Final Reflection :)

It is amazing that I have survived ES2007S! I have never taken a module which requires so many written assignments, as I am weaker in languages compared to sciences. That is also a reason to why I dread taking arts module. But surprisingly, I do not regret taking this module despite of its heavy workload. I feel that this is the most fulfilling module I have taken in year 3. Throughout my course of study in NUS, ES2007S is the module which I am most engaged in speaking. It is also the first module which I have interacted with almost everyone in class! I feel that this class is able to be so engaging and enjoyable is in virtue of our instructor Brad, who has the courage of not conforming to the norm of teaching and thus making the lessons a different experience for us. Thanks Brad! :)

Throughout this module, I have learnt many invaluable communications skills which I think would help me in my future endeavors. If there was an extended module following ES2007S, I would definitely take it. This course has given me an opportunity to refine my writing skills through the weekly blog post. I find that blogging makes writing less distressing compared to writing a report.  I have learnt how to avoid misunderstanding by conveying information accurately, and enabling a two-way communication. Learning how to listen actively and to express proper non-verbal cues also allows me to interact with people better. I will continue to build on these interpersonal skills to establish long-lasting relationships.  

I have gained a lot of knowledge in the skills that will be important in the workplace and I will keep all the notes that I have been given. I have learnt better presentation skills during the peer teaching and in fact I have applied it on my UROPS presentation. It received positive feedbacks and I was thankful that I took this module! I believe the reason to why I have learnt so much is as we have been practicing the skills in almost every lesson. Being placed in different groups, I need to interact and work with people of different styles and characters. These experiences are steps to more effective communication with different people for me! 

A component in the module requires us to write a proposal for any improvement in NUS. I feel that this has led me to think critically which I was not used to be, and to be bold to explore new and creative ideas.  Our group was very glad that NUS Science Library and Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning showed great interest in our proposal on the “Implementation of compulsory Web of Science and Endnote learning for first year undergraduates”. Somehow I feel that my confidence level has increased after I gave the oral presentation too. :)  

Apart from the skills imparted to me in classroom, I have also learnt indirectly out of the class. The heavy workload is also an opportunity for me to increase my capacity as I learnt how to plan my work properly in order to meet the deadlines. Most of my blog posts were written when I had waiting time for my lab work and this led me to master multitasking!  

I believe that the efforts that I have put into these modules will not be put to waste. I am very happy to have known many new friends in this module. I would like to thank you all for the encouragements and support through the whole course, and our cool instructor Brad Blackstone for your patience and guidance in us. All in all, the new and closer friendships that I have built, coupled with the effective communication skills that I have acquired, makes this a very fulfilling module! :)

 Happy Graduation from ES2007S! :D

Oral Presentation :)

Thank God that the presentation is finally over! Patrick, Rebecca and I got together to rehearse for the first time on the day before our presentation. I actually enjoyed the process of the discussions throughout the rehearsal. I was blessed to have teammates who are willing to give criticism in a very respectful manner and at the same time receive correction humbly. It is because of this, we improved and I can say that we did the so much better in the actual presentation than in the ones we rehearsed! The transition was good and all of us managed to maintain eye contact with the audiences. However I think our presentation exceeded the time and we could have been more conscious of the time and speeded up accordingly. I hope they did not get bored and tired throughout the presentation. : |


During our rehearsals, I remembered I had a difficult time organizing the things that I need to say. I was not able to focus and I did badly that day. In fact, I like presentation in a way that it is like giving tuition to a class. However, the audience is different during presentation and this gave me pressures. On the actual day, I was not able to phrase my words properly and I stumbled quite a lot. I was tongue-tied so many times and I told myself not to burst out laughing like I did during the rehearsals because of my mispronunciations! Hopefully the audiences understood what I was saying as I was a little disorganized in my sentence structure. Nevertheless, I was less nervous than I expected. I think I was not that monotonous and was able to finish my part within my allocated time. Overall, I would say that the presentation was a valuable experience for me to build up my confidence! :)