Final blog: Have I learnt anything?

I have mentioned in the first blog that this module can train me to communicate confidently in front of public. Definitely, through this course I have gotten a grip on how to present as a lot of ways after examples have been shown through relevant websites and stories. I have also realized that comics or pictures that are not professional are not advisable to be included into presentation. It is best to engage audience in your presentation too as it will encourage them to think and understand your presentation. In addition to this, it is important to narrate and create a logical flow to guide audience. As a result, if the audience nods from time to time, it signifies that you have done a good job in presenting.

This module has taught me how to foster interpersonal relationship which includes persuasive communication and emotional intelligence too. I believe having good emotional intelligence will enhance skills in persuasive communication. Hence, through this course, it has improved my persuasive communication in one way or another. It has motivated me to identify, understand and manage my feeling so as to communicate with anyone efficiently. Furthermore, it has emphasized on resolving conflicts, building relationship, and establishing consensus which I find very useful in my context.
For those who are interested, check out a famous book on persuasive communication entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This website summarizes the book.
http://www.bizsum.com/articles/art_how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.php

For me, the most interesting part about this module is the topics on intercultural communication. I did not know there were so many restrictions, taboos or gestures which portrayed different meanings in other countries. This certainly has enlightened me that first step to avoid miscommunication is to do a research online on the culture of people we will communicate.

Another interesting part about this module is blogging. Blogging is a creative approach to allow students to interact. Through blogging, I am able to have a deeper understanding of my classmates without physical interaction. Sometimes, content in blog prompts me to get to know classmates in class.

Another thing that has been inculcated beyond my expectation is writing skills. These writing skills include resume and cover letter preparation, agenda and minute formulation, and professional survey report formation. It is also undeniable that this module has taught and reminded us the importance of tenses, sentence structure and 7Cs which are important in writing.

Overall, through this module, I have definitely learnt various skills.

Final blog: Have I learnt anything?

I have mentioned in the first blog that this module can train me to communicate confidently in front of public. Definitely, through this course I have gotten a grip on how to present as a lot of ways after examples have been shown through relevant websites and stories. I have also realized that comics or pictures that are not professional are not advisable to be included into presentation. It is best to engage audience in your presentation too as it will encourage them to think and understand your presentation. In addition to this, it is important to narrate and create a logical flow to guide audience. As a result, if the audience nods from time to time, it signifies that you have done a good job in presenting.

This module has taught me how to foster interpersonal relationship which includes persuasive communication and emotional intelligence too. I believe having good emotional intelligence will enhance skills in persuasive communication. Hence, through this course, it has improved my persuasive communication in one way or another. It has motivated me to identify, understand and manage my feeling so as to communicate with anyone efficiently. Furthermore, it has emphasized on resolving conflicts, building relationship, and establishing consensus which I find very useful in my context.
For those who are interested, check out a famous book on persuasive communication entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This website summarizes the book.
http://www.bizsum.com/articles/art_how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.php

For me, the most interesting part about this module is the topics on intercultural communication. I did not know there were so many restrictions, taboos or gestures which portrayed different meanings in other countries. This certainly has enlightened me that first step to avoid miscommunication is to do a research online on the culture of people we will communicate.

Another interesting part about this module is blogging. Blogging is a creative approach to allow students to interact. Through blogging, I am able to have a deeper understanding of my classmates without physical interaction. Sometimes, content in blog prompts me to get to know classmates in class.

Another thing that has been inculcated beyond my expectation is writing skills. These writing skills include resume and cover letter preparation, agenda and minute formulation, and professional survey report formation. It is also undeniable that this module has taught and reminded us the importance of tenses, sentence structure and 7Cs which are important in writing.

Overall, through this module, I have definitely learnt various skills.

Final blog: Have I learnt anything?

I have mentioned in the first blog that this module can train me to communicate confidently in front of public. Definitely, through this course I have gotten a grip on how to present as a lot of ways after examples have been shown through relevant websites and stories. I have also realized that comics or pictures that are not professional are not advisable to be included into presentation. It is best to engage audience in your presentation too as it will encourage them to think and understand your presentation. In addition to this, it is important to narrate and create a logical flow to guide audience. As a result, if the audience nods from time to time, it signifies that you have done a good job in presenting.

This module has taught me how to foster interpersonal relationship which includes persuasive communication and emotional intelligence too. I believe having good emotional intelligence will enhance skills in persuasive communication. Hence, through this course, it has improved my persuasive communication in one way or another. It has motivated me to identify, understand and manage my feeling so as to communicate with anyone efficiently. Furthermore, it has emphasized on resolving conflicts, building relationship, and establishing consensus which I find very useful in my context.
For those who are interested, check out a famous book on persuasive communication entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This website summarizes the book.
http://www.bizsum.com/articles/art_how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.php

For me, the most interesting part about this module is the topics on intercultural communication. I did not know there were so many restrictions, taboos or gestures which portrayed different meanings in other countries. This certainly has enlightened me that first step to avoid miscommunication is to do a research online on the culture of people we will communicate.

Another interesting part about this module is blogging. Blogging is a creative approach to allow students to interact. Through blogging, I am able to have a deeper understanding of my classmates without physical interaction. Sometimes, content in blog prompts me to get to know classmates in class.

Another thing that has been inculcated beyond my expectation is writing skills. These writing skills include resume and cover letter preparation, agenda and minute formulation, and professional survey report formation. It is also undeniable that this module has taught and reminded us the importance of tenses, sentence structure and 7Cs which are important in writing.

Overall, through this module, I have definitely learnt various skills.

Biodata

I am Carolyn Wong studying Bioengineering final year.

I am determined, disciplined, control, independent and jovial person. Moreover, I like to explore new things just as much as mountain hiking. I am able to adapt to changes quickly too as I love to try unexplored things. I hope to excel in design field of a start-up company since I love drawing, at the same time travel to different places and constantly meet new people through dancing parties and different interactions.
I would be graduating from NUS with a Bachelor Honours degree in Bioengineering in 2009. I hope to pursue a career in design field of engineering firm. Years of studying in engineering department has inculcated me to have logical thinking and analytical ability. Furthermore, I like to draw since I was very young. This has influenced me throughout my studies in NUS. I have been trying to integrate my love for drawing into engineering. I have taken relevant engineering design modules and workshops to polish my skills too. I wish I could to work as a designer in a start-up company as it provides motivational environment and stretch me to fullest potential.
I am good in speaking and writing Mandarin, English and Malay. I speak Hokkien in my family and I understand Cantonese. I also learn 3dmax, Adobe Flash and Solidworks during my free time.

Finally, my life time goal is dedicated to create animations for educational purposes to enlighten and benefit children from third world countries.

Reflecting on Your Report Writing Experience

I have a positive learning experience doing this research project. It conveys the procedures of conducting a meeting, importance of agenda and meeting minutes, and editing by peers. I found out that it is very efficient to prepare things for discussion before meeting as dragging of meeting will irritate and exhaust attendants.
I have learnt how to plan the procedures of conducting a meeting, how to write agenda and how to prepare meeting minutes. I have also learnt how to communicate to get the message across. It is not merely a sentence. It should be supported with arguments, examples, or secondary data if necessary to persuade others to adopt your concept. Sometimes ideas are easily thwarted if others do not understand what you are trying to suggest.
I still have to work on interpersonal relationship.
Being a supportive team player is important to keep the wheel turning and get things done. Without cooperation from team members, others are easily frustrated and demoralized. I have trying to be one by preparing information beforehand and suggesting lots of ideas to my group. I am pleased to be in my team as they are really helpful and diligent members.
I notice that finding statistical results within Singapore context is rather difficult as environmentally sustainable business practices are not hot spot in research yet. I tried to find ranking of green companies or number of companies implementing environmentally sustainable business practices, but to no avail; this is totally opposite to foreign countries like United States.
I like peer review in report. Incremental improvement has been made to writing report through instructive opinions when it involves editing and compilation by peers and group members. As the saying goes, wisdom comes from crowd. The more people there is to review and edit the report, the better the report will become.
I hope that the oral presentation can be presented as simple as possible to ensure everyone understand the concept.
My team members have done a great job in communication and I believe that we can do the same in presentation.

Beijing

I just finished overnight KTV with friends from China. It's 6am in the morning. We all looked tired.

Summer palace

Evaluating intercultural communication

Intercultural situation:

I went to Beijing for internship from May to July. When I talked to my friend in Beijing, Peter, even though we both spoke mandarin, his accent and slang was totally different from mine. He spoke too fast that there was no way to differentiate word by word. This applies to his friends too.

Another incident that I observed was that when my companion, Jane, and Peter were discussing songs. Jane said the singer, Liu Ruo Ying, is from Taiwan rather than China. However, Peter immediately retorted that Taiwan is part of China, hence Liu Ruo Ying is also from China. As such, I could sense that Peter really strongly believed Taiwan has been a part China all the while. In their “history” course book, Taiwan has been conveyed to them a part of China and it is not an independent country. However, for me and my friend as a foreigner, we do not have a strong conscience that Taiwan should be viewed as China. This is attributed to different educational messages has been passed down in course book, hence me and Jane has always deemed Taiwan and China as two nations.

I also noticed that the awareness of saving energy in Beijing was really high. Usage of air-conditioner in lab was controlled by a PHD student. It was summer, we were not allowed to switch on air-conditioner in lab even though we were sweating profusely while doing experiment. Unless there are a lot of people doing work in the same lab, then only air conditioner can be switched on. I was starting to think how blissful we are studying in NUS in which air-conditioner is switched on at any point of time. Another example is the control in usage of hot water. In halls of NUS, hot water supply is available at all times. However, in China hostel, hot water supply was limited to 3-4 hours in the morning and evening respectively.

Another scenario which I recognized accidentally was their casual dressing. I would segmentalize the way they dressed into three groups: Korean-based, low-profile, high-profile dresses. Due to vicinity of Korea, Korean-style dresses are a fad there. Usually, Korean dresses were sold at a higher price compared to the other dresses. Low-profile dresses were dresses with laces and the colours of dresses were not bright. These were usually worn by majority of conservative people. High-profile dresses were those of which expose most parts of bodies such as low-cut dresses. These were usually worn by teenagers and some adults.

Cultural norms are rules for behaviour in a specific situation by a certain group of people. Values identify those objects, conditions or characteristics that members of the certain group of people consider important, good or bad. Given the definition stated here, the notions that Taiwan as an independent country and high awareness of saving energy are values which China people view them as something that is true and important for them while foreigners do not. The dressing and different slang in mandarin are cultural norms.

Fundamentals of effective communication:
Before we visit any country, we should do our homework by profiling the country’s culture norm of society, taboos, dressing, non verbal communication, laws, and value system. We could learn a few simple languages to show our interest in them and respect for them too. We then try to adopt their culture while we are in their country even though we might feel unused to it. Next, we should comply with their law. Vice versa, we should be patient and considerate if there is any disparity in opinions. If we ever did an erroneous task, we should apologize to seek for forgiveness. Lastly, it’s best to avoid sensitive topics in our conversations as these might inevitably hurt others’ feelings.

Potential Research Project Topics

Observation:
Environmental pollution has been a major issue which is detrimental to living organisms, ecosystem and the earth yet it has not been addressed appropriately. Sources of pollution may come from development in technology indirectly such as industrial wastes, side products of manufacturing, war, and so on. Given the robust technology, economy is able to boost without difficulty. However, this technological development has resulted in pollution indirectly. As such, there is an undeniable relationship among economy, technology development and environment. This raises a question: Will economy boost without progression in technology? Let’s assume no, and then are we able to mitigate pollution? The answer is obviously no. Moreover, in today’s context, technology is changing every 3 to 4 years. In this sense, we have to find other ways to reduce pollution because advancement in technology is inevitable. There are a lot of green measures that are being carried out nowadays such as recycling. However, it is still inadequate to address this issue. One of possible solutions to this issue may be biomimicry. Biomimicry is the study of new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. In biomimicry, we look at nature as model, measure, and mentor. For example, we could mimic absorption of carbon dioxide by plants by producing polycarbonate using carbon dioxide. Polycarbonate can then be used to replace plastics in various areas of usage. Furthermore, polycarbonate is biodegradable and thus reduces pollution to our environment. But how effective is biomimicry?

General research questions:

1. Will most of current research projects in Singapore lead to pollution?

2. Will biomimicry effectively reduce pollution?

3. How does biomimicry help to reduce pollution?

4. Has government in Singapore been encouraging and implementing biomimicry in research centers and institutions?

5. Is biomimicry sustainable? What other factors do we have to compromise in order to achieve biomimicry in real world?

6. Is there any company implementing biomimcry in Singapore?

Hypothesis:
Biomimicry is the solution to mitigate pollution in today’s context.

Problem Statement:
The objective of this research study is to analyze whether biomimicry can effectively reduce pollution to our environment and whether Singapore has adopted biomimicry approach in research centres or institutes.

Purpose Statement:
The objective of this report is to inform researchers, scientists and Singapore government the current status in research and increase public awareness that biomimicry serve as a guide in research so as to achieve our global goal of saving our earth.

Purpose of survey:
Survey has to be carried out among researchers and scientists working in Singapore research centers such as A-Star to find out numbers of research projects which are related to biomimicry. Survey can also be carried out among NUS science students to find out their responce and acknowledge them about biomimicry so that this could serve as a guide and direction for them in explore in future research.

Interesting websites to check out more about biomimicry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimicry

http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/

http://www.biomimicryguild.com/indexguild.html

Interpersonal conflict situation

A group was formed and assigned a project to design medical devices. Xiao Ling was the group project leader while John and Sabrina made up the members of the group. As such, Xiao Ling majors in engineering, while John and Sabrina majors in Business and Arts respectively. In their first meeting, all group members gathered for brainstorming, and eventually came up with a few designs. After collaborating and assembling all the ideas, they dropped a few ideas which seemed not viable. Then, they voted for the best design. Eventually, two designs were selected. However, they encountered a problem in choosing the best design amongst two designs. One of design came from Xiao Ling and the other design was voted by John and Sabrina coherently. As the group leader, Xiao Ling commented that she had the best design because she had a strong knowledge foundation and vast experience in that area. Nevertheless, John and Sabrina chose the alterative design which appeared to be aesthetic and functional as well as Xiao Ling’s preferred design. In this situation, if John and Sabrina’s design was chosen, Xiao Ling would feel indignant as she seems to have more superior knowledge with regards to engineering. However, if they chose the alterative design, it would be contradicting as most votes always win. In short, as a group leader Xiao Ling, what would you do to solve this problem, which design will you adopt?

Why developing effective communication skills is important for me?

This module provides a platform for us to communicate confidently in front of public or friends. In working world, many times a company requires us to perform presentation professionally. If it is a marketing presentation, messages should be conveyed concisely and persuasively as it is going to affect the company’s sales, subsequently it affects my job too. If it is just a presentation related report, I want to ensure everyone understands as much as they could. There is not much platform for me to practise presentation skill when I was studying secondary school in Malaysia. Therefore, I hope to leverage on this module to hone my presentation skill.

I think persuasive oral communication is a crucial skill if we acquire, we can achieve our goal easier. For example, a famous entrepreneur in China, Ma Yun, he is the founder of commercial website namely Alibaba and Taobao. When he started the business, he was alone. However, he was so good in communication that when Sun Dan Yu looked for MaYun so that MaYun would invest in his advertisement, Sun Dan Yu did not secure a deal, instead he became a capable aide of MaYun. When Chua Chong Xin invited MaYun to invest, Chua Chong Xin changed his career to become MaYun’s chief financial officer. After listening to MaYun’s speech, 35 Harvard MBA competed for the opportunity to work under MaYun. Therefore, it is important to acquire persuading skill.

Communication in our everyday life is vital too, because most of the time, miscommunication leads to fight, dispute, lawsuit, confusion, and dismay. It can also cause a good project to fail. For example, I was in a design group last year with two group members from Boston. The problem lied in allotment of task. Me and my other group member thought they volunteered for the job of editing and writing introduction. However, after clarification, we found out that they were very frustrated as they did most of the work. Other than this, we also argued on the issue of time for presentation. I suggested allocating more time for explaining design, but he preferred everyone utilised same amount of time. In the end, we could not finish the presentation on time. If we had known how to communicate diplomatically, things would have turned out the other way around.

I will end with a famous quote: “No man is an island”. We are highly sociable living things; therefore we shall capitalize on this advantage which is communication to show our fullest potential.