Critical Reflection: The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

In the past before attending Effective Communication module, I have never considered the actual benefits and importance of peer and tutor feedback. However, the emphasis placed on peer and instructor feedback throughout the SIE2016 has played a significant role in improving my writing and developed an interest to it. I started this module with little confidence in my writing abilities. Fortunately, the peer and tutor feedback has helped to change this, and I am now more confident in my writing.

The peer and tutor feedback had provided me with a platform to exchange our writing ideas freely. During the course, I had many opportunities to provide and receive feedback from my peers and my tutor through commenting on google documents. While providing feedback for my peers, I got to evaluate their writings and was exposed to different writing styles. This gave me many new insights towards developing my academic writing. Their feedback was very encouraging, and it helped me to realize many positive aspects of my writings which I was previously unaware of. This significantly boosted my confidence and determination to improve my writing. Also, the feedback has also surfaced many common mistakes which I make unconsciously in my writing. These errors include the subject-verb agreement and grammar.As a result, I am now more aware and wary of committing them in my writing.

In conclusion, I am a much more confident writer now. Unlike the past when I would avidly avoid writing, I now view every writing assignment as an opportunity to improve and develop my ability to write. I foresee myself to continue applying peer and tutor feedback in my future writings. By continuing to keep an open mind, I believe this feedback system would continue to benefit me even beyond my tertiary education.(295 words)

Oral Presentation Reflection

The first team to start off with my oral presentation and coincidentally I am also the first speaker in my group. For the first speaker, it is crucial to capture the audience attention so as not to bore the audience. Firstly, I started off by greeting the class and the lecturer. Subsequently introducing my team member’s name and followed by an attention grabber which is telling a story and asking the audience what is the moral of this story. This engages the class to participate and makes it more lively rather than straight away telling the class what our problem statement is.

Secondly, I felt that I had maintained eye contact with the audience in the class. I also demonstrated a segment of pretending that I had lost my balance on the escalator which makes it more realistic. Next, after narrating my story, in my next two slides, I bring in two real life examples of the problem and stating the urgency to solve this problem which is to prevent injuries caused by train platform screen doors.

 Thirdly, for my delivery, I felt that I was loud enough to bring across my message to the class, but I was a bit too fast in my presentation. I managed to finish my content in within the given time allocation. For Q&A session, I stepped forward to answer Aaron and Ms Lim enquiries. This tells the audiences that I have done my research in my project and showing confidence in solving their clarification.

Lastly, to improve my presentation skills perhaps I can record a video of myself presenting and do a playback. This replay will show me my mistakes I make and to ensure I do not commit it during the actual presentation. (291 words)

Reader Response “This Detroit House Is Being Turned Into A Living Model Of Cost-Saving Sustainable Design”

In the article “This Detroit House Is Being Turned Into A Living Model Of Cost-Saving Sustainable Design” by Peters (2016) narrates about the Motown Movement, which has helped people of Detroit especially, to modify their houses and cut cost and consumption of energy. The article portrays the endeavor of three architecture graduate friends of Netherlands, who aim to demonstrate the practical implications of their learned theory in a unique way. They had gone to Detroit after their graduation and bought a shabby house to retrofit it into a low-cost tenable model. As they planned to do it, they invested their time to search for an affordable way of adapting the older stuff to serve the purpose. Everything which they have come up with is DIY and pocket-friendly. In addition, They are interacting with the local organizations to float the idea in the rest of the community. Simple methods propounded by them will make the idea adaptive for all different climate zones as well. Moreover, the three students are working with their university to carve out a master’s program to provide people with all the necessary and useful knowledge for turning their home into a sustainable model.

I believe that there is a lot what people can learn by joining hands to explore beneficial ways of living. By adopting the low cost, sustainable ideas brought in by technical people. They can make their life easier by cutting down their expenses in the time of low city revenue.

Fox business article (2014)  ‘How Detroit went bankrupt, how it got out and where the city goes from here’ retrieved from (http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/11/07/qa-how-detroit-went-bankrupt-how-it-got-out-and-where-city-goes-from-here.html) mentioned about Detroit had filed for bankruptcy on July 18 2013. This shows that the city is running out of money and this problem has been building for decades and has reached a point where immediate action is necessary to keep the city running. Therefore, many voluntary organizations had also come up with initiatives to help Detroit such as ‘The Detroit Future City’,retrieved from (http://detroitfuturecity.com/initiatives/) implementing works with a wide range of partners to cultivate affordable retroffing Strategic framework.

Therefore, in such situation, a thriving and revolutionary thought of three individuals must be appreciated. I personally think that the knowledge we gain should not be restricted to theory. It must be practical like these graduates are inculcating the theory into skills. We need to practically implement the skills to make ours and others’ lives, easy and advantageous.

People literally have no idea what they are capable of doing in unity; even the most congested and crowded cities can breathe by employing such stupendous DIY hacks. Unity with the inter-territorial brains and technology is a key to numerous benefits regarding, making the living styles innovative, creative and cheap.

In the same manner, Bartollaci(2014) in ‘10 Innovative Affordable Housing Designs For Sustainable Living’,  retrieved from (http://architizer.com: http://architizer.com/blog/affordable-housing/) guides the best insulation methods through which the common people can get useful information to make their homes, sustainable and cut down their monthly bills.

Though the idea of Dutch boys is revolutionary and cost friendly for the lower revenue city, but hurdles will come in their way. Whereas, their spirit shows that they will overcome all the stumbling blocks on the way.

To encapsulate, we can say that if people realize and understand the immense positive outcomes of these revolutionary low-cost ways, they definitely will join hands to learn and get these modifications done to their houses, as a bankrupt city needs such money-friendly ideas to revive their financial strength back.

(585 words)

References

Peters, A. (2016, July 07). fastcoexist. Retrieved from www.fastcoexist.com/: https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061563/world-changing-ideas/this-detroit-house-is-being-turned-into-a-living-model-of-cost-saving-s

Bartollaci, J. (2014, January 21). Architizer. Retrieved from http://architizer.com: http://architizer.com/blog/affordable-housing/

detroitfuturecity.com/. (n.d.). Retrieved from detroitfuturecity: http://detroitfuturecity.com/initiatives/

foxbusiness. (2014, November 07). Retrieved from http://www.foxbusiness.com/: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/11/07/qa-how-detroit-went-bankrupt-how-it-got-out-and-where-city-goes-from-here.html

1st Reader Response (Draft) on the topic of 'Detroit House Is Being Turned Into A Living Model Of Cost-Saving Sustainable Design'.

Summary

According to Adele Peter’s article on July 7, 2016, Detroit houses are turning into a sustainable living model of cost-saving sustainable design. This idea was first created by Ronen Dan and his friends through the ‘Motown Movement’ initiated Detroit.

Their project ‘Motown Movement’ agenda is to help residents find affordable ways to retrofit their houses and save energy. The project will adopt various modification methods.

Firstly, it encourages residents to reuse materials from abandoned houses instead of buying new material which will be costly. Secondly, it provides a workshop on sustainability to equip residents on the knowledge of installing insulation which could save as much as 70% of energy in their house which will result in more sustainable living.

Thirdly, all supplies will be available in Detroit area in this shop ‘Home Depot’ where customers can easily access the items they want to buy instead of going to  other places to buy it.

Next, collaborating with the Delft University of Technology, they aim to expand this idea globally through a master’s program and create awareness about sustainability. Thus more people would have the knowledge of sustainability and can execute the plan themselves.

Lastly, these approaches help save building materials and produce renewable resources as well as educate the residents on reducing energy wastage.

Thesis Statement

I believe that after the financial crisis that had happened in Detroit in the 1950s, it is a feasible plan that Detroit residents will benefit from the transformation of sustainable makeover because it focuses on using low-cost materials which will be made affordable to everyone.

Author of reader response:According to Fox business article on November 07, 2014, Detroit had filed for bankruptcy on July 18 ,2013. This shows that the city is running out of money and this problem has been building for decades and has reached a point where immediate action is necessary to keep the city running. Many people had fled the city which resulted in a high number of run-down and abandoned houses scattered across the city. Therefore, much voluntary organizations had also come up with initiatives to help Detroit such as ‘The Detroit Future City’ implementing works with a wide range of partners to cultivate initiatives that demonstrate how the recommendations of the Strategic Framework may be fulfilled.

Another idea Ronnen Dan come up with is to turn Detroit houses into a sustainable living model of cost-saving sustainable design. However, their supplies can only be bought at one place which is the ‘Home Depot’ which might not be convenient for some people who live far away.

What I suggest is that they can set up a roadshow at first to make more people aware of their project and their plan and at the same time introduce retrofit materials and sell low-cost materials on the spot too. Next, they should set up more stores at different locations to make it accessible for people to buy their material and thus saving time instead of traveling all the way to one location to buy it.

References

detroitfuturecity.com/. (n.d.). Retrieved from detroitfuturecity: http://detroitfuturecity.com/initiatives/

foxbusiness. (2014, November 07). Retrieved from http://www.foxbusiness.com/: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/11/07/qa-how-detroit-went-bankrupt-how-it-got-out-and-where-city-goes-from-here.html

News, B. (2014, December 10). Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com: http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-detroit-bankruptcy-idUSL1N0SX2J620141210

Peters, A. (2016, July 07). fastcoexist. Retrieved from www.fastcoexist.com/: https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061563/world-changing-ideas/this-detroit-house-is-being-turned-into-a-living-model-of-cost-saving-s

Summary writing for "This Detroit House Is Being Turned Into a Living Model of Cost-Saving Sustainable Design".

Shrinking cities is a critical issue that triggered Ronen Dan and his architecture classmates coming up with the Motown Movement in Detroit to construct an easy and cost effective solution for sustainable homes in the neighborhood. This actual example helps save building materials and produces renewable resources as well as educates the residents on reducing energy wastage.

The project will adopt various modification methods that are understandable and adaptable internationally. Collaborating with their university, they aim to expand this idea globally through a master’s program and create awareness about sustainability.

As a result, all people can benefit from this project and spread the knowledge of sustainability to other people. (Adele Peters - “This Detroit House Is Being Turned Into a Living Model Of Cost-Saving Sustainable Design”)

My English Language Learning

My English language learning journey was enjoyable and fun when I had enrolled into kindergarten. At that point of time, I learnt about English Language such as the twenty-six English alphabet and learning how to form simple words together in a group with other children.

Ever since I had joined primary school, it was the most important steps of my English language learning journey because it slowly builds up my foundation and I started to interact with my classmates and applied correct grammar in my writing skill and pronounced my words clearly. I was exposed to the basic of English fundamentals such as tenses, punctuation and grammar which gave me a better understanding of what English is.

After I had advanced to secondary school, the school had ordered ‘Reader’s Digest’ for all students to read during assembly period. I had stumbled upon complicated vocabulary I had never come across and I would find out the meaning of the word from Oxford dictionary. Next, I would try to relate these vocabularies in my composition writing whenever necessary.

As an undergraduate now, I have many assignments that requires English such as report writing and this will determine the level of competency in my English language. Achieving good grades on my report writing skill I would need to read up online for examples and also read up the newspaper such as ‘The Straits Times’ to know about current affairs of what is happening around the world for ideas to be implemented in my report writing.

Ultimately, I feel that English language is an asset that will follow you forever. It is critical to start young so that when you proceed to the next level you are more familiar. To be fluent in English is all about practicing every day in you lives and not make the same mistake again.