#6: Final Reflection on Learning

Working on our group’s proposal has been a bittersweet journey for me. I can still remember how bitter I felt when Joe decided to drop the module, leaving Austen and I to complete a job meant for four students.

The severity of being a two man group showed when we were collecting research for the proposal. We had to tap extensively on our circle of friends in order to collect the number of respondents for our survey. Needless to say, the amount of writing for the proposal doubled for each of us.  Despite the fact that Austen had many innovative ideas to share, we were also concerned about the lack of different perspectives we have about our ideas. Thankfully, Amira agreed to sit in on our initial meetings to share her point of view. (So, thank you Amira! :D)

Though the workload doubled for us in a two man group, I have to admit that communication within the group is easier for us too. Setting up meetings was met with much less hindrance than compared to a four people group since we only had to consider the schedules of both of us.  Conflicts in ideas were also easier to solve.

I am thankful for this opportunity to work on this research project. Though this is not the first time I have written a research paper, I believe this is the first time that I had to collect so much primary research. Erstwhile, I had also learnt to look at different perspectives of ideas presented by my group.

As the semester draws to a close, I can safely say I have learnt how to communicate in a more effective manner. 

#5:Reflection on Oral Presentation

On Tuesday, my group and I presented to our classmates posing as members of Office and Estate Development (OED) on our proposal “Enhancing Accessibility of University Town”. For this presentation, the PowerPoint slides were prepared a week beforehand and our group also managed to find the time to rehearse a few times before the actual presentation.

I always had problems with formal presentations which is one of the reasons why I decided to take up this module. While I do have experience in presenting in a class of secondary school students, I find difficulty in the transition between that and a formal presentation setting. Though both settings involve the presentation of ideas, they still differ in many ways. For example, fillers such as ‘yeah’ which aid me in thinking has to be eliminated in the formal presentations. Though I managed to cut down on the usage of fillers in the actual presentation, I was still unable to eliminate it completely. I believe I have to make a conscious effort during actual presentations to get rid of this weakness of mine. In addition, I do realise that I tend not to enunciate my words clearly. This is considered a problem as it will hinder in the delivery of my ideas to the audience if they have difficulty in understanding me. I have to start enunciating my words on an everyday basis so it will come more naturally to me during formal presentations.

While I do have many weaknesses, I do like the fact that I am able to project my voice. I feel that this is able to show confidence. Also, I also like our group’s slides. They are not too wordy with many graphics to illustrate our points. The fact that the slides are colour-coded help to minimise the distraction for the audience.

All in all, I believe that I have improved significantly in giving formal presentations since the start of this semester and I am grateful for having taken this module. 

#4: Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

After the release of my Alevel results, I remembered asking for advice from my father about my future career path. He remarked to me then that finding a job I love doing is no doubt important, but the working culture plays a crucial role too. Having had a number of different work field experiences under my belt now, I now understand the significance of his comment.  In this blog post, I will talk about two part-time jobs I once held.  

The first job was as an administrative staff right after my A levels. I was in a department with a new head who had just entered the company a few months back. Eager to prove his capability, he pushed his staff hard. Almost everyone had to work overtime every day. Furthermore, the new boss was relentless to sections that were unable to deliver. Needless to say, tension grew between people from different sections and people were unhappy. They started taking care of their own interests just to be able to return home early. I experienced such a bad working culture at this company that I decided to never work as an administrative staff again.

The second job was as a photographer for the Harry Potter Exhibition held in Singapore last year. The overwhelming response for the exhibition was unanticipated, especially so in the first month. We were severely understaffed and the job was tiring. Even so, everyone was helpful and considerate to one another. Giving up our break time to help our colleagues handle the crowd was common. Also, even though I had no prior training in photography, my experienced colleagues were also patient in guiding me. Furthermore, when the crowd becomes significantly smaller towards closing hours, our supervisors also gave permission for us to take unofficial breaks. Later on, I heard that even when the exhibition ended its run in Singapore, many of my colleagues went on to find jobs within the company.

I can finally understand the importance of being in a suitable working culture as I reflected on these two different work experiences. Even though both jobs were demanding, I ended up having an enjoyable time in the second job since my colleagues there shared similar working values (such as teamwork and patience).

As I am about to graduate in a year’s time, I cannot help but remember what my father told me three years back. I may be able to decide what I am working as in the future, but I will not be able to decide who I am working with. I will only have to learn to accept the working culture then.

Post #3: Cover letter

The following is my cover letter for application to MSc(statistics) Imperial. More information about the course can be found via navigating this link:http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/statistics/msc

Leow Min Yu

Block XXX Tampines Avenue X #XX-XXX

Singapore XXXXXX

17^th Feb 2012

Dr Axel Gandy

Course Director of the MSc in Statistics

Department of Mathematics

Imperial College London

South Kensington Campus

London

SW7 2AZ

UK

Dear Dr Gandy,

Application for the MSc Statistics

I am keen to pursue the MSc Statistics in your esteemed organisation, Imperial College London as advertised in your school website. Currently, I am a year three student with National University of Singapore pursuing a degree in Science (Statistics). I expect to graduate in 2014 with second upper honours. I always have a strong interest in widening my knowledge of statistics as I am passionate about the applications in statistics and also in equipping myself with a stronger theoretical background.

My interest in gaining a deeper theoretical background was further reinforced by taking a postgraduate course during my exchange programme in Queens’ University at Kingston. During the course of one school semester, I developed a stronger understanding of the stochastic process due to the extra content covered in the postgraduate course as compared to the undergraduate course offered in my home university. I appreciated the extra knowledge gained as the stochastic process is largely relevant to research and real problems arising in science, industry and commerce. Even as an undergraduate then, I find my passion to learn more about the different application models in statistics has allowed me to read and pass the postgraduate course successfully. The experience has prepared and strengthened my personal belief that I am suited to further my studies in statistics.

My two months attachment as a secondary school teacher for the Ministry of Education (Singapore) has provided me with an invaluable working experience. I was tasked to write and research on a report on ‘Mathematical Modelling’ and later on presented my findings to the school management. I am confident of my ability to not only conduct extensive research as an individual but also liaise with my mentor to procure a stronger understanding of the research problem.

I am extremely interested in MSc Statistics offered by Imperial College London and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Leow Min Yu

Tel: (+65 XXXXXXXX)

emailaddresswhichwillnotbedisclosed@hotmail.com

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

When we work with people of different interests, conflicts are bound to arise. Learning to resolve such interpersonal conflicts has never been easy for me, be it with people of similar or different status from me. I feel that the difficulty lies in being able to make my stand yet not willing to spoil the professional relationship I share with the implicated party. 

The conflict I am about to share happened to me recently. Last semester, I participated in an exchange program to Canada and became good friends with my roommate. We decided to group together with another guy, X for a school project. 

As time progressed I started to get a good grasp of the two different working styles of my roommate and X. X is someone who is result-driven and believes in finishing the task on hand as soon as possible. On the other hand, my roommate prefers to embrace the life of an exchange student and believes in living for the moment. Inevitably, their different working styles soon led to a quarrel between them halfway through the project. 

As an onlooker, I am able to make unbiased judgements behind the cause of the quarrel. However, the difficulty lies in expressing my opinions and yet maintaining the friendship I share with both of them. In addition, I also faced difficulty then in getting them to put aside their differences and work on the project. 

What should I have done?

Why effective communication is important to me?

If you can understand the picture without further explanations, you have heard of Singlish (English spoken by Singaporeans) and are probably quite an expert in it. No doubt, Singlish, as amusing as it can get, is commonly agreed to be a barrier to effective communication. This mindset is shared by Singapore’s government as they implemented the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) in 2000 to eradicate the usage of Singlish in society.  

Being a Singaporean, I am, like many of you, not infallible to Singlish phrases slipping in my daily conversations. ‘Old habits die hard’. Even though I constantly stress upon myself the importance of Standard English during formal presentations, certain suffixes, like ‘lah’, ‘loh’ to name a few, have even creep into the end of my sentences. This has occurred one times too many to be a cause of worry for me. Living in a rapidly developing city, one cannot escape making formal presentations, whether your audience is your superior or our overseas friends. Being able to communicate effectively with them has never been more important.

Besides being able to communicate effectively in formal occasions as mentioned earlier, the need to communicate effectively is also critical in a classroom. My mentor teacher once mentioned to me before, ‘it is pointless to hold the knowledge of a hundred books and to not be able to impart the knowledge of a single book to your students’.  This statement succinctly summed up the importance of effective communication between a teacher and her students in a classroom. Not only the teacher has to pass on her information, she needs to be able to determine if the knowledge has been passed on effectively. 

In conclusion, the ability to communicate effectively is not only crucial for me currently (to do well in ES2007) but also as the roles I will play as in the future.