Sunday, November 9, 2008

Everything in a nutshell...

As mentioned in the first blog post, I chose to take this module because I wanted to hone up my communication skills as a budding chemist. Out of the many aspects which we have covered in class, the two which I find most beneficial are: (i) Delivering Oral Presentations and (ii) Building Interpersonal Communication Skills.

Prior to this semester, I subscribed to the idea that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) equates to sensitivity. Hence, I always thought that I have relatively high EQ. However, I realised that there are many more aspects to that, e.g. empathy, interdependence, self-honesty, etc. Being more aware of these definitely pushes me to change for the better. After all, its better to be late than never!

Although having to present something to an audience sounds so trivial, the website flashed to us during class certainly widened my knowledge - and I am thankful for that! The beauty of it all lines in the fact that the new knowledge which we acquire is nothing abstract or philosophical. Instead, the majority of them are simple facts, e.g. the use of a 'B' button during a powerpoint presentation. Now that I know such a function exists, I would definitely make use for it :-)

To sum it up, I have not regretted taking this module. Thank you Brad, my fellow project mates, and to everyone else in the class. You all have made my learning experience a memorable one!