Critical Reflection

 Module learning 

At the beginning of this module, I had set two goals that I wished to achieve. The first one was to curb my nervousness in order to deliver fluent presentations. Initially, I only knew how to write a script, and I would refer to and/or memorise the script during my presentations. Over the course of the module, I feel like I have improved drastically in the way I present. For one, I have learned to structure my thoughts and question myself in order to critically think. For instance, “We would like to talk about traffic safety”. This is followed by my internal thought “Why is this important?”. As I ruminated on these thoughts during the preparation phases, I found it easier to connect my points together—in a way that would make sense to the audience. This allowed me to be less reliant on my script and to be a more coherent speaker.

My second goal was to be more effective in my written communication, to ensure that readers who stumble upon my work would understand the conveyed messages. Indeed, after many practices with the self-introductory letter, as well as the multiple drafts of the reader responses, I feel like my writing standards have improved significantly. Not only am I more efficient in terms of writing, I am also better able to utilise better vocabulary as compared to repeating words such as “said”. This might be due to the fact that I was required to read more journal articles and other secondary resources, in which I gained exposure to different styles of writing. Importantly, I also find myself to be more selective in the words I use so that my work remains concise yet informative (this was instilled in me when I had to repeatedly cut down words in my reader’s response!).

Project Learning

In terms of the project itself, being a group leader was not an easy task. I had to consistently ensure that all the team members were on the same page—from reminding them of our deadlines to summarising our thoughts after the meetings. Jae as the secretary did an amazing job at recording the meetings, and Jun Yang, at designing our logo and proposed product. Albeit slightly, I also feel like I have also improved in recognising my team member's strengths and weaknesses; this allowed me to delegate tasks in a way that catered to each member. The result of the group assignment leaves me proud of the team. 

As for my personal growth, my teammates’ comments revealed to me that I was still clearly memorising. This made me aware of my subpar delivery— even when my content was well thought out. Hence, I injected my own style of speaking and rehearsed in front of the family several times. Through practising and working on the comments, I grew to be better and pacing myself, and to be more comfortable with speaking to an audience. Moreover, this assignment has also given me the opportunity to work on my abilities in making slides. Although this may seem like an insignificant part to some, I have learned that using simple designs in my slides, with phrases rather than whole sentences, would make presentations more enjoyable. 

Following this module, I would continue reading more to further expand my written and oral communication skills. Whenever I conduct a project that requires research, I would also like to refer to more journal articles and utilise critical thinking tools such as Paul Elder’s framework. If I were, hopefully, to also write scientific pieces in the future, I would also pay attention to things like structure and adherence to the APA style. Thank you, Prof. Blackstone—for being patient with the mischievous bunch of us, and for making this module very much enjoyable. I would never think that a communication module would be so value-adding and impactful! 

09/04/2022 0201hrs