Critical Reflection

Module Learning:

At the beginning of this module, I had little to no confidence in my public speaking skills. I have always been shy and soft-spoken, and I thought that people would instantly judge me if I made a mistake while presenting. This negative thought was embedded in my mind and would make me very anxious, so much so that I would stutter my words and fidget around. In reality, being nervous in front of an audience is common. I realized that not everyone is a natural and confident speaker.

This communication module allowed me to step out of my comfort zone, providing me with a safe space to frequently present or speak in front of my classmates. It can be as simple as reading a short text or having to answer perspective questions. Initially, being called out to speak in class was nerve-wracking, to say the least, but as time goes by, I found myself improving my public speaking skills with these small moments. As I put in the effort to ameliorate my public speaking skills, I began to gain confidence in myself and broke out of my self-condemning habits.

Apart from my communication skills, I also developed and improved my critical thinking skills. Critical thinking involves training my mind to analyze any given information in depth, evaluate arguments and form logical conclusions. Throughout this module, I have gained many insights and perspectives from various classmates. This factor was important as it allowed me to broaden my understanding of certain topics and made me grasp the different opinions of the class. During lessons, my classmates and I would often be called out to share our own thoughts on certain discussions, and even though I would feel like I was put on the spot, I know that my responses reflected my honest and transparent judgement.

Project Learning:

Toward the end of the trimester, I had the honour to present a project proposal alongside my team members in front of the entire class, and this was a great opportunity for me not to only improve my public speaking skills, but also to improve my confidence. During the presentation, I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses.

I believe my strength was my good fluency, my well-versed knowledge of the project, and the confidence I was able to exude. I received positive feedback from both my professor and my peers; however, I would say that my performance could be improved much further. I took note of the slip-ups I had during the presentation, such as swaying my body often as I spoke, not making use of rhetorical questions to engage with the audience, and not maintaining eye contact with everyone in the audience. Perhaps I could have been more prepared by rehearsing in front of a group of friends. Even though I would perceive my presentation to be just satisfactory, I am grateful for the experience as I was able to learn more about myself and my team members while completing the project.

Aside from gaining insights about myself, I managed to build friendships among my peers, especially with my team members. Getting to know one another before working with them was important and required effort as well. I was able to acknowledge my team member’s strengths and weaknesses and worked together closely with them to ensure that we get to progress and improve the overall team’s performance. During the project, I learned my team members’ styles of communication, and this allowed all of us to foster the team’s collaboration. All these have helped me to be more optimistic when it comes to having project assignments, as I know what exactly to do to make a successful team.