Critical reflection on developing communication skill

Effective Communication has helped me greatly in my communication skills with others and the writing of a technical report. At the start, I have mix feeling regarding this module, unable to do well as I come from a Chinese-speaking family. Having ups and downs through the past 3 months of this trimester with the help from my instructor and my peers.

Firstly, I would like to thank Ms. Lim for guiding us through the whole trimester, from the start to the end. Teaching us and constantly checking on our work and reports, giving detailed feedback on ways to improve our work in terms of writing and presentation skills, etc. I would also like to thanks my groupmates, Donny and Derrick for being patience with me, explaining and assisting me in the various aspect where I lack in.

While going through the module, our class was task to do a peer teaching presentation to the class, researching on the topic that was assisted to us. Initially, I thought that it was a total waste of time. Why even bother doing this task when it only holds a small percentage in our overall result, I thought to myself whenever I start researching on my relevant topic for peer teaching. But after the oral presentation, I then found out that there was a motive behind the peer teaching. It is to allow us to practice speaking in front of the class and taking notes of the comments given by our peers and lecturer. I believe it will be good if this could bring on to the next batch on students taking this module. Apart from all the stuff I have learnt from this module, I still have rooms for improvement, mainly on presentation.

My Oral Presentation Reflection

This was actually my very first formal presentation having the need to wear business wear as well as a blazer. Knowing myself that I have stage fright since I was young, I was anxious and troubled the moment I was told that a formal presentation is required at the near end of the module.

I was responsible for the part on explaining the survey and current implementation during the presentation. Afraid that I might blank out half way through the presentation, I repeatedly practice over and over again in my mind with the words that I planned to use in the presentation.

Each member was given 5 minutes each to present and 5 minutes for question and answer from the audiences. Being the second speaker for the presentation, the first 5 minutes of the presentation seem to when passed in a blink of an eye. Extremely nervous and shaky, I took over the presentation from the first speaker. Having pauses here and there, afraid that I could not effectively bring the idea across to my audience, I hesitated with my words.      

Feeling relieved that our presentation has come to an end. I was glad that I was able to control eye contact and tone of the presentation properly. However, there are still a lot of room for improvement. One of the pointers that had been pointing out is that I have to show more confident during the presentation. Due to lack of confident, I was not able to perform well with a smooth flow.

The main take away from the presentation would be that I have to heighten confident in myself when presenting then the flow of my presentation could be smoother. In addition, instead of memorizing what I am supposed to say for the presentation, I could prepare a cue card for my personal reference so I would not leave anything out.

Last but not least, I would like to thanks my group members for all their effect in the presentation and pointing out areas where I could better improve myself. With all the comments that have been given to me, I would make an effort to improve in it and use it in my future presentation.

Summary,thesis & reader response.

Summary

Environmental sustainability is one of the principles behind the planning and design of Gardens by The Bay, according to .

The Garden Lake system acts as a natural filtration system for water from the Gardens catchment. The system incorporates essential ecological processes and functions which help in providing aquatic habitats for biodiversity. The Garden Lake system consists of two main lakes called the Dragon Lake and the Kingfisher Lake. The system acts as a natural filtration system for water and provides aquatic habitats for biodiversity. The presence of aquatic plants and reed beds are reducing nitrogen levels and phosphorus which is critical in ensuring better water quality.  High variety of aquatic plants, good water circulation and aeration is the solution for potential problems.

The conservatories are an energy efficient cooling system which applies sustainable engineering technology. A specially selected glass is fitted on the conservatories to allow excellent light for plants and reduce a considerable amount of heat. To decrease the volume of air to be cooled, only the lower regions of the conservatories are cooled. By dehumidifying the air using liquid desiccant before cooling, the amount of energy required in the cooling process is lessened. Through the usage of Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine, the reliance on the electrical grid reduces. Electricity to run the chillers in the Conservatories are generated on site and waste heat is utilised to reconstruct the liquid desiccant.

Supertrees also play a part in the environment sustainability efforts by having photovoltaic cells on their canopies to harvest solar energy, and some serve as air exhaust repository.

Thesis statement

Making the effort to provide energy-efficient solution in coolings, Gardens by the Bay could rely on cutting edge technology in saving energy consumption and improve the indoor environment  quality for the users.

Reader response

Being a user who often visited Gardens by the Bay back in polytechnic years, I had been studying about their efforts in sustainability. Ever since 2009, Garden by the bay have received numerous awards, apart from tourist attraction awards, majority of their awards had been awarded by Building Construction Authority (BCA). The latest award was Green Mark Platinum for New Non-Residential Building awarded on 2016.

In addition, online sources states that cutting edge technology were implemented at Gardens by the bay, help to achieve 30% saving in energy consumption, Gardens by the Bay (2016) retrived from ‘http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/sustainability.html’ . Along with Nation Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan who estimated that the conservatory operates on 14 million dollars annually after energy saving, Asiaone (October 15, 2012)retrived from 'http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Relax/Story/A1Story20121015-377822.html’ As well as the Tariff, we can conclude that Garden by the bay have saved approximately of 6 million dollars and 300 mega watts annually.

Having the specialize glass what could optimal light for the plant and provide shade when it gets too hot, Garden by the bay provide great care to plant to photosynthesis. While in return, the plant produce oxygen for the users around, making the environment conductive, improving the Indoor Environment Quality(IEQ).

Online references

Gardens by the Bay (2016) About the gardens, Sustainability Efforts

http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/sustainability.html

Gardens by the Bay (2016) About the gardens, Awards

http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/awards.html

Building Construction Authority (2016) Sustainable Built Environment.

https://www.bca.gov.sg/green_mark/Sustain/BuildingDirectoryDetail.aspx?id=1678

Asiaone (October 15, 2012)Final cost for Gardens by the Bay within budget http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Relax/Story/A1Story20121015-377822.html

SP services (Jun 30, 2016) Electricity Tariff Revision

http://www.singaporepower.com.sg/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/pcd!3aportal_content!2fcom.sp.SPEPCustomization!2fcom.sp.SP_Default_Framework!2fcom.sp.SP_Custom_Desktop!2fframeworkPages!2fcom.sp.SP_Custom_Default_Framework_Page!2fcom.sap.portal.innerpage?windowId=WID1332135032094&NavigationTarget=navurl://41c8e6a3faf48bb168af2c222faa8ee4&windowId=WID1332134938209

My Green Space (Sep 2012) Gardens by the Bay : A Garden for Singaporeans https://mygreenspace.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-by-the-bay-a-garden-for-singaporeans/

Principle of Environmental Sustainability Effort with Gardens By The Bay

Environmental sustainability is one of the principles behind the planning and design of Gardens by The Bay.

The Garden Lake system acts as a natural filtration system for water from the Gardens catchment. The system incorporates essential ecological processes and functions which help in providing aquatic habitats for biodiversity. The Garden Lake system consists of two main lakes called the Dragon Lake and the Kingfisher Lake. The system acts as a natural filtration system for water and provides aquatic habitats for biodiversity. The presence of aquatic plants and reed beds are reducing nitrogen levels and phosphorus which is critical in ensuring better water quality.  High variety of aquatic plants, good water circulation and aeration is the solution for potential problems.

The conservatories are an energy efficient cooling system which applies sustainable engineering technology. A specially selected glass is fitted on the conservatories to allow excellent light for plants and reduce a considerable amount of heat. To decrease the volume of air to be cooled, only the lower regions of the conservatories are cooled. By dehumidifying the air using liquid desiccant before cooling, the amount of energy required in the cooling process is lessened. Through the usage of Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine, the reliance on the electrical grid reduces. Electricity to run the chillers in the Conservatories are generated on site and waste heat is utilized to reconstruct the liquid desiccant.

Supertrees also play a part in the environment sustainability efforts by having photovoltaic cells on their canopies to harvest solar energy, and some serve as air exhaust repository.

My English Language Learning Journey. It was a hectic one actually. As I come from a Chinese spoken family, I didn't think that language is important at all in the early stage of my life especially English. Examinations after examinations, neither learning my mistake nor making the effort to learn , same thing happened over and over again, getting the lowest grade there is for my language.

Until primary 3 when I was chosen, along with a group of student leaders to go to Australia for an international exchange program. Without any hesitation, I immediately accepted the rare opportunity for the exchange program. Upon reaching there, we will pair with the students there. We were being asked to introduce ourselves to one another and mix around as the teachers went to settle some administrative stuff. As I was bad in English, I could not bring my message across properly to the students there. Upon feeling embarrassed and ashamed of my strong ‘Singlish’, I basically keep quiet throughout the session. I envy my friends of having such fluent pronunciation in English and had much fun interacting in the exchange program. I thought to myself that if only my English was as good as their, I could also enjoy myself through the exchange. That was what happened that made me made my mind to do my best in English language despite the poor start. Ever since then, I find ways to improve my English language such as reading the books and newspaper, watching documentary, etc.

In conclusion, having a good fundamental of English language will definitely be an advantage, partly to avoid language barrier with other people. As time goes by, we will enter the working industry and interacting with other countries staff, documents such as reports and emails will be the most basic requirement for communication. Hence, I urge the younger generation to build a good fundamental of English at start.