Critical Reflection

The effective communication module has been extremely beneficial in improving not just my communication and presentation skills, but my technical writing ones as well. When the module first started, I did not expect to have much takeaway as I was ignorant and skeptical of a communications module in an engineering major. However, as the weeks went by, I slowly realised that there was so much about presentation and writing that was unknown to me. For example, I did not know that acknowledging a person, especially one of higher status, via eye contact when he or she enters the room during my presentation was so critical. In the first week, our professor tasked us to list down our strengths and weaknesses in an introductory letter and that became my goal to achieve by the end of the thirteen weeks. I am proud to say that my time and effort spent on this module have not gone to waste. Not only have I improved on my strengths, but I have also worked on my weaknesses and gained more confidence in speaking and writing through it.

Out of all the tasks that have been assigned to us throughout the thirteen weeks, our final presentation was the biggest takeaway for me as one of my biggest weakness listed in my introduction letter, was the fear of shutting down mid-presentation. However, my teammates and I strategized and picked a topic that all of us were familiar with. Having chosen a topic that I have worked on for previous assignments, it gave me the assurance I needed for the presentation as I had confidence in the content that I was delivering to the audience. This presentation also helped me realised that my style of presentation is not built upon hours of practicing to myself at home but has a more improvised nature to it. When the day of the formal presentation came, I was confident and spoke at a calm pace, not as rushed as I used to be during my polytechnic days. I made it a point to make sure I looked at every single person in the room at least once before my part ended as well. When my group was done presenting, I held my head up high, satisfied with my performance. Looking back at these 13 weeks, I never thought I could have as much fun or takeaway as I did, and now, I believe I am equipped with the necessary skills and have the knowledge to take the necessary steps to deliver a wonderful presentation again.