Final Reflection

I still vividly remember the self-introduction session during the first ever class for ES2007S. Though it honestly felt silly to me, I realized it took a fair bit of courage to come up with something catchy yet try to minimize embarrassing myself as much as possible. In a sense, I was facing my fear of embarrassment and dealing with it because I had to. Perhaps due to this short session, some of our reservations diminished and this seemed to have facilitated the rest of the course as none of us seemed to have much trouble speaking up in class. And so my course in Professional Communication started.

Shortly after, we all divided ourselves into groups and soon we worked on peer teaching, as well as individual work such as writing personal statements, cover letters and resumes, where everyone reviewed each others’ work. I find this method of learning really useful, as we all had the chance to learn from each other. Before taking up this module, I had no idea what I needed to prepare for job applications and I am really thankful that the module taught me exactly what to prepare for, and how to prepare reasonably good ones (cover letters, resume, etc.).

Finally, we worked on doing up a proposal, which was the project that took up the bulk of the course (or so it seemed). The experience was a first for me, as I have never been involved in drawing up proposals, and I am happy that I actually learnt a lot from this assignment. I learnt the useful skill of writing minutes, and even though the whole process of putting the proposal together was “grueling”, I learnt a lot about cooperation and a fair deal about the art of maintaining good working relationships. As tedious as the whole process had been, it was enjoyable and at the end of the day, I am satisfied with the final product of the proposal. J

Overall, the module was effective and crucial skills necessary in the real world were aptly taught. This module definitely serves its function as a platform for preparing us for work in the real world. I felt that the pace of the class was good, and that everyone was respectful of each other and had no problem communicating our ideas across in class. Most of all, I felt that the lesson on the 7 Cs was one of the most useful part of the course as the 7Cs really constitute the core objectives of effective communication.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Chris for her guidance and kind understanding, as well as my group mates, Huushun and Yuzi for their patience and cooperation :) It was also a bonus to have made new friends through this module!

Post-presentation Reflection

Finally, after weeks of hard work on the proposal, we presented the final product on Monday, 2 November. Though it did not start off exactly well (my laptop could not project the page onto the screen), I felt that the presentation turned out well; my group members and I did a good job!

However, this is not to say that our presentation was perfect. Reflecting on my own part in the presentation, I feel that there is more that I could have done. First and foremost, I imagined how my body posture must have been and realized I should have made sure I carried myself better; instead of placing my left hand on the table which might have made me look sloppy, I should have stood upright. In addition, I might not have projected my voice loud enough as I realized I was comfortable with my volume and I reckon this volume is not sufficient for easy listening for my classmates as well as Chris who sat in as audience, as I not naturally one with a loud voice. Furthermore, I am also guilty of having left out certain things I planned to say, mostly due to some “stage fright”.

Weaknesses aside, I feel that generally, my presentation was reasonably well delivered. I would like to believe that for most part of my presentation, I managed to hide my “stage fright” well and that I managed to give clear delivery of my slides such that my audience could follow what I was trying to bring across to them. Also, I felt that the pace of my presentation was just about right, and eye contact was almost constantly maintained with my audience. Last but not least, I was particularly proud of myself for having used the pointer as I felt that I used the laser pointer to direct my audience to the statistics of the many charts well! Using it made me feel as if I was a lecturer, and that gave me a considerable amount of adrenaline rush; it was also my first time presenting with a laser pointer, so I was really excited!

All in all, the presentation would have been much better if I had been better prepared for it. Honestly, I did not manage to set aside enough time to prepare for the presentation, though an earlier run-through with my group helped considerably. However, I am proud of the work my group and I have done for the presentation (and of course, the proposal). We have definitely improved much from the last peer teaching presentation, so kudos to all of us!