Guided learning e-portfolio

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Introduction

BACKGROUND OF MUN

Model United Nations ('MUN') is an Academic Simulation Conference that is recognised internationally. Participants are given the opportunity to play the role of a delegate from various countries.

Delegates will represent a country and her interests in the United Nations. By undertaking the responsibilities of representing a nation’s interests, delegates will be exposed to various global issues and perspectives. They will attempt to solve these global real-world issues by finding an innovative solution that fits the needs of the whole committee.

Unfortunately, many view MUN as an 'elite' activity that is out of reach. This stereotype has led many to avoid or feel prejudiced towards MUN. That is why I decided to make this my GL Project - to break the stereotype and bring MUN to TP students.

PLANNING
Before I began the structure of the project, I did a ground survey by asking various students in TP about their perspective of MUN and if they knew what it was about. Many of them said that they had never heard of MUN, a bulk of them said that they had heard of it but never joined due to how daunting it seems and a small group of them said that they had participated in one or two MUNs in their secondary school.

This affirmed my belief in the stereotypes against MUN. Therefore, I began my research, conducted surveys and sought guidance from many experienced MUNNERs which eventually led me to the curation of the Temasek Poly GL MUN Training Workshop.

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Execution

3 LEARNING GOALS:
1. Learn and understand the United Nations and Model United Nations
2. Learn and be more aware about Global Affairs
3. How to organise a competition

TRAINING WORKSHOP
To fulfil my project objectives, I organised a Training workshop to teach beginner delegates about the basic fundamentals of MUN such that they will leave the workshop knowing what MUN is, how it benefits them and how to prepare for one.

It was a half day event and we had 1 guest facilitator and 3 speakers, including myself. The workshop consisted of a detailed explanation of MUN, sharing sessions with the speakers, a demo video of what to expect of a MUN and a short application session at the end.

DELIVERABLES
ACCEPTED PROPOSAL, REFINED PROPOSAL and LEARNING CONTRACT

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Reflection

Participants' Feedback
After the training workshop, participants responded to a feedback form and 100% of them agreed that the objective of the workshop was fulfilled, 88% said that they would recommend this workshop to others and 100% said they would consider or would join a MUN in future.

Personal Reflection
From these statistics, I am heartened that we have successfully reached out to students and managed to share with them about MUN and its benefits. In addition, I believe that I have successfully fulfilled my learning goals.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to fulfil one of my objectives within the academic year. I could not organise the official MUN Conference within the year due to the short time constraints and the COVID-19 restrictions. With that said, it has still been a fulfiling experience as I got the opportunity to learn more about the UN and MUN through my conversations with seasoned MUNNERs and my own research as well. This has taught me research skills as well as I needed to understand the UN better.
A bonus skill that I have managed to hone through this project is my photoshop skills as I had to develop all of the publicity materials on my own.

All in all, my guided learning project has allowed me to step out of my comfort zones and develop myself in more ways than one. I am now more aware of the global and current affairs around me, have a better understanding of the UN and MUN and am excited and equipped to plan more events in future.