Thank You Post

Hi everybody,

This post is dedicated to the special group of people who took time and effort to comment on my blog posts. I will attempt to reply to your blog post if possible. However, the probability is low as exams are coming. Therefore, if I did not comment on your post, I offer my sincere apology.

Good luck for the exams =)

Final post in this blog

Hello everybody

This will be my final entry for this blog site. In my final post, I will be talking about the skills that I managed to acquire throughout the CG1413 module. Furthermore, I will cover my objectives that I aim to accomplish within my university life.

To begin, I would like to extend my gratitude to the people (they will be mentioned below), who offered guidance, feedbacks and advices throughout the module.

Back to the actual post, in this module, I attained these skills:
a)basic skills
1.being punctual
2.being responsible
3.computing
4.following instructions
5.getting along with people
6.getting things done

b)people skills
1.being cultural sensitive
2.being flexible
3.being patient (until the deadline draws nearer)
4.being responsive
5.being tolerant (bubble sorting)
6.developing rapport
7.encouraging
8.helping
9.listening actively
10.motivating

c)dealing with data
1.analyzing
2.compiling
3.interviewing ( needs more improvement)
4.problem-solving
5.being tech-savvy
6.being web-savvy

Although the above list may seem long, there are still rooms for improvement. I need to work on the area of leadership, writing and speaking skills.In addition, I need to brush up on the being sensitive (generally) aspect because I am a straight-forward person. Thus, I often blurt my thoughts (both positive and negative) on the effort put in by other without considering the feelings of the other party. Moreover, I failed in the aspect of empathizing, as I often put up unreasonable deadline for my group members to complete their designated tasks even though I knew they are busy with other projects. (The original intention is to complete the project as soon as possible so that we will have more time for other projects).

Next, I will mention on my goals that I want to achieve during my 4 years in NUS. After looking through the list that was given, I noticed that accountancy graduates have an employment rate of 100%. Therefore, I might consider taking more accounting modules for my breadth. Meanwhile, the prospect of information systems looks bright, so if I were to choose a major or specialization for computing, I would be likely to head to the information systems direction. Besides the modules selection, I intend to build up my resume by taking up jobs during vacation and participate in the organizing of future orientation camps.

Therefore, with these goals in mind, I am likely to be working in a bank as an IT consultant or in some computing companies as a programmer

Appendix
Special thanks to the following people:
1.Miss Happy – for being the excellent tutor of C03 and is always willing to answer any questions that I have, even silly questions
2.Alden – for being the “class monitor “ of the class , in charge of almost everything (from linking the blogs to preparing a gift for Miss Happy)
3.Gillian – for being the first friend from EE that I know and bringing laughter to the class
4.Geat keat – for attending all the tutorial with me even though no one else went (esp. maths)
5.Iswarya – for giving constructive comments for my blog which allows me to get better in writing
6.Krithika – for willing to volunteer to do up the animation, special effects for the presentation even though you are busy with hall events, school projects
7.Manjula – for providing entertaining blog posts for me to read and to comment
8.Preeti – for being an effective leader at designating work and doing the fabulous bubble sort
9.Renuka – for correcting and improving the reports that I send to you for the 1102 project
10.Roger – for being my coding mate for the 1102 project and lasting through the horrible night(esp when the project deadline is the next day)
11.Tan chen – for taking the extra effort to comment on my blog even though you are not in the same group and giving me advices on presentation and many others
12.Ying cong – for willing to put up with my incompetence for the 1108 project as I was unable to help out with the programming logic
13.Zhi hong – for sharing jokes, accompany me during the long and boring bus rides to school and from school
14.Zhu li – for being a wonderful leader for the 1413 bus project and helping me practice for the presentation even though you have not done so for your part

Post #6: Reflection on principles of communication/teamwork on programming and problem-solution projects

In this post, I will split my post into three parts. The 1st and 2nd are the assessments of my level of competence for communication and teamwork skills before and after taking this module respectively. The 3rd will be on the impacts that the new developed skills will have on my life.

Before the module, I had problems cooperating with people, especially during projects. This is because I had difficulties communicating with them as my command of English was poor. It was hard to convey my message across. This results in my low level of proficiency in ‘communicating’ and ‘teamwork’ due to the lack of practice.

However, after I underwent this CG1413 module and had picked up many valuable skills from these lessons, which are applicable even for my life outside school. In addition, I get to experience how to conduct interviews, carry out presentations, and defend my ideas against rebuttals. Moreover, since there are two projects that are held concurrently. I obtained the chance to hone my teamwork skills because I have to work with two different sets of group members. These intimidating, yet, fun activities are effective in making me realize that there are vast rooms for improvements to be done to improve my English. Although I had gained more confidence in taking the initiative to communicate with others, I still require more practice to perfect my pronunciations and expand my vocabulary to express my thoughts to others effectively.

In this final paragraph, I shall list out the skills that I have acquired after the module and evaluate the ramification these skills have on my future endeavors.
1.Communication skills
2.Teamwork ability
3.Presentation
4.Blogging and commenting

Communication skills
Verbal communication is the most convenient method of transferring information. After undergoing the CG1413 module, I will be able to convey my intention to others more effectively through the use of suitable and appropriate words. Furthermore, I also learnt how to communicate with people from various countries of different culture.

Teamwork
Since this world has a population of 6.8 billion (6,814,200,000) people, eventually I have to work in a group and develop cooperation, partnership with others. Thus, after this module, I had gained the valuable lesson of cooperating with people of diverse background and culture.

Presentation
In the future, I might have to go for job interview, give presentations, and sell ideas to clients. Therefore, this module equipped me with the relevant tools to tackle such challenges, as there were ample chances in the module to practice and hone my presentation skills.

Blogging and commenting
In this module, I had the opportunity to own a blog and write comments for my blog mates. These activities allowed me to develop my ability in bringing across negative comments in a neutral tone. Moreover, it brushes up my English because it compels me to put my thoughts into written form, which I am weak in.

In conclusion, I believe these valuable skills will help me fulfill my fullest potential and accomplish more achievements.

Reflection on comments about post #5

Hi everyone,

First, I would like to add on to the non-verbal aspect of the reflection that was left out due to the presence of a word limit.

The criteria for judging the non-verbal aspect are of the following:
1. The body language( e.g. Facial expression , posture)
2. The enthusiasm during the presentation.

During the presentation, there are often instances where I unintentionally revert back to an overly sloppy posture. Even though, I tried to adopt a proper posture, my effort is still insufficient as shown during the presentation. On top of that, my smile seemed unnatural and the audience could still observe that I was still lacking in confidence. This lack of confidence is spotted by manjula as she commented about it. In addition, I noticed that I conducted my presentation in a monotonous manner. This is evident in both presentations that I had. I ought to vary my tone more so as to capture the audience’s attention and leave an impression on the message that I would like the listeners to leave with.

I felt that the enthusiasm I had for this presentation is much higher than the previous presentation. I believe the change in attitude is because for this time, I was doing a presentation topic that I was interested in. the enthusiasm can be observed as I was eagerly explaining the concept of how my group’s solutions will work. Furthermore, the enthusiasm can be seen during the question and answer session where I offered to reply to the queries that were raised by the audiences.

In conclusion, there are many improvements to be made in order to perfect my presentation skill.

1. Use shorter sentences – as I have difficulties memorizing the script.
2. Improve my vocabulary – this will allow me to vary the choices of words that I can utilize during the presentation.
3. Practice more often in front a mirror – since I have the tendency to use excessive hand gestures to emphasize a point. In addition, by practicing in front of a mirror, I would be able to spot any inappropriate body language that was conveyed.

Jonathan

Post #5: Reflection on Oral presentation 2

Blog reflection

Judging criteria:
1) Structure and content
2) Language
3) Audience – Awareness
4) Voice
5) Visual Aids

Team performance:
Overall, the team performed exceptionally well in terms of good co-ordination skills and teamwork between team members. This may be evident when we tried to ensure smooth transitions from speaker to speaker. For example, the last sentence of the prior speaker will have an idea that coincides with the agenda of the next speaker. Moreover, we conducted numerous rehearsals before the actual presentation to familiarise ourselves with our scripts, emphasizing on the transition.

Self performance:
I think that I fared better for this presentation; an improvement in contrast to the previous presentation.

1. I was more composed, relaxed, and had attempted to maintain a constant eye contact with the audience.
2. Although there were occasional pauses to reorganize my thoughts, the general flow of the presentation was kept constant and there were fewer repetitions on the similar ideas.
3. Since I was the first presenter, the content of my script was more of an introduction and was not as statistics-intensive as the previous presentation. Therefore, I was able to include more visual aids to help complement my presentation, thereby capturing the attention of the audiences.

However, there maintains a big room for improvement. More practice in required of us, especially in the area of confidence during presentation and English language.

1. I still lack the true confidence that a speaker should have. A speaker should be fluent in the delivery of a speech.
2. In addition, I ought to vary my tone so as to emphasize on the important messages that I want the audience to have a strong impression of.
3. Lastly, I have to expand my vocabulary so that there is more variety in the choice of words that I can utilise.

Reflection of all blog posts

Hi everyone, on Thursday 4th February 2010, I had a conferencing with Miss Happy at her office. During the conferencing, it was mentioned that there ought to be a checklist or criteria that I should use to judge against when I was posting constructive criticisms on the blogging groups’ blog posts. The use of a checklist was not applied, as a result, most of the comments that I posted for others were in a positive tone. However, I should have been more critical towards the posts that were written. By doing so, I would be able to improve on my ability to convey not-so-nice criticisms via pleasant-hearing words. Therefore, for the subsequent blog posts, I will be commenting using the criteria abovementioned. The first is the logistics, followed by the language and organisation.

To start, for the logistics portion, the bulk of the feedback will be contributed by the appropriate use of written text, visuals, audio, and hyperlinks. Next, the language and the organization will consist of the use of 7Cs (clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous). In the 7Cs, there shall be emphasis on the conciseness as I believe it is difficult to adhere to the word limit while trying to bring the idea across successfully.
Besides the absence of a checklist, I have also committed the error of not relating the blog posts to the theme of teamwork and communication. Therefore for the remaining posts, I will attempt to associate the post closely in accordance to the theme.

In conclusion, I shall relate some of the previous posts to the theme.

For post 4, on the reflection of the meeting, the teamwork between the group members could be improved through more communication and rebuttals of ideas.

For post 3, on an incident on resolving interpersonal conflicts, perhaps I could have explained on how, before the misunderstanding, the teamwork and communication among the friends were excellent. However, after the incident, their friendship turned sour due to the lack of a proper communication between them.

 

Reflections on comments about post #4

Hi everyone, once again thanks for leaving comments on my blog posts.

Firstly, the comments that were suggested are very relevant and I will ensure these suggestions are included in future similar posts. Personally, I felt that the post was lacking in the reflection and judgment of my performance. Moreover, this post could do better with a video link of my group meeting and a criteria list to gauge my role and performance. However, it is challenging to maintain the delicate balance between the amount of content and the word limit. Therefore, whenever possible, I shall apply the constructive criticisms for the blog posts.

Lastly, I have included a comic strip to bring some laughter before the mid-term tests start.

Jonathan

Post # 4: Reflection on meeting 1

Preeti, Renuka, Roger, and I were grouped together for the CG1102 Project. We chose Discussion Room 7 of the Central Library as the venue for the required filming of our project because it is an ideally serene place, and on top of that, it provides a beautiful backdrop for the scene of our project discussion.

As this was the first time I am doing a group discussion in front of a video camera, I felt awkward while trying to bring across my idea during the recording. In addition, since none of my group members did such filming before, none of us knew the appropriate manner to conduct such meetings. As a result, the flow of the discussion was not smooth; there were often awkward pauses in between each speech made. Despite the awkward silence and occasionally sidetracking during the filming of the meeting, I felt that it was a good learning experience, and a good start to all my possible filming projects ahead. I believe that we will appear much more natural on our next filming. As a Chinese saying goes “Wisdom comes from experience”.

On the whole, I believe that both teamwork and spontaneity is evident in my group. We were willing to accommodate to each other while staying firm on our ideas. Furthermore, since everyone was not afraid to voice out their opinion, all aspects and possibilities were discussed and considered during the brainstorm for ideas.

In conclusion, with everyone coming from various ethnic and culture, I believe after the project, I will gain both knowledge and communication skills while interacting with my group members.

Reflections on comments about post #3

Hi everyone,

Once again, thank you for commenting on my post. After reviewing the comments that were posted, I noticed that the most common solution suggested was to arrange the two friends for a face-to-face meeting to clear any misunderstanding between them. During the meeting, they will be able to talk things out and learn more about the reasons why their Christmas presents are inappropriate. After clearing the misunderstandings, the two friends should be back on talking terms.

Although the suggestions that were posted are feasible and applicable, my initial remedy was very different from those mentioned. The remedy that I had in mind would not only solve the current problem and could also prevent possible future dilemma from occurring.

I would persuade the two friends to take turns staying at the each other’s house over a weekend. Since they will be living in a different cultural setting, they will realise their mistakes they had made while choosing the Christmas gift during the process of interaction with their family members.

Furthermore, staying at each other’s house will enable the two friends to develop a better friendship through avoiding unintentional actions that might be insulting to the other party, since they will gain more insight on the other friend’s culture.

Moreover, I believe this implementation will be an effective method because they will learn each other’s culture in a fun and relaxing way, and realise their mistakes at the same time. Therefore, there should be little or no conflicts thereafter.

Jonathan

Post #3: Resolving interpersonal conflict

It was Christmas and you were hosting a party in your house. For the party, you decided to invite two of your best friends over. Your two friends are a Chinese (Ah Ming) from China who is a Buddhist and a Malay (Aisha) from Malaysia who is a Muslim respectively. As to promote the spirit of giving during Christmas, your friends were informed to bring presents to exchange with others.

For the exchanging of presents, Aisha got Ah Ming a clock as Ah Ming was always late for lessons. She bought the clock as a gift since she thought it would make a practical gift for Ah Ming and it could assist him in arriving on time for lessons. However, Aisha did not know that, for the Chinese, it is inappropriate to use clocks as a gift, as the pronunciation of “giving clock” in mandarin sounds as though "to send a person off for his last journey", or simply, to wish him dead.

Meanwhile, Ah Ming got Aisha a pencil case that resembled a plush pig because he noticed her old pencil case was old and worn-out. Since Aisha was born in the year of pig, which is one of the Chinese zodiac characters, Ah Ming bought that pencil case intending to make the present more significant to her. However, Ah Ming did not realize that Malays, whose religion is Islam, consider pigs as dirty and unholy animals that must be avoided.

During the Christmas day party, both of them exchanged those inappropriate gifts ignorantly. As a result, Aisha and Ah Ming were not on talking terms for the following week.

What should you do?

Reflections on comments about post #2

Hi everyone,
Firstly, I would like to thank those who took the time, effort to post compliments and constructive feedbacks about my post 2. I have read through all the comments that were posted and felt that the criticisms that were posted were very relevant, especially the comment on the lack of consistency in the tenses in certain area. I reviewed that portion of my post and realized the mistake. In addition, I also recognized that my post was too focus on the examples and was lacking in the interpretation of the examples.

Secondly, in the comments, it was mentioned that most of the readers enjoyed reading my post 2 and liked the usage of pictures for the post. I will attempt to continue keeping my post as interesting as possible and if applicable, will include pictures to liven up my blog.

Lastly, if there is anything that you feel my post is lacking, feel free to post a comment. Have a good weekend and happy reading for the rest of my blog.
Jonathan

Post #2: Observation of team behavior: intercultural and interpersonal communication

Although all three are watermelons, there are differences between them, where the square and round represents different culture (external) and red, yellow signifies personality (internal).

This represents the existence of intercultural, interpersonal between people, which can be observed in many situations.

Intercultural is the interaction among people of unlike culture (e.g. different countries).

Once, my uncle went to Greece for a holiday, he decided to buy souvenirs for us but because he cannot speak Greek, he had to point to what he wanted and the shopkeeper would bring out the item that he requested. As the correct item was taken out, my uncle nodded his head to show it was correct. However, the shopkeeper put the item back and my uncle was bewildered. Only then he realizes in Greece this gesture means no.

His incident taught me that even though the Greeks and Singaporeans are both human, the differences in culture could result in miscommunication.

Interpersonal communication is interaction between two persons.

In the past, I was grouped with a classmate, whom I perceive him as a bad-mannered and impatient boy, for a project. It was because he ever banged into me and run off without apologizing. However after the project, my impression of him changed as during the project, we had to communicate with each other and that was when we managed to clear the misunderstanding we had. He was actually rushing to the hospital as his grandmother fell and injured her leg.

This indicates that people ought to avoid stereotyping others so that better relationships can be constructed and conflicts should be resolved immediately.

From these experiences, it is highly recommended that we employ effective communication skills in order to minimize conflicts, misunderstandings, and embarrassing moments.

Reflections on Comments about Post #1

Hi everyone,
To begin , a few of you have pointed out the imbalance emphasis in the post. I realised that after I posted it on the blog. This error was due to my poor distribution of the word count to the two ideas to be considered. I will take precautions so as to not make the same mistake in my future posts.
Secondly, I chose to write communication and teamwork separately instead of linking them together as I had intended to disscuss them separately first before showing how they are interdependent (this was not done because of the word limit). Perhaps, would it be better that in my conclusion , I mention the two are related to imply the link between them?
Lastly, thank you all for making the effort to think of constructive comments for my post #1 and I will remember not to make those mistakes again.
Happy reading for the rest of my post.
Jonathan

• Post #1: Communication and teamwork: why they are important for me?

Communication is the interchange of thoughts, opinions or information through various medium. For example, the medium can be in the form of speech, written and actions.

Communication is important to me because as a human being, we often interact with others for various reasons, which ranges from official to informal like meeting a very important person (VIP) to hanging out with friends and colleague. The fact that we socialise with people means we need to communicate to express our feelings to minimise conflicts. This lets people of different culture and backgrounds become friends. In addition, communication provides a channel of learning to other people's belief, culture and perception of similar things. Moreover, communication enables people to grow and become wiser, especially when others provide constructive feedback about the opinions, thoughts and experience that you shared. Furthermore, by interacting with people of diverse backgrounds, you can learn to develop social skills like respecting other's culture, accommodating their shortcomings and providing a helping hand when it is required. On top of that, you are able to build up self-esteem as you have to be confident of what you wish to say before you are brave enough to do a presentation.

Teamwork is the cooperation between members in a team.

Teamwork is significant to me as studies have shown that the chances of finding a human that can survive independently from others, that is to not have any form of connection with others, is very low. In other words, almost everyone depend on others for their well-being and survival, including you and me. In addition, by working in a team and executing teamwork, one is able to complete a task more efficiently through the collective efforts of the team members.

In conclusion, as the benefits clearly outnumber the disadvantages of communication and teamwork, it implies that the two points are important to me. It is because they will assist me to become a better person with the ability to co-exist peacefully with others.

Hello everyone, this will be my blog for the CG 1413 module.