A Critical Reflection Communication skills

Communication-based modules have always  had a bad air to it to majority of the students in Singapore. As much as the education system tries to enforce it , it is only known to a liability or rather a bottleneck to the  perfect grades most Singaporean student desire. To be blunt, some would even label it as a waste of time. Perhaps communications or language based modules have never been delivered properly through school hence the bad reception to it.

Honestly, lessons were pretty much different from similar modules i have taken before. I can strongly say it's a first time that i do feel that there is actual communication between faculty and student in this module. Peer to peer communication is definitely something that is extremely prominent  as well. Having peers in other classes doing the same module but with a different faculty, it seems like they were having a different experience from mine. The assignments were identical but there seems to be a different focus on what the faculty wants. I shall not elaborate here further for rice-bowls might be at stake . Overall, it was an extremely good experience with my class and i enjoyed the lessons greatly.

The various techniques  of writing a proper report, analysis or even a simple reflection are key tools that one can apply in their daily study life and even at work in the future. However, the key takeaway from this module was the opportunity to work with team WONDERAPP, namely Alfred and Clifton. It felt like yesterday that we had our first meeting to discuss on which topic to work on. I felt that i have known them more on a personal level after numerous meetings and late nights on google docs. 

With a few more years in SIT and numerous more projects, reports and presentation to undertake. I strongly believe i hone my craft as i get to apply it more in the future tasks ahead. With the target of able to write a proper report with appropriate systems in place such as citing source at my fingertips, i believe practice is the only answer and will definitely apply skills i learnt here at Effective Communications .

Barry’s Reflection on Oral Presentation

Margaret J. Wheatley once said, “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful”. My recent experience in oral presentation has allowed me to critically reflect on my performance and further improve upon my oral presentation skills. By investing time into reflecting on my performance, this has enabled me to better understand my weaknesses and allow to better leverage on my strengths for future presentations. Through reflecting upon my individual performance and the comments I received from my teacher and peers, I have gained a better insight and understanding regarding my weaknesses during my recent presentation. My weaknesses in presentation has always lied in the pace and fluency of my speech, which may hinder the overall effectiveness of my presentation on a whole. Moreover, my lack of emotion during the course of my speech is also something I hope to work and improve upon for future presentations. However, through my reflections I have also realized the strengths present during the course of my presentation that I should continue to leverage upon, such as my confidence and good eye contact present during my speech, acquired through the numerous practice and mock presentations that my group and I did. Overall, I personally felt that it was through our numerous practice sessions that enabled us to do well for this presentation, and hopefully what I have learned during this oral presentation can be carried forward to subsequent presentations in the future.

BARRY Reader Response Draft 2

According to the article “Sustainability in the gardens” taken from the Garden by the Bay website, it mentions the effort done in ensuring that it is environmentally sustainable in terms of water and energy. The author talks about the implementation in Dragonfly lake and Kingfisher lake, how it acts as a natural filtration system as well as a provider of aquatic habitats for the diversity of biological life living within them. Mentioning about it being naturally cleanse before discharged into the reservoir for irrigation in the Gardens. Claiming that it will raise awareness of the value that aquatic plants play in nature and also highlighting the significance of clean water in a sustaining biodiversity. By incorporating different methods in achieving the results, in which the author describes. The author also brought up that with the use of technologies, it raises the energy-efficiency in cooling by at least 30% savings in energy consumption. Describing how the conservatives’ uses shade to lower the heat while reducing the need of cooling. How in return the waste heat produced by the electricity could be reused for dehumidifying. The author mentioned about the use of photovoltaic cells through the use of harvested supertrees which will be used for lightnings while others act as air exhaust containment units.

I believe that Gardens by the Bay adopts an eco-friendly approach through sustainable and efficient energy use. Therefore, I agree that the adoption of energy efficient and sustainable methods has enabled Gardens by the Bay to have sustainable conservatories.

Firstly, the main features of Gardens by the Bay are its two main conservatories which exhibit the use of energy efficient and sustainable technology infrastructure. This was done through the use of specially selected glass which allows for the ideal amount of sunlight for plants in the dome, while drastically reducing the high amounts of heat that present in the dome. Moreover the roof is also fitted with sensor operated retractable sails that opens automatically to provide shade to the plants when temperatures get too hot (Gardens by the Bay, Energetics of the Conservatories).

Secondly, the method of cooling was only adopted in the lower levels of the conservatories through the use of thermal stratification, as a means to reduce the overall amount of air that required cooling within the domes (Gardens by the Bay, Energetics of the Conservatories).

Thirdly, in an effort to lower the levels of energy required, a process of dehumidification of air before cooling was carried out. This is done by using a drying agent called liquid desiccant which can be obtained from the recycling of waste heat through the burning of biomass (Atelier ten (2012) Gardens by The Bay, Singapore).

Lastly, in an effort to power the chillers that help in the cooling of the Conservatories, electricity is produced on-site. At the same time, waste heat is captured in the process to regenerate the liquid desiccant. This co-generation of energy is achieved by the use of a Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine that is fed by horticultural waste from the Gardens and other parks around Singapore. Therefore this decreases their reliance on the electrical grid (Gardens by the Bay, Energetics of the Conservatories).

                                                                                                 

In conclusion, I agree with the authors view that the various aspects and methods brought forth by Gardens by the Bay was effective in creating ecofriendly and sustainable conservatories, that helped raise international awareness on the importance of adopting eco-friendly and sustainable energy designs.

References:

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

Atelier ten (2012) Gardens by The Bay, Singapore. Retrieved from: http://www.atelierten.com/2012/projects/gardens-by-the-bay/

BARRY Reader Response Draft 1

According to the article “About the gardens” taken from the Garden by the Bay website, it states that much effort is done in ensuring that it is environmentally sustainable in terms of water and energy. The author talks about the implementation in Dragonfly lake and Kingfisher lake, how it acts as a natural filtration system as well as a provider of aquatic habitats for the diversity of biological life living within them. It raises awareness of the value that aquatic plants play in nature and also highlighting the significance of clean water in a sustaining biodiversity. The author mentioned that the two conservatories dome are fitted with specially selected glass that allows optimal light in for plants, but reduces a substantial amount of heat. It also brought up the cutting-edge technologies for energy-efficient solutions helps the energy-efficiency in cooling by at least 30% savings in energy consumption. It described that how the conservatives’ uses shade to lower the heat within reducing the need of cooling and how in return the waste heat produced by the electricity could be reuse for dehumidifying. In addition, the author mentioned about the use of photovoltaic cells on the supertrees harvested which will be used for lightnings while others act as air exhaust containment units.

I believed that Garden by the bay uses an eco-friendly approach in being energy efficient and sustainable at the same time. I agree that Garden’s by the bay has achieved local and international success by being the largest ecofriendly and sustainable conservatories ever built by being energy efficient and sustainable at the same time.

Firstly, the main showcase of Garden’s by the bay are its two main conservatories as they are exhibit of energy efficiency and sustainable technology. The Flower Dome replicating the climate of Mediterranean and semi-arid region such as South Africa, California and Western Australia. The Cloud Forest Dome is a cool and moist conservatory in tropical montane regions.

Secondly, The glasses of the conservatories were specially selected that prevents over amount of heat entering the domes. It also enables 65 per cent of light to enter the dome, providing maximum illumination. [Laetitia 2014] The Conservatories apply the strategy of cooling only the lower levels, thus reducing the volume of air to be cooled. This is achieved through thermal stratification – ground cooling by chilled water pipes cast within the floor slabs enabling cool air to settle at the lower occupied zone while the warm air rises and is vented out at high levels. Electricity is generated on-site to run the chillers that cool the Conservatories.[Laetitia 2014] At the same time, waste heat is captured in the process to regenerate the liquid desiccant. This co-generation of energy is achieved by the use of a Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine that is fed by horticultural waste from the Gardens and other parks around Singapore. This reduces dependency on the electrical grid.[Laetitia 2014] This Innovative design strategies were developed for controlling these conditions within the naturally environment of Singapore, while minimizing energy demand to ideal levels.

In conclusion, I believe that Garden's by the bay was a success by creating awareness of eco-friendly sustainable energy design locally and internationally. The author brought across the different aspects and ways that Garden’s by the bay used to achieve its goals by being ecofriendly sustainable gardens.    

References:

Laetitia, W (2014) Gardens by The Bay: The garden life. Retrieved 31 May, 2014, from: http://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/travel/gardens-bay-garden-life

According to the report taken from the Garden by the Bay website, the concept of Gardens by the Bay are the principles of environmental sustainability.There are two main lakes within the garden lake system: Dragonfly lake and Kingfisher lake. These two lakes act as a natural filtration system as well as a provider of aquatic habitats for the diversity of biological life living within them. Water run-off from within the Gardens is captured by the lake system and cleansed by aquatic plants before being discharged into the reservoir. Naturally treated water used in the built in irrigation system from the Gardens.  It raises awareness of the value of aquatic plants in nature, and highlights the significance of clean water in sustaining biodiversity. This is only achievable by incorporating the following methods - firstly by the filtering of water, reducing nutrient load and maintaining an aquatic ecosystem. Hence the conservatories replicate the cool-dry climate of the Mediterranean and semi-arid sub-tropical regions and the cool-moist climate of the Tropical Montane region. By applying the cutting-edge technologies for energy-efficient solutions in cooling, it can help to achieve at least 30% savings in energy consumption compared to conventional cooling technologies. This allows for reduced energy consumption, minimizing solar heat gain, cooling only the occupied zones and de-humidifying the air before cooling and generating energy and harnessing waste heat. Therefore , with the use of photovoltaic cells on the supertrees the solar energy harvested will be used for the lighting of the supertrees while others are incorporated within the conservatories acting as air exhaust containment units.

“My English Language Learning Journey” 

Winston Churchill once wrote success is not final, and failure is not fatal. A poignant reminder that success lied in an individuals determination to succeed despite the odds stacked up against us. Diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age, learning had always proved to be a challenging task for me particularly in the field of English. My difficulty in English soon proved to be a mounting obstacle for me, as English became harder to grasp and concepts more difficult to understand over the years and course of my studies. With the large emphasis placed on English as our first language, my parents grew increasingly worried with my persistent struggles in the language. Determined not to let my struggles in the language affect my determination to succeed and through the help and support of my parents whom sought help and found new ways to help improve my English. However, being young and immature at the time I failed to understand the paramount importance of English and my struggles in the language that would once again surface in Secondary School. Once again realizing the stark importance of English in secondary three for my N and O levels and the crucial role it played on my results, I once again turned my focus to doing well in English. This once again sparked my desire to continue improving on the language and my determination not to let my dyslexia in English  and in anything I set my mind to do and prevent me from achieving and attaining success later on in life. "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop" Confucius