Final reflection on learning

Firstly, I must thank each and every one of my classmates for making es2007s such an enjoyable module!  Special thanks to Brad, who has taught me the essential skills in communicating, writing, presenting, which are applicable for both school and work.

Before this module, I never had the confidence to speak up during tutorial sessions, as I find it embarrassing to raise questions or to voice out any opinions during tutorial discussion. During one of our tutorial session earlier on, Sofie shared her views towards this issue, and that totally change my mindset towards speaking up in class. She said that she was once bothered by this issue, but her classmates gave feedback and said that the questions she asked were very helpful, as those questions coincided with their questions. After this sharing, I no longer feel uncomfortable speaking up in our tutorial class, THANKYOU SOFIE.

In the course of the module, each of us has a fair chance to work with almost every one of our classmates. We are randomly divided into different groups for peer teaching and research proposal. From there, we worked together as a team, and everyone has a role to play. Each of us has specific strength and weakness, and one’s strength will complement other’s weakness, hence teamwork will yield an excellence outcome. On the other hand, delegation of the task was simple but execution was a challenge. Along the way, we have identified limitations and rectified problems. However, none of those was conflicting and we have learnt a lot from those issues.

Blogging made writing less intimidating. Being an extrovert, I naturally prefer speaking to writing. In addition, I was intimidated by the mandatory essays for my previous modules, and I fear to be mocked for my “broken” English. These are reasons for not having a blog prior to this module.

 At first, blogging really brought me out of my comfort zone, as I seriously feared that my blog post will not be understood by my readers due to the grammatical errors and limited vocabulary. The fear was lifted when people start to give positive comments. Gradually, I begin to like blogging as I find it really interactive and fun to give and receive comments. (Even though signals might be attenuated (by my bad English), I hope the main idea remains intact.) In the future, I will definitely continue to use blogging as a platform to practice writing.

Lastly, I really want to thank Brad again for being such an awesome teacher. You are a teacher who taught us the real meaning behind effective communication. Thank you for sharing your life stories with us. I would say, this is the best module I have ever taken in my 3 years of undergraduate studies!!! THANKYOUJ

Reflections on oral presentation

First of all, I must thank Gail and Baowen for the awesome research project experience, and I am really glad that everything when on smoothly. Even though I blank out after speaking for two minutes, I really gained a lot from this experience. Not only have I obtained essential tips for speech preparation, but also gained beneficial insights to oral presentation.

For speech preparation, I must confess that this is the first time I scripted out my whole speech. In the past, I will usually write down the main points, and put the points together using my “broken” English. This time round, since I am taking a language module, I thought that should draft it out to ensure the fluency.  I did manage to “swallow” down my script and managed to regurgitate the facts during the pre-presentation trails. However, I was too nervous and the words choked me during the presentation. After the presentation and Brad’s debrief, I realized that I focused too much on my language and neglected the key points for oral presentation. In fact, I should have presented with my passion and understanding for the project, instead of harping over the “language fluency”. 

In addition, like Dalai Lama, he may not speak proper English, but he is able to fluently advocate "a secular approach to compassion" at Standford University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=20MnLcOL7Ks

From both the presentation experience and Dalai Lama, I learnt that presentation fluency is based on our understanding of the project, while articulation of thoughts is just an add-on feature which prefects the oral presentation. 

As for oral presentation, presentation slides are important visual-aid which act like a double-edged sword. Good slides help in the delivery of thoughts, while bad slides turn audience off. I started off drafting my speech without slides, as I tend to over-rely on the slides. Like what Brad has previously said “It will be good if everyone’s attention is on you “. And so, I practiced my speech without the slides. After several practices, I realized that a summary slide might help to summarize my main points. Then, I incorporated a slide, but I really regretted having a summary slide, as it was too content-heavy and everyone feedback that it turns audience off. Nonetheless, my group mates and I have other slides and figures which are clear and effective. In future, I will minimize words on the slides and add on more demonstrative figures which will aid, instead of hinder, the delivery of my speech.

Furthermore, confidence is crucial for all persuasive presentation. For both school and work, it is inevitable for us to deliver persuasive presentations. After the two sessions of oral presentation, I noticed that confident speakers tend to be more persuasive.  Additionally, I thought everyone had done a very good job in “selling” their ideas.Therefore, in the future, I aim to become a convincing speaker who can present my results/project confidently and fluently to my audience.

Even though I sobbed after the presentation, I am neither traumatized nor intimidated. Instead, I will learn from my mistakes, absorb the essence and eventually become a confident speaker who is able to deliver a fluent and persuasive speech. 

Thankyou for reading my blogpost J