Final Reflections

 

Module learning

The goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the semester was to improve my confidence in terms of public speaking and communication with my peers. Throughout the semester, I have engaged in various activities and assignments, the most prominent of which are report writing and presentation, that have allowed me to work towards this goal.

At the start of this module, I was prepared to do most of the work individually. However, right off the bat, the reader response topic that I picked paired me with someone to work with that also shared the same topic. I felt that it was out of my comfort zone as I preferred to write summaries and reports by myself, as that way I can police the work without the need to consult someone else.

As every paired or group project goes, there will be differences in terms of writing styles and research priorities presented by different members. What was important at the start was to just write out a reader response that is good enough to pass. As we continued to work together as a pair, we started to communicate more, which allowed us to understand each other’s way of writing more and in turn improved our report overall.

To further improve my critical thinking and communication skills, I plan to continue practicing active listening and seeking feedback from peers, be it group work or not. I will also strive to engage in discussions that challenge my perspectives, that way I can gain new point-of-views that I may have overlooked. As new understandings between peers grow, new friendships may be fostered on the way as well.

Project learning

Throughout our group research project, which consist of a report and presentation regarding an innovation new 3D printer, one part of our research project that I focused on was the presentation.

As the group project is made up of 4 members instead of the pair work at the start, it introduces new challenges and ideologies to the mix. Different members got different strengths and weaknesses, such as one having more in-depth knowledge to the topic. To optimise the team’s effort, we assigned member’s tasks to their forte. Example, since one of them have more experience in the field of 3D printing, he mainly focuses mainly on the report writing and research as that is what he is most comfortable with. Another member that is better suited for presentation focuses mainly on designing and making sure that the slides are neat and organised.

Teamwork was another key aspect of the project, and from this experience, it had taught me valuable lessons about collaboration and interpersonal skills. I learned to appreciate the diverse perspectives and strengths that each team member brought to the table but also learned to assist their weaknesses as well. Through effective communication and compromise, we were able to navigate challenges and work towards perfecting the group project to the best of our abilities.

Reflecting on this project experience, I have gained a deeper understanding of my strengths, like having a natural delivery in terms of my presentation, and areas for improvement like my language fluency and working on my eye contact during presentation. Moving forward, I will make use of the lessons learned from this project, such as the importance of effective communication, collaboration. I will continue to seek out opportunities for growth and challenge myself to push more beyond my comfort zone for communication.

Thank you for your support and guidance Prof Blackstone. Hope see you again some other time!