Blog Post #6: A Wonderful Journey~

Since the very first day of the course, I knew what like about ES2007S is that it is completely different from most modules which adopt the conventional style of content-heavy lectures which are examinations-centered. This module instead focuses on collaborative learning through the sharing of ideas as well as group project assignments. It is with these reasons that I have managed to learn so much more through various interactive platforms, such as classroom discussions, blogs, wikis, and project meetings, which provided me avenues to put the skills and techniques of effective communication into practice.

This module has influenced me to consciously formulate the way I communicate to be an effective communicator. The lessons revolve around teaching me how to determine appropriate communication channels, the use of the 7Cs during communication, the development of listening and questioning skills, and the importance of non-verbal communication. Besides building interpersonal communication skills, the model also discusses various skills and techniques to react in situations such as interpersonal conflicts and cultural differences. One of the most important issues discussed was emotional intelligence – why is EI so important for personal and professional success, the five competencies of EI and some ways to improve my EI skills.

In addition, the blog was used as a medium for me to develop my writing skills, to formulate my thoughts in a concise manner and to evaluate and provide insights into my classmates’ blog posts. All in all, blogging in this module was not only recreational but also educational.

Furthermore, this module not only imparted but also provided an opportunity for me to hone useful job-application and work-related skills like creating good application letters, resumes and personal statements, writing effective business letters, memos and emails, as well as handling job interviews effectively. The group project also successful allowed me to learn and given me the opportunity to put to practice the important skills of formulating a proposal and giving a persuasive speech, which are not included in my curriculum as an engineering undergraduate.

As education, at least in Singapore, places much of its attention on academic content and technical knowledge, these skills are often overlooked by many. Only in later stages of life, that people start to realise the need for such skills, which may be by then, a little too late. The transferable communication and life skills taught in this module can help us avoid the pain of learning from grave mistakes and give us a head start to face the working world.

However, it must be noted that at the end of the course, though we may have been imparted these skills, they are after all still tools that would be useless without putting them to practice in our daily lives. As much as a sculptor needs his tools, no work of art can be created without experienced hands behind those tools. What we have learnt are important skills, but it takes experience and practice to fully utilise them to achieve effective communication. Communication is both a science and an art. While the ‘science’ aspect comprising of the theories and concepts can be imparted through books and notes, the ‘art’ aspect involves tacit skills and techniques that can only be honed by practice.

Certainly, this module provided me a chance to increase my awareness of these skills and my weaknesses related these skills so that I could work on them before I enter the work force. Through the help of feedbacks from Ms Fazilah and my classmates in the form of peer-reviews, I discovered many of my communication weaknesses which I was previously unaware of, such as inappropriate non-verbal gestures during the mock interview, the wrong use of words during presentations and the over-hasty manner of communication during group meetings. With better self-awareness, I would now be able to exercise the effective communication and EI skills taught in class to overcome these weaknesses. This would definitely benefit me as a final year student who would be entering the workforce in due time, and also as an individual who plays various roles in life and communicate with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

To sum up, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Fazilah for imparting the invaluable knowledge about effective communication and for providing just the right amount of guidance, which keeps us in track for our assignments and group projects, and yet gives us room to explore and learn by ourselves. I would also like to thank my group members, Michelle and Ming Yi, who have been awesome project mates to work with. Past encounters with uncooperative project mates have taught me to appreciate good team members who I can work with. Though the process of meeting tight deadlines and attending the seemingly never-ending project meetings was stressful and taxing, it has been enriching and enjoyable for me because we never fail to generate humor even during the most nerve-racking times. The stress, the jokes, and the times we had would definitely be etched in my memory forever.

Finally, I would like to thank all the classmates for the efforts in providing comments for my blog posts and group project, as well as the interesting inputs during class discussions and thought-provoking questions during presentations that set me back to reflect on various ideas. As the chapter closes, I am confident enough to say that I am now better equipped and armed than before in terms of effective communication skills, and not forgetting that I have gained new friendships and reinforced established friendships in the process. I would like to thank all for being with me through this wonderful journey of effective communication. I certainly have no regrets in signing up for this module and will continue to recommend it to my friends. Cheers!
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Blog Post #5: Some Insights about my presentation to the NUSEU

The primary goal of the presentation is to giving a persuasive speech to convince the targeted audience, in this case, the manager of the NUSEU, Ms Roberta Siew, the Dean and distinguished professors from the NUS Faculty of Engineering, to put our proposal into implementation. For such an objective presentation, I have to keep in mind that my ultimate aim is to seek acceptance of my credibility regarding the usefulness and feasibility of the proposal. I have to speak to convince my audience and there are various skills and techniques that I have applied with varying degrees of success to achieve this objective.

For the aspect on topic and purpose, I was very clear that my part of the presentation encompasses the need to assess the feasibility of the proposal, evaluate and propose solutions for some foreseeable challenges that may befall the proposal, and conclude on the presentation with a strong note of conviction that the proposal is beneficial, feasible and worth implementing. With good eye contact and a well-paced speech, I was able to portray my confidence to aid in establishing a convincing presentation to bring across my intent more successfully to the targeted audience in the allocated time.

To ensure that the presentation is well-organised and easy to follow, I felt that visual aids play an important role. My PowerPoint slides were carefully prepared to be audience-centered and smoothly integrated into my speech with the use of appropriate and well-timed animations. The display of key points and use of suitable pictures and graphs on the slides helped to reinforce and complement the ideas in my speech. The aesthetic aspect of the presentation was well boosted by the vivid animations and colourful graphics on the slides to capture the attention and maintain interest level of the audience throughout the presentation.

However, I need to take note of some weaknesses that I have displayed during the presentation. In my eagerness to explain my points, I tend to be too focused on my final idea that I may overlook my sentence structures and use of words. Based on the feedback from Ms Fazilah and my team members, there were quite a few occasions when I wrongly replaced the word ‘companies’ for ‘schools’, and used certain words like ‘ensure’ and ‘also’ too many times in one sentence. In addition, as I was quite nervous during the presentation, I could not remember some of the points in my speech that I have prepared beforehand, thus tend to over-rely on the slides to proceed with my speech.

Therefore, to improve on my subsequent presentations, I should prepare some cue cards so that I can refer to them during my speech in case I forget my points. However, I should take note not to be tied down by my notes as it is important to maintain a strong eye contact with the audience throughout the presentation. I should practice my speech with my team members or in front of the mirror until I am very familiar with it so that my speech would still be kept in check despite my nervousness. It should be noted that my speech should still be kept extemporaneous and sound conversational even though it is fully prepared and carefully rehearsed. I need to practice the use of appropriate hand gestures to aid my presentations.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my presentation because despite my nervousness, I was able to keep my composure by maintaining good eye contact with the audience and using pauses, rate, pitch, and vocal variety effectively during the speech. I hope that I would be able to overcome and improve on my weaknesses with more practice and experience with giving presentations.