Blog post #6: Final Reflections

Goodbye is the saddest word, I’ll ever hear..

Every beginning has an end, and after going through 13 weeks of classes, it’s that time of the semester where we reflect upon this whole experience. I must say it was a really enjoyable 13 weeks for me, having learnt so much from one single module. I can safely say that this is the only module which actually imparts skills that are relevant to the workplace. It prepares you well for interview settings, presentation scenarios and many other areas involved in the workplace. ES2007S is unlike the majority of my technical engineering module where the emphasis is always placed on how well you know your content. It is unfortunate to know that NUS is not doing enough to promote modules such as this, I personally feel that more students should be undertaking such communication modules.

Moving on, I would like to elaborate on some of the things that I have learnt from this enriching module and how each of them has helped in my personal development.

Blogposts

First and foremost, the blogpost. One of the aspects of this module was to write blog entries once every week or so. The blogpost was something new to me, considering that I have never written a blog before! So it took me some time to get use to the idea of posting something online for everyone to see. However, the blogpost has helped improved my writing skills. Trying my best to reinforce the 7C’s into each of my blog entry, I feel that I am now more conscious of my writing and will ensure that my content is clear, concise and succinct. Although I must admit that I still have a habit of writing in a more narrative manner like what Dr Radhika has pointed out. I am still trying to improve on this area of my writing.

Writing of resume and cover letter

This was one of the more useful skills that I acquired through the module. I have learnt the importance of crafting a persuasive and convincing cover letter, in order to increase my chances of securing an interview. Being able to bring across your unique selling points in the cover letter was also crucial and this was reinforced again in the mock interview session that we had in class. I have also learnt that in an interview, it was critical to brand yourself and convince the panel of interviewers that you are the best candidate for the job. However, I may need to improve on making my future cover letters more succinct and to the point. Nonetheless, I feel that I am fairly confident to construct a decent resume and cover letter for my future job applications.

Peer teaching and oral presentation

I specifically chose this module to improve my presentation skills. I was well aware of my weakness in presentation, often getting overly anxious prior to and during presentation. After going through the peer teaching and oral presentation phase, I personally feel that I have made tremendous improvements as a public speaker. All the constructive feedbacks, the tips, advices and recommendations given by Dr Radhika and my fellow classmates have served to aid me in my never ending journey of self-improvement. After listening to all the positive feedbacks from my peers and Dr Rahdika, I could not help but feel proud of what I had accomplished. I can confidently say that I came out of this module, a better speaker, a stark contrast to the person I was in week 1.

Perhaps another valuable take away from this module, beside the skills that I have learnt, is the friendships that were fostered during this course. Going through all the activities in class, I was able to see some of the peculiar behaviours that define some of my classmates. From Sumi’s default frowning expression, to Daniel’s repetitive “churning” gestures or Ying Long’s ever enthusiastic vibe. All of this helped made lessons interesting and fun to attend. For the first time in my two years in NUS, I felt like I was part of a class, a common group of friends whom I can hang out with and have casual conversations. I have never felt such bonds since my junior college days. I hope we will continue to remain friends even after this module is over. To all of my classmates, all the best for your final examination and I hope to see each and every one of you around campus. To Stephanie and Irtiza, it was a pleasure working with you two for peer teaching, so thank you for everything. To my group mates, Weiting, Wenlin and Saras, thank you for your time, effort and dedication for the proposal, it was really wonderful working with the three of you!

Finally, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Dr Radhika. Thank you for imparting us with the knowledge and skills to be a professional communicator. More than anything else, thank you for being such a wonderful teacher. We appreciate your effort, patience, understanding and kindness. It was truly an enjoyable experience made possible by you. So thank you once again. I will definitely be recommending this module to all of my friends in NUS.

Sean

Blog post #5: Reflection on Oral Presentation

So came the day for our group to present.  All the hours spend on preparation, all the effort that went into the proposal; it all came down to this moment, 2pm at our usual classroom. My team have practised thoroughly for our presentation, going through countless dry runs and giving feedback to one another. We could not have been better prepared than that day itself.

Personally for any presentation, I never fail to get overly anxious. This is also made worst by the fact that I was the first speaker for our presentation. The likelihood of fumbling was always at the back of my mind. However, the moment I started speaking, all the anxiety, and all the fear faded away. I felt like I was in total control of myself and my anxiety, everything felt so natural, so smooth flowing. I was in my own element.  I guess all the effort and time put into countless practises paid off and helped to instill a great deal of confidence in me.

I started off with my part; introducing the topic to the audience and then moving on to briefly explain the rationale for choosing the topic. I then went on to explain our very first recommendation that we have proposed. For our slides, we followed Dr Radhika’s advices and ensured that there were minimal words and bullet points for each slide. We also chose bright colours and neat animations to make the slides more attention grabbing. Overall I felt I delivered my part smoothly, with no major mistakes made along the way. Despite the fact that I had my script in my hands, I did not refer to them at all. This is because when I was presenting, I needed to make a conscious effort to maintain eye contact with my audience across the whole classroom. Hence, it was impossible to refer to my script as I would break eye contact with my audience. However, not being able to refer to my script was not an issue, because I had practised so many times that every line, every word seems to come out naturally. Throughout the presentation, I also made an effort to be more animated by including gestures and varying my tone whenever I am highlighting something important.  I refrained from using the laser pointer and instead, used my hands to point at sections of the slides which I found critical to be noted.

Now touching on some areas for improvement, personally I felt that I was going a little too fast as I was trying to finish my part within the stipulated time of five minutes per person. Perhaps for my subsequent presentations, I should not be too worried about my time limit as this may cause me to speed up my presentation. Another error which I seem to make for any presentation is that I tend to pronounce certain words quickly, resulting in poor articulation. This is an area for improvement and I will take note of it in my future presentations.

All in all, I felt that I have grown so much as a communicator, from being a nervous and shy speaker during my junior college days to someone who has the ability to give a presentation with confidence and gusto. I would really like to thank Dr Radhika and everyone else, especially my team mates, for playing a part in shaping me into the speaker that I am today. For without their feedback and guidance, I would not have improved as a speaker.