Final Reflection

Throughout this course, I have learnt and am convinced of the value of collaborative (rather than competitive) communication (cross refer to my first blog entry).  Through countless feedback I have received on my work from peer reviews, I see how I may stand to lose if I am defensive of my work and of what people say about it. Also, if I had been insistent on my ways, I would not have been able to take advantage of the numerous self-improvement opportunities presented during the course to better my work.  

Surely, before I took this course, I knew the value of receiving feedback.  However, I never had the opportunity to receive so much feedback, so frequently and from so many different people regarding my work. I often only receive feedback for my assignments after submission and this makes rectification of errors nearly impossible and meaningless. Yet during this course, I was able to receive extremely descriptive and directed feedback and act upon it immediately. Thus, learning truly felt like a process that not only improved the quality of my work but also reassured me of my capabilities and boosted my self-confidence.

Besides learning more about myself through collaborative communication, it also reminded me to develop skills and qualities that my peers embodied and were worth emulating.  For instance, from Kristyn’s comments on the 8 okays I mentioned in my OP,I not only got to know the severity of my okay-syndrome and how much I needed to work at it, I also learnt about the importance of being meticulous. (Imagine listening attentively at someone and calculating the number of okays he/she mentions? Haha!!)  Likewise, I learnt similar things from Mercia. After seeing that the elaborations on my job achievements in my resume were lacking, she introduced me to the acronym STAR (Situation, Task, Action and Result) and on a personal level, I feel that her outspoken and inquisitive nature are highly admirable. 

To Brad and all my classmates,thank you for your presence ;) 

Reflection on OP

OP is over ;p Zi Hao and Ariele, we made it!! Remember the social engineering bit? Haha!! Anyway, it was great working with you guys throughout the entire process of coming up with directNUS  and eventually conveying the idea within an 8-page proposal and 20 mins presentation ;) Thank you for all your efforts!

Overall, I think I did pretty well for the OP as I managed to keep calm and talk logically, establish good eye contact with my audience and remember key points to say without the aid of a script. But, I also feel that there is room for improvement. I could have:

1)      Been more focused during my OP as I was slightly distracted when Titus who was sitting in front of me held up a camera to capture something.

2)  Had greater engagement with my audience to sustain the personal appeal of directNUS to each audience member as set up by Ariele.

3) Made potential challenges faced by directNUS more relatable to my audience by appealing to their person experiences (eg. their views on current bus arrival timings as reflected on electronic boards at bus stops).

4) Improved on the transition between the “expenditure and manpower needs” part to the “challenges” part to make it flow more seamlessly.

5) Changed my position periodically to make the presentation feel less dead.

Nevertheless, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to present my idea to an audience and be on the enriching learning journey of ES2007s!