At the start of the course, I have stated my goals that I want
to achieve in this course which is to minimise my weaknesses of displaying
limited sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar use in sentences. I too had
a problems in conveying my ideas into words due to lack of reading and writing.
However now, I do realise that the only effective way in learning and improving
myself is to read more and practice what you have learned. By reading sample reports
and articles and have guidance from Mr Blackstone and friends, it helped me became
a better writer and a communicator among peers.
One of the problems that me and my group faced during the
project would be finding limited sources of information in the internet. One
good example was to find the electricity consumption of buildings in Singapore.
To make our project feasible, we had to support our ideas with these
information to let audience/readers understand the main problem of electricity
wastage in Singapore. We as a group learned that with the shortage amount of
time for the project, we had to learn to be quick and work smart in researching.
So we had to change our mindset/perspective in our research to find sources that are
easily accessed and at the same time `meet our needs for information. We then changed
into researching how electrical appliance cost in a electricity bill. Information
as such were sufficient for the report.
Honestly, it was my first time presenting without a script. Although
it is difficult, I did give a tap on my back for putting an extra mile to make
our group’s presentation run smoothly. I have learned so much in this phase,
from small details such as orientation of bullet points in powerpoint slides to
major details such as handing over to the next speaker. I believe our strength
as a team was to attract the audience interests in our presentation and include
them as much as we can to promote our idea. My weaknesses were still trying to remember
and interpret my script to the audience smoothly. With the habit of filler
words as well, it shows how low my confidence is in conveying the topic I am
presenting. I believe there will always have opportunity for improvement and I am
glad that Effective Communication has
gave me that opportunity.
