Critical Reflection

Through the duration of this module, There are a few things that I have learned, unlearned, relearned and still improving in oral presentation skills, critical thinking skills and the importance of teamwork. Through the oral presentation, I have learned to maintain a good posture during the presentation. This is a way to show the audience that the presenter is confident and not nervous. The things I have to unlearn are the reliance on phones during the presentation and to reduce the words presentation slides. The reason for not relying on phones during a presentation is to show the audience that the presenter knows his content well, and reducing the words on the slides will allow the audience to focus on the presenter instead of focusing on the slides. Reducing the usage of filler words, like “uhm” which can annoy the audience if repeated too much, also disrupts the flow of the presentation. Reducing the usage of singlish during a presentation is important, if the audience understands it. However, it can backfire if they do not understand. To reduce the usage of singlish the presenter can speak at a pace that he can manage. Improving on presentation skills by maintaining eye contact with the audience, speaking confidently and fluently. Incorporating slides with parallel structure and aided picture, to ease the digestion of information.

The Paul-Elder framework has allowed me to evaluate arguments and ideas with rational reasoning, by using unbiased and ignoring distracting information that can cloud the judgment to make decisions. While the 7 C’s of communication also aided me during the group project work. It helped ensure the team was moving on the correct path. One of my teammates missed out on the team meeting, being clear and concise bringing the teammate back to pace. The usage of APA style citation was tedious to learn, however, an important to keep us out of any trouble. I have to unlearn the over usage of overly generalized statements for report writing, as the report is very specific to the functions of the item. I have relearn on the understanding of the author’s intention behind the articles. By understanding the intent of the articles, it can be identified for being biased or unbiased. I can still improve on the use of the Paul-Elder framework and the use of 7 C’s of communication, it will still be of relevance in the near future.  

I have learned the importance of team meeting minutes, it allows those who are absent or not paying attention to understand and catch up on what happened during the meeting. During the project I learned to be more open minded. Listening to the team’s ideas instead of insisting your idea is the best, it allows you to discover many different interesting ideas. Refrain from usage of “now I will pass my time to” during a presentation. Instead do a quick introduction on the topic and the teammate that is presenting next, this will be more professional. Being open to ideas and criticism is important, to be better at this module, we need to be open to criticism and ideas from not only teammates, but essentially anyone with more experience. With positive criticism we can  improve writing and presentation skills. Through the experience in the module, I feel that I need to improve on some proper time management with the team, ensuring the work is done earlier. 

 To sum things up, this module has allowed me to improve in many aspects. The feedback and consultations gave me a general idea of where I stand and how much I need to improve. I hope that the skills I gained from this module will assist me with my future endeavors.