Critical Reflection

This reflection describes the skills that I have picked up in this module I aimed to be a more confident speaker and a more outspoken person at the start of this module. At the end, I would say I am more confident in giving presentations and is able to voice out my thoughts better compared to the beginning of this module. However, I would still need a small amount of time to organise and plan my thoughts before projecting them. My pronunciation has slightly improved through prompted readings. While discussing groupwork or going through meetings, I practice not using filler words such as 'erm' and 'so'. Having pauses from time to time also helps the target audience to digest the information that has been presented. Taking your time to present can also make you look more confident in presenting but taking too much time makes you sound unprepared. I noticed when a pitch or presentation is given, persuading and engaging the audience is very vital. The main idea is to overcome the limitations with the benefits that come with it. Getting into the audience's shoes creates new perspectives to further empathise with the audience. To make yourself sound courteous, the display of empathy will further assure the audience that their concerns are dutifully noted. The purpose of a text must be written clearly to embellish the roots of a issue or topic. This sets the reader in the intended direction that leads to a better comprehension of the text. Ultimately, having the audience to follow-up or to acknowledge what you want them to do will make your communication complete. The flow of informative texts and structure plays a big role on how information is conveyed. A good example is having a topic sentence to link your previous paragraph to the next so that the flow of information is smooth and coherent. Citing is to be properly sourced to ensure credibility and illustrate that your writings are legitimate and concrete. As for collating information, summarising is a skill that demonstrates the ability to understand and shorten a informative text while still containing important points to illustrate the main idea. This saves time trying to convey a message by making the text correct and concise. This skills will definitely allow me to be a better team-player in future meetings or projects. 

This project gave me the opportunity to communicate better with my teammates as it boosts my confidence and gives me experience to complete future projects. As for the this research project, I was unsure of my groupmates at first. But in fact, they were really flexible and understanding. We had always had a positive mindset and that really sets the mood for our meetings that were held once a week. It might be short but it does help us keep track of tasks that have to planned or completed. If one of us is unable to complete a task, another groupmate would lend a helping end without hesitation. This group has also certainly bring out the best of each of us through the tutorials and short online meetings. I can safety say that all of us has really improved our communication skills. One main challenge that we faced was to find an individual who has vast knowledge in our topic and with hardwork and determination, we got an online zoom interview. The interview gave us information and a good start to how should we go around this project. This really made me very proud of my group and made me thought that I should put more faith in people. The only grave mistake I have made was thinking my group was incompetent. I should also have more patience. I would sometimes also crack a joke or we would relax and talk about what we were doing before we start our meetings. This allows us to be more relaxed and open minded where we could help each other correct our mistakes and further complete our tasked. As the leader of A-Thinkers, I am really grateful for being a part of this group and project and every step we made as a team. Lastly, I would like to thank my teammates for all their time and perseverance. This pleasant and wonderful journey would not have been possible without them and of course, Professor Blackstone for his erudite teachings.