Final Reflection

It all come down to this final reflection after all the hard work, laughter and memories. Just 2 weeks ago, I was cursing at how taxing this module is with the workload.It does not even feel like a level 2000 module. However,at the end of it all, looking back, I have learn a couple of things that I would not have learn in other modules. These are skills that I will bring on further in my life.

Here are some :

1) Writing

I got to admit, I started with really horrible writing skills. A sentence that seems alright to me can be full of errors in the eyes of Brad and some of the better writers in the class. However, through the course of blogging, I learn a lot from the comments given by my peers. After sometime, I became more aware of my writings and tried to keep to the 7Cs. I really have to credit my improvement in my writing to my peers particularly my blogging buddies and Brad of course. Thank you all :)

2) Presenting

Through the course, we had countless opportunity to make presentations. My most memorable experience was the impromptu presentation. I did not expect it to be so taxing and the 4hrs of sleep the night before did not help. It is really through that experience that I realized how one can reveal all his flaws when unprepared. I resorted to being candid as I wanted to make myself more relaxed. But Brad was not amused. I can still remember him telling me that in a presentation we cannot be too "Jokey"(did I spell that correctly?) That left me a huge impression. I am now more aware of the different aspect of presenting and how important preparation is to a presentation. This skills that I learn about presenting will be useful to me in future countless presentations that I will be required to do.

3)Interaction

"No man is an island" Interaction is bound to happen everywhere and this module provide lots of it. Being put into different groups all the time to discuss about issues and work on projects, we were given many opportunities to interact with one another. Those were good opportunity to exercise our inter-personal skills. Through the discussion, I learn various ways to bring my points across , while through the projects I learn how to work effectively with others to get things done.

Yan Ling also taught me how patience is essential in interaction. Her patience in resolving conflicts among us is really admirable. Without her patience, we would have waste precious resources in the arguments and often make wrong decisions. I would really like to thank her for it.

This module have been a memorable one with all the new friendship I have forged and all the skills that I have picked up. I would not say that I had a enjoyable time all the time through this course but I am glad I have taken it.

Thank you Brad !

ENG OP Reflection

Finally, after all the moaning and groaning, slogging it out at various corners of YIH and Raffles Hall, late night calls complaining to each other, the research project had ended with the oral presentation ! This post serve as my reflection for the oral presentation.

Preparation
After we got back our proposal, we were quite disheartened to see so much markings. Naturally we felt that it was not a good sign. Upon further reading, we felt that we did not bring across a lot of the points in the proposal very well. Therefore, we had a consent that we have to make it right this time during the oral presentation.

Meeting up was not easy. Everyone had their own busy schedules and projects to work on, as a result, we did not have a full rehearsal until three days before the actual presentation. However, I felt that the slides had to be done early for us to have a clear outline of our presentation. Hence, we came out with the slides and assigned our parts prior to our meet up for rehearsal. When we finally met up for the rehearsal, I was really happy to see that all my team member put in great efforts for their parts. Despite the efforts, many of us still had problems with our delivery as we were not confident of the presentation. It was only until the second rehearsal that Billet suggested the interview method of presentation. I was to be honest skeptical about it at first but decided to give it a try.

Delivery
We decided to change the setting of the classroom to suit our style of presentation. I guess little touches like the my mother's flowers and the table cloth really paid off.

Everyone did a great job in presenting their parts when they are "called" for. Having Billet as the "interviewer", gave us the confidence as we felt less intimidated by answering the question and having a continuous connection to someone we are familiar with. We were also cautious to connect to the audience as well. ( that's why we had the eye contact practice billet was doing before the presentation) The questions also help break down our presentation into more sizable portions for us to present and for the audience to digest.

For my own part, my mind was really a complete blank when I stood up. But, being full of the topic after having sleepless night thinking of the solutions and proposals, I managed to let it just flow out of me. But having said that, I personally felt that I lacked the engagement with the audience. I also made too much effort to pause and moderate my speed of speech. I am not sure if that came across too obvious. (I hope not )

Audiovisuals
Firstly, I also felt that the video was a bit too long. But it did served its purpose of bringing across the idea and emotions. Our presentation slides was clean, clear and simple which did not leave any impression. In a certain way, it was great as it enable the audience to pay more attention to us. Having seen the first 2 groups presenting with Prezi, we did not like the idea as we feel that all the animations and visuals is going to distract the audience, in Nan Hai's words, made us very dizzy.

Overall, I think my team really did a great job. I would like to thank all of them for the effort put in. Given all the stress and constrains, you all proved to me that impossible is nothing :)