Critical Reflection on Effective Communication

When I attended the first lesson of effective communication, I set certain goals that I wish to achieve at the end of the module. I wish that I can improve my communication skills and brush up on my writing skills. 12 weeks into the module, we have completed several assignments. For reader response and technical report, I have learnt the technique of paraphrasing and summarizing the sources that I found online to use them for my reference.

I realised it is an important point that we must read the entire article so that we are able to understand fully what is the message the author was trying to relay to the readers. By learning how to paraphrase and summarize the article, we can allow readers to understand the author’s intentions concisely.

The best way to improve English is to keep on practising it practically and technically. While working on my drafts for the assignments, I have learnt to check on my work regularly to spot for grammar mistakes and sentence phrasing. In the process, I felt that my writing skills have improved significantly.

With regards to my formal presentation, I received many constructive feedbacks which will prove beneficial in grooming me to become a better presenter in the future. Being a good presenter possesses 2 important traits; confidence and not relying on the script but presenting information that flows from your thoughts instead.

All in all, effective communication has cultivated me into becoming a better person as we get to work with different people with different work style which in turn makes me be adaptable to changes. I am grateful for all the lessons taught by my peers and professors and the help that I have received throughout the module. As the module has come to an end, I will continue to work hard on the aspects that are needed to be polished looking forward to presenting a better side of me in the future. 

Reflection on Formal Oral Presentation

My group, Task Force, has finally completed our formal oral presentation on our proposal for the construction of Eco-Tree and Eco-Gallery in SIT’s future campus in Punggol. This marks the ending of the module.

Regarding my performance in the oral presentation, there were more negative than positive feedback. Being the fourth group to present, we had extra time to prepare. During rehearsal, we felt confident to speak fluently. However, I did not meet my personal expectations during the actual presentation. There was a moment during presentation that my mind went blank. Based on the feedbacks given, I had lapses in remembering my lines and as the presentation progressed, the speed of my speech increased due to nervousness.

Despite my poor performance, I was commended for maintaining a good posture and having accurate pronunciation and articulation. I was advised to slow down my pace of speech and take deep breaths to calm myself down. Additionally, to aid myself in remembering contents, I was suggested to address the benefits and key takeaways as to how I would have explained to my group mates. Instead of memorizing a script, I could have let the content I was familiar with to flow through my head and simply speak from my thoughts.

In my opinion, I felt that I was indeed presenting every single word I have memorized during my practice runs. Hence, this had caused me to blank-out when I could not remember my exact lines. This poor approach was the main reason for my unsatisfactory performance. To be a good presenter, confidence is a key factor as it gives the audience a sense of assurance that the presenter knows his content well. Furthermore, a good presenter should be able to present comfortably without relying on scripts.

In future, I will learn to familiarize myself with the content I have to present. It will definitely boost my confidence and hence not repeating the same mistakes again. I will continue the good habit of practicing regularly to present fluently. To conclude, our group presentation was still successful, and I am glad that the team’s efforts have paid off.

Edited 30 November 2017

Technical Report [Methodology] [27 November 2017]

As people rely heavily on technology for learning, our team decided to conduct research on which generation has the biggest influence in making a significant impact in conserving energy, as well as how the government raise awareness of conserving energy through the creation of Supertrees, using primary and secondary research.

Primary Research

Our team decided to conduct an online survey on how much do students know about energy conservation. The survey was carried out on 1 November 2017 and a total of 45 students participated in it. More than 50% of the students were aware of energy conservation and know that SIT@Dover has implemented energy saving measures on the campus. Although majority of the students felt that there is a need to conserve energy in the campus, they did not know about the 5 aspects of energy conservation. We provided 5 possible ways for students to decide which measures will they be able to learn more about energy conservation, and setting up a gallery was the most favorable idea. In addition, we sought advice from Professor Zhou Yi from SIT@Dover regarding our proposed solution, the Eco-Tree. He advised the use of a capacitor to store the converted electrical energy harnessed from the solar panels to power up the Eco-Gallery during night time. An interview was conducted with Professor Jawn Lim on the implementation of the Eco-Tree in the new SIT campus at Punggol. Professor Jawn Lim had shared several limiting factors of installing the Eco-Trees in the new campus as it is constructed over a protect nature reserved which are guarded by NPark authorities. The possible areas for installation maybe limited and required further studies on soil stability to ensure the soil can uphold the eco-tree.

Secondary Research

Statistics on students’ dependency on technology for daily learning was obtained from Indiana University (see Appendix A), as found by how majority of the respondents found technology improved their learning capabilities. and this shows that students are growing more dependent on technology in recent years and is expected to grow in future. Information about the importance of energy conservation and Supertrees in the Garden by the Bay were taken for our references.

Technical Report Edited [Benefits of Proposed Solution] [27 November 2017]

The proposed solution posts three main benefits to society, the future of sustainable development and the behavior of students. The explanation of the three benefits are reflected below:

5.5.1   Eco-tree to educate students on energy conservation

The eco-tree is essential to provide energy conservation messages to educate students on importance, and provide techniques how to identify possible energy wastage. Upon identifying the energy wastage, students can apply the techniques or influence other students to conserve energy. In the long run, students will cultivate the good habit of conserving energy and assist in the new SIT campus in reducing energy waste.

5.5.2   Eco-Tree reaching beyond SIT

Constructing the Eco-Tree would allow it to go beyond SIT as an example of how conservation of energy is a human factor and should be undertaken by everyone. This could result in eco trees being implemented in other campuses or even public places to further spread the importance of energy conservation. 

Technical Report Edited [Introduction] [27 November 2017]

Singapore is a metropolis city-state without any natural resources, and it depends heavily on external trade agreements to bring in natural resources to power the city. Natural resources have been one of the sources of conflicts between countries due to scarcity. According to Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo (2017), Singapore must be proactive in finding energy resources to survive. To overcome potential conflicts and such scarcity, Singapore has been constantly investing in sustainable methods to reduce the usage of natural resources while maintaining the ability to power the city.

Gardens by the Bay (GBB) is one of Singapore’s heavily invested projects for promoting environmental sustainability and energy-conservation. According to Moorhouse (2015), the 12 Supertrees in GBB are self-sustainable as the structures are powered by solar panels where they store the solar energy during the day so as to reuse it during the night.

As technology grows more important, Singapore has integrated technology into daily learning to expedite the students’ full learning capabilities. Due to students’ reliance on technology to improve their learning capability, this has resulted in an increase in the demand for energy (See Appendix A). However, students are unaware of just how much energy they use on a daily basis due to a lack of education on energy conservation, which would contribute to Singapore’s overall energy usage.

Students have a high influence on the future, as they will either pass on the good habits of conserving-energy or the bad habits of prioritizing comfort and convenience at the expense of energy conservation to future generations and bring such habits to the workplace. According to Agarwal and Sing (2017), research was performed by National Environment Agency (NEA) and National University of Singapore (NUS) on whether school students were able to create an impact on the reduction of energy consumption. The project was carried out with 30 primary and secondary students. After a span of three months, there was a 1.6% reduction in electricity consumption in the students’ households. Empowering students on energy-conservation will be Singapore’s key in setting a future trend in energy conservation.

Technical Report Edited [Executive Summary] [27 November 2017]

This report responds to a call for proposals by identifying the importance of University Students being aware of energy conservation. It then describes a means of raising the awareness of SIT students on energy conservation. Ideally, students should possess basic knowledge on energy conservation and practice energy saving techniques which will in term benefit both the campus and public in reducing energy usage. However, students lack the knowledge and awareness on energy conservation as they prioritize convenience and comfort at the expense of energy conservation.

This report aims to propose to the SIT Estate Division to implement an Eco Tree (self-sustained by solar panels) with an Eco Gallery (containing information on energy conservation) constructed below the Eco Tree to raise the awareness of students on energy conservation. Benefits of implementing the proposed solution are discussed, along with potential issues and other considerations faced in the implementation. An alternative solution is also presented for consideration, along with its respective limitations. 

The report also explains how several methods of research were employed to obtain information on the existing situation. Primary research includes conducting an online survey regarding awareness on energy conservation with students, receiving a consultation from an electrical and electronics engineering professor in SIT@Dover and an interview with Professor Jawn Lim from the SIT campus development requirement team division. Secondary research includes obtaining statistics from websites.

Technical Report Draft 1

Introduction
Singapore is a metropolis city-state without any natural resources and heavily dependent on external trade alliances agreements to bring in natural resources to power up the city. Natural resources have always been the source of conflict between countries due to its scarcity. To overcome this situation, Singapore has been constantly investing on sustainable methods to reduce the usage for natural resource while maintaining the needs to power up the city.

As Singapore continues to prosper, our education system moves towards applied learning that encourages student to utilize technology to expedite on their full learning capability. In result, students have grown to be more dependent on technologies as it has brought comfort and convenience towards daily learning.


Technology has also influences our students to be ignorance to Singapore’s reliance of energy from other countries and the lack of education on energy-conservation that will lead to over consumption of energy, creating a potential threat to our future. While on the other hand, students have the highest influence on both the older and the future generations and by empowering them on energy-conservation will be Singapore’s key in setting future trend in energy conservation. 


Problem Statement

Students in SIT should possess basic knowledge on energy conservation techniques to benefit our campus by reducing the energy cost. However, many students lack the knowledge and awareness in terms of energy conservation, and sometimes ignorance to take the simplest action due to personal convenience. Thus, there is a need to raise awareness on energy conversation to students by educating them to reduce the usage of energy and understand climate change.


Purpose Statement
The objective of this report is to propose to SIT community to install a gallery that raises awareness about energy conservation and climate change. The gallery will be self-sustained by solar panels through utilizing the light energy emitted by the sun and converting it into electrical energy to power up the gallery. The gallery will contains information regarding to energy conservation to educate students on the importance of saving energy.