Critical reflection

At the beginning of the trimester, I envisioned to achieve the goal of improving my writing and oral capabilities. However, by the end of the module, I have reaped more than I have expected. Firstly, my grammatical structure has improved as I have learned how to execute them in my blog write-ups properly. Regarding the format of reader response, technical report and letter, this module has taught me on the proper steps to formulate and cohesively use it. Other than brushing up on my writing skills, I have learned to communicate in a more outspoken manner. By going through interactive sessions conducted in the class, it gave me an opportunity to hone my expressiveness as well as my cohesively in conversing with others.

We are required to work in groups to find an engineering problem, come up with a solution to solve it and write a technical report. To prove that the problem does exist, we have to research for evidence, but our findings were limited. There were times where we found out that some sources were unreliable. Because our project problem is about the uneven distribution in the train of Singapore, there isn't any article related to the problem. Therefore, our group had to turn to reports in another country to back out our findings. From the project, I have managed to know more about my group mates. We cooperate with each other and even willing to take up the additional task given. Some of us doesn't have much confidence in doing the oral presentation, but we have rehearsed a lot of time and gave each other review. Through that, we managed to improve ourselves.

Overall, this module has empowered me with the necessary skills to formulate a proper write-up as well as communicate with my fellow peers. Even though my nature was found to be more on the introverted spectrum, I had managed to break out of it, with the aid of my peers.

Oral presentation reflection

My team, claustrophobia, had a formal oral presentation and I feel that we have presented quite well. Before the presentation, we had a few rehearsal, and everything goes well. But during the actual presentation, but there is some minor issue that came up.

During the actual presentation, I am so nervous that after the first few words, my mind suddenly went blank. To recover myself, I quickly close my eye and took a deep breath. After recovering, I blurred out everything quickly, hoping to get over with it fast. As I spill everything out, I notice that I am just reciting the script I memorized and sound monotonous. But it is better than my past presentation during my polytechnic life. Since I have always been presenting by reading off the slide as I kept being so nervous that I forgot everything I have to say.

In my slide, there are no pictures and words are kept to the minimum, so it would solely rely on my speaking to deliver the ideas to the audience. But due to me being too nervous, I did not realise if I delivered the ideas correctly.

In overall, the team did well as the flow from the start to the end is smooth. I felt that I have improved a lot since the last presentation, thanks to my group giving me advice during the rehearsals.

Reader response draft 4

In the article “3D building models help bring sustainability into construction”, Jenkins (2015) claims that Building information modeling (BIM) is capable of replacing traditional 2D drawings with advanced digital technology. It mentions that BIM constructs a 3D model of the actual building and has the capability of running computer simulation, reducing the cost of construction and increase the energy efficiency of a building. However, Jenkins, claims that with BIM’s advanced technology it is still not commonly used. According to Coventry University’s sustainability director, Smithson (as cited in Jenkins, 2015), even though one can convince others that BIM is better than traditional 2D drawings, it is hard for them to acknowledge its worth until they try using it for themselves. Which is why Smithson and her team run one out of three immersive simulation centre in the world that has BIM technology to allow them to get a hands-on experience with BIM to prove its effectiveness.

Even though there are people who are stubborn and not willing to move on to BIM, it is still essential for construction projects.

First of all, BIM can reduce the time needed for a company to build a building, which every company would want as time used would be reduced which decreases the cost and allows them to increase their productivity. In the article "The Importance of Building Information Modeling"(n.d.), it mentions that Carnegie-Mellon University research has shown that an improvement of just 3.8% in productivity would be able to pay for the construction and sustainability of the building. In the same article, the author also says that BIM can reduce the time needed for cross-referencing and approval during the building phase. 

Secondly, BIM provides an important feature which allows all members of the project group to provide information to each other accurately and fast. As sustainable building project becomes more and more complex, it is essential that every member of the team give information to each other correctly. In the article, "Building Information Modeling: How the construction industry is getting 'smart'"(2015), the author mentions with the traditional way, group members are first given individual task and will then meet up after everyone has done their part. But this could lead to conflicts and problems later in the design process as everyone's solution to their part will find itself unable to fit in with others. From the same article, the author also mentioned that with BIM, the task will be uploaded to the cloud so that everyone in the group is able to view and edit it. By doing this, time used to fit all the individual task together will be eliminated and thus cut down the time for the whole project.

Lastly, BIM can be used to present an easily understandable project solution to the client, and changes can be made on the fly when the client request for it. BIM can show clients an accurately built 3D animated model and allows them to make changes to it, Calvert (2012), indicates that BIM is more than just a tool used for designing as it can also be used to display necessary information accurately.

In conclusion, BIM is essential as it reduces the amount of time and money used, and it increases the productivity. It is a software that can be used in other areas like accurate cloud information sharing and presentation, not just used to draw and virtually build a 3D model.

Reference:

Jenkin, M. (2015). 3D building models help bring sustainability into construction. The Guardian. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/13/bim-technology-design-business-sustainability-construction

Neil Calvert, Spatial.IQ (2012, December 12). 10 Points and the Benefits of BIM [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.synchroltd.com/10-points-and-the-benefits-of-bim

Sure House, (2015, April 6). Building Information Modeling: How the construction industry is getting 'smart' [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.popsci.com/building-information-modeling-how-construction-industry-getting-smart#page-4

The importance of Building Information Modeling (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.indovance.com/importance-of-bim-modeling-services/