The end of ES2007S

‘Congratulations! You have survived through a 13 week ES2007S ordeal!’

This was the very first thought that occured to me when I stepped out of the seminar room on the last ES2007S lesson. Indeed, these 13 weeks of learning were both painful (in terms of all the assignments and blog posts) and tiring for me. Nevertheless, I would still like to say that I enjoyed ES2007S!

To be very honest, my initial intention for taking up this module was not about improving my oral communication skills, but to reduce the total number of examinable modules for this semester. I had to admit that all along I was hesitant on whether I should enroll myself for any ES2007S class. The lack of confidence in my oral communication skill had impeded me from doing so.

As mentioned by Brad, those people who need communication skill modules will never consider taking them. However, I am glad that I have taken my first step in becoming a better communicator, and embraced the challenges along the way.

In ES2007S, I had learnt the proper way of writing a cover letter and resume. This was in fact a good headstart for me in planning my career path. Previously, I had no idea on how to construct a good cover letter and resume that could make me ‘shine’ and stand out from the other job applicants. Also I had gained an insight on how the actual job interview was like, through the two mock job interview sessions. During these sessions, I played the roles of interviewer and interviewee. When I was the interviewee, I felt extremely nervous and stressed up, and I could not answer most of the questions well. I was totally clueless on what the ‘interviewers’ were looking for in me. When I played the role as an interviewer, I sort of managed to see myself through the actions from some of my classmates - the uneasy facial expression, the not-so-confident look, the long and short pause filters within a sentence etc. These in fact had served as a reminder, telling me the importance of confidence in portraying onself in front of the employers.Also, I had a better understanding of the expectations that most interviewers had for the interviewees. I enjoyed myself very much during these sessions.

I had my first ‘public speaking’ through the peer teaching session. Though I had tried to prepare myself adequately the day before, my performance was still not up to my expectation. Through the valuable feedbacks that both my classmates and Brad had given to me, I became more aware of my weaknesses, and had tried to make improvements on it. Also, I had the chance to hone my interpersonal skills, by working with different people for the research proposal and oral presentation (OP). The OP had served as a second chance for me to conquer my ‘stage fright ‘problem and I was glad that I had managed to overcome it. This time round, I felt more comfortable and confident in standing and speaking in front of the class.

What I liked the most from this module was the dynamic class interaction shared between the students and Brad. Brad was an excellent teacher who had selflessly shared many insightful and interesting experiences with the class. Like what Diana (2) had mentioned, he was also not stingy with his praises and was very encouraging. This made everyone in group 8 to be motivated in mastering the ‘art of communication’ well. The classmates in group 8 were very open and receptive to feedbacks. This had in turn resulted a strong friendship being forged in group 8.
Before I end off for this entry, I’d to say a big thank to everyone in group 8 and Brad, for making ES2007S a fun, enjoyable and relaxing module for me. You guys had made every ES2007S lesson less scary for me to attend. Thanks for being a part of my learning journey. You guys are simply the greatest takeaway from this module.

All the best for the upcoming exams, and in your future endeavour, my dear friends!

My reflection on oral presentation

14^th April 2010 marked the end of the series of oral presentations in ES2007S. My group, Team Invictus, was the last to present our research findings and results to the class. I was glad that everything went smoothly and accordingly to our plan, albeit some technical faults before the start of our presentation – the ‘disappearance’ of the background picture in our slides made us flustered. It was indeed a great experience working together with Glenn, Japser and Rohan, who were always that helpful and considerate towards me, especially during the period when I fell sick. Therefore, I would like to say a big thank you to you guys here.

For my personal reflection on:

Content

The idea of summarizing and presenting all our findings in 3 main points for every section was good. It had made our slides look impressive, clear, structured and less wordy. This in fact facilitated the audience in absorbing and ‘digesting’ all the presented information. However, it posed a big challenge for us in terms of speech delivery, for we had to stay calm and be concise when explaining the large chunks of information to the audience.

For the small video clip, I felt that the name and the job position of the three interviewees should be included for the sake of clarity. Also, the sound quality should be better, for I did hear some muffling background noises, and some of the audience seemed to be ‘stretching’ their ears so that they could hear the words properly.

Presentation

As compared to the peer teaching session, my part of presentation was much longer this time round. As I was not a good speaker, I tried my best to stay calm and be confident, and prevent my voice from trembling. Also, I tried to have much eye contact with the audience. But I guessed that I had failed in the latter part, for I kept looking back at the slide to check whether the slide animations were in pace with my speech (I had the tendency to keep pressing the ‘forward’ button when I was nervous). Hence it created the impression that I was not confident. Nevertheless, I felt that my performance this time round was much better, as I was able to tell my ‘story’ in a nice and smooth flow, and felt more comfortable when facing the class. Also, I had succeeded in preventing myself from regurgitating my script. This is an area which I definitely wish to improve on further.

I liked the ‘good-bad cop’ role played by both Rohan and Jasper, for that was something new and it tended to liven up the atmosphere. I guessed by doing so, they were actually trying to grasp the audiences’ attention, and preventing them from feeling sleepy. This was in fact an essential move, for if they were boring and monotonous, the audience would tend to drift off and no longer paid attention. Hence in the end, they might not understand the underlying concept behind our recommendations. I also liked the way Glenn presented, for he sounded very professional and was calm during his explanations.

Overall, despite the setback that our team had faced for our proposal, I was glad that our presentation had ended off with a blast. Good job, Team Invictus!

Methods + Appendix [ Proppsal Draft 1]

Methods and procedures:

The methods used by us to obtain data so far have been –

1, Face to face interviews with –

a) Relevant officials in the NUS systems

i) Mrs. Corrine Ong – Director of NUS Career Centre

ii) Dr. Wu – Director of NUS Centre of English Learning and Communication

b) Students with internships in banking and consulting industries

i) Arjun Nagpal – Intern with Merill Lynch, Aberdeen Investments

ii) Snigdha Dutta – Intern with Merill Lynch, Credit Suisse and heading for a full time position as IT Analyst at Merill Lynch

iii) Tejasvi Achar – Intern with Credit Suisse and heading for a full time position

Analyst at Merill Lynch

2. Surveys conducted for students with banking and consulting internship experience – 10 respondents so far.

Plans for the next step of research:

1. Conduct face to face, phone and email interviews with relevant working professionals in the banking and consulting industries both Singapore and abroad to understand their take on how university education can better prepare students for a future career in these industries.
2. Gather more survey responses on how NUS can improve their oral communication training for increasing number of students eager to pursue a career in this industry.

Appendix

1. Interview Transcript – Dr. Corrine Ong

Hi Corrine,

How are you? This is Wei Ying and Jasper. Thanks for accepting our request for an interview.

As we had mentioned via email, our project concerns the need for oral communication in the banking and consultancy industries. Therefore, I have some questions which I would like to get your help with.

1. What is the feedback regarding communication skills of fresh graduates in the workplace?

· In general, NUS fresh graduates, especially the technical graduates, are weaker in their communication skills. [Technical graduates: Science, Engineering, Computing]

Ø Poor in ‘marketing’ themselves and engaging with the potential employers

Ø Weak in their expression – not concise, long-winded = bored the interviewers

Ø Inflexible in answering the question ‘Why should we hire you?’

Ø Poor performance during interviews

Ø Lack of preparation at the early stage of job seeking process

· FASS and Business graduates are generally better in their communication skills.

Ø More outspoken and expressive

Ø Able to extrapolate their thoughts and link i back to the reasons on why they should be hired

· NUS

Ø NUS graduates are strong technically but not in communication skills, not that prepared in this area

2. What oral communication skills do you feel are essential in order to perform well in the company/industry?

Resume, CV’s (writing skills), objective speaking and writing, engaging with people, marketing themselves, performing well during interviews among others

3. How well do you think the communication modules in NUS have prepared our undergraduates for their career?

Depends on individual curriculum (probable disadvantage to technical students)

Some students are not informed, unaware of important comm skills.

4. From your experience, what possible improvements can be made to the school curriculum?

Encourage students to join ccas (working with other people), communication workshops (at career centre)

Make workshops enticing, promote them

Strong competition faced in the future

Encourage students to do career planning early – increase awareness of skills needed in the industry they want to work in -> know which modules to choose

Thank you so much for your time and your valuable feedback!

2. Interview Transcript – Dr. Wu

Dear Dr Wu,

This is Wei Ying and Jasper. Thanks for agreeing to our request for an interview.

As my friend, Jasper had mentioned in our email, our project concerns the need for oral communication in the banking and consulting industries. Therefore, I have a few questions which I would like to get your help with.

1. How does CELC determine which communication modules are offered within the individual faculties?

2 ways of implementing modules:

Proficiency modules – compulsory for students who fail QET

Requested modules – requested from individual faculties

2. During our interview with the career centre, we found out that NUS science, engineering and computing students are generally weaker in their communication skills than FASS/business students. In your opinion, what do you think is the cause of this disparity?

Not all science, engineering and computing students are weak in communication skills. This general perception causes some students to believe that they are weaker in communication skills compared to FASS/business students. Science, engineering and computing students are not required to have such skills in their curriculum (lack of opportunity in writing, speaking.) Also, how classes are conducted affect how students prepare for them. For example, if a tutor usually expects his students to interact aggressively in class, a student will definitely prepare himself/herself to increase confidence in speaking.

3. According to our interview sources, NUS graduates are not as well-versed in communication skills as compared to SMU graduates. What is your opinion?

No one has really done studies on whether it is really true. Due to the certain requirements at SMU, students who enter SMU get mentally prepared of what is expected of them.

4. If the faculty of science or engineering requests for a communication skills course, how long will it take to implement such a course? What will be some of the challenges?

One semester of preparation should be sufficient.

Aspects to consider and plan for:

1) finding the right people to conduct classes

2) finding space/venues for classes

3) developing relevant materials

4) to understand the specific needs of students

5. If NUS makes a certain communication skills course a mandate for all NUS students, will CELC be able to provide it?

Not immediately, much planning would be required. Modules can be implemented gradually, not all faculties at once.

6. What is some of the feedback received from different faculties/workplaces regarding communication skills of NUS students?

Mixed feedback from workplaces.

There are still a minority of students who really need help in their communication/writing skills. On the other hand, there are also some students who are excellent in oral communication. Conclusion: definitely some extremes on both sides, majority lie in the middle. Many students need to be made aware of the importance of communication skills.

Thank you so much for your time and your valuable feedback!

3. Interview Transcript – Arjun Nagpal

Questions:

1. Firstly, how long have you been working? And how would you describe your job-scope?

2. What oral communication skills do you feel are a) essential and b) good-to-have to perform well in your job-scope?

3. What, among these skills, did school prepare you for? And how - was it via modules, CCA's or friends?

4. From your experience, if there are 3 things you would suggest as improvements in school curriculum, what would they be?

Transcript:

Job and Job Scope

· Attachments to Merrill Lynch, etc for 3 – 6 months respectively

· Attached in corporate banking, project management and project analysis sector

· Had to give presentations to people like managers, vice-president and directors

Oral Communication skills that are essential

· Must have the ability to give concise specific information, no beating around the bush and wasting people’s time

· Must have the ability to identify what is important and address it

· On a scale of 1-10, the importance of good oral communication skills is 8

· Instructions have to be clear

· Not much difference in communication between boss and colleagues

How much does the school prepare

· Zero, not at all

· No modules which teaches a person effective oral communication skills

Improvements

· Modules dedicated to communication skills, example, doing presentations

· Workshops on communication skills

· Integrate teaching of oral communication skills into modules

Personal preference on learning communication skills

· CCAs and modules equally important

4. Interview Transcript – Snigdha Dutta

Job and Job scope

· Attachment for 3 months in Merrill Lynch

· IT division of bank

· Lots of presentation work, training of colleagues in the various IT soft wares

Oral communications skills that are essential

· Communication skill with boss

· Communication skill with colleagues

· People find it difficult to approach others for assistance/help

· People find it difficult to get the information they require to work as they do not know how to do it

How much the school curriculum prepares students for the banking and consulting work environment

· Modules she takes requires a lot presentations which greatly helps to improve her oral and presentation skills, not much of theory and memorisation

· She does not know any module about communication skills

· She has done a start up company in school of computing in her Year1 days which teaches her the leadership and teamwork skills

Suggestions for improvements

· Project which involves working with an actual company based in the field

· Giving comprehensive feedback on the individual’s oral communication skills in modules on top of the usual contend grading.

Lastly, preferred and best way of learning communication skills

· Experience

5. Interview Transcript – Tejasvi Achar

1. Firstly, how long have you been working? And how would you describe your job-scope?

· Worked in accounting firms like E&Y, Credit Suisse about 6 months

· Job scope: Product control, validate transactions, audit

· Mainly liaising with people to validate accounts

· Few presentations

2. What oral communication skills do you feel are a) essential and b) good to perform well in your job-scope?

• Confidence! Must be confident in front of people
• Good listener. Must be willing to learn. When there is nothing to say, it is important to listen as well.
• Good public speaking skills assist in the presentations

3. What, among these skills, did the school prepare you for? And how-was it via modules, CCA or friends?

• On a scale of 1-10: 6
• In engineering faculty, there are no modules which prepare the students
• Having leadership roles in CCA does help. Teaches one to liaise with people and speak in front of people.
• Internships are the best to learn the communication skills from

4. From your experience, if there are 3 things you would suggest as improvements in school curriculum, what would they be?

• Career centre give seminars on communication
• Compulsory modules on oral communication skills for students
• More presentations/discussions in modules