Reflection 1

Describe

From our experience carrying out various activities and doing assignments in a group for both Malaysian Studies (MPU 1) and Culture and Arts (MPU 3), each and every of us in this group has developed quite a number of skills which would come in handy to us in many ways. For the Malaysian Studies classes, we have been instructed to group discussions almost every time to come up with some ideas or our views on both local and international issues such as the Apartheid policy that was implemented in South Africa, racial issues in Malaysia and also other countries, and create a historical video on the Independence Day of Malaya. Our group consisted of eleven members. With eleven heads put together, there were plenty of brilliant ideas we could come up with. As a result, we were able to deliver and give our opinions regarding how to curb racial discrimination in Malaysia in front of the other students. As for our historical video activity that was done outside school hours, we had to meet up almost every day to discuss about the plot, the props and the settings for our video. On the weekends when we didn’t attend college, we would connect with each other on Facebook or Whatsapp. One disadvantage of being in a group of eleven was that we could never come up with a time or venue, where all of us could meet up to complete our task. On our first meeting, only half the group was present because the rest had tuition classes and club meetings to attend. Due to that, nothing much was achieved during that time except that we had a start on writing the plot for the video and deciding which member was to become which character. On top of that, we had trouble thinking of what the props to be used were and the location to film the video. On top of that, the due date to hand up our videos was drawing near. It was then the leader who had previously been taking the whole assignment easy had decided to have an emergency meeting out of desperation. During that meeting, the attendance of all team members was a hundred percent although a few were slightly late. On the following day, the real action plan was carried out. Even with a lot of college assignments burdening us on that day, we had all stayed back in college for around two hours just to finish off the assignment so that we could hand it up to our MPU teacher on time. All the members of the group had shown much dedication in playing their roles, whether big or small in order to finish off the task. Later on, for the cultural studies component, our group had been assigned to carry out a fashion show on our presentation day. Each member must don a traditional costume belonging to a different race in Peninsular Malaysia. Before that time came, we faced many difficulties in getting the traditional clothes of various races. Fortunately, the leader had planned earlier this time and not to start working only at the eleventh hour after learning a valuable lesson from the previous task so thankfully, everything went rather smoothly and in the end we had managed to get the things we needed. Each of us had contacted our relatives and friends to ask if they had what we needed. With their help, our fashion show was quite a success. All that we have been through in our lives, including attending MPU classes here in college, although initially deemed as less important, had taught us valuable lessons we will never forget until the very end and gave us would all cherish , no matter where we are.   

Interpret

We have gained tremendous improvement in our communication skills. Before we entered Taylors College, some of us were not able to express our inner thoughts properly. We were very afraid to speak up as we feared of the crowd or even talking to someone alone. As for now, we can even initiate topics with my friends and able to make friends easily. We realize we have more friends now. Most importantly, we are able to speak politely and fluently without hurting anyone’s feeling. Besides, studying in Taylors College has helped us to excel in thinking and problem solving skills. We are able to analyse the causes and effects of a certain problem which is very crucial accurately as this particular skill will definitely help us a lot in future. We are also able to consider the solutions and their advantages and disadvantages as well. This helps us to differentiate what is wrong and what is right so to ensure everything we do was right. Last but not least, we have also gained improvement in interpersonal skill. Some of us are able to lead a group of friends such as making sure our assignments were handed in before the dateline. Being the leader of the group, we tried to care about our group mates so that everyone works well in a team to complete the task efficiently. Moreover, we learned to work with different types of people. We tried to adapt and tolerate when working with the others as well as control our emotions when bad things happened. We try our best to make sure that we have mutual respect for each other.

Evaluate

Known as a mean of conveying or receiving information, communication helped us to express our own thoughts. By speaking up during discussions, we were able to gather each and everyone's opinion to achieve maximum knowledge on the discussed topic. Besides that, we have learnt to understand each other through communication and this has helped strengthen our teamwork as we became more understanding towards each other. When we first started working as a team, we were shy to express our opinions as a fear of disagreement from the other team members. By communicating, we slowly opened ourselves to each other and started voicing our point of view to improve our assignment. Through group discussions and activities, we were also able to develop our thinking and problem solving skills, focusing mainly in addressing the problem and analyzing the causes and effects of the problem. Two heads are better than one, working together as a partner or a group allow us to be exposed to different kind of point of view as everybody view situations differently. Hence, we cooperate together as one to come up with the best solution for all the problems that arose. This has trained us to interpret things from different angles and on top of that, consider the solutions based on the situation's advantage and disadvantage. Last but not least, interacting and working well together in a team aid in building interpersonal skills among ourselves. We learnt to socialize and communicate with each other with confidence and have mutual respect for each and everyone in the team. For example, we acquired leadership skills, where each of us were given a chance to lead the group in completing an assignment.

Plan

Possessing communication skills simply does not mean having the ability to talk to another person. It involves being able to convey your message to other people effectively. In our career lives, this skill cannot be discarded or forgotten even after we have graduated from our higher education institutions. Later on, in our working lives, surely we will be asked to attend interviews, give talks, present slideshows or speak to clients. These are where your communication skills would count. Since we have developed communication skills in college, we would most likely face fewer difficulties in having to speak up confidently as well as to converse with colleagues compared to those who have not. Good communication skills are definitely needed in a job interview to show how well we carry ourselves. Otherwise, the officer from that company who interviews us has no idea we might be an asset to their company! On top of that, as a businessman, you can convince your clients to buy your company’s products with good communication skills. Besides businessmen, in the case of engineers, good communication skills are crucial to them so they can pass accurate information to each other in order to avoid unwanted accidents from happening when carrying out a project.

Another skill which should not be taken lightly are thinking and problem-solving skills. Problems occur everywhere, even in your working life. Being able to detect the source of the problem and think of ways to approach the problem is very important, as that will be the starting point of solving it. In college, we have learnt these skills in Mathematics and Science. From that, we have developed crucial and analytical thinking skills. Later on, we can apply them in finding solutions to our problems with colleagues, employees or even clients. For example, as a manager, if two of your workers are not able to get along, the running of your firm may be affected negatively. In this case, with your thinking and problem solving skills, you must be observant and find out which one of the two workers is the main culprit. After that, once the culprit(s) is or are found, you must think of the best alternative to help the two reconcile with each other and prevent any further arguments between them and think of the consequences of your actions- whether or not they bring good to the firm or the other way round. Having such skills because of having to solve problems in college either mathematically, scientifically, economically or socially, we believe we are mentally prepared to face our problems in the future. 

Lastly, interpersonal skills come in handy to us too. Having been exposed to group assignments and working together in a team, we have developed interpersonal skills. We have all taken turns to become leaders before. Thus, in a way, we have acquired some leadership skills as well. In the future, if any of us were to emerge as the boss, chairman, manager or high-ranked officer of a company, with our leadership skills, we can unite a group of people all with different personalities to work in the best interest of our company. A person who has leadership skills should be one who is able to ensure that every member of the company has mutual respect for each other. Therefore, having developed leadership skills, we are prepared and would most likely be able to ensure there is harmony within the company itself which would help the company to do well, increase the employees’ productivity as well as increase the profits the company would gain. On the other hand, if we become employees in the future we would be able to work well with our colleagues and our bosses, hence preventing tensions between all of us who work in the company which would eventually lead to an unhealthy and unhappy working life. In the end, those who would benefit from all these skills aren’t just the company, the chairman, the boss, the manager, but we ourselves!