Blog post #7: Reflection on Learning

In Blog post #1, I mention that effective communication skills are important as it can effectively deliver our messages across to the other parties. After the 24 lectures of Professional Communication, I feel that the effective communication is far more important than one can imagine.

The skills in which I will like to emphasis in module are the interpersonal skill and 7Cs of writing. It has played a large role in the process of writing up the research report, up till the presentation to our audiences. With interpersonal skill between me and my partners, we can work harmony with each other and meet all the deadlines of the report. 7Cs writing enables my group to write effectively and clearly so as to present the correct messages to our lecturer and audience. This module has enhanced my knowledge about certain things. Like when presenting to the audiences, what can I take note of, or when writing a resume and job application form, what I can emphasis on.

Ms Kim has encouraged us to interact more with our classmates by reminding us to sit with different people every now and then. In this way, it not only enables me to know more friends but also strengthen my interpersonal skill with them.

Lastly, I like to thanks Divya, we have gone through thick and thin together in the process of coming up with the research report and presentation. Not to forget, ES2007s Group 10 classmates, all the best for the coming exams. Finally, a big big thank you to Ms Kim, thanks for your guidance all these while.

To end, I could like to say, the root of education is bitter but the fruit is sweet.

Blog post #6: Biodata

I am currently a NUS undergraduate from Science faulty, majoring in Chemistry. Being a disciplined and scientific person, I am interested in doing experiments and exploring new things. By taking up Diploma in Industrial Chemistry at Singapore Polytechnic in 2003, I have gain a lot of hands on experiences in this area. I obtained an A grade during my attachment in a German fragrance and cosmetic company. In the process, I had learned how to do stability testing on fragrance products like shampoos, shower creams, etc. In addition to that, I got to do basic composition of cologne/perfumes, and research on how long the fragrances on the products could last, etc. In my final year project in Polytechnic, it had enriched my research skills and enabled me to me more organised and rational.

Blog post #5: Reflecting on the Research Project

In the process of coming up with the research report, my group had encountered a few problems; one of it was the online survey. There were few limitations to our survey, like keeping our respondents to be Year 2 and above, who had the experience of staying on-campus or currently staying on-campus. With no response from the faculties’ in-charge in helping us to send mass email, the number of responses collected was not quite ideal. For the first 3 days, there were only 19 responses obtained.

Immediate response was to ask around for solutions from other groups, to see what they had done. My group then came up with the solution of mass emailing by using our student’s email accounts. We selected students from faculties and year of study to achieve random sampling. After I had sent the mass email out to the students, the number of responses had increased significantly. However, in the mid, there were some problems with our website. Some students feedback to me that they were not able to visit the website. Thus, I sent a second email out to the same batch of students, in response to the problem. Upon receiving too many emails from me, some of the students felt irritated. They complained about stuffs like ‘flooding their mailbox’ or ‘hoping me to take out his/her name out from the mailing list’. Regardless of all these, the online survey was still a success as it had met our target number.

In the process of doing up the report, I had gained many positive learning experiences. One of it was like dealing with the problem above. In this case, maintaining a good interpersonal relationship is very important, without the solutions given by other groups’ members; my group may not be able to meet the target of responses.

Blog post #4 Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

People from different cultures background will have different opinions and habits on certain stuffs. One of the intercultural interactions, which I faced with people from different cultural background, was the visit of my auntie’s friends from Europe. They were here in Singapore for a holiday. Playing the host here, my auntie had to bring them around Singapore. I was invited to join them for a meal at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. They were trying to order some Chinese dishes but they could not understand the Chinese characters or the English translate terms.

My auntie had a hard time explaining to them and introducing a few famous Chinese dishes that they should not miss it out. After quite a long while, they finally decided the dishes and we waited patiently for the order. In the meanwhile, they were drinking the Chinese tea which was served to them. However, they could not accept the bitter taste of the tea, and finally gave up and changed to soft drinks instead. At last, the dishes are served. Seeing my aunt’s European friends struggling with the chopstick, I took my initiative to teach them the correct hand posture to hold a chopstick. Since they never used a chopstick before, they find it hard and finally gave up and changed to metal forks and spoons. While trying the Chinese dishes, our European friends find it hard to accept the taste. After a few mouthfuls of trying, they gave up.

Growing up in different cultures that are very different from the Chinese, for examples, Westerner does not drink tea, use chopstick or plastic spoon, nor do not they eat rice as their main course. With different culture background, they feel difficult to accept the Chinese culture here. However, it is a good experience not only for them but also for me.

Blog post #3: Potential Research Project Topics

The issue in which I would like to address on is about ‘Are the bell shape curve grading system helpful to NUS students?’ To grade according to the bell curve, means that the percentage of students who are awarded each grade is predetermined according to an estimation of what the norm is. The bell curve is constructed such that only top 10-15% of the students will have a grade of A, while majority of the students will fall into the grade C region. Grade B, D, E and F region will have smaller percentage as compared to C grade region.

The usefulness on this grading system is rather personal. With this sort of grading system, some of the students might find it helpful. For example, if they did not score well for the exam, the system will moderate such that their overall grade for that particular module will still ends up in the C or D grade region. On the other hand, others might find the grading system unfair. They did pretty well for a specific module but they only manage to get a B grade using the bell curve grading system when they deserve a better grade like an A grade.

In this research, I would like to determine the percentage of NUS students who find the bell curve shape grading system useful. Hence, conducting a survey to study this topic is crucial. Survey questions are created so as to get the ideas on how the students think and feel about the grading system NUS employed. With the help of the survey, I can collect and establish actual data about how many people think that the bell shape curve grading system is useful to them.

ES2007s Blog #2

Interpersonal conflict is one of the most common situations we will face in our daily lives with our family members, friends or spouse. One of the examples of interpersonal conflict that I had came across was when working in a pharmacy department in one of the local hospital during my vacation.

During my stay there, some of the new nurses were told to approach Mike, one of our staff, to obtain a booklet from him urgently. Mike was the only person who distributes the booklet to the nurses at a certain time of the day. However, the time for collecting the booklet had passed. Mike, who tends to stick to his working principles, immediately refused to give in to them as he afraid others might take advantage of it. On the other hand, the nurses, who were strong-headed and new to the job, refused to give in too. Moreover, it was an order from their supervisor to collect the booklet. As anger got built up, one of the nurses started yelling at Mike, saying “Can you just give it to us as it is your duty to do so.” Mike raised his voice in a defensive manner and replied, “no means no, which part of it you do not understand.” I was just two rooms and yet I could hear their yelling.

Out of curiosity, people started to gather around Mike’s room to see what actually had happened. The yelling from the nurses continued for quite sometime. At last, they finally gave up and went off. Mike was very shocked about the nurses’ bad attitude towards him as they are new. He felt that he should be respected as he has been working in the company for more than 30 years.

Every individual working in an organisation has to follows rules and regulations, are they mend to be broken so easily? New employees being rude to senior staff, what should be done? Does yelling back at them helps? Is Mike in the right position to make his stand such that others will not take advantage of him in the future?

ES2007s Blog #1

In my opinion, developing effective communication is very important as most people will spends great amount of their time in an interpersonal situation such as in school, workplace, family, friends, etc. It is an unavoidable situation that happens in every day life. Hence, developing good communication skills is essential when one interact with another. For instance, when trying to get things done as soon as possible in a group project. Regardless of one’s job scope area, races and even status in the company, it is an advantage over the others if one has better communication ability. In the case of written lab reports, being able to explain the theory behind the process will yield better clarity/results as opposed to mere regurgitation of information

By practising effective communication to improve and promote interpersonal relationship is a successful strategy to most situations faced. Advantages that effective communication could bring about are far way too many to be mentioned. Be it personally or professionally, the capability to communicate well will tend to change a great aspect of our life. Knowing how to converse with people is a totally different idea as compared to effective communication. The doubt is how can one communicate effectively? Effective communication help to strengthen the ability to share information with people, to understand what the information is about and to feel what others are trying to convey. Needless to say, effective communication skills are essential in any sphere of human being interaction.