Critical reflection

I remember that the first lesson that I took after enrolling into Singapore Institute of Technology was this module "Critical thinking and communicating". My thoughts were what was the point of this module and what a waste of time. However, after going through this trimester, my opinion of this module changed. 

Module learning

There were several assignments that made me rethink my choice of coming into university. The very first lesson summarized the deadlines of each assignment and that made me panic as it had been long since I was in school and have not acclimatized to the student life. I recalled the first official assignment I had to do was to write an introductory email of 300 words to my professor. As it had been so long since I had to write something lengthy, I had difficulty producing quality work. However, my professor allowed us to improve it anytime throughout this trimester, and this made me see the improvement of my writing skills. The other assignments such as the reader response and the tech report demanded both research and writing skills, which I felt that both skills were my weaknesses as compared to my communication skills.

This module also requires communication skills which I felt was my forte. However, seeing how my professor speaks in each lesson and after revising on ways to improve my presentation skills, I felt that my communication skills are far from perfect. My professor, on several occasions, asked the class to give a pitch to the rest of the class, which I thought these occasions can help me improve my communication skills by looking at the communication strengths of others.

Being taught by my professor is a blessing, as there are many materials provided to us for each lesson and assignment. There are several instructions and previous students' examples which I can refer to and improve on my current works. Apart from that, there are blogs written individually by the class, a platform for my classmates to give feedback on the assignments we put up. For research, there is an online library that allows me to search the necessary materials required for my assignment which I felt was crucial because the other websites on the internet is unable to provide the appropriate information.

Project learning

I took up the role of team leader for my team's tech report. I took the responsibility of a leader to ensure what is needed to be done for the week and to keep track of the team's progress. I chose the members of the team, not knowing their personalities and how they work, but that did not stop me from working with them because they placed their trust in me as their team leader to get the team to work together. After knowing the strengths of each team member, I let them choose what they are comfortable doing and delegated the work equally to ensure the completion of the tech report.

Even though I came up with the a proposed solution to an existing problem, the team readily agreed with my idea and proceeded with the research without hesitation. There may be some disagreements but we knew we cannot get in the way of the teams' progress, so I proposed a vote within the team to ensure fairness and prevent any disputes. I learned many things as a team leader and I knew that I had to cherish this opportunity given to me. 

In conclusion, this module helped me improve my writing, research and communication skills, and I will encourage others to give their all for this module as it is not only enriching but fun as well.