Can't believe its finals already!
This is the time when I tend to watch the most movies and dramas while studying.
I dunno why but I seem to actually spend less time studying than watching shows...Game of Thrones that i didnt finish watching the last time exams came around last semester, Man of Steel, Lone Ranger, etc.
Anyway the heat transfer module is just learning how to tackle the exam questions which is practicing my problem solving skills which is like the most of the rest of the modules that I took in these 4 years.
Human Resource module is more useful in that you get to learn how to conceptualize things about myself and about aligning yourself for the future. You learn about multiple role identities that you form about yourself and how it can conflict with each other. Some is definitely prioritized over others and some fade away with time and thus it is always changing. We seek to legitimize our role identity by our role performance to gain role support from people around us and more importantly from ourselves. This I find is very interesting and insightful as in conflicting times like now when I am on a crossroads of different paths I can take in my life I kind of gives hints of what each directions will lead to.
Another important thing that I learn is about career. It is not about achieving a work-life balance where I get to enjoy a lot of free time outside work (which I probably won't like) to do things I really enjoy. Instead I should be aiming more at work life integration where I really enjoy what I am doing. I guess I always know this but it kind of slipped my mind along the way. To forge my own career with a heart, I need to utilize the 5W1H, mainly the how, whom and why (technical know HOW, knowing WHOM is to socialize with the correct people, and WHY do I want this job requires a clear examinations of my motivations, values and beliefs.) And if my dream career does not fit my current ASK(ability, skill, knowledge) I need to have an action plan to fill in the gaps. In fact I should have an action plan for everything I do.
One more thing that I realize about university is that while I had a really fun time in Tembusu, it is a terrible place to socialize if you are looking to graduation as people in Tembusu are mainly year 1s and 2s who just entered university and are having the time of their lives (even if they dun realize it yet) and a handful of year 3 who are going on exchange programs. In these years of my university life, I am more attached to tembusu rather than my faculty which I really spend very little time in and studying as I study on my own a lot (I didn't even go for a single tutorial). The only things that require discussions are either non-engineering modules like HR or design project that does not really deal with very intense engineering problems. As such, I have absolutely no confidence in my problem solving abilities as I seem to just do my quiz and final exams without any feedback, so I never know whether I am right in my concepts. This was something that was form progressively over the years and now I realize it in my final year and I think I have given up on knowing the engineering concepts thoroughly and just going with the system. This makes me doubt myself of getting into an engineering career and seriously considering a non-engineering one.
So what went wrong in my education is that I really should have seek feedback in what I am learning (double loop learning) not just from the teachers and friends but also do some self-monitoring and feedback. And I think with my brain when I plan out my route in year 1 but not with the heart (which is equally important especially with decisions that would be influential in my life)
Well, that's life and it's great that I learnt about myself and how I see my education in NUS for the past 4 years and I will continue learning.
(Sorry for this long wordy post but this is a memory that I want to remember for the rest of my life)
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