Critical Reflection

Prior to the start of this module 13 weeks ago, I had a clear goal in mind - to be confident in my presentations and writing skills. 13 weeks on, I am happy to say that I achieved more than what I aimed for. 

Throughout my education experience before SIT, I always struggled with public speaking. I had a fear of facing the crowd which led me to always look down or up when presenting. I also had a tendency to rush my words and stutter due to my nervousness. As a result, I failed to engage my audience whenever I had presentations. 

Through this module however, I learned the important skills of presenting which in turn has greatly improved my presentation skills. I learned to always do sufficient research on the items I was presenting on. Having a high amount of knowledge led me to be more confident and fluent in my presentations. The practice sessions we had in class also helped me a lot as it allowed me to receive constructive feedback from my peers on what I had to improve on for my presentations. While my presentation skills have certainly improved, I feel that I can still improve my confidence level. During my final presentation, I found myself to still be slightly nervous and stuttering at some parts. However, with more practice, I believe that my confidence will grow further. 

As for my writing skills, I considered it to be subpar before this module. In my polytechnic days, I tended to 'copy and paste' a lot for my reports with little to no paraphrasing as I could never come up with the proper words to use. This module taught me the proper summarizing and paraphrasing skills necessary for report writing as well as the various APA styles of references and citations which allowed me to properly cite my sources for reports. I also improved on my sentence structures and verb tense agreements which is critical for writing.

During the technical report project, I learned about the importance of communication with teammates. At the start of the project, there were misunderstandings within the team due to lack of communication. But as the weeks passed, we learned to communicate more to understand each others’ perspectives. We also voiced out our own opinions to clarify doubts within the team. Through all this, I managed to work well with my team. I hope that I will be able to use the teamwork skills from this project in future projects.

Overall, the skills I obtained in this module are skills that I will treasure not only for university but also for the foreseeable future. I believe that this module not only improved my presentation and writing skills but also myself as a person. I hope that future students will be able to appreciate this module as much as I did.