Reflection on Learning

During the first class, Brad told us that he promised himself never to be a boring teacher. At that moment, I knew that this module is going to be the most interesting one I will ever take in NUS. Lectures that I have attended in NUS are often boring and sleep-inducing. Even tutorials that require class participation were not half as interesting as ES2007S.

Most students talk in class for the sake of scoring marks for class participation and tutors cannot even remember their students' names such that students need to have a name tag on the table. How is this effective in achieving active interaction in class?

I really appreciate Brad's efforts in remembering all our names, which makes me feel a strong sense of belonging in this class. I speak up in class because I feel strongly for the comments that I want to make and not just for the participation marks. I made more friends in this class than in any other classes I took in NUS for the three good years that I'm here.

Not only were the interactions substantial in this class, the interpersonal and nonverbal communication skills we learnt is definitely useful in our everyday lives and the proposal writing and presentation techniques will be of use to some of us in the time to come when we enter the working world. The resume writing and interview techniques will also come in handy for those who are graduating after this semester and for the others in the future.

ES2007S has equipped me with what I believe to be the most practical skills that I have gained in my entire university life. I strongly encourage all students to take this module and I believe they will be as satisfied with it as I am.

Lastly, I would like to thank Brad for being such an inspiring and encouraging teacher, as well as everyone from Group 10 for making this module such an enjoyable one for me. Let's cherish the friendship and keep in touch in the future! :D

Reflection on Oral Presentation

Part 1


Part 2

The end of the oral presentation marks the closing of the research project for this module. Personally, I felt a great sense of satisfaction both when we handed in the report, and when we finished our oral presentation. I would like to thank Jake and Stella for being such excellent project group mates. I must say that we were very efficient in getting work done as we had very good teamwork and our working style is very similar. It was great working with you two! Thanks so much!

For my part of the oral presentation, I overused the word “actually” and only realize it when my classmates pointed it out to me after the presentation. I looked through the video and counted the number of times I said “actually” and it was a shocking 26 times. I do have the tendency to overuse some words. It was “like” during the oral discussion, and “actually” during the oral presentation. It is important for me to curb this bad habit of mine by being more self-conscious.

Besides that, I fumbled a little here and there due to nervousness as well, but it was not so bad because I internalized the points through numerous practices and had ample knowledge of the topic. However being a science student, I do not have many chances of presenting in front of a class and this caused me to be more stressed during this oral presentation. I believe that with more exposure, I will not feel so nervous for presentations in the future.

All in all, I felt that our group’s oral presentation was relatively smooth, except for some minor mistakes here and there. Please comment so that we will know where we can improve on! Thank you!