Blog 6 : Overall Reflection on CG1413/CG1102

After taking CG1413 module, in retrospection, I deeply feel that I have grown into a more competent team-player as well as a more incisive thinker.

The module was started by introducing us to the fundamental concepts underlying effective communication, and we are expected to grasp and apply such concepts in dealing with our projects that came after. I feel that my better understanding of what constitutes effective communication (effective sender and reciprocative receiver) rendered me more tactful when conveying my ideas. For example, in our project meetings, i would then become more conscious to ponder over various factors such as the context, my tone, speed etc, which might get my meaning distorted along the way. (However, i also became more aware that,speaking slowly, at times, compromised spontaneity and made you sound not as genuine). On the other hand, i also have became more adept at active listening, as I understand that a proper feedback mechanism is invariably the key to effective communication. I would adopt techniques such as mirroring, paraphrasing, summarizing, identifying with the speaker etc to make sure that i have understood him/her correctly and to clear any doubts in case of misinterpretation. Such techniques are vital to my career as I work as a private fitness trainer and to empathize with our clients is of cardinal significance in winning supports from them. My deepest appreciations to CG1413 and our beloved tutor .

Moreover, I have become better at teamwork. I used to consider teamwork a waste of time, considering how tedious and frustrating collaborating with a whole group of people can be, especially when there is an apparent lack of shared traits among the group members. It is the overwhelming workload of CG1102 projects that woke me up with a start and made me re-evaluate the importance of effective teamwork. I now understand better how does synergy (1+1=3) can happen and i am striving for optimized efficiency as a team player. Not only have i learnt to stand up against the odds with the rest of the team in working towards our common vision (or mission), more importantly is that i have learnt to accommodate and appreciate the variations that indispensably exist in our team. Diversity does not necessarily lead to divergence, it could offer more comprehensive perspectives if handled properly, as it did in our case: last-minute specialist should be delegated for report-writing and final compilation, consistently contentious worker should become the leader and set the master-plan, systematic planners who are better at portraying the big picture and understanding the panorama of the design should code the prototype, when critical thinkers who can better identify and correct mistakes should contribute to debugging... we may have different likes or strengths and seem very different people, but we can work together as a team.

Overall, CG1413 is a nice module.

Reflection 5: Reflection on OP2

In summary, here are some points that most people commenting on my blog have raised:

[Blog-Wise]

1. Wide coverage of different aspects and depth is compromised.Must work harder to

strike a balance next time

[Presentation-Wise]

1. I need to have better control over my body and not fidget as much

2. More attention-grabbers used during speech (tone, voice can be varied as well)

3. Dont use cue cards if you don't need them

4. Facial expression--- Smile

Reflection 4: Comments on meeting 1 reflection

Hey all:

Thanks for the comment, here are some points of reflections:

1. A competent team leader with relevant experience in the field of study
is important. Thank you Krithica!

2. Raising questions during meeting to clarify doubts is important, as least better
than keep such questions in cheek. However it would also help if team members all ask
constructive questions.

3. Web-cam can be a bit uncomfortable at times, but it does allow us to better evaluate our
performance and thus help us prepare for our future presentation and as such the idea should be
continued.

Post 5: Evaluation on Oral Presentation 2

Team Evaluation-----------------
In general, we have done a good job as a team. The contents that we delivered in PowerPoint were relevant and organized in a systematic manner. Visible efforts were put into enhancing the collaboration across the team, as reflected in the smooth transition between two speakers
as well as the complements we made for each other during Q&A session. However, one aspect the team could work on is the conciseness of the contents. Due to the overwhelming amount of content to be covered, there was a lack of clear focus during the presentation and the audience missed out certain important information(such as how we came out with the 2 modules we have selected). Also the presentation became more and more dull and monotonous along the way, as such more attention grabbers could be included in the presentation.

Individual Evaluation-----------------------------------------------------------In general I feel that I have improved since the OP1. In verbal aspect, I was able to speak more fluently and articulately due to better preparation of the content. However, as I was still very used to my way of talking fast and also due to the fact that the content that I covered was relatively substantial, I still spoke faster than I should and ate words at times. Another area I needed to work on is to avoid using colloquial terms like 'this kind of'.

In non-verbal aspect, I also have improved from next time as I did not refer to the screen/cue cards as much this time. Moreover, I displayed enthusiasm and confidence throughout the presentation and made quite a few noticeable gestures. However, I did not establish as much eye contact as I did last time as I was trying to rush through the content and keep my presentation within the time limit. Lastly, I made too many unnecessary little movements (i.e. looking at Geck Keat for no valid reason, still fidgeting a lot, giggled randomly) which should be avoided.(326 Words)
.

Post 4: Meeting 1 Reflection

My sincere apologies for using dark color in the last post, i have total no idea how did it end up in black, argh =[

Anyway the meeting held last Thursday is quite a successful one due to a very competent leader that we had. Despite the fact that the meeting was held early in the morning and it took us quite a bit of time to finally settle down, the meeting went smoothly overall and we managed to follow our agenda. Well, again thanks to Ish, our group leader, who had done a similar project before and was able to clarify our technical doubts.

I think it’s very important to have a competent leader in a team to get things going. Especially when it comes to technical projects, a leader with relevant knowledge can help the whole team save time and avoid any unnecessary detours that the team may take, thus boosting team performance.

Nevertheless, team members should also make active efforts to contribute to the project. In the case of a meeting, team members should at least read the agenda and do relevant research beforehand so as not to ask 'unprofessional' questions, so to speak. I think our team can improve on this part to make our meeting even more efficient. =]

Lastly, I personally feel that the whole videoing idea is really making people feel awkward. We could have been more effective if we did not have to sit in front of a camera with a narrow scope as we would then be more comfortable with each other and feel freer to voice any doubts/concerns. Writing down minutes might be a better idea, though i understand that the whole idea of videoing is to make sure that the meeting was properly conducted o_O (298words)

Reflection 2

Hey all,

Thanks for all the comments, sry for making all those hasty generalizations =[

Hehe i was just making observations and hope that you guys dont take my words as judgement/accusations, i tried to avoid any terms that might relate to hasty generalization, like

all, must, will .. n i also tried to use" i think, well",to make it sound more like a personal post =p

Hope you guys dun take in personally, i meant nothing bad =[ like elitism is good, because it promotes meritocracy;elan is good, coz ppl look more bouncy; obedience is good, coz then its easier to get things going, really subjective but hope my msg did not get distorted in the post O_o.

Anyway thx again for the comments, appreciate it, and i will be more difference-aware next time.

Post 3: Illegal Resident

As RAs, one of the routines that we conduct every semester is the room verification, during which we will be going to each room to verify the biodata with the resident in that room. This act is to collate the information of all PGPR residents in case of emergency.

One serious infringement of house rule that we often encounter is that of 'illegal residents', i.e. 2 people living in the same room although only one of them is the registered resident in that room. (p.s. most of the rooms in PGPR are single-rooms) Such behavior is strictly prohibited as PGPR wants to promote a more conducive for residents to study and to rest.

One week before we conducted room verification, I received a call from one of my cluster leaders telling me that there were two girls living in the same room on her level. I managed to call the legal resident of that room, she sounded very defensive, insisting on that she had nothing to do with the girl whom she currently lived with. However, after I explained that I was just calling to offer help, she calmed down a bit and told me that her friend had already found another place to stay and would be leaving in 2 days.

One week later, when we conducted the room verification we found out that the illegal resident was still in the room. She spoke Chinese with our Resident Advisor (who was also a lecturer from NUS) loudly in an annoyed tone despite the fact that our Resident Advisor did not understand Chinese well. They had problem communicating and the conversation evolved into a quarrel afterwards.

After 10 minutes, the Resident Advisor came to me (as I was doing checking other rooms when they were quarreling) and passed me the biodata of that illegal resident. She demanded me to take immediate action.

What shall I do with the illegal and the legal resident of that room? o_O

Post 2: Intercultural & Interpersonal Communication

When I conducted group fitness classes in PGP last Saturday, I found the way how my students arranged themselves pretty predictable: Westerners stood in the first row, closest to me, and would demand me to repeat my moves if they did not manage to catch up; Singaporeans stood at a not-so-conspicuous yet very convenient position for him/her, and mostly only stayed for the sessions they preferred; Indians stood at flanks, and would move back and forth depending on their interest in the particular dance type that I was teaching; Vietnamese stayed at the back, from the beginning to the end; Chinese, well, they M.I.A.ed.

During the short break, I managed to talk to a few and make a few interesting observations: Westerners approached me to help them improve on their dance, which I expected as I believed they were taught to be more open-minded and more eager to present his/herself; neither was I surprised when I only received moderate and mild feedbacks from Vietnamese. I suppose obedience is somewhat in the vein of the nation; also since I was expecting Indians to be hyper as a result of the elan that a rapidly industrializing country usually possessed, I was prepared for some light banter with them that would make all of us happy, in a loud manner; many Singaporeans left halfway so I didn’t manage to talk to them. Sad case despite understandable, multi-tuskers engendered in pragmatism and elitism tend to be busier; and lastly, Chinese, well my fellow countrymen all somehow managed to find some last-minute urgent work to cater to. Guess people were all getting busier nowadays =[

Behavior is a complex mechanism that primarily derives from personal experience, of which cultural background plays a vital part. As such, in order to understand behavior and facilitate inter-cultural communication, one must first be able to empathize, namely to admit, understand and to appreciate the differences, preferably via active listening and role reversal. As it did in my case, different students needs to be treated differently to promote communication and to maximize efficiency: a 30-minutes rotation of position needs to be proposed to encourage those passive people to stand in the front; a clearer schedule should be posted up to save the time of busy people and better cater to the mass public; a follow-up web-link should be provided for those argent learners or fitness enthusiast, and a reminder ‘NO LAST MINUTE BAILING’ should be put up as MOTD for the fickle o_O

Post 1: Communnication and Teamwork: Why they are tome?

Effective communication is important because we all need to be efficient to survive in this highly competitive world. As a student, I have to closely liaise with my group members to set a common vision and clarify any doubts so that the group can synergize and put up 110% performance; as a resident assistant at PGPR (Prince George’s Park Residence), I have to communicate with my fellow residents to understand their needs and concerns so as to create a more cozy and conducive environment for them to live in; as a certified fitness instructor, I have to communicate with my students via gestures or commands in class to cheer them up and make my dance moves understood. In such cases, I have to connect to my target audience as only in doing so will my efficiency be maximized and objective achieved. However, in the process, feedbacks might not be compulsory in some circumstances. As it does in the case of me when leading a group in aerobic workouts: it is more important to continue dancing and keep the students at the target heart rate than to wait for feedbacks and make sure that everyone is catching up.

Effective teamwork, as a complementary element to effective communication in the pursuit of success, also plays an essential part in our daily lives. This is because we will more often find ourselves working in groups in this highly-interlaced society and will have to be able to work as a team player to peak our performance. Anyone who will need to cope with many various commitments will testify the previous statement. In my case, effective teamwork is admittedly important nevertheless surprisingly hard to achieve due to a prevalent lack of leadership, or to be more precise, ownership. (293 words)

Hello World

Hello world =]