Critical Reflection

 

Module learning

It has been 13 weeks since the start of effective communication module. In the first week, I had set two goals for myself. First, was to increase my confident in public speaking. Second was to improve my ability to be able to deliver a clear and concise presentation. I was always in my comfort zone, where I always shun at the opportunities of giving presentation or stepping up to speak to a crowd of people. Therefore, it was tough in the beginning of the module where we had to form groups and give mini presentation about the topic given almost every week. With my professor and classmate encouragement, I had started to embrace the opportunities given to me during class to be able to practice my presentation and public speaking skill. Being given the chance to speak out during classes even though at times it was not willingly as I get named by professor, it made me realise that the more times I step up and speak, the more I felt comfortable in speaking to a crowd. Now, I do dread at the circumstances where I was asked to give a presentation or be in front of a crowd to speak. I was able to constantly improve my presentation skills over the course of this module. The feedback from peers and professor contribution significantly to me, as I can read through and reflect on what can be done better and what I must work on.

Overall, I might not have completely master and be proficient in my presentation skills. However, I had indeed achieved the goals I had set for myself. Moving forward, I will continue to take on opportunities to practice and improve on my confidence and skills.

 

Project learning

My teammate for the technical report consists of Praveen, Darren and Ariffin. Our topic was on improving waste management system with automation. We managed to work smoothly together with no conflict even though we came from different background with varying personalities. Before our group mock and final presentation. We had our own mini presentation within our group, and we gave feedback to one another on our areas of improvement. I am always reluctant to receive, as at sometimes after receiving unconstructive feedback lower my confidence. However, my team gave me feedback that constructive feedback on areas that I can improve on, such as structuring my parts to ensure that the audience are able to understand without prior knowledge. We had also discussed and work on how we should transit to the next speaker more professionally without using sentences such as “Now, I will pass the time over to the next speaker”. The mock presentation gave us a chance to practice our chemistry with each other, as we notice the weakness of one another. We also had the chance to hold a Q&A session with our classmate, and it help us realise some of the information that we will required for the actual presentation. One of the activities that we had to do is to give feedback to another team, working with my teammates for this activates help us to learn from the other team whether it is good or bad.

Overall, I had a great time through this 13 week of effective communication. I had step out of my comfort zone and learn a ton of skill such as presentation, report writing, using the critical thinking framework to improve my cohesiveness etc. that will benefit me even after graduation and into working environment. Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to professor Blackstone for your time and effort into making this 13 weeks for me enjoyable.