Critical Reflection
Module Learning
Leading up to this module I thought that my writing and presentation skills were sufficient enough to get me by in the real world. However, over the course of this module, I came to realize that my critical thinking and language skills have many weaknesses to improve on.
Through this module I have learned various writing skills such as creating a PEEL paragraph, APA 7 citation style, quoting and paraphrasing, and writing an informative tech report. Adding on I have also learned many interesting presentation techniques and pointers to take note of when giving a presentation to various types of audiences. Some examples would be to elevate my pitch by engaging the audience with some thinking questions, not to memorize a script but to understand and rephrase my words and understanding, and to create slides based on the target audience. I will further try to expand my writing and presentation skills by practicing more. This would include participating in more events that require presenting to larger audiences and writing more on my blog. Having said that I feel that I need to work on my ability to convey emotions more effectively through presenting. Understanding tone, empathy, and how to create connections or convey sentiments without the aid of non-verbal cues.
Project Learning
During this module, I have also learned to write an efficient technical report and how to work with people of different personalities. Before this module my idea of a tech report was narrow, I assumed that tech reports were just a report filled with hypotheses, data gathered from research, and relevant findings. However, after this module, I realized that a technical report has many key components such as the executive summary, the background information of the topic, problem statement, purpose statement, the solution to a problem, the benefits it brings about, and the methods of research. I feel that I need to work on my evidence gathering and citation, I believe I need to work on it more through writing. Adding on I was also made to work with a team I was not familiar with. There was an initial challenge of communicating with new people as well as trying to get my ideas and insights across. Eventually, we were able to connect on an intellectual level and work together towards a single goal. Through this experience, I learned how to collaboratively make decisions, listen to everyone’s advice, and weigh all that has been said as a group to reach a final decision, to be more inclusive of my group members in the discussion of ideas, and to be more vocal of plausible disadvantages of some ideas and to be listening actively and not just to respond.
I feel that I need to work on working together with people other than a purely task-oriented mindset, should also get to know each other more through small talks, build stronger interpersonal relationships with team members, and improve chemistry.
Leading up to this module I thought that my writing and presentation skills were sufficient enough to get me by in the real world. However, over the course of this module, I came to realize that my critical thinking and language skills have many weaknesses to improve on.
Through this module I have learned various writing skills such as creating a PEEL paragraph, APA 7 citation style, quoting and paraphrasing, and writing an informative tech report. Adding on I have also learned many interesting presentation techniques and pointers to take note of when giving a presentation to various types of audiences. Some examples would be to elevate my pitch by engaging the audience with some thinking questions, not to memorize a script but to understand and rephrase my words and understanding, and to create slides based on the target audience. I will further try to expand my writing and presentation skills by practicing more. This would include participating in more events that require presenting to larger audiences and writing more on my blog. Having said that I feel that I need to work on my ability to convey emotions more effectively through presenting. Understanding tone, empathy, and how to create connections or convey sentiments without the aid of non-verbal cues.
Project Learning
During this module, I have also learned to write an efficient technical report and how to work with people of different personalities. Before this module my idea of a tech report was narrow, I assumed that tech reports were just a report filled with hypotheses, data gathered from research, and relevant findings. However, after this module, I realized that a technical report has many key components such as the executive summary, the background information of the topic, problem statement, purpose statement, the solution to a problem, the benefits it brings about, and the methods of research. I feel that I need to work on my evidence gathering and citation, I believe I need to work on it more through writing. Adding on I was also made to work with a team I was not familiar with. There was an initial challenge of communicating with new people as well as trying to get my ideas and insights across. Eventually, we were able to connect on an intellectual level and work together towards a single goal. Through this experience, I learned how to collaboratively make decisions, listen to everyone’s advice, and weigh all that has been said as a group to reach a final decision, to be more inclusive of my group members in the discussion of ideas, and to be more vocal of plausible disadvantages of some ideas and to be listening actively and not just to respond.
I feel that I need to work on working together with people other than a purely task-oriented mindset, should also get to know each other more through small talks, build stronger interpersonal relationships with team members, and improve chemistry.
To conclude, I have learned many skills and techniques from this critical thinking and communication module that will be a part of me as well as help me advance my career path in the future. I am more understanding of my weaknesses to improve on as well as my strengths through this module. Professor Brad has made presenting and writing technical reports fun and insightful. This module will be my stepping stone to be a better Engineer in the future.
Thanks much for the detailed reflection, Shak.
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