Final reflections

This school term has come to an end and so has ES2007S.When i reflect on what i had taken away from this module, i think the decision to take up this module was a good one and i would recommend others to take up in future. I have not spoken so much, probably in my entire university education, of course except for idle talk with friends during lectures. I think this module has adequately created an awareness of aspects of communication like active listening, non-verbals,intercultural and even writing of email or letter correspondences. i have become more aware of all these factors and this would be something for me to take note of and work on in having effective communications with others. The only pity was that the different aspects of effective communication could only be touched on briefly, with the heavy workload that has to be incorporated within a semester of work because the various topics have definitely left me hungry for more in dwelling into them as the art of communication is always so interesting.

This module has also offered many interactions within the class, like the peer teaching and the oral presenation. Through it i get to collaborate with different people and these practices were wonderful as throughout these projects, unknowingly maybe, we got to practice several communication skills like negotiating with members, being assertive when there's a need to,active listening, empathizing and many..

Assignments like application and resume letter writing was useful especially when we shared and saw other letters to gain more perspectives and skills to take note of when writing such formal documents. i thought blogging was a good and interactive way to get people to communicate and share their ideas and we also definitely had to have good time management to take note of the tight timeline with regards to that.

I liked how this module was conducted seminar style and i think i have really seen, heard and learn alot from this class. By observing and taking note of how some really natural and good speakers do in class and on the other hand, taking in positively how some flaws could be corrected, i think i have gained alot from 2 avenues. Also, reflecting back on the very first lesson, where there was perhaps a little of reservation and awkwardness, i thought i had opened up more and tried to become more expressive at the end of this all, with the constant engagement required of us during class. I think its always hard to speak up, the concern if your comments sound right or necessary just makes it easier to just keep quiet and not say anything, and i think this is what draws the line between a confident speaker and an adequate one. I think it is this self-consciousness that eats up into a person's confidence and rather to say that people often make judgements of others, in this aspect, we often first make a judgement on how people will judge us and this is what preventing us from having the courage to speak up.

To end, i want to thank Brad and every classmates for having made this learning experience a wonderful one.
To all those who are graduating: All the best in your career
To all those whom are not: All the best in future exams and hang on!