Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My Final Reflection


- Bin-Oxygy after their Oral Presentation -

Time really flies!

I still remembered very vividly that my first ES2007S lesson where i see many unfamiliar faces and made a self-introduction to some of my classmates, like as if I am on my first day at work, now we became friends and enjoyed each others' accompany in class.

Before taking up this module, I thought it will be an easy and relaxed one as it only comprises of project, writing resume and cover letter, and prepare us for interviews. To my surprise, this module really taught me alot and made me realize the importance of effective communication skill, both verbal and non-verbal cues. Also, the development in active listening in this course trained me to be more attentive and sensitive towards others when speaking. I still remembered the times when we need to be the speaker, the listener and the observer, and as a listener, it is not easy to translate everything accurately from the speaker. Building interpersonal communication to be a better team player and fostering intercultural communication to raise my cultural self-awareness also summed up all the benefits of effective communication skills.

Another essential skills that i learnt in this module would be the ability to construct a better resume and cover letter as they are the first impression of "me" before my interview with my employer. Writing a good email is not an easy task too.

Writing up the survey report is a very different kind of exposure from what we, Science students, usually write for our laboratory report. We adopt the 7Cs in writing that we learnt in class to write a more concise report. Not forgetting our oral presentation that allowed us to present our "products to our distinguished guests". For this research project, i bound to many ups and downs times due to the busy and tight schedule, and at times, somethings could be done in a better way if more time was allowed. Nonetheless, everyone tried their best.

Last but not least, this is the time we show our heartfelt gratitude towards our lecturer, Miss Happy Goh, who never fail to liven up the lesson and taught us the valuable skills. She also goes an extra mile to evaluate all our reports and resumes in order for us to produce a better one. Not forgetting my fellow classmates who always so spontaneous in lesson and my two entertaining project-mates, Xinyi and Guangyi whom i learnt alot from. A Big thank you to all who read my blogs and commented. I would like to end off my this lengthy post by a quote:

"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." by Auguste Rodin

*sorry for my this super long post as is the last blog post*

5 comments:

Joanna said...

Hi Shaobin,

Time has indeed fly fast, and our semester is concluding very soon. It is true of what you say and I totally agree that we have both made many friends in this module. In many other modules, we would have sticked to our own cliques of friends, but this class has enabled us to mingle together and be comfortable about it. Not only have we learnt a great deal on effective communication, we have also been able to practice this skill and make lots of friends. This is truly a very fruitful semester for me and I strongly believe that it is so for you too.

The skills that we picked up are not only those of verbal communications which makes us a better speaker and also a good listener, but also skills on written communication. To us science students, perhaps this would aid us very much on our report writing where we need to write precisely and concisely. I also share your sentiments on the research project, it is not easy to meet the deadlines given out individual busy academic schedules, but luckily we all have responsible and conscientious team mates who made the impossible possible. And true to the quote by Rodin, I am sure that we will be able to use our experience in ES2007S wisely.

Timothy Huang said...

Hi ShaoBin,

I'm glad that you were able to make use of what you have learnt and have good reflections of your experience in this course.

Like you, I have made some new friends and feel that Ms Goh is a responsible tutor.

Regards,
Timothy

Derek ong plays a bit of pingpong said...

Hi Shaobin,

I agree with you that we have learnt more about communication from the module. I never knew that verbal cues only took up 30 % while the rest was mainly 70 %. Remember to nod when you are listening to another speaker!

I also agree that the research report writing method is quite useful. I have my own Engine reports and they prefer point forms to the questions rather than a full clear and concise sentence. This research report has taught me the tricks to writing a good written report and for that I am extremely grateful.

All the best for your exams!

Derek

said...

Dear Shaobin,

The survey report that we did really differs from the typical laboratory report that we science students produce on a regular basis. It was also a valuable experience for me as I learnt to make reasonable deductions from the findings of a survey. Taking this module would definitely be a rewarding experience for Science students, as we are not given the opportunity to hone our communication skills within the scope of our curriculum. Inculcated with the various communication skills taught in this module would definitely give us an edge over those Science students whom are still unaware of these skills. I would definitely recommend more of my course mates to take up the modules to reap the benefits of being an effective communicator too

MadelineLee said...

Dear Shaobin,

Thank you for giving me that beautiful smile before my presentation.

Prior to this course, I always put off writing resume, probably due to the lack of confidence and skills of writing. However, this course had certainly served as a catalyst to that. Likewise, as students from the faculty of Science, I find the format for report writing in science very different from the survey report in this course. At times, I could not accept the style adopted. However, there is certainly a need to follow with the rules of writing and format so as to convey messages to the target audience effectively. I am glad that we had the opportunity to learn this together.

All the best to your examinations and lend me your sophisticated camera!!!

Madeline