Critical Reflection

Module Learning

My time in this Critical Thinking and Communicating module has been a fruitful one. My goal at the beginning of the module was to improve my writing skills, to produce content that is more engaging, with clarity, as well as improve my confidence in public speaking. Throughout this module, I was able to gather numerous techniques and tips which were helpful towards achieving these goals. One example of such would be the Kolb’s Experiential Learning Style Theory. Using that as a guidance has been greatly beneficial not just in this module, but also learning in general. I learnt to be more open-minded about trying things out and just focus on the process instead of worrying about the outcome. To actively try out things and learn from these experiences.

One method I have tried to improve my writing skills was to read up on my fellow coursemates’ content. Each piece of writing by them was unique, which provided me with understanding from numerous perspectives. The different perspectives offer unique insights and ideas which I have not considered before, allowing me to write with more creativity, resulting in more engaging content. Regarding writing with clarity, the assignments from this critical thinking module have definitely contributed greatly. Things such as report writing as well as the summary reader response were extremely beneficial as I was able to gather insightful feedback from my fellow coursemates as well as Prof Brad, the module instructor. As for my lack of confidence in public speaking, the numerous presentations were helpful. Although I am still slightly uncomfortable with speaking to a crowd, I believe with more practice, I will achieve this goal in the near future.

Project Learning

Initially, the group research project seemed extremely daunting. As the topic of our project was regarding Wi-Fi and mobile applications, completely unrelated to our field of studies, my group had so many doubts regarding the feasibility of accomplishing this project. To top it all off, we were required to give a presentation, a pitch on our idea of a Wi-Fi boosting application, to our peers who were regarded as the key stakeholders of our project. The idea of having to give a presentation to a large audience was very worrying, as public speaking was one of my weaknesses. Fortunately, the weeks leading up to the presentation were lined up with mock presentations as well as small-scale individual pitches to peers from other teams. These activities have definitely helped build up my confidence for the final presentation. Although I had not performed as well as I had wished to, there were definitely significant improvements from before, which I am really grateful for.

As for the writing of the report, our group decided to split the different segments evenly among the members. I liked the idea a lot and felt that this was key to making progress in our report as each member had a clear idea of their roles and what was required of them. Although there were slight discontinuities due to this method, timely feedback from Prof Brad and prompt revisions from the group made this drawback an insignificant one.

Despite my initial reservations about working with mostly unfamiliar people on one of the largest projects that I have encountered so far, it turned out that my group mates were very pleasant to work with. It was an honour to accomplish such a challenging task together and I am truly grateful and appreciative of this opportunity.