Critical Reflection

Gandhi (n.d.) mentioned that “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed”. I can relate to the quote as it has been 13 weeks since my journey with the Singapore Institute of Technology has started and I have truly widened my horizon of effective communication. When I first started the module, I initially assumed it would somewhat be similar to the same effective communication I had during my Polytechnic. However, I was able to learn more from my peers and especially Prof Brad. 2nd week into the module and I had some goals set in mind for myself, which is mainly to improve my oral presentation skills and written communication skills. And I can gladly say that I was able to achieve both my goals as there were much constructive feedbacks provided throughout the assignments done such as the summary reader response, pitch, and formal presentation for the technical report. It was through practicing that I gained more confidence for my oral presentation as I was able to understand the content well so that even if I did forget my script, I would still be able to deliver what was planned. 

I am thankful for Prof Brad who has always been sending us links to web pages, for example, “Top 10 Elon Musk Productivity Secrets for Insane Success” and he has been constantly guiding us through the learning journey and changing my mindset about presentation. I had always thought that a presentation means I will have to carry out the presentation using presentation slides, but I have learned that it is not a necessity. It depends on how we want our idea to get across to the other party and slides are just a visual aid rather than the body. It is more important to use my pitching skills rather than relying on the slides totally. It’s not just the outcome that matters, the process is what actually matters as we gain knowledge from the process. Not only that, the readings and instructional units provided on google drive were very helpful as I had learned, relearn, and unlearn my effective communications skills. I will take what I have learned and relearn from this module and apply the skills for the upcoming. There is no limit to knowledge and I hope that I will continue to be able to learn more but at the same time exercise humility. While I was doing the technical report, it was actually the first time I came across Literature Review. I was able to learn more about secondary research and scholarly articles from the Librarian and learning how to use the various platforms to search for scholarly articles and how to search for them. The literature review is important in a report as it provides credibility for our research. 

This module was truly an enjoyable one especially with Prof Brad as he was the one that make the journey more meaningful and memorable. I do hope to be his student again in the other semesters so we can drink beer and have a cigarette together!