Critical Reflection

Dear Professor Brad,

I would like to use this space to reflect on myself and share my takeaways from this module. At the beginning of this effective communication module, my goals, strengths, and weaknesses were written in my self-introductory letter in week 1, my goals were to write a good report and to give a good presentation.

From the first day of the class, I was a little reserved as I am not the kind of person who can speak up. Gradually, Professor Brad called upon us to read which we can project our voices. Through this, it enhanced my confidence in speaking up. Also, when answering his questions in class, it got me to be quick-witted to deliver an answer. After 13 weeks of effective communication module, I have improved in writing more adequately. However, my presentation skills were not the best, but I have achieved the confidence to stand up to give a presentation. Before the presentation, practicing with my friends and consulting them on improvements to be made. Through this class, I grew strong bonds with my classmates, and gradually my communication skills improved. During our class assignments and project discussions, it was good that Professor Brad mixed us around to communicate with other students. It was an effective way to make friends and get to know them more, especially since this is the first trimester in the new intuition. Also, after working with some classmates, it gave me a better decision to choose who I want to work with for my effective communication project.

As my language skills are not very good, the instructional units and lessons gave me a clear idea of what was required. I tried to apply those to my reports. Rubrics on report writing and presentation for the project in which Professor Brad went through with the class and gave me a deeper understanding of what was expected and required. For the report writing, I learned how to write an APA style report by using the citation links on the Symbaloo website. During the pitch in which I had to share my proposed solution to the other group members, I felt that I should be more confident to show that I know about my project. The challenge we faced as the team is finding a problem statement as we felt that it was not an impactful problem statement. After refining it, we were able to find a concrete ideal, gap, and goal for our problem statement. Hence, we were able to focus and narrow down to the main idea as there was a specific target audience. After listening to what Professor Brad has mentioned, I learned that having a concrete problem statement is mandatory. With that, the overall project will have a clearer vision of how it will proceed. I felt my team was cohesive as each of us has their strong points. Having a creative mind, I helped my team in creating attractive PowerPoint slides to capture the attention of the audience. Hence, I tend to put in more effort with visual aids. I am also thankful for my team members that I handpicked: Clement and Dexter. I observed and discovered their strengths during our in-class activities which made me decide on whom I would like to work with. Clement is a quick-witted and eloquent speaker in his pitch. His writing skills are competent and taught us how to paraphrase and use sophisticated vocabulary. Dexter is indeed a presentable person, he shows confidence in speaking and I look up to him for advice. He also taught me how I can utilise visual aids in my presentation.

With Professor Brad’s unconditional guidance, I would be able to apply my writing and presentation skills to my other modules in the future.

Best regards,

Celine Chong