I am currently a 3rd year undergraduate in the National University of Singapore (NUS), pursuing a Bachelor degree in Chemistry. I participate actively in my faculty activities. In 2006, I displayed my leadership skills by joining the Science Sports Committee as Vice-Director (Programme) and led a team of 12 in the organization of a 3D2N Science Sports Camp, “SWEAT”, which had 100 participants. Besides my contribution in the university, I am also the secretary of Zheng Ensemble and the Vice-President for the concert committee. I have been playing the Guzheng for ten years under the guidance of renowned local Guzheng instructor, Mr Tan Chin Huat and am currently pursuing my diploma.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Reflecting on Research Project Experience
As a Chemistry student, I hardly have any opportunity to work with others in a group as the syllabus trains us to be independent learners. This module (ES2007S) has provided me with a very good chance to experience and learn to work with others as a team.
Chen Xin, Dai Jing, Edwin and I started off as strangers and we were grouped together by chance. There was a short awkward period at the beginning when we were still trying to get to know each other. However, it was soon overcome by our frankness and open-mindedness with each other. These few weeks of working together not only brought us closer as a group, but also as friends.
At our first meeting, we appointed Edwin as our group leader. It was essential that someone takes charge of the group so that decision making is made simpler. Edwin took charge of co-ordinating the group as a whole and split the job accordingly. Without the leader, the group might lose its direction and work would have been completed less efficiently and effectively.
Time was clearly an issue for this project. The 4 of us, all from different majors and commitments, often faced difficulties in finding a common time slot for meetings. Hence, every face-to-face meeting that we had was precious and efficiency was extremely important. For the meetings to be efficient, we had to be prepared beforehand and listen actively to the contributions of other group members. It was also important that we remain open-minded to new ideas at all time.
Most of the time, we split the job as there were too many clashes in our timetables. Hence, we tried our best to maintain effective communication through MSN, SMSes and Emails. It was not possible to observe non-verbal cues through these communication channels, hence we tried to be clear and concise in order to avoid miscommunication and loss of information that could be crucial to the project.
Now that the report is almost completed, we will have to fret over the oral presentation. Public speaking is one of human's greatest fear. It is tough to present ideas effectively across to the audience, as well as to ensure that the audience do not get bored. Honestly, these are also my greatest fear. I will have to be clear with my articulation of words and speak at an appropriate speed and volume. At the same time, I will have to constantly look out for non-verbal cues from the audience that might give me a hint that they are bored. My other team mates might have the same fears as me in terms of oral presentation. Hence, we can help each other by practicing our parts together and commenting on our flaws.
Overall, working with my group mates had been very enjoyable. The little talks before commencing our meetings and on MSN were fun and had definitely brought us closer. This is a priceless experience, both academically and non-academically. ((:
Chen Xin, Dai Jing, Edwin and I started off as strangers and we were grouped together by chance. There was a short awkward period at the beginning when we were still trying to get to know each other. However, it was soon overcome by our frankness and open-mindedness with each other. These few weeks of working together not only brought us closer as a group, but also as friends.
At our first meeting, we appointed Edwin as our group leader. It was essential that someone takes charge of the group so that decision making is made simpler. Edwin took charge of co-ordinating the group as a whole and split the job accordingly. Without the leader, the group might lose its direction and work would have been completed less efficiently and effectively.
Time was clearly an issue for this project. The 4 of us, all from different majors and commitments, often faced difficulties in finding a common time slot for meetings. Hence, every face-to-face meeting that we had was precious and efficiency was extremely important. For the meetings to be efficient, we had to be prepared beforehand and listen actively to the contributions of other group members. It was also important that we remain open-minded to new ideas at all time.
Most of the time, we split the job as there were too many clashes in our timetables. Hence, we tried our best to maintain effective communication through MSN, SMSes and Emails. It was not possible to observe non-verbal cues through these communication channels, hence we tried to be clear and concise in order to avoid miscommunication and loss of information that could be crucial to the project.
Now that the report is almost completed, we will have to fret over the oral presentation. Public speaking is one of human's greatest fear. It is tough to present ideas effectively across to the audience, as well as to ensure that the audience do not get bored. Honestly, these are also my greatest fear. I will have to be clear with my articulation of words and speak at an appropriate speed and volume. At the same time, I will have to constantly look out for non-verbal cues from the audience that might give me a hint that they are bored. My other team mates might have the same fears as me in terms of oral presentation. Hence, we can help each other by practicing our parts together and commenting on our flaws.
Overall, working with my group mates had been very enjoyable. The little talks before commencing our meetings and on MSN were fun and had definitely brought us closer. This is a priceless experience, both academically and non-academically. ((:
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