Critical Reflection
Module learning
Before taking this module, I was
not sure if I had the confidence or skills to present in front of the class and
write a technical report. Previously in my introductory email, I mentioned that
I aimed to improve my presentation skills as I tend to speak too quickly when I
get nervous. I also mentioned that I wanted to improve my active listening skills
to provide constructive feedback to others.
After going through 13 weeks of this
module, I can firmly say that I have achieved these goals. Being asked to read paragraphs
to the class helped build my confidence for the final presentation. Additionally,
the peer feedback forms we had to frequently do helped me in my goal of being
an active listener when others are speaking. I have always struggled with my
rate of speech during presentations and this module has helped me with that.
Being more conscious of my rate of speech helped me speak slower and clearer to
help the audience understand my presentation better. I have also learnt to make
effective slides that grab the audience’s attention. Before being exposed to
the materials of this module, I had always made my slides like everyone else
with many bullet points, so I have something to read off during my presentation.
But after this module, I created my slide with one key takeaway of the slide
and a related picture. This module has provided me a good platform for myself
to improve in terms of communications and critical thinking.
Project learning
The technical report part of the project
taught me many things. This was the first time I was writing a technical report.
The materials in this class helped me a lot in terms of writing the technical
report. It required a lot of reading and cross-checking sources to corroborate
the information. I also learnt a lot from the library workshop about finding reliable
sources. I learnt how to filter out materials to find the main point of the
article and I believe that this is a critical skill that I would need not only
for the rest of my academic life but also for work. I have also learnt the right
way to cite sources and I have already used that knowledge for other modules
when writing reports.
Another takeaway
from the research project was teamwork. We all had different schedules and workloads.
The team managed to compromise and do the best to contribute individually to
the research project. At first it was
hard as we did not know what we were doing, and it was the first time we were
working together but we managed to pull it off and wrote a report we were proud
of. I feel like each of us did our best and we worked well together and
improved our critical thinking and communication skills together.
Thanks much, Austen, for this richly detailed reflection.
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