Critical Reflection

 At the very beginning, I have no idea what this module was going to be like as it is very different from all the other modules we had, thus, I have set some goals for myself to achieve before leaving this module behind. I was looking forward to improving on the use of words and sentence structure, be it written or oral communication. Adding on, improving my presentation skills such as speaking confidently without stage fright acting upon me, and speaking with relevance to the content. Last but not least was to improve my email writing skills. These were some of the goals that I have set for myself and I would gladly say that I have achieved most of them, though not perfecting them yet but better than before. Many different exercises done in class such as reading out slides to the whole class to having many small presentations in class allows me to capture many learning points and practice them. Timely constructive feedback was also given to me allowed me to better prepare myself for the next assignment. Being able to put all these feedbacks and comments into practice made me better. Not forgetting about improving email writing, I managed to grab quite a few useful tips while writing emails such as the different types of tones used depending on the recipient of the email and also the formality of the email. Having done very little email writing back in my polytechnic days, I would say that email writing is one of the most important learning points I have taken away from this module as it will benefit me very soon such as emailing our superior and even other professors. I got to unlearn my bad habit of treating my superiors and professors as friends and addressing them accordingly and putting into good use the new knowledge that I have obtained. The Paul Elder framework and the 7’Cs allow me to treat it as a guideline and follow it while writing any piece of work. With much being said, I would love to say that I have gained a lot of knowledge from attending class. I am always looking forward to effective communication class as it is the only class where we get to see our friends, interact and get to know them better.

 

 

 

Regarding project learning, there are several pointers such as citations, teamwork and presentation skills, etc which I would like to elaborate on as it is my major takeaways from the project experience. However, I will elaborate only on teamwork and presentation as it is part of my goal for this module. Presentation is a major objective of this module which essentially is one of the reasons why this module is created. Having to pitch my idea to strangers from the perspective of others was a challenge yet this small “role-play” move allowed me to think deeper from the perspective of others. Similar to many small start-ups where their first step to success is to pitch their ideas to investors so that they will have investors interested in their ideas. This small little experience builds up leading to the final presentation. Having said that I would love to improve my presentation skills at the start of the semester, both mock and actual presentations and many other small mini-presentations allowed me to pick up new skills like standing posture, position, keeping myself calm, and presenting without a script meanwhile refining old skill such as voice projection and eye contact. In the process of preparing for the presentations, my teammates have given me valuable feedback and comments which allowed me to better prepare myself. This teamwork that my group had was unexpectedly awesome as we are clear on the roles and the objective of each member and completed each of our tasks efficiently. This project and the process taught me to think deeper instead of our surface thoughts to bring out the full potential as many of us are satisfied with the initial thought. Also, this project experience gave me a glimpse of how the future workforce would be as many times we will be involved in projects and discussions and that’s where different ideas from different people will come in, and we have to filter out those users and those not useful to the projects and move on.

 

Lastly, the course of the Effective Communication module is fruitful and purposeful and I would love to see more of this module in the future. With Professor Blackstone’s guidance, I have gained much knowledge useful in the near future and would continue to refine them as it will be beneficial to me. It has been a wonderful 13 weeks with my peers and an awesome professor.

- Edited on 9/04/2022 at 0200HRS