End of the semester!

Can you believe 13 weeks has passed just like that?

Looking back at my first blog post for ES2007, I came into the class hoping to be able to communicate effectively. Specifically it was presentation skills that I wanted to improve on. After going through 2 presentations and countless dry runs, I can confidently say I improved in my presentation skills and have become more aware of both my strengths and weaknesses in this area. Should future opportunities require myself to present, I will remember to internalise what has been taught in class and continue to improve on my own.

Other skills such as writing cover letters have been really useful to prepare myself for the working society once I graduate in less than a month. The guidelines for professional writing (such as the 7 Cs) will definitely be applicable even after completing the proposal and the module.

In general I really learnt many things in the module, and even if the workload was really heavy, the group projects gave us an opportunity to make friends! This is one big reason that makes attending class more enjoyable and tolerable as compared to other NUS classes. Friends, its been a pleasure knowing you guys and with the exams coming, All the BEST to everyone!! :D

Of course the module will not be made possible without its slave driver Brad! Thank you for all the encouragements you gave us throughout the course! You really made my last semester in NUS very different and special :D

OP Evaluation!

Link for presentation @ http://wellenstan.blogspot.com/2011/04/es2007s-recyclists-project-presentation.html (thanks wellens!)

A huge burden on my shoulders is finally gone! :D Anyways back to the self evaluation!

In general I felt the presentation was really an improvement as compared to when we practiced it the day before. I was not able to speak fluently at all and kept fumbling during the practice and it was really a mess as I recalled. However a lot of practice and familiarity really make a huge difference when it comes to presentations as I felt I improved as compared to my peer teaching in terms of fumbling lesser and longer eye contact.

Personally I really like our slides and that there are many pictures and minimal words that make the audience concentrate on the speaker as opposed to staring at the screen. We were actually helped by Hwee Teng's group on how to present our slides and the suggestions really helped! Thanks :D

As for non-verbal cues, I had feedbacks from both my team mates as well as other helpful people in the class that I tend to roll and close my eyes when I try to recall what I have to say during presentations. I tried my best to minimize this weird sub-conscious movement and I hope I did not do that (or at least not that much) during this presentation!

That being said, I still fumbled for a while during my presentation and that could be improved through more practice and maybe being less nervous throughout the presentation. Plus I should minimize my use of "erm" in my Q&A, as pointed out by Greg and Jake. I was actually surprised by myself and how many times I used "erm"! Once again I guess that is another thing that I do without myself noticing.

Singapore is to chewing gum, like Canada is to marijuana

When I went overseas for exchange last semester, I lived with 5 other Canadian girls which gave me a whole new perspective of what a Canadian University student can be like.

I was cautioned by NUS' International Office that one may come across Canadians who smoke marijuana, or what the Canadians term 'weed'. Never did I expect myself to land exactly into that situation. The packet of weed was causally placed on the living room table, where some of my housemates will smoke it every 2 to 3 days. It really came as a shock for me at first, but after a while I just got used to the sight of it lying around the house, along with the bong that they would use to smoke it.

I actually talked to them about how shocked I was to see illegal drugs lying around the house, and they were shocked to hear it was even illegal in Singapore! Moreover the penalty for having large amounts of weed around results in a death penalty, which came to an even larger shock to them. More than once I comtemplated whether I should try smoking it, but in the end the difference in culture, which I feel leads to differences in believes, stopped me from doing it. What they felt was the norm in Canada, was a crime in Singapore.

So i came to a conclusion that weed in Canada is like chewing gum in Singapore. It's illegal to eat/take it, but authorities will not actively go around to arrest anyone that's caught with it.

Think before you blog

Conflicts will arise when people interact with each other, simply because everyone is different. To me, interpersonal conflict is a result of a difference in perception towards things in general, whether there is a direct interaction between parties or not. One has to be aware of what they say, especially on the internet where there is no restriction of who might be reading what you posted online.

Blogging was, and still is still a popular hobby for many, and Wendy would blog whenever she had time on her hands. It was a place where she felt that she could express her feelings freely. However she was not aware that what she blogged about could affect her relationship with her friend Nicole.

Reminiscing on her blog, which included a past relationship with Tom, was not Wendy's intention of going in between Nicole and Tom. However a blog does not restrict anyone from reading it (unless it is password-protected, but lets assume it wasn't) and friends of Nicole informed her of what Wendy has posted, suspecting her of having a ulterior motive for writing something like that on her public blog. The situation started to get complicated as Nicole was afraid and otherwise reluctant to confront Wendy regarding her blog post. With the growing misunderstandings between Nicole and Wendy, it became even harder to confront each other and tension was all that is left of their friendship.

Both parties were wrong in some way in this story, which led to a broken friendship between Wendy and Nicole. I'm sure there were better ways to deal with situations like this. Tell me what do you guys think.

Effective communication skills, anyone?

Several times in the past years I have considered taking this module, but was appalled by the amount of projects and assignments needed to be done for this course. given a science student I am. However here I am, taking this course in my final semester in NUS. That goes to show effective communication skills is essential, especially if one, like myself, is going to enter the pool of unemployed adults to compete for a position that gives a good salary.

I assume like most of my fellow course mates, we feel it is necessary to be able to communicate effectively, and that includes the verbal and non-verbal aspects. Communication, being the foundation of human relationships, can easily strengthen or destroy them. Whether it is interactions with colleagues or just quality time with friends and family, no one would want to convey the wrong messages.

Speaking in front of a group of people is hard; even an experienced speaker may stutter at times. Confidence plays a big role in public speaking, and it has to be developed. Through practice, I hope I will be able to present my ideas to a crowd successfully. I know public speaking is not my strong suit and I have been avoiding opportunities of presentations, if I can. However in the working world, presentations are inevitable. Since there are no ways of avoiding it, might as well confront it and I might learn something out of it!

Completely mastering the skills to effective communication is rather impossible, but I'm pretty sure at the end of the course Brad would definitely have drilled the basics into us! Let's just sit back and enjoy the ride :)