Letter of Transmittal

29 October 2015

Mr Brad Blackstone
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Communication Skills
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138683



Dear Mr. Blackstone,

RE: Proposal to create a destination alarm mobile application

This letter is to inform you of our acknowledgement and response to your letter of authorization. We are pleased to present you with the following proposal to improve the travelling experience of commuters in Singapore.

Many commuters fail to alight at their destination due to falling asleep on the buses or trains and ‘digital distractions’ such as smartphones. As a result, they have to spend a considerable amount of time and money to get back to their intended destination again. This causes frustrations amongst the commuters as they deem the additional amount of time and money spent unnecessary.

To reduce the probability of commuters missing their intended stop, my group proposes the development and implementation of a bus alarm mobile application. Firstly, the application serves as a reminder for users to alight promptly at their destinations. Secondly, the integration of “Google Maps”, “SGNextbus” and “Whatsapp-Send your location function” allows users to use one application instead of three to perform a specific task, which makes the application more appealing. Lastly, the application will be free of charge so that more users can download and use it.

We would like to thank you for taking the time to read through the proposal, and hope that you will take our proposal into consideration, thus improving the travelling experience of the commuters.



Yours Sincerely,

Chua Fang Ying (Ms)
Team Leader
On Behalf of Team “Destination Alert!”

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

In Singapore, many commuters fail to alight at their destination while they are taking the public transportation and this has affected their lives significantly.

84.7% of the respondents to a survey conducted by the team have had an experience of missing their intended stops while taking the public transportation. Thus, the team has come up with this proposal to create a bus alarm application with diverse functions to further enhance the current ‘bus alarm’ applications that are available in the market.

Several benefits of the ‘Destination Alert’ includes effective time management, sharing of personal location and ease of access. Potential challenges that could be faced by the implementation of the application such as the generation of profit and patenting issues has also been carefully evaluated. Although there are certain concerns over the data consumption and size of the application, 77.5% of the survey respondents show their interest in the proposed solution.

The proposal concludes that the development and implementation of a ‘destination alarm’ application can help to reduce the probability of commuters missing their stops and better utilize their time. 

Personal Statement

Chua Fang Ying

As a student studying at Singapore Institution of Technology (SIT), I notice that many of my friends have had experiences whereby they fail to alight at the bus stops nearby SIT. As a result, they were late for lessons and had to spend extra time travelling to the school. Thus, I hope that I can help them to solve such a problem.  

Reader Response: "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment' Draft 4

Khanna (2015), in the article of "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'", stated that Asian cities had been experiencing a swell in population in recent years, resulting in the need for (these) cities to expand. He highlighted that in order to counteract the intensive growth, it is essential to have a city that consist flexible governance, provision of self-service and is generative. "Flexibility and adaptability" are paramount in flexible governing. An example given was Jakarta utilizing a smartphone application to obtain first-hand information from citizens with regards to their concerns. Due to the hefty size of cities, self-service is also vital in the provision of basic necessities like housing and transport. Khanna noted that cities like Manila and Bangkok are struggling with insufficient housing and severe pollution issues respectively. With the implementation of self-service, citizens would be granted the ability to directly notify and/or provide feedback to the government upon encountering issues such as natural disasters. Lastly, he pointed out the need for cities to be generative in the form of yielding new business models through investments in infrastructure, thereby incurring growth in the economy. Khanna foresaw Southeast Asian cities to be the model of urban development due to their exponential growth in the recent years. However, Khanna could have done better in providing the reader with a fuller understanding of the setbacks shown in Jakarta and Manila, such as bad traffic and air pollution.

An example was how Khanna’s analysed the implementation of the mobile application, QLUE, in Jakarta. The analyse was insufficient as the article lacked an in-depth explanation with regards to the success of its implementation. There were no significant changes mentioned QLUE, a platform meant for citizens to voice their concerns to the government, was developed to assist citizens and the government in the rapid growth and constant changes Jakarta was experiencing. One of the targeted areas that needed to be improved was the traffic conditions. However, even with the use of QLUE, Jakarta was still listed as the city in Indonesia that experienced the worst traffic conditions (Wardhani & Budiari, 2015). Notwithstanding that, Budiari noted that there was insufficient effort put in with regards to the enforcement of traffic laws and regulations in Indonesia (Budiari, 2015). The creation and implementation of QLUE was meant to bridge and facilitate better communications between the government and its citizens. However, citizens' concerns were not heard and or resolved. Therefore, Khanna would have better explained the situation at hand if he had discussed the after effects and success rate of the mobile application with statistics and details. 

Secondly, Manila has been experiencing bad air quality with no signs of improvement due to increases in pollution caused by the exponential growth of population. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), motor vehicles and industrial processes are a few of the many means of emission of particulate matter (Macas, 2015). Also, statistics in National Emission Inventory 2012 reflected that 71 percent of air pollution was caused by motorized vehicles. Due to the inclining population Manila is facing, the quantity of motor vehicles on the road has increased as well, inducing bad traffic and an increase in air pollution as a whole. Philippines is a fast-growing country, yet it is still unable to cope with the changes of population, resulting in a rise in air pollution related issues. The article would have been more complete if details and causes of problems Manila is experiencing such as air pollution and poverty were discussed in detail to aid the audience's understanding of the article. 

In conclusion, the article could be more accurate and allowed the audience to comprehend the article in depth, if, Khanna had provided further details and supports with accurate data for the use of QLUE application and air pollution. 

Reference

Budiari, I. (2015, June 16). Jakarta traffic chaos crying out for tougher rules. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/16/jakarta-traffic-chaos-crying-out-tougher-rules.html



Khanna, P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment



Macas, T. (2015, June 23). Metro Manila’s air quality even worse this year – data. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/509142/lifestyle/healthandwellness/metro-manila-s-air-quality-even-worse-this-year-data



Wardhani, D. A. & Budiari, I. (2015, February 05). Jakarta has ‘worst traffic in the world’. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/05/jakarta-has-worst-traffic-world.html

Critical Reflection

The last lesson of Effective Communication marks an end to the semester, it also means exam are coming. Looking back at the past two month, Effective Communication was definitely one of the most fruitful lessons that i had. Initially, the module was a dread for me as my foundation in English language is weaker as compared to other students. Writing blog post or summary in proper language is a challenge. Moreover, students have to give feedback to their classmate, which I find it difficult to give constructive a good feedback.

However, every lessons there is a great takeaway. From the beginning of the module, we learnt the importance of giving and accepting feedback. Giving feedback may not be as easy as one thought. Much consideration have to be done before commenting on other classmate blog post. We have to consider the language used for commenting, how the post could be improved, and to express the appreciation for the experience shared. Often, instead of spotting any mistake in the blog post, I was reading and getting to know my classmates through their shared experience. Accepting feedback was also not an easy feat. Based on the given feedback from lecturers and peers, we have to reflect on what had went wrong and how we could improvement or changed. It was a challenge as it felt like someone was only looking at our negative points. Thus, it is important to mention the positive points too. Giving and accepting feedback can be easily applied into other modules and our daily life. As we are only first year students, there are still many module presentations ahead of us to apply what we had ‘learn and unlearn’ through the feedback.

Referencing and citation is also one of the most important part of the lesson. For my polytechnic projects, most of the groups and students only knew about the referencing of the sources. Even though we knew about in-text citation, yet we do not know how and where it should be applied. Through Effective Communication, I learnt how to ‘write’ citation and the importance of it, crediting the rightful owner of the sources we used. This definitely should be and had to be applied in all other modules and any reports that we write in the future.

Presentation skills taught in the class was also of great value. We would have to present not just for project in school, but also after we graduate. Besides how we present ourselves during presentation, the slides that we used also add points for our presentation.

Effective Communication was a great module that build students foundation and understanding of writing and presentation skills. These skills enhance our report writing and presentation, ensuring that we are on par with students from other local universities. Not losing out, we have to ensure that what was taught and learnt are apply in the future.

“Individually we are one drop. But together, we are an ocean.” (Satoro, 2013)

In Ngee Ann Polytechnic, every student was encouraged to participate in the Overseas Immersion Programmes (OIP) or the Overseas Community Service Trips (YEP). I was lucky that I could be involved in both OIP and YEP. 

I went to Wuhan, China for OIP that lasted for 5 weeks. At Wuhan, my group of friends and I stayed in the local polytechnic campus dormitory, as there were 60 over student's, entire block of dormitory was filled with Ngee Ann students. The disadvantage of the dormitory was, it does not have lifts. Students staying at higher level had to climb up several flights of stairs. The intention was to encourage students to climb the stairs which is a form of exercise. Although the intention was good, the students faced a huge problem when we had to move our luggage in and out of the dormitory. 

Even though many of the students did not know one another, everyone was willing to lend out their hand to help. Without any form of communications, the role of every student was clear to everyone. Male students would just grab the bigger luggage and head towards the flight of stairs. The ladies would either approach smaller luggage or work in pairs to carry a bigger luggage. Some students would also help to take care of the luggage that was left behind or grabbed luggage that went sliding down the slope next to the dormitory. The entire process was smooth and all of us had a role. Teamwork had happened without any of us noticing. 

Similar thing happened in my YEP trip in Luang Prabang, Laos. The group of 30 students and lecturer went to visit the local elephant village. The tour consists of visiting the baby elephant that was located uphill. Along the way uphill, there was no ‘road’, it was entirely a nature trail. The time taken to travel uphill usually takes 10 minutes on sunny day. However, on the day of visit, it was raining. The students were already half drenched prior to walking up hill, which took us 30 minutes. 

Screams could be heard as we travel uphill. The trail was muddy due to the rain, and this makes it slippery. A few of the students even fell and landed themselves in the mud. Many of the girls were holding on to one another, trying to keep their balanced. As the rain gets big, no one had mentioned of stopping, everyone kept on going. I also had handed out my umbrella and sweater to the girls that were totally drenched. The walk uphill finally ended with disappointment when we managed to see the one and only baby elephant.

The way downhill was a nightmare. I really hoped that I had a cardboard to slide down the muddy trail. As it may be dangerous for everyone to travel downhill at one go, the students were separated to travel in different batches. The way downhill was really slippery, yet the male students just slide down without difficulty. I slide down accidentally, thus I joined the group to help the others. The male students and I would take the lead and find a ‘non-slippery’ step for the others to land on. After the males students and I had stand firmed on the muddy trail, the females students would take their hand and travel downwards slowly. Our travelling pace also slows down to prevent any form of injuries and accidents. The process repeated several time with the male students leading ahead. When the entire crew managed to reach the bottom of the hill, everyone cheered. Many might not have noticed, but the lecturers that went through the journey with us looked pleased. As one of the senior students in the trip, the lecturer shared with me that they had truly enjoyed the view of the students working together to overcome our challenge. 

OIP and YEP expand my horizon, which allows me to understand the culture and traditions of different countries. Through the trips, I also learnt to be independent and the importance of teamwork. Without teamwork, the challenges I faced in China and Laos would not be easily overcome. Teamwork was a precious takeaway from the events.

“Individually we are one drop. But together, we are an ocean.” (Satoro, 2013)
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Satoro, R. (2011). Ryunosuke Satoro Quotes. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ryunosuke_satoro.html

Oral Presentation Reflection

On Monday, my team and I completed our presentation. We had prepared for the presentation in the past weeks, the team also meet up the day before the presentation.

It had been more than half a year since my last presentation, I was really nervous. Everything seems to happen so fast in that short 5 minutes of my presentation, and I can hardly recall what had happened. My only memory was during the Q&A and feedback session. Based on the feedback and evaluation, the team and I still had rooms for improvement. Notable mistakes of the team were not using pointers and the arrangement of the slides, the flow of the presentation was a bit messy. Besides the mistakes and negative feedback, there were also positive feedback. The idea of the destination alarm application seems to be well-received among the class, many even said that it would be a feasible plan. The prototype in the slides had also caught the class attention, the prototype had made things easier for everyone to understand the function of the destination alarm application.

Reflecting on my performance based on the feedback in class and from the peer evaluation, the following are things that i should look out for in my future presentation.

1. Eye contact. It was commented in the evaluation that I was lacking of eye contact with the class, however the comment varies among the evaluation. I believe I had focus on having eye contact with certain part of the class only, thus receiving the feedback of lack of eye contact.
2. Confident. During the feedback session, it was commented that I was confident with the presentation. With the clear projection of voice and gestures made during the presentation, I managed to mask my nervous self. I hope that I will keep up with it.
3. Hand gestures. Without pointers, i ended up with more hand gestures than others. The amount of hand gestures had became a distraction and it ought to be reduced to a suitable amount. And what is a suitable amount? 
4. In appropriate transition to the next speaker. I did not hand over to the last speaker ‘fluently’ as my thought became blanked at that moment. This actually contrast the confident figure that I was as compared to when I was presenting. Further preparation could have been done, a few more rehearsal should improve the problem.
5. Grammar and language. I stumbled for a few times during the presentation, filler words were also used. This made the presentation less professional and not really fluent. Rehearsals and improving in language maybe the solution. 

No one is a born speaker. Learning and improving from our mistakes will be the key to be great in presenting.