Study Active Listening Online Course; Learn the basics of Active Listening and become an effective communicator

Active listening is one of the most important communication skills you can have. It can have a major influence in helping your get ahead in your career and the quality of your personal relationships. Our Active Listening Certification will help you develop this skill with a little bit of patience and practice.

Communication skills are at the heart of everything we do each day, whether at home, at work, or at play. The Active Listening Certification focuses on active listening, which represents the best of communication.

Our Active Listening Certification provides people the listening skills to be able to respond, interact, and communicate effectively with others. With this active listening online course, people will be able to genuinely communicate by helping them understand the importance of probing and questioning. The course enhances active listening skills by defining what is a positive attitude, introducing the basics of neuro-linguistic programming, and using these skills in a variety of situations.

At Courses For Success, our training programs have been carefully developed by leading professionals and validated by industry experts to guarantee you are getting the most up-to-date experience. By enrolling in this course, you can be confident you are getting the best education possible

What you will learn with our Active Listening Online Course

• Define active listening and identify its key elements
• Learn how to use body language to reinforce a positive learning attitude effectively
• Create a more positive learning environment by using framing, positive intent, and focus
• Become a better listener
• Define sympathy and empathy and identify when each is appropriate
• Understand how communication works
• Formulate questions that lets you probe for information using proper paraphrasing techniques
• Create better relationships to facilitate genuine communication
• Identify common listening problems and provide solutions for each

Active Listening Online Course- Requirements

This course is designed for people who would like to acquire active listening skills to become better learners and communicate with others more effectively. The Active Listening Online Course is delivered 100 percent online 24/7 and only takes 3 to 6 hours of study to complete. 

To successfully complete this course, a student must:

• Have access to the internet and the necessary technical skills to navigate the online learning resources
• Have access to any mobile device with internet connectivity (laptop, desktop, tablet)
• Be a self-directed learner
• Possess sound language and literacy skills

Quick Course Facts

1. Course content is structured for easy comprehension
2. Approximately 3 to 6 hours of study is needed to complete the course
3. Registered students gain unrestricted lifetime access to the Active Listening Online Certificate Course
4. All course material is available online 24/7 and can be accessed using any device
5. Study online from anywhere in your own time at your own pace
6. All students who complete the course will be awarded with a certificate of completion

Active Listening Online Course Outline

Session 1: Course Overview

Communication skills are essential in our day to day life. This is how we interact with each other, whether at home, work, or play. Active listening is more than listening or hearing. It gives people the ability to communicate genuinely by letting each party know the message in each word or sentence. Active listening also encourages better communication by letting the listener formulate questions, probe for better speaker-listener interaction.

Session 2: Defining Active Listening

Active listening is a communication skill that not only helps you listen better but more importantly focuses on the message being communicated. This discipline includes being able to respond to content, identify feeling present, and encouraging the exchange of ideas through proper probing and questioning.

Reading Cues

Active listening skills involve being able to identify non-verbal aspects of the conversation. Active listeners must be able to adjust their listening approaches accordingly. It doesn't take much, stepping back or leaning towards the speaker can go a long way in improving the quality of conversation. Things to look out for include:

• Checking the speaker’s facial expressions, gestures, and posture
• The speaker's voice is it monotonous, loud, or shaky
• Listen to certain points that a speaker is stressing or giving special importance
• Check if the speaker is mumbling or having difficulty conveying their message
• Check the speaker’s body language which can indicate nervousness or stress 

Improve your listening skills by identifying the importance of a positive listening attitude learning the basics of neuro-linguistic programming, evaluating a variety of situations, and learning to respond accordingly. 

Quick tips on becoming a better active listener:

• Make a decision to listen
• Don’t interrupt people
• Keep your eyes focused on the speaker and your ears tuned to their voice
• Ask the other person what they want from the conversation
• Ask a few questions throughout the conversation
• Set an example, practice active listening skills

Session 3: Body Language Basics

In this part of the active listening online course, we discuss body language basics and how it can support or become a barrier to communication. We also explain how body language can help us understand what others are trying to communicate and how it affects active listening.

Examples of positive body language

• Listener leaning towards the speaker
• Focusing on the speaker through appropriate levels of eye contact
• Body fully facing the speaker and not turned away

Barriers to communication

• Rolling eyes
• Constantly being distracted by constantly checking the phone
• Turning the body away from the speaker
• Fingers and feet constantly fidgeting indicating impatience

Session 4: Attitude is Everything!

Communication is a two-way street and having a positive mindset makes it easier to facilitate the flow of ideas between parties. Pretending to be listening only wastes time, both for the speaker and listener. Closing your mind to new ideas and attacking the speaker personally only ruins the conversation.

In this active listening online course, we will help you develop key attitudes that can help develop your active listening skills and become a more objective listener. You will learn key learning elements of listening, including empathy, sympathy, positive intent, the frame of reference, reframing, and genuine communication.

Under this session, we will learn about:

• Understanding sympathy and empathy
• Demonstrating empathy
• Creating the right mindset
• Reframing the situation
• Establishing positive intent
• Maintaining focus
• Being genuine
• Considering your purpose
• Making connections
• Constructing your response

Demonstrating Empathy

Empathy shows respect and understanding of the other's feelings. This shows a level of objectivity compared to sympathy, which leans towards feeling strong emotions. Empathy is placing yourself in the other person's shoes. Empathy can be displayed by: 

• Practicing good listening skills by focusing on the person currently speaking
• Use open questions rather than closed questions or statements
• Agreeing if appropriate
• Trying to understand where they are coming from
• Assuring them of your support
• Encouraging them if appropriate
• Avoid saying “I know how you feel”

Session 5: Encouraging Conversation

Encouraging interaction improves the flow of ideas between speaker and listener. It also communicates to the speaker that the audience is listening. It prevents misunderstanding by letting the listener clarify unclear points through questions, probing, and paraphrasing.

The Communication Process -Misunderstanding results from listeners failing to comprehend the real meaning of a speaker's messages. This can be influenced by several factors, including speaker and listener biases.

Speaker’s Biases:

• Body languages
• Tone of voice
• Words
• Expressions

Listener’s Biases

• Past experiences
• Maps of reality
• Education
• Assumptions
• Emotional state
• Distractions

Paraphrasing ensures that you completely and accurately understand the message the speaker is sending. Paraphrasing is not parroting; it involves a level of analyzing. To paraphrase well, here are some tips:

• Paraphrase only when necessary, clarify or confirm a point
• Formulate the statement in your own words
• Use appropriate questions like. “Do you mean” or “Is it correct”
• Don’t include personal opinions, conclusions, or make judgement statements

Refrain from making judgments, injecting your own thoughts, and offering your opinion

Session 6: Building Relationships

Whether it's a student-teacher relationship or conversation between friends, building relationships makes communication more meaningful. By establishing a relationship, ideas can be easily be exchanged because there is a level of trust between parties. A listener, for example, can express concerns more freely and more open to new ideas.

This part of the active listening online course helps you create better relationships by introducing concepts such as building rapport and finding common ground. You will also learn about neuro linguistic programming and how it contributes to building more meaningful relationships.

Building common ground

Mutual trust, respect, and understanding are the foundations of a meaningful conversation. Rapport is defined as a sense of mutual understanding and friendliness. It is a relationship based on trust and authenticity. This does not only show the other person that you are actively listening but also respect them as a human being.

Finding common ground

Good communication skills should be practiced, whether you're a customer service representative or in a managerial position. Finding common ground to establish rapport is essential. A simple way of breaking the ice is with small talk. By sharing experience, you could bring this conversation to a more personal level.

Using humor

One way of bringing down tensions, especially in a highly formal setting is to inject humor into the conversation. Laughter is such a powerful emotion that it can help lighten the mood. However, this should not be personal or directed to any person in the group. If making jokes is not your cup of tea, better switch to another idea.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) concepts

The active listening online course gives you an overview of Neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and concepts that help listeners warmup to speakers and in the process, create better relationships. NLP works by letting us use body language not only to make an assumption but also lets us use these as ways of adjusting our behaviors to connect and understand others.

Associated or dissociated

This indicates if the person you are communicating with is engaged or somewhere else. People who signify they are engaged/associated are:

• Lean forward
• Show a lot of body gestures, animated and imagery
• Exhibit emotions when communicating or interacting with others

People who are disengaged/disassociated are:

• Lean backward or turn away
• Are less open to new ideas and more objective

Towards or Away from:

These reflect a person’s state whether they are looking forward to something they want to achieve or moving away from a problem. In the Away From state, a person is usually tense and negative. In the Towards state, people generally tend to be relaxed and exhibit a positive body language.

Match/mismatch

Everybody has a natural tendency towards antagonism, co-operation, and friendliness. People who find themselves in their natural settings have an easier time building rapport. This is because they exhibit similar body language patters with the people around them.

People who are in a mismatch state try to find faults in others and are antagonistic to others around them. They exhibit body language and speech patterns that are opposite to the person they are communicating with. People who are in this state use expressions such as:

• At odds with
• On the other hand
• Devil’s advocate

Session 7: Getting Over Listening Roadblocks

In this session, we will discuss common barriers to effective communication. We will learn about the different factors that affect active listening and roadblocks. You will also be able to identify common communication barriers and how to overcome them.

How to Make Better Connections

• Minimize distractions (place cellphones in silent mode and out of sight, face the speaker)
• Immediately ask the speaker politely to repeat any points missed
• Getting into the right mindset, avoid prejudging the speaker
• Avoid unsolicited advice
• Constructing open questions, summary questions, and paraphrasing

Session 8: A Personal Action Plan

This part of the active listening online course lets you put into action all the concepts of active listening. Creating a personal action plan helps keep you on track and focused. In this session, you will also learn to develop short-term and long-term goals. To start creating a personal action plan, follow these steps:

• Starting point
• Where I want to go
• How I will get there

Recognition & Accreditation

Upon successful completion of this course and achieving a passing score for the assessment, you will have the skills and knowledge to become a more effective communicator. You will also be issued with an international continuing education credit (CEU) certificate, accepted by many organizations worldwide.

The Certificate is applicable worldwide, which demonstrates your commitment to learning new skills. You can share the certificate with your friends, relatives, co-workers, and potential employers. Also, include it in your resume/CV, professional social media profiles and job applications.