My days as a student are numbered as the semester draws to a close. There have been ups and downs during my time as an undergraduate; "downs" = my CAP and "ups", almost everything else! This module, Professional Communications ES2007s would be up on my list of favourite modules I ever took in NUS and this statement is not an attempt at getting a better grade! I will explain myself....
In December last year, I chanced upon an email regarding this module and looked through the prerequisites and objectives. NO EXAM were the two words that stood out and for a good five minute, everything else on the website was a blur.
My thoughts on each task:
- Resume and cover letter writing: "Easy! My resume is up and running. Probably not much work to do for this!"
- Write a Blog: "ok great, now this gives me a reason to start writing a blog I said I would but never did. Good stuff!"
- Project and Presentations: "I've been through so many, piece of cake!"
So I registered for the module without foreseeing what I got myself into. I reasoned that my decent command of English should pull me through this module. I was wrong. You see, being proficient in a language will be of little use if I cannot put my ideas across! Upon submissions of resume, application letter and report drafts, I soon found out that I lacked the ability to comfortably and efficiently make people understand more about what I do and what I want to say.
Anybody could search the internet for "how to write a good resume/cover letter/report, speak in public etc" but this module takes it a step further through having your peers critique your resume as well as making us participate in presentations. Heck, I would never ever have videotaped myself giving a public speech!
I had a fruitful final semester and my classmates and tutor sure played a big part in putting some fun amidst the learning.
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Hi Han Rong,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that nobody would never ever have their presentations in school being videotaped. This is really a brand new experience and I guess all of us really had fun during the presentations.
From this module, we learnt to write a ‘proper’ resume and application letter. This is definitely not as easy as we thought hey? Thank goodness we took up this course as this will be highly beneficial to us in the near future when we are looking for jobs (or is already useful since you are already looking for jobs).
Effective communication is of high importance in terms soft skills and during work. One small misunderstanding or ‘ineffective’ communication can lead to a serious conflict.
It’s been really nice knowing you all! Keep in touch!
Cheers,
Xiujun
Hey man,
ReplyDeleteStill remember how I asked you what modules you and the guys were taking at the beginning of the semester? Guess what, we survived it. I still must thank you, though I think you didn't really mean it, but you taking the module with Reza, Abdullah and Sherri influenced me and that's why I'm here today posting this comment.
It has been a wild ride, and a most fruitful module that I've enjoyed, not to mention learn a lot from. We are finall done with all the assigments, no more blogging dude... haha and of course, now we can look forward to NO EXAMS.
Thanks again dude!
Lester
Dear Han Rong,
ReplyDeleteI was like you when I first read the email reading this module. “ NO EXAM” was the first thing that caught my eye and I thought this module would be relatively easy to handle as it requires no studying at all. However, after taking this module, I realised there is actually quite a heavy workload for this module. Nevertheless, I feel that despite the heavy workload, I still benefited a lot from the module like what you mentioned in your blog post.
Interaction with classmates through projects, having peers to critique your work and videotaping your presentation are indeed some rare opportunities that could not be obtained from other modules.
I’m glad that you had a fruitful final semester and I wish you in all the best in your working life.
Take care,
Li Yun
Hey HR (Human Resource),
ReplyDeletewhaha.. Just for laugh.. Same like you, I'm quite glad that I took this module with you guys.. Although the 5 of us took this module with the intention of doing the survey report together, I guess it turn out to be better for us when we ended up in individual groups. It turn out that we learned much more from this module than expected.
I certainly agree with you about the critique for resume but it was a real pity that I didn't get a chance to do the critique for the other groups' presentation due to my fyp presentation. Nevertheless, this is definitley a useful module and let's hope that we can put the effective communicative skills which we learned to good use and hope that it can earn us a decent job soon :)
Cheers
Sherri :)
Hey man,
ReplyDeleteWhen you mentioned the videotaping part, it dawned on me what makes this module effective. I realized I have never taken part in anything which is so self-reflective and where I am always being assessed by my peers. It's usually: do assignment, submit, get grade. Now it's : do assignment, get friends' opinions, send draft, get professional's (Happy's) opinion, change, submit, get grade.
I feel that this aspect of the course, where improvement of the work assignments is more important than the grade itself, is the reason why we're learning so much. To be honest, Happy could have easily told us to do our work, hand in, and give us a grade. It would've saved her a lot of work. But the trouble she took to actually vet our work first, advising us on how to improve it through many drafts, I feel, really helps us in our development.
So here's to a successful end to a cool module! Cheers!
abz
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ReplyDeleteHi Han Rong,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that there are so many things that we could actually just find online like how to write a good resume etc. However, I think the best part of this module is that we get to really apply it and get marks for it. I think if we are to score well for this, it shouldn't be problem to impress our potential employee.
In addition, I think it's going to be really funny as we get to look at the video of us presenting.
I had loads of ups and downs too during my life in NUS. Similar to you, all my downs are my CAP. Let's hope that after graduation, our life be full of Ups.
cheers,
Siewcheng