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.

Reader Response Draft 3

In The Straits Time article, "Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR railway system", Khaw (as quoted in Lee, 2015) commended on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and approved that its standards should be classified as the basic criterion for other countries. Lee mentioned certain facts about MTR in the article. Hong Kong's railway pricing was the highest among railway countries and the track covered a distance of 221km. Lee stated the MTR encountered significantly small number of minor delays and 37 per cent of MTRC's (Mass Transit Railway Corporation) earnings were devoted to rail track maintenance. Lee remarked that MTRC was well known for their highly efficient manpower and crowd controlling measurements such as driving a vehicle equipped with ultrasonic techniques that performed routine checks on rail track every couple of days for faults that were undetectable by human eyes. While there are many aspects that SMRT should learn from Hong Kong's MTR, it should not be designated as the 'best in class'.

Hong Kong MTR has very poor management on the passengers because it lacks enforcement on passengers' travelling ethics. According to Blundy (2016), a passenger was seen hanging a hammock on a train to take a nap. Fortunately, MTR staff were called upon to stop the man from posting further disturbance to the surrounding passengers. Although the train system is well known for their efficiency, such example has shown the poor management of it. Although Singapore's SMRT is not as efficient as MTR, SMRT has better management on their travelers. There was no similar case of passengers taking nap on hammock in the train. The management of MTR needs to implement stricter rules for the passengers to prevent unnecessary collision and crowding in the station. Passengers alighting on specific stations have the priority to exit the train first before boarding of other passengers. During peak hours, passengers tend to force their way in before allowing passengers to alight because the entering passengers wish to take up empty seats, resulting in overcrowding within the door premises and unnecessary collisions among each other. The train management crews should control the situation so that they can provide an open path for the passengers to alight without anybody in the way and allowing the boarding passengers to enter in a orderly manner. This was suggested in the article "13 bad habits people do at the MTR"(n.d.).

Hong Kong's MTR has poor handling on problem situations because it lacks advanced technologies to deal with these situations. A recent article "MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure" claimed that 100,000 city workers were stranded in the East Kowloon region due to a power glitch in the train service. The workers took more than an hour to look for the reason behind the glitch without any technologies. MTR needed to ratify more technologies so that it could resolve problems in a shorter time and more efficient way. Khaw (2015) also commented that trains of MTR reach stations every two minutes. The consequence of the train delay could be huge if the similar accident happens again. For an efficient rail system like MTR, it is understandable that it intends to increase the passenger's fares to earn more revenues. In return, the passengers expect MTR to improve on its system as well as meeting the basic needs of the users. Thus, dissatisfaction grows when MTR takes a long time to resolve problems as passengers feel that the rail system could have provide more preventive measures or solutions to uphold their reputation as a fast and efficient system.

Although MTR has been reputed as one of the best rail way systems in the world, it should not be designated as the best instead. Being the best is not just about being efficient in normal situations but also being decisive in critical situations. It should improve on its current standard in management of passengers and problem situations to convince the world that it can be the best.



References

Blundy, R (2016, Apr 16). 10 strangest things to happen on Hong Kong's MTR. (2016). South China Morning Post. Retrieved, September 22, 2017 from http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1936345/10-strangest-things-happen-hong-kongs-mtr

Lee, M.K (2015, Oct 29). Dubbed 'the best in class', 6 things to know about Hong Kong's MTR. (2015). The Straits Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017 from http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/dubbed-the-best-in-class-6-things-about-hong-kongs-mtr-rail-system

MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure. (2017). Ejinsight. Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from http://www.ejinsight.com/20170412-mtr-slammed-for-poor-handling-of-train-service-failure

13 bad habits people do at the MTR. (N.D.). Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from https://expats.hk/273-14-bad-habits-people-do-at-the-mtr.html

Reader Response Draft 2

In The Straits Time article, "Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR railway system", Khaw (as quoted in Lee, 2015) commended on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and approved that its standards should be classified as the basic criterion for other countries. Lee mentioned certain facts about MTR in the article. Hong Kong's railway pricing was the highest among railway countries and the track covered a distance of 221km. Lee stated the MTR encountered significantly small number of minor delays and 37 per cent of MTRC's () earnings were devoted to rail track maintenance. Lee remarked that MTRC was well known for their highly efficient manpower and crowd controlling measurements such as driving a vehicle equipped with ultrasonic techniques that performed routine checks on rail track every couple of days for faults that were undetectable by human eyes. While there are many aspects that SMRT should learn from Hong Kong's MTR, it should not be designated as the 'best in class'.

Hong Kong MTR has very poor management on the passengers because it lacks enforcement on passengers' travelling ethics. According to Blundy (2016), a passenger was seen hanging a hammock on a train to take a nap. Fortunately, MTR staff were called upon to stop the man from posting further disturbance to the surrounding passengers. Although the train system is well known for their efficiency, such example has shown the poor management of it. Although Singapore's SMRT is not as efficient as MTR, SMRT has better management on their travelers. There was no similar case of passengers taking nap on hammock in the train. The management of MTR needs to implement stricter rules for the passengers to prevent unnecessary collision and crowding in the station. Passengers alighting on specific stations have the priority to exit the train first before boarding of other passengers. During peak hours, passengers tend to force their way in before allowing passengers to alight because the entering passengers wish to take up empty seats, resulting in overcrowding within the door premises and unnecessary collisions among each other. The train management crews should control the situation so that they can provide an open path for the passengers to alight without anybody in the way and allowing the boarding passengers to enter in a orderly manner. This was suggested in the article "13 bad habits people do at the MTR"(n.d.).

Hong Kong's MTR has poor management on problem situations because it lacks advanced technologies to deal with these situations. A recent article "MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure" claimed that 100,000 city workers were stranded in the East Kowloon region due to a power glitch in the train service. The workers took more than an hour to look for the reason behind the glitch without any technologies. MTR needed to ratify more technologies so that it could resolve problems in a shorter time and more efficient way. Khaw (2015) also commented that trains of MTR reach stations every two minutes. The consequence of the train delay could be huge if the similar accident happens again. For an efficient rail system like MTR, it is understandable that it intends to increase the passenger's fares to earn more revenues. In return, the passengers expect MTR to improve on its system as well as meeting the basic needs of the users. Thus, the dissatisfaction of the passengers grows when MTR takes a long time to resolve problems as they feel that the rail system should have made more preventive measures or solutions to uphold their reputation as a fast and efficient system.

Although MTR has been reputed as one of the best rail way systems in the world, it should not be designated as the best instead. Being the best is not just about being efficient in normal situations but also being decisive in critical situations. It should improve on its current standard in management of passengers and problem situations to convince the world that it can be the best.




References

Blundy, R(2016, Apr 16). 10 strangest things to happen on Hong Kong's MTR. (2016). South China Morning Post. Retrieved, September 22, 2017 from http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1936345/10-strangest-things-happen-hong-kongs-mtr

Lee, M.K (2015, Oct 29). Dubbed 'the best in class', 6 things to know about Hong Kong's MTR. (2015). The Straits Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017 from http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/dubbed-the-best-in-class-6-things-about-hong-kongs-mtr-rail-system

MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure. (2017). Ejinsight. Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from http://www.ejinsight.com/20170412-mtr-slammed-for-poor-handling-of-train-service-failure

13 bad habits people do at the MTR. (N.D.). Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from https://expats.hk/273-14-bad-habits-people-do-at-the-mtr.html


Edited 05 Oct 2017
Edited 09 Oct 2017
Edited 12 Oct 2017

Reader Response Draft 1

In The Straits Time article, "Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR railway system", Khaw (as quoted in Lee, 2015) was full of commendations on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and approved that the standards of MTR should be classified as the basic criterion for other countries. There were certain facts about MTR mentioned in the article. Hong Kong's railway pricing is the highest globally and the track of MTR covers a long distance of 221km. In terms of fault occurrence, the MTR encounters a significantly small number of minor delays. Furthermore, 37 per cent of MTRC's earnings were devoted to the rail maintenance. In addition, MTRC is well known for its highly efficient manpower and crowd control measures such as driving a vehicle equipped with ultrasonic techniques to perform routine checks on the long track every couple of days for flaws that are not detectable with human eyes. While many countries have certain areas of aspect to learn from Hong Kong's MTR, it should not be designated as the best in class.

First of all, Hong Kong MTR has very poor management on the passengers. In the article "10 strangest things to happen on Hong Kong's MTR", Blundy (2016) stated that a passenger was seen making a anchorage on a train to take a nap. Fortunately, MTR staff were called upon to stop the man for posting disturbance to the train. Although the train system is well known for its efficiency as mentioned in the article "Dubbed the 'best in class', 6 things to know about Hong Kong MTR rail system", such example has proved the poor management side of it. Despite not being as efficient as MTR, Singapore's SMRT has better management on its travelers. At the very least, there were no cases of passengers hanging a hammock in the train. Secondly, the management of MTR needs to implement stricter rules for the passengers to prevent serious collision and crowding in the station. During peak hours, passengers tend to rush in and out of the train doors for work. Passengers who alight on the specific stations should have the priority to get out of the train first before the ones that want to board on the train. There are times people will force their way in before the alighting passengers because they wish to take up empty seats which result in crowding on the door and unnecessary collisions among each other. With proper management crews to control the situation, they can create an open path so that the passengers can alight without anybody in the way and let the boarding passengers enter in a much orderly manner. This can be further supported in the article "13 bad habits people do at the MTR"(n.d.).

Lastly,  it was said in a recent article "MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure" that approximately 100,000 city workers were stranded in the East Kowloon region due to a power glitch in the train service. Hong Kong's MTR has ultrasonic techniques that are used to detect faults in the railway system. However, the workers decided to look for the reason behind the glitch with naked eyes and it was outrageous that they took more than an hour finding it. They should have ratified more technologies so that when problems occur they can resolve it in a significantly shorter time. Khaw (2015) commented that trains of MTR reach stations every two minutes. Given that the same incident happens again, we can hardly imagine how many trains are being delayed in an hour's time. For an efficient rail system like MTR, it is understandable that the passenger's fares are increasing so that it can earn more revenue. In return, the MTR has to improve on its system as well to meet the satisfaction of the passengers. That is why when problem occurs and MTR takes a long time to resolve it, the dissatisfaction grows as they feel that the rail system has not made much preventive measures or solutions to uphold their reputation as a fast and efficient system.

Although MTR has been reputed as one of the best rail way systems in the world, it should not be designated as the best instead. Being the best is not just about being efficient in normal situations but also being decisive in critical situations. It should improve on its current standard in management of passengers and problem situations to convince the world that it can be the best.




References

Dubbed 'the best in class', 6 things to know about Hong Kong's MTR. (2015). The Straits Times. Retrieved, September 15, 2017 from http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/dubbed-the-best-in-class-6-things-about-hong-kongs-mtr-rail-system#xtor=CS1-10

10 strangest things to happen on Hong Kong's MTR. (2016). South China Morning Post. Retrieved, September 22, 2017 from http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1936345/10-strangest-things-happen-hong-kongs-mtr

13 bad habits people do at the MTR. (n.d.). Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from https://expats.hk/273-14-bad-habits-people-do-at-the-mtr.html

MTR slammed for poor handling of train service failure. (2017). Ejinsight. Retrieved, September 23, 2017 from http://www.ejinsight.com/20170412-mtr-slammed-for-poor-handling-of-train-service-failure/

Edited 28 September 2017

Summary - Draft 1

In The Straits Time article, "Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR railway system", Khaw (as quoted in Lee, 2015) was full of commendations on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and approved that the standards of MTR should be classified as the basic criterion for other countries. There were certain facts about MTR mentioned in the article. Hong Kong's railway pricing is the highest globally and the track of MTR covers a long distance of 221km. In terms of fault occurrence, the MTR encounters a significantly small number of minor delays. Furthermore, 37 per cent of MTRC's earnings were devoted to the rail maintenance. In addition, MTRC is well known for its highly efficient manpower and crowd control measures such as driving a vehicle equipped with ultrasonic techniques to perform routine checks on the long track every couple of days for flaws that are not detectable with human eyes. While many countries have certain areas of aspect to learn from Hong Kong's MTR, it should not be designated as the best in class.

Summary on "Best in Class"

In the Straits Time article, "Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR rail system", Khaw (as quoted in Lee,2015) was full of commendations on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and the standards of MTR should be classified as the basic criterion for other countries. There were certain facts about MTR mentioned in the article. Firstly, Hong Kong's railway pricing is the highest globally and the track of MTR covers a significantly longer distance of 221km while SMRT only covers 162km. In terms of fault occurrence, the MTR encounters lesser minor delays as compared to SMRT. Furthermore, it was mentioned in the article that 37 per cent of MTRC's earnings were devoted to the rail maintenance. The article stated that only 19 per cent of the SMRT's earnings were provided for the maintenance on its railway system. Lastly, MTRC is well-known for its highly efficient manpower and crowd control measures. The total number of staffs stand at 5,800 and they perform routine checks on the long track of the railway system every couple of days, displaying their high level of work ethics. Whenever they go on their checks, a vehicle equipped with ultrasonic techniques will be drove along the track to spot for flaws that are not detectable with human eyes. Singapore on the other hand only executes its maintenance check on nearly a week basis, which revealed its lack of efficiency and effectiveness correlated to MRTC. A high-tech control center named Super Operations Control Center (OCC) operated by MRTC provides counter measures or useful solutions when problem occurs.

Edited 21 September 2017

Introductory Letter

Self-Introduction

09 September 2017

RE: Self-Introduction

Dear Professor Brad Blackstone,

My name is Ong Xun Qi, and I am writing to introduce myself to you as a student in your Effective Communication class. I graduated with a diploma in Clean Energy from Temasek Polytechnic. Initially, I did not like my course as i had difficulty coping with Engineering Maths which was beneficial for students with Additional Mathematics background and I was unable to get in to Amaths due to my mediocre results in Elemental Mathematics in secondary school days. Nevertheless, I persevered and managed to do fairly well in the Maths modules i took in my first year and a half. It was until year 3 when i was posted to a solar energy company for internship that aroused my interest in this field of work. Thus, I have decided to pursue my interest by furthering my studies in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering(Land).

My goal for studying in this module is to improve on my communication skills. In every profession we take up in society, communication is an important factor in many situations. Several examples are working together with colleagues, giving presentations and liaising with clients. I hope to brush up on my writing skills and learn to be more professional in giving presentations to others. 

In terms of weakness in communication, I am very bad in writing with many grammar mistakes and improper sentence phrasing. Due to this, the main point in my writing has always been neglected or not brought up clearly. This becomes a big obstacle in my learning journey in English.

As far as a strength, I would suggest that i am able to maintain good eye contact with the audience while in presentations through my past experiences in polytechnic and internship. For instance, I was able to relay the important details of my Solar PV System to my lecturers back in the days I was doing my Major Project in Poly year 3.2 attaining a B+ grade for it. 

I believe that learning to communicate well is greatly beneficial in making me a better person and I sincerely look forward to improving myself from your teachings in the coming Effective Communication classes.

Best regards,

Ong Xun Qi

SIE2017
Edited 13 September 2017
Edited 16 September 2017
Edited 21 September 2017

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