Critical Reflection

 Module Learning

My initial goals for this module were to be more outgoing and confident in public speaking. I also wanted to pick up more communication skills to better express myself in a professional context. After taking this module over the past 13 weeks, I strongly believe that I was able to achieve what I had originally set out to do. This was only possible because of the guidance from Prof Brad as well as the support from my peers in class, they provided detailed yet concise feedback for both my oral and written communication in this module. Through this feedback, I was able to improve on my shortcomings and produce better work. An example of this is the feedback I received from Prof Brad for my reader response assignment where he mentioned that my thesis could be more precise in describing the controlling ideas. I was able to apply this later during the group technical report and produce a better problem statement suited to the controlling ideas.

During the oral presentation, my main shortcoming as highlighted from peer feedback was the lack of audience engagement in the form of questions to the audience. After reading my peer feedback, I realised that I had achieved what I initially set out to do as I was able to give a convincing and informative presentation.  

 

Project Learning

The oral presentation component of the team research project gave me the experience to hone the skills and knowledge that I had picked up from class. This included maintaining eye contact with my audience, projecting my voice well and knowing and understanding my content. Alongside this, my group mates and I had several group calls where we practiced our presentation dry runs. With all this in mind, I was able to deliver my part in the presentation smoothly and coherently. This presentation gave me a strong boost in confidence and I’m sure I’ll be able to do as well in the future.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The most impactful lesson I took away from this module would definitely be that teamwork really makes everything easier. Writing a 2000-word report might seem like a daunting task, but after splitting the work and making sure everyone has their responsibilities, everything became much more manageable. The camaraderie among my groupmates showed and we were able to produce a report that we are all proud of. All in all, the past 13 weeks have been nothing short of meaningful and memorable and I believe that all of us have learned a lot under Prof Brad’s guidance.