At the start of the trimester, I
wrote a descriptive reflection on my blog to Professor Blackstone. Within it, I
had also set 3 goals for this module, which are: stress management, better
articulation of ideas and reduce the habit of speaking too fast. This module had
many deliverables on a weekly basis. That coupled with ongoing studies, timely
tests and other personal commitments, had enabled me to work my time effectively
and managed expectations well.
After the recess week, we were
tasked to do a project that solves an engineering problem. The project spanned
across the remaining six weeks of the trimester, which challenged us on our
time and stress management skills. There were times where the teams had to come
together to discuss the details of the project but often there were always
other individual commitments limiting our discussion time. As such our meetings
and discussion had to be extremely time-efficient. Through the experience of multiple
discussions, we had managed to optimise the meetings to be time and content
efficient.
The project itself consists of 2
parts: a technical report and a presentation of our projects. In the process of
doing the report, I realised that a person’s writing is limited by their own perspectives
and experiences, or at least mine is. When drafting the report, often I found
that my teammates' perspectives and way of writing are more suited contextually.
As a result, the combination of perspectives had enabled my team to create
better writing for the report.
Having
a presentation was very different from the report writing as we were tasked to
sell our idea. As such, we had to change the way we approach the same topic of
reducing plastic usage. Although my team originally rejected the opportunity to
present in the showcase, we eventually represented the class after some convincing.
It was a great learning experience as personally, I had another chance to
upgrade my skills in presenting. As there was more time, I had dedicated efforts
into reviewing and fine-tuning the content and the method of articulating my
ideas. I believe (to some end) that it had translated into the results of the presentation
showcase.
One of SIT’s slogans is “We do from
day one” and I feel that this first trimester in SIT had made me practise that,
starting things early and manage my time well, especially in this module, SIE2016
Effective Communications, as we did many things in this short thirteen weeks. Looking
back at this module, I feel that all these experiences will help me be a better
and efficient person during my time in SIT and professionally in the future, on
top of helping me communicate better professionally.