Reflections!

ES2007S - Professional Communication. This will be the module which i would remember throughout my life as one of the best NUS modules that I have taken.

Effective communication has always intrigued me since I was young. Therefore, being able to learn the dynamics of effective communication; active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, is a very valuable life lesson for me. I am therefore eternally grateful for this opportunity.

If I had to name a particular aspect of the module that I cherish the most, it would have to be the lesson on presentation skills. I was really captured by the various presentation styles that was employed by various individuals shown during the lesson. I remember being really excited after the lesson, eager to try out the skills that I had just learned.

At that point of time, I was supposed to prepare for an important Biomedical Engineering Design presentation. When I met my group-mates later on in the afternoon, I told them that I wanted to employ the methods I learnt during my ES2007S lesson. I wanted to tell a story at the beginning of the presentation about a make-belief figure called Dr Lee, who was having troubles with his rotator cuff repair surgery for which we were supposed to aid him in improving the procedure of the surgery. I was sure that this would add an emotional appeal to the presentation and that it would work. However, I could see that my groupmates were doubtful of the effectiveness of this method as it was unconventional and unfamiliar.  

I managed to convince them. Below was the story we came up with to start off the presentation.

'Dr. Lee was an orthopedic surgeon. He had just graduated from medical school. Like most of us, he was not the top of his class, but nor was he the worst. Through his experience in med school, Dr. Lee always had an innate fear of complex and drawn out procedures. One day, He was required to perform a rotator cuff surgery. It was his first arthroscopic surgery. But, He hated tying knots. He knew the dangers of knot stacking and he feared this complication. This caused him to fear many of the steps of the procedure. He feared the complexity of the whole procedure. The long drawn out hours, the usage of multiple devices. suture passers, knot pushers was it all really necessary? As he walked towards the operating theater, he thought to himself, if only there were no knot pushers. If only there were no suture passers. If only there were no knots. If only everything was simpler. '

 

The emotional appeal worked like a charm! Our presentation left a lasting impact on both the professors and students and stood out among other presentations. Even after our presentation was over, our Professor still made references to our Dr Lee. It was really heartwarming! And to top it all off, we won one of the best presentation for the entire bioengineering cohort! I was really glad that we decided to employ the presentation skills taught in ES2007. Thank God!

Reflections on Oral Presentation

Amazing. That was the feeling that we got when we pulled it off. Nasir, Sudarsan and I could not have hoped for a better presentation. We not only managed to pull off the presentation in a clear and succinct manner but we also could answer the questions posted to us during the question and answer session. Weeks of preparation for our report paid off.

I thought that it was very important that we had been given enough time by Mdm Fazilah to work on our report. Out of our tutor's initiative, she decided to postpone the dateline for our proposal. It was genius. The additional time to work on our report helped a lot! Once we had concretized our report, the preparation for oral presentation drifted in easily. All of us clearly knew our purpose statement and worked hand-in-hand towards the purpose of our proposal. At the same time, it was a big blessing that Gwendolyne, Clara, Xin Yi and Hong Wei agreed to change their presentation timeslot with ours. So we managed to get a later timeslot. I still remember the look of horror on Nasir and Sudarsan's faces when i picked the earliest timeslot for the oral presentation. Frankly speaking, we were at the peak of our assignments and submissions at that time and probably couldn't have done it as well if it wasn't for the exchange of timeslots! 

Back to the topic of our presentation, I feel that it is very important to mention again that we were given enough time for our proposal. Nasir, Sudarsan and I made sure that we did adequate research, surveys and interview. As such, all we needed to do for our presentation was to input information from our proposal. It was that easy! Oh yes, not to mention, there was also the excellent lesson on presentation skills that Mdm Fazilah conducted. I think we managed to employ a large part of the persuasive presentation tips; the emotional appeal method, the overview of our proposal method, and the usage of clear reasoning to explain our proposal. I have to say, i was afraid that we had gone overboard. To my pleasant surprise, Mdm Fazilah mentioned that it wasn't overboard and that we pulled the presentation off nicely! 

One of the strengths of our presentation is that we were able to take questions in a cool and calm manner and answer them using logical reasoning. For our weakness, i realized that I could have given more opportunity for Nasir and Sudarsan to answer questions so that it could be seen that there was greater team cohesiveness in our ‘question and answer’ session. I also realize that I have a tendency to be slightly dominant. Therefore, to Nasir and Sudarsan, I apologize! I hope I wasn’t overbearing! 

All in all, the final presentation was an amazing experience and it would be one that I would cherish for a very, very long time!

Intercultural Communication

I went to a boarding school in Indonesia 2 years ago. I had just finished my national service at that point of time and I wanted to experience the life of my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters living in Kedinding, Surabaya. As Singaporeans, we always boast about how lucky we are, being able to live in the comfort of our HDB homes, with comfortable beds and luxuries. I wanted to see how different it was there. So when i was given the opportunity to enroll myself in the boarding school for a month, I jumped at the opportunity. I flew myself there and immersed myself in the Indonesian culture in this particular islamic boarding school(as shown in the picture).

One of the first things i observed about the people of surabaya is that they are generally warm people. Everywhere i went, people would greet me even though they did not know me. While walking, I would be stopped a few times in a day by locals who simply wanted to talk to me. I felt an instant attraction to the place. This made me more comfortable speaking, smiling, joking and laughing with random people even though i have only just met them.

However, it was not without its challenges. There were 30 students sharing my room and we all slept on carpet ground everyday. The students there perceived that since i was from Singapore, i would not be able blend into their 'hardships'. What they did not know was that we experienced much worst sleeping conditions during field camp in National Service! Thus, the other students could see that i adjusted relatively well to their sleeping conditions. However the sleep timings took a while getting adjusted to. They would sleep at 11pm and wake up at 4am for morning prayers. They would then take a short nap in the afternoon to make up for the lost amount of sleep.

One particular characteristic i noticed about the locals was that they seem happier! They were more laid-back and relaxed. This was how they lived their life. There was little or no stress in their life.They were not in a constant rush for time(unlike Singaporeans!), and this made their time seem longer. When i was there, i was able to appreciate the scenery, the people, the culture and the environment.

However, the experience was not all peachy. I knew that I was only going to be there for 4 weeks, so i wanted to go to places and buy souvenirs for my family before i went back to Singapore. Therefore i needed a guide. When i related this to other students, they implied that they would accompany me but there was no tentative appointment that was made. This made me slightly frustrated. However, i was aware of their 'relaxed' culture and did not press them to bring me around. True enough, a few days before I left for Singapore, some students did bring me around! This made me realize that their concept of adhering to promises and ours are no different(both keep to their promises). The only difference is how long it took for the promise to be fulfilled!

Draft 2: Application letter for the role of Research Assistant

Job Advertisement

Research assistant for ‘Synthesis and Integration’ team

-          Passion in research

-          Major in Science or Engineering

-          Familiar with laboratory work and willing to put in maximum effort

-          Able to work in a team and think critically

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Dear Sir/Madam,

I sincerely hope that you will consider me for the position of a research assistant as part of the ‘Synthesis and Integration’ team.

I was extremely excited when your research staff, Wei Ren, approached me to apply for this position. I recently met him when he was conducting an NUS laboratory experiment for bioengineering undergraduates like me. I was very impressed when he shared with me his novel biomaterials project which involved the breaking of a disulfide bond to release a particular brand of drug from a nanoparticle to a cancer site. I would absolutely love the opportunity to be part of this research.

The field of biomaterials is one that I am keen in, and I have almost 6 months worth of experience interning at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) over 2 separate attachments during semester break. (When students were enjoying their trips during school holidays, I was enjoying my research stint!)  In addition, I am still doing research, on a part-time basis at IBN to complete my project which has the possibility of obtaining a research paper!

At the same time, my experiences holding leadership roles as the Acting Company Sergeant Major during National Service and the Project Director of Apex(a year-long voluntary mentoring programme for P6 students), I  gained valuable understanding of the role of a team player in an organization. It has made me appreciate hard work and determination and I apply this principle to my work. This has earned me recognition back in IBN, where I was nominated to receive the prestigious Young Promising Researcher Award (only 7 out of hundreds of interns are nominated!) last year. I pride myself with the ability to think critically and 'out-of-the-box' when faced with many research challenges. I would also consult the expertise of various research experts in a company to seek the best solution.

I think that my skills and experience are most suitable for the job of a research assistant, and I do look forward to do a year-long FYP project under IMRE.

You may call me at 96622007 or email me at a0073031@nus.edu.sg should you have further enquiries. Thank you for your consideration.

Yours Sincerely,

Muhd Abdurrahiem

Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts

As individuals, interpersonal conflicts is an issue that have been affecting us and would continue to affect us till the rest of our lives. Try recalling our younger days. We would argue with our siblings over new toys, disagree with our friends over the best football team and would challenge the teachers to salvage some marks for our exams. If the situation did not turn out favorably, we would then complain to our mother and sulk for the next few days. Interpersonal conflicts are very common in our everyday life. However, as time passes and as we grow older, we are less affected by interpersonal conflicts. This is because, over time and through experience, we have subconsciously gained the ability to resolve interpersonal conflicts amicably.

However, I recently had an interpersonal conflict with a fellow member of a mentoring program. This issue pertained to differing religious practices. As the head of this mentoring program, my committee and I decided to hold congregational prayers for our mentees for their upcoming examinations. This was not an obligatory prayer(like the 5 obligatory prayers that Muslims perform daily), but it was simply encouraged to perform it to ask God to bless our mentees and pray for their success in their PSLE. It was not compulsory for mentors to join but the school wanted the mentees to perform these prayers as it is thought to be part of the mentoring program that we were conducting.

Mentor X did not want to perform these prayers and did not want others to perform these prayers as she did not believe in this practice. Instead of giving feedback when the idea was initially brought up during a particular debrief session, she kept quiet. When she eventually found out that we were conducting these prayers, she still did not offer her views. If she had talked to me, I would have accommodated her views and tried to resolve it amicably. Instead, she influenced her mentees not to perform these prayers. This situation put me in a difficult position as the prayers were compulsory for the mentees.

I understand Mentor X's position. She probably felt uncomfortable voicing out her opinion, since she was the only one who had an issue with it. At the same time, she felt guilty as she viewed it as a responsibility to educate her peers. As such, she went for the next best approach; which was to educate her mentees. However, I felt that she was being rigid in this situation as this matter had been debated by various Islamic scholars in the past, and there was no simple conclusion to it. As the head of the mentoring program, what should I do?

Effective Communication

Effective communication, to me, is the ability to convey your message across to the other party, without any room for misinterpretation and at the same time, you do not send mixed signals. It is the phenomena where your body language, gesticulations, eye contact, facials expressions, tone and pitch of voice send the exact same message as your words. This would then be comprehended by the other party effectively and impactfully in cases where it is necessary for your message to be impactful. However, communication in recent times has encompassed not only face-to-face communication, but also electronic mails, facebook, snail mail, phone calls and much much more.

I recall the times during national service where effective communication was imperative in achieving your objective. A wrongly interpreted message could lead to the failure of the mission and in the real world scenario, the loss of many lives! Therefore, the military uses messages that carry literal meanings and describe them well, most of the time. For example, to fire a General Purpose Machine Gun at the foot of the mountain would carry insufficient detail as there may be both enemy and civilian territories there. To overcome this pitfall, the military would indicate the exact map coordinates and description of the territory by indicating the left or right side of the mountain, and distinct description of enemy territory(the tentage with the red flag, the people with grey uniform, etc etc).

Next, I've always been intrigued by the ability of certain teachers to deliver their teachings in the most effective way possible. A particular teacher whom I have always admired is my elder sister, Noor Sarah, who has a unique innate ability to capture the attention and interests of her students. (Her students even set up a facebook page called 'Miss Sarah Rocks!' to talk about how amazing she is as a teacher!) As I reflect upon her actions, i realize that she subconsciously employs the 7Cs of communication in her teachings. At the same time, her nonverbal actions seamlessly coincide with her words. This is definitely a skill that I would like to acquire in ES2007S.

Two days ago, after Mdm Fazilah's class on nonverbal communication, I happened to be having tea-break with a political science student named Hadi, who is currently part of 'Young PAP'. As we were talking about his experiences growing up, I realized that he was employing certain nonverbal communication tricks that Mdm Fazilah was teaching earlier on in the day. Upon questioning him, I found out that he had learned nonverbal communication 5 years ago! He says that it now comes naturally to him. From this incident, I realized that once a person has gotten the hang of nonverbal communication, it would come naturally in all future communications. As such, I hope to learn effective nonverbal communication from ES2007S!

Oh yes! I just remembered that active listening is a big part of effective communication. Ever since Mdm Fazilah introduced this concept to us, i am now conscious that i do NOT employ active listening in lectures! I will definitely try and change my ways from now on!