We have reached the end of the road.
I have learnt much. More importantly, I hit the expectations I laid down in my introduction.
In it, I summarised my hopes for this module. They now become part of the criteria for my overall reflection. I will judge myself on the following basis.
I was able to go straight to the point and use examples for clarity. Through this module, I improved further by making effective use of gestures for emphasis. With it, I could express my ideas to my team effectively and efficiently. I learnt to sense which team mate was confused and went on to elaborate further. This proved useful as some of them may be too polite to ask me to repeat.
I noted that my tone was serious sometimes and this made me sound crossed. This is definitely an area to look into in future. The cartoon below summarises another important point.
This text will be replaced
~ Teamwork is sometimes needed to send a simple clear message ~
All my various teams were cohesive and this overcame many hurdles. E.g. my problem-solving team had rehearsals such that one would speak while the rest commented on the flaws. This not only made every individual better, it made the team excel.
The 7C’s improved my writing and I was able to write formally with government agencies. However, I should have realised that it could also be applied to my speaking skills. Being able to speak fluently would have helped calmed my nerves.
~ Yikes! I almost landed up like this ~
~ Yikes! I almost landed up like this ~
Being shy, I refrained from giving others feedback. This module pulled me out of the hermit shell. Through the blog comments I gave, I understood others better. I appreciated their insightful perspectives and this made me see things differently. Interestingly, commenting others made me understand myself better too.I should also have given verbal feedback too no matter how daunting it is. I have to be brave enough to see that both positive and negative feedback will always help my friends.
~ I am very sure this is not the scenario in NUS ~
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect is realising I was naturally using these skills in other modules.
There are other important criteria but if I have to prioritise them, I would limit myself to these three.
So am I there yet? Have I accomplished my goals?
Though the road may end here, with my expectations mostly reached, the journey this module has started me on continues. There is no end to learning everything even if it is the ultimate goal. Below is a clip that I thought explained my point pretty well.
~ Is there an end to our journey - the path of learning? ~
~ Is there an end to our journey - the path of learning? ~
Hi Junius,
ReplyDeleteIt is comforting to see that you have met the expectations set by yourself. Honestly, I am like you, shy and reserved, preferring to keep to myself. But through this semester, I have seen a significant change in your attitude towards teamwork, and also the confidence exuded from you during presentations. I admire your courage to step out of your comfort zone, and slowly but surely, you have improved.
I did notice your tendency to be frank and direct, that is not a flaw; Rather than beating about the bush to prove a point, you present that point directly at that person. That actually, is one of the 7Cs – conciseness. However, you could have done better by practising courtesy. I could still recall vividly, that heated Q&A session you had with Juncheng’s group, where you were seen as overzealous. This is definitely a food for thought for you.
Well of course, you cannot expect a single communication module to perform a complete makeover of your character and behaviour. But with your tenacity to work on your shortcomings, I can already see you becoming a better team communicator in the near future.
Keep up the good work Junius!
Regards,
Justin
Hi Junius,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I would like to thank you for commenting on my blog entries for the past few weeks. It was good to receive feedback from you to point out my mistakes and provide me with suggestions to improve.
Initially, I thought you were shy and reserved, but after looking at your presentations and the way you communicate, you can speak well and confidently in front of the audiences. Unlike what you wrote, I find that you have the confidence to provide feedback, especially during the oral presentation 2. I always could not find the strength in me to voice out my ideas in front of the whole class. This is a point that I hope to learn from you.
Perhaps, in this final reflections, you could also reflect on how you, as a group member, work with your teams and whether you have met the criteria as a group member.
Nevertheless, you had identified some of your weaknesses and strengths. Hope to see your improvements in the near future! :)
Good luck for your examinations!
Jing Mei
Hey Junius,
ReplyDeleteThe layout of your blogposts never fails to impress me. The contant is well-organised and well thought out too. You have made a good job of analysing yourself critically and working on them throughout the past 13 weeks.
As I think back the first thoughts that come to mind about you is your dynamic, skeptic and varied way of thought. You always manage to think alternatively, be it finding a solution for a problem, an alternate cause for a situation or even a loophole in a justification. In some cases this might bring to light you outspokenness and enthusiasm but I'm afraid it might also project you as insensitive and untactful. This might project you in wrong light at times, so do practise voicing your opinions with diplomacy.
Do continue working on your drawbacks so that you may emerge an effective communicator with excellent team skills.
Good luck for your final exams !
-Lakshmi
Hi Junius,
ReplyDeleteIt is very good to know when your teammates are confused but they do not ask you to clarify. It is dangerous to move on with confusion because when you deal with a bigger problem, you may have to explain everything from the first step. You are true that your tone sometimes sound seriously. If you are in an argument, you should avoid raising your voice because it may lead to a bigger conflict.
In your presentations, although your nervousness appeared, it was just have a small effect on your confidence as I observed. You spoke fluently and clearly which was very good, an actually nervous person will hesitate and spoke unclearly. In the future, you may need some practice if you want to remove completely the nervousness. With the good speaking skill you have already had, I believe that you can do it soon.
Giving constructive comments was one of the important things we learnt in CG1413. It helped us to know what to improve because we can learn many things from our friends. Showing appreciation is easy but giving negative feedback nicely is hard. Throughout this module, we have chances to practice doing it so that we can know how to give suggestion to other people in the future.
Good luck to you!
Best regards,
Khoa
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your encouragement. I was initially unaware of my stern tone. It was not until I saw myself arguing in the videoed meetings that I realised this flaw. Perhaps that is why the filmed meeting was so effective. Therefore I would like to apologise to anyone who has had a bad experience conversing with me. I will definitely work on this area from now on.
Hi Jing Mei,
I still am nervous when required to speak in class. What really helped me was my team. We planned what questions to ask together and this somewhat gave every team member a responsibility to voice out queries. Perhaps you could adopt the same technique.
I apologise for the confusion here, I actually did reflect some of my performance as a team member. They are incorporated into all 3 of the criteria. However, I agree that it should have slightly more emphasis seeing that effective teamwork is half of the module’s objective.
Hi Lakshmi,
Thank you for the praises. For the blog posts design, I noted that wordiness has got nothing to do with word length. A lot of words well paragraphed with pictures with headers separating them seem even easier on the eyes than a chunk of text that is not as long.
As for my insensitiveness and directness, I note that it is my most serious flaw that requires immediate attention. I will definitely do the necessary corrective actions.
Hi Khoa,
Your feedback is always frank and honest. This really helped me a lot as I found myself working towards improving on the areas you raised.
Nervousness was a key issue from the start of the module. I did not expect many presentations in this computer engineering course and that coincided well with my shyness. However, this module twisted the nature of the course. There is a popular belief that we will graduate as skilled engineers who cannot speak. I think this module is perfect in preventing us from ending up like that.