The semester is coming to an end. I spent the past twelve weeks learning what I first deemed as "what everyone already know, but few have mastered". Indeed, it was not an easy task.
After twelve weeks of continuous learning of communication skills and applying them to real life situations, I am glad to say that this module has helped me tremendously with many aspects.
Firstly, having had a group report done, and prepared an oral presentation, I have witnessed first hand how the communication skills that we learn in class was put into use. For example, many times during the group work, there had been conflict of ideas and opinions. Also there had been times when communication simply broke down between two parties. However, it was when the two people involved took a step back, and reflected on better ways to handle the situation, that we saw the dynamics of interpersonal relations in play. I saw my teammates practise active listening, constructive exchange of ideas, and contructive criticisms.
Also, as I am in the midst of applications of further studies, the skills that we learned in writing resumes and curriculum vitae helped me tremendously. I avoided many unnecessary mistakes and am now able to present myself to my future employer text-book perfect letters. The course has also prepared me very well for interview sessions that i foresee coming. The course had helped me to build my confidence and aid in my preparation for the interviews.
All in all, I found this module very insightful and definitely useful.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Biodata
As a child, I was fascinated by two things - Sweets and animals. My childhood memories are made up of all my time spent with my zoo of animals at home. My mom called out home A Nest.
The pivotal point of my aimless academic life (where I followed what everyone does and thinks i should do) was when my father conducted a mini operation on an Aromwana. As I watched him scrape dead cells form the fish's stomach, and kind of "brought it back to life", i knew what I wanted to do. It was the desire to work with animals and to heal them for the rest of my life!
Hence I embarked on a journey of self discovery through various internships at veterinary hospitals in Singapore, Germany and Hungary. This helped not only in decorating my resume, but also reacertain my goals
The pivotal point of my aimless academic life (where I followed what everyone does and thinks i should do) was when my father conducted a mini operation on an Aromwana. As I watched him scrape dead cells form the fish's stomach, and kind of "brought it back to life", i knew what I wanted to do. It was the desire to work with animals and to heal them for the rest of my life!
Hence I embarked on a journey of self discovery through various internships at veterinary hospitals in Singapore, Germany and Hungary. This helped not only in decorating my resume, but also reacertain my goals
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Reflecting on the Reseach Project Experience
The research project has been quite an experience for me. It gave me the chance to know my teammates much better than I thought I would. Yuanlin has been in the same course with me for the past two years or so, but I never got the opportunity to talk to her and interact with her. Mushtaq is from the engineering faculty and if it was not for this research topic, I would have never known him.
Through the course of our reasearch project, we met with alot of difficulties. There were many occasions that arranging a meeting for us was impossible simply because of our timetable clashes. There were many times when we could not agree on the same issues and had to engage in fierce exchanges of ideas. However, I must say that despite occasions of heated discussions, we were able to implement all the effective communication skills used. When I played the role of an observer while Yuanlin and Mushtaq engaged in a discussion, I saw that both parties actively practised skills such as active listening, constructive criticisms and patience.
All in all, despite delayed schedules due to time constraints and distinct differences among team members, I must say that the group has displayed an outstanding amount of tolerance, cooperation and teamwork. We helped each other solve problems. We help each other with the workload when someone has other deadlines to meet. We each proactively assigned tasks and took tasks.
As mentioned above, there were schedule delays and the team was not able to really work on the report only until a few days before the deadline. However, the team stuck together and worked through the night, fighting together to meet the deadline to produce as best a quality we could.
Through the course of our reasearch project, we met with alot of difficulties. There were many occasions that arranging a meeting for us was impossible simply because of our timetable clashes. There were many times when we could not agree on the same issues and had to engage in fierce exchanges of ideas. However, I must say that despite occasions of heated discussions, we were able to implement all the effective communication skills used. When I played the role of an observer while Yuanlin and Mushtaq engaged in a discussion, I saw that both parties actively practised skills such as active listening, constructive criticisms and patience.
All in all, despite delayed schedules due to time constraints and distinct differences among team members, I must say that the group has displayed an outstanding amount of tolerance, cooperation and teamwork. We helped each other solve problems. We help each other with the workload when someone has other deadlines to meet. We each proactively assigned tasks and took tasks.
As mentioned above, there were schedule delays and the team was not able to really work on the report only until a few days before the deadline. However, the team stuck together and worked through the night, fighting together to meet the deadline to produce as best a quality we could.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour
This is an incident that really happened last december, to me, my best friend and my boyfriend's mother. A strange combination, but wait till you hear the story!
As we all know, most probably from experience and hearsays, that there are more common than not, many intercultural conflicts. These conflicts can range from small misunderstandings where both parties can laugh it off, or to real resentment of each other. Hence, the importance of understanding different cultures, respecting each other and being tolerant, can never be stressed enough.
Let's give Best Friend a name, S. S has been my closest friend for 10 years and after dating my boyfriend for two and a half years, I decided that S should come with me to meet H (boyfriend)'s mother for dinner. So last december, S and I flew to Germany together to met H's family.
S is an indian muslim girl, while H's family is german and H's father is a protestant priest.
Upon arriving at H's home, the entire family greeted us enthusaistically. They first showered me with hugs and kisses, followed by extending their warmth to S. When the family opened their arms to hug S, she shyed away awkwardly. There was a moment of confusion before the silence was broken by a shy smile from S. They then proceeded on to introduce one another.
Later on, H's mother prepared a huge welcome feast and invited us for dinner together. As everyone sat around the table and began eating, S started to thank H's mother profusely, and then carried on to apologise profusely. She could not have the dinner, even though H's mother was aware that no pork and lard was to be served that night. This was because S could still not eat from food that were cooked by utensils which were once used to cook pork. That was another moment of confusion and embarrassment. H's mother was very apologetic and extremely embarrassed and hurried to prepare bread with alot (ALOT) of different kinds of spreads.
To end the string of embarrassment, S could eat only two slices of bread with very little spread because she is not used to having pickles and olives and shrimps on her bread. I was once told by my germany language teacher that Germans generally get a little offended when food offered to them is not finished, or taken just a little bit. I believe that was the case because H's mother looked somewhat upset at the table. It may be because she was upset with herself for not being able to give her guest the best dinner, but it may very well also be that she was upset because S did not eat much.
From the above happenings, it is quite obvious how intercultural problems can arise because of lack of knowledge from the two parties involved. Hence it is always vital that one learn and equip himself about the cultural do's and dont's before interacting with the other person, for many embarrassing moments and arguements can be avoided.
As we all know, most probably from experience and hearsays, that there are more common than not, many intercultural conflicts. These conflicts can range from small misunderstandings where both parties can laugh it off, or to real resentment of each other. Hence, the importance of understanding different cultures, respecting each other and being tolerant, can never be stressed enough.
Let's give Best Friend a name, S. S has been my closest friend for 10 years and after dating my boyfriend for two and a half years, I decided that S should come with me to meet H (boyfriend)'s mother for dinner. So last december, S and I flew to Germany together to met H's family.
S is an indian muslim girl, while H's family is german and H's father is a protestant priest.
Upon arriving at H's home, the entire family greeted us enthusaistically. They first showered me with hugs and kisses, followed by extending their warmth to S. When the family opened their arms to hug S, she shyed away awkwardly. There was a moment of confusion before the silence was broken by a shy smile from S. They then proceeded on to introduce one another.
Later on, H's mother prepared a huge welcome feast and invited us for dinner together. As everyone sat around the table and began eating, S started to thank H's mother profusely, and then carried on to apologise profusely. She could not have the dinner, even though H's mother was aware that no pork and lard was to be served that night. This was because S could still not eat from food that were cooked by utensils which were once used to cook pork. That was another moment of confusion and embarrassment. H's mother was very apologetic and extremely embarrassed and hurried to prepare bread with alot (ALOT) of different kinds of spreads.
To end the string of embarrassment, S could eat only two slices of bread with very little spread because she is not used to having pickles and olives and shrimps on her bread. I was once told by my germany language teacher that Germans generally get a little offended when food offered to them is not finished, or taken just a little bit. I believe that was the case because H's mother looked somewhat upset at the table. It may be because she was upset with herself for not being able to give her guest the best dinner, but it may very well also be that she was upset because S did not eat much.
From the above happenings, it is quite obvious how intercultural problems can arise because of lack of knowledge from the two parties involved. Hence it is always vital that one learn and equip himself about the cultural do's and dont's before interacting with the other person, for many embarrassing moments and arguements can be avoided.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Potential Research Project topics
During the recent discussions in class about the potential research project topics, I decided to pursue the topic "Bell curve grading system in NUS : Good or bad?".
Why so? It's simply because it is the most important issue to any NUS student. It is close to heart and I am sure that any student has got something to say about it. Be it good or bad, we have to face it that the bell curve grading system can make or break your academic career. Now ask me again why I will like to do a research on that :)
The bell shaped curve grading system has always been a pretty controversial topic among students. Why so? Because sometimes students may feel that it is unfair that getting a 18/20 may warrant them just a B+ instead of an A. Or sometimes if the class has many many scholars, you will have to compete (being just an average singaporean student) against the best in the region, under the same bell curve. On the other hand, students may find it very useful because the bell curve prevents them from failing, or helps to to get their As. Hence, I personally feel that it will be useful to investigate further to find out about the sentiments of students.
First thing first, the aim of the project is to firstly, find out how students feel about the bell curve grading system. We will do so by selecting a random sample of 30 students from the 4 biggest faculties in NUS (namely Science, Engineering, Arts and social sciences and Business). There will be a series of about 15 questions that will aim at finding the most conclusive results to determine the sentiments of students. There will certainly be biasness in the results because of the small sample size. However, we will try to make sure that these errors will not compromise with the quality of our results.
Next, the objective of the project will be to inform the respective Deans of the faculties about our findings. In doing so, we hope to encourage certain changes to be implemented so that the welfare of our students can be improved.
An attitudinal survey is essential because we are researching a topic that deals with feelings and sentiments. Hence, we need students to write statements as to how they feel. It is not constructive to give multiple choice questions because not every student will have a feeling that fits into one of the choices.
Why so? It's simply because it is the most important issue to any NUS student. It is close to heart and I am sure that any student has got something to say about it. Be it good or bad, we have to face it that the bell curve grading system can make or break your academic career. Now ask me again why I will like to do a research on that :)
The bell shaped curve grading system has always been a pretty controversial topic among students. Why so? Because sometimes students may feel that it is unfair that getting a 18/20 may warrant them just a B+ instead of an A. Or sometimes if the class has many many scholars, you will have to compete (being just an average singaporean student) against the best in the region, under the same bell curve. On the other hand, students may find it very useful because the bell curve prevents them from failing, or helps to to get their As. Hence, I personally feel that it will be useful to investigate further to find out about the sentiments of students.
First thing first, the aim of the project is to firstly, find out how students feel about the bell curve grading system. We will do so by selecting a random sample of 30 students from the 4 biggest faculties in NUS (namely Science, Engineering, Arts and social sciences and Business). There will be a series of about 15 questions that will aim at finding the most conclusive results to determine the sentiments of students. There will certainly be biasness in the results because of the small sample size. However, we will try to make sure that these errors will not compromise with the quality of our results.
Next, the objective of the project will be to inform the respective Deans of the faculties about our findings. In doing so, we hope to encourage certain changes to be implemented so that the welfare of our students can be improved.
An attitudinal survey is essential because we are researching a topic that deals with feelings and sentiments. Hence, we need students to write statements as to how they feel. It is not constructive to give multiple choice questions because not every student will have a feeling that fits into one of the choices.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Resolving Interpersonal Conflict - How?
Interpersonal conflict is an undeniable fact of life. It deals with the insensible part of humans very often - feelings and emotions. Hence when not dealt with delicately or tactfully, it can have devastating consequences to a relationship. However, with appropriate methods, it may very well lead to productivity, greater understanding and more tolerance in the future.
Here goes a scenario where all areas of communication broke down.. Personally, I believe that it has got a very simple solution. However, please investigate further
Anne and Bonnie have been good friends since the junior college days. They were from the same class, took the same modules, were in the same extra-curricular activity and had the same part time jobs. They got along well, just as people who are constantly together should. However, the innocent bond of friend took a turn for the worse when things started to get competitive.
Anne and Bonnie both had excellent grades. They were co-captains in their extra-curricular activity. They were both accepted into the Life Science course in NUS. Following their graduation, they were both accepted into a highly prestigious research company. Through the years, there was an unspoken animosity, competitiveness and sometimes even jealousy, that grew between them. It was almost too hard to even be talking to each other anymore.
In the company, Anne and Bonnie both had their niches and were both the leading researcher in their respective areas of work. For the first time in their lives, they did not have their paths crossed (which both thought was more a blessing than anything else).
One day, a team member of Bonnie's research team approached Anne for some assistance without Bonnie's consent. The assistance required Anne to be involved in Bonnie's work and may take up a small portion of the team's research funding. Anne decided to hold an informal meeting to discuss with the relevant team members about the issue. She has not decided to help out and would have informed the Bonnie to seek her approval after the meeting. However, word got around that Anne was holding a meeting with Bonnie's team members and Anne ultimately heard of it.
During the meeting, Bonnie stormed angrily into the room midway and accused Anne of trying to steal her job and to plot against her. All the years of frustration and anger welled up and erupted there and then.
How should Anne react to this situation? And do you think that Bonnie could have handled the situation in another way?
Here goes a scenario where all areas of communication broke down.. Personally, I believe that it has got a very simple solution. However, please investigate further
Anne and Bonnie have been good friends since the junior college days. They were from the same class, took the same modules, were in the same extra-curricular activity and had the same part time jobs. They got along well, just as people who are constantly together should. However, the innocent bond of friend took a turn for the worse when things started to get competitive.
Anne and Bonnie both had excellent grades. They were co-captains in their extra-curricular activity. They were both accepted into the Life Science course in NUS. Following their graduation, they were both accepted into a highly prestigious research company. Through the years, there was an unspoken animosity, competitiveness and sometimes even jealousy, that grew between them. It was almost too hard to even be talking to each other anymore.
In the company, Anne and Bonnie both had their niches and were both the leading researcher in their respective areas of work. For the first time in their lives, they did not have their paths crossed (which both thought was more a blessing than anything else).
One day, a team member of Bonnie's research team approached Anne for some assistance without Bonnie's consent. The assistance required Anne to be involved in Bonnie's work and may take up a small portion of the team's research funding. Anne decided to hold an informal meeting to discuss with the relevant team members about the issue. She has not decided to help out and would have informed the Bonnie to seek her approval after the meeting. However, word got around that Anne was holding a meeting with Bonnie's team members and Anne ultimately heard of it.
During the meeting, Bonnie stormed angrily into the room midway and accused Anne of trying to steal her job and to plot against her. All the years of frustration and anger welled up and erupted there and then.
How should Anne react to this situation? And do you think that Bonnie could have handled the situation in another way?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Why effective communication is important for me
"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the comtinent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea." - John Donne
Indeed, no man is an island. I personally equate the earth as a snow globe, where everything interacts and interconnects with everything else, one way or another; through dust, air, water, electricity and what not. Thereby it is unavoidable that communication is required so that life gets by.
It can be communicating with your family at home, with friends at school, with friends who are overseas, with your lecturers or even with strangers. Effective communication skills are always required on your part both as a listener or a speaker. As a speaker, you face the problem of finding the appropriate or exact vacoabularies to send the original idea and message to your listener. And while the verbal communication part is going on, you have to watch your nonverbal cues so that these two do not contradict each other. On the other hand, when you become the listener, you face the problem of understanding and interpreting the speaker's message accurately. For in too many a case, the process of interpreting can be clouded and distended by the physical environment of which the communication took place, or by one's own emotions and feelings about the subject (and also towards the speaker), or simply by a language barrier.
In the recent semester break, I have personally encountered a major communication skills test in play. Here goes: As an aspiring veterinary medicine student, I took up an internship position in a veterinary hospital in Germany. For those who may not already know, the national language in Germany is german, and Germans are not exactly known to be the best english speakers around. The problem comes when I am not exactly the best german speaker either. So 10 hours a day, I had to struggle with the language barrier because as much as both parties try, we might not always have the original intended message sent across. There was this one time when a dog was brought into the emergency ward after meeting with a car accident. Its breath was very thready and I attempted to pump air into its lungs. At the same time, a doctor wanted to listen to the dog's heartbeat using a stethoscope so she said, "You do not have to do that.". I interpreted that sentence as "You do not need to do that. It is not necessary. However, you can still do it if you want." So I decided to go for the latter just to make sure it continued breathing. However, a moment later, the doctor shouted, "I SAID YOU DONT HAVE TO DO THAT!". "I was taken aback and stood there for a moment, with my hands still mechanically pumping the air. The other doctor then told me that she actually wanted me to stop doing it that instant.
This may appear to be a rather small communication breakdown, but nevertheless it is still one. It reminded me of how precious and important effective communication skills are. Also, I am a third year life sciences student. This also mean that there are more laboratory sessions, more group report discussions. Anyone who have made it as far as third year in university will know that in a group work, everything will go wrong unless very much care is taken into making sure that communication is done properly. As I look into the future, I know that with my field of studies, it will never be a one-man-act. For research is all about collaboration with people specialising in different fields, seeking cooperation with all departments whom you will need (such as the technical team, the cleaners, the laboratory workers, the students, the secretary) and not to mention, playing a team game to hasten project paces to cut costs.
Therefore, I feel that it is an extra advantage that I can learn something which everyone already know but mostly are not really good at.
Indeed, no man is an island. I personally equate the earth as a snow globe, where everything interacts and interconnects with everything else, one way or another; through dust, air, water, electricity and what not. Thereby it is unavoidable that communication is required so that life gets by.
It can be communicating with your family at home, with friends at school, with friends who are overseas, with your lecturers or even with strangers. Effective communication skills are always required on your part both as a listener or a speaker. As a speaker, you face the problem of finding the appropriate or exact vacoabularies to send the original idea and message to your listener. And while the verbal communication part is going on, you have to watch your nonverbal cues so that these two do not contradict each other. On the other hand, when you become the listener, you face the problem of understanding and interpreting the speaker's message accurately. For in too many a case, the process of interpreting can be clouded and distended by the physical environment of which the communication took place, or by one's own emotions and feelings about the subject (and also towards the speaker), or simply by a language barrier.
In the recent semester break, I have personally encountered a major communication skills test in play. Here goes: As an aspiring veterinary medicine student, I took up an internship position in a veterinary hospital in Germany. For those who may not already know, the national language in Germany is german, and Germans are not exactly known to be the best english speakers around. The problem comes when I am not exactly the best german speaker either. So 10 hours a day, I had to struggle with the language barrier because as much as both parties try, we might not always have the original intended message sent across. There was this one time when a dog was brought into the emergency ward after meeting with a car accident. Its breath was very thready and I attempted to pump air into its lungs. At the same time, a doctor wanted to listen to the dog's heartbeat using a stethoscope so she said, "You do not have to do that.". I interpreted that sentence as "You do not need to do that. It is not necessary. However, you can still do it if you want." So I decided to go for the latter just to make sure it continued breathing. However, a moment later, the doctor shouted, "I SAID YOU DONT HAVE TO DO THAT!". "I was taken aback and stood there for a moment, with my hands still mechanically pumping the air. The other doctor then told me that she actually wanted me to stop doing it that instant.
This may appear to be a rather small communication breakdown, but nevertheless it is still one. It reminded me of how precious and important effective communication skills are. Also, I am a third year life sciences student. This also mean that there are more laboratory sessions, more group report discussions. Anyone who have made it as far as third year in university will know that in a group work, everything will go wrong unless very much care is taken into making sure that communication is done properly. As I look into the future, I know that with my field of studies, it will never be a one-man-act. For research is all about collaboration with people specialising in different fields, seeking cooperation with all departments whom you will need (such as the technical team, the cleaners, the laboratory workers, the students, the secretary) and not to mention, playing a team game to hasten project paces to cut costs.
Therefore, I feel that it is an extra advantage that I can learn something which everyone already know but mostly are not really good at.
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