, the quizzes are sometimes too easy and could be more challenging; moreover, I would have liked to have the possibility of a more direct contact with the professor, as it happens with other courses on Coursera (ie: responses on the discussion forums). Expect to spend about the 20% more of the recommended time for Module (Week) 4, which is the most interesting and gives all the knowledge you need to apply the ideas you have learnt in real life situations. Do not rush. I suggest to binge-watch the course after completing it just as a refresh. Kudos to Mr. Schweitzer!

The course was really helpful and intriguing to me. it's richly embellished by real life examples that are sometimes funny yet very informative and relevant. This course will teach you a great deal about trust and how to build it using verbal and non verbal cues, how to negotiate effectively, how to apologize effectively and make the most of goals setting and many other useful and related topics. I really recommend it for anyone who wants to up his communication game. Last but not least, Prof Maurice is just amazing and very knowledgeable about what he's talking about.

I like the fact that this course has very solid points in very short videos. I appreciate that I am able to audit this course for free. I have enjoyed the concepts taught in the course and in fact felt surprising at times how much a communication plays in every role we play.

Caution: the course is very dense in valuable points and often without too much details. It is the duty of the viewer to take time to sink in the depth of the points on their own. It can be very easy to hover over the video without understanding the complete sense of points.

This course was interesting to me because I originally thought it would be something about "how to get people to like you more", but it actually turned out to be on a much deeper level. We considered motivations, reasons for people to behave in a certain way as well as more practical ways to resolve situations through communication and better understanding of underlying motives and processes. Greatly satisfied with what I have learned!

I would just like to say thank you for the effort and expertise that you brought and for the good learning opportunity. It was very informative, very well presented, plus enjoyable. I have learned so much and have already started to use some of the strategies and tools you gave us and they are working remarkably well. This was a whole new experience for me , and would really recommend it for others.

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Schweitzer's "Improving Communication Skills" course. It was an unexpected lecture for me in terms of the materials being taught. However, I really appreciated learning about social dynamics, the breakdown and analyses, of communication. Professor Schweitzer is a great instructor and has kept my attention for these past 4 weeks of lecture. Great course!

Great course and I really liked the ideas and concepts shared in it. It really helps how you can improve your communication skills and how you can use these skills on a professional level. Also, it combines practical tips and tactics you can use to apply those different skills. I strongly recommend it to anyone want to improve his/her own communication.