Final Reflections on Learning: A road that never ends.

Good communications is not common sense. Through this very module, I’ve learnt that having effective communication skills require practice (a lot of practice), patience, confidence and an appropriate dose of self-righteousness.

What I really appreciate about this module was that the preparations for peer teaching and the group proposal serve as excellent platforms for us to constantly apply what we’d learnt. Every discussion or meeting was an opportunity for us to practice good communications.

The idea of working with complete strangers was definitely intimidating. While the good thing was that we could assess each other’s opinions without biasness or prior judgment, I guess we all had to be more patient so as to break the barrier and get used to our individual working styles. Each presentation has a different challenge but one thing consistent was that, good communications form the basis of good group dynamics.

While people tend to forget that listening is also another important aspect of effective communications, I felt that listening to my group members’ thoughts and opinions was the reason why we managed to complete the given tasks within a short period of time. This is especially true for my group project. We had to come up with plausible solutions on the issue of low fertility in Singapore and thus, there was a need for us to listen to each other’s view carefully so as to ensure that we are not heading towards too many different directions. 

Through the active process of listening and speaking, my group members (both groups) became more supportive of each other and I felt more confident of myself. These good group dynamics would not have been possible without effective communication.

I have always been a firm believer that what you say and how you speak reflect on who you are as a person. However, as I watch my classmates gave their presentations, I realized that it works both ways. Our personalities and the experiences we accumulated do affect how we communicate as well.

Like many of my classmates, I signed up for this module alone. I was apprehensive at first, especially when the assessment for this module is project-based. But, clearly, my fear was unfounded. I’ve made new friends who gave me new perspectives. I am glad that I took this module and I really appreciate the constructive comments that my classmates gave on my performances. 

As the saying goes, “Nothing is ever forgotten even if you don’t remember them,” what I’ve learnt through this module will remind me, consciously or subconsciously, the importance of effective communication. 

Much thanks and lots of LOVE!

Thoughts and Reflection: Oral Presentation

Aside from my A’Level oral presentation, I really can’t remember when was the last time I spoke in front of a small crowd. So I have to say, the peer teaching session and the oral presentation gave me two great opportunities to brush up on my (rusty) presentation skills.

Our group took on the topic of low fertility rate in Singapore. I was really enthusiastic on the project because it is a current and pertinent issue in Singapore and most importantly, working on the topic made me think of the plans I have for my future. My group members were cooperative and we worked well together, making everything easier.  

Through the presentation I think my group gave a proper summary on our project proposal. However, I felt a tinge of disappointment on my own performance during the presentation. I felt extra nervous and because of that, my mind wasn’t as focused. There were moments where my mind went blank and I could not remember what was in the next slide. I came up with three reasons for my underperformance.

1.       I was not familiar with my script.

2.       It was difficult for me to link my script and my presentation slides.

3.       I had this ‘premonition’ that I would not do well for the presentation.

For the first and second reasons, all I can say is that, I did not rehearse enough. While I crafted the script and slides well beforehand, I started practicing only a couple days before the presentation. Also, I think my slides were a little too wordy and thus it was difficult for both the audience and I to fully digest the information within a limited period of time.

Perhaps I knew I was unprepared, I had this gut feeling that I would not do well for the presentation a few days before. The worst thing was that I stuck to the feeling. Hence, I began the presentation with a wrong end in mind. The law of attraction worked for me, but it worked in the reverse manner.

I tried listening to myself during the presentation. I thought I could improve on my grammar and sentence structure so as to sound more professional. I refrained from using repeated words and phrases while writing my script, but during the presentation, I was quite sure that certain words were overused. I think this is something I should look out for.

I admit, there were glitches here and there while I was speaking. However, I feel that on the whole, my speech delivery was smooth, and I had appropriate voice projection.

The major takeaway I learnt from the oral presentation was the importance of being yourself. During the peer teaching, I felt a lot more comfortable and confident. For the oral presentation, the tone was more formal and in addition to my lack of practice, I found it difficult to feel comfortable and to maintain the train of thoughts.

The project and oral presentation served as good distractions away from my heavy core modules, but now, I am just glad that we are done with them.