Effective Communications is a class where my peers and I get to exchange ideas and thoughts, giving a different classroom atmosphere from the usual engineering modules we are taking. In the beginning of the trimester, we were tasked to come out with expectations regarding communications. It was there I shared my strength in public speaking and weakness in report writing. Reflecting back on the 13 weeks, I feel that I have achieved what I had targeted for myself.
The reader's response assignment, where we had to learn how to summarise and paraphrase articles, taught me to think more critically and put things into perspective. From this assignment, I had the opportunity to think out of the box and critique on the article we were assigned. Aside from that, doing cross-referencing from other articles to justify my claims and writing it out in APA style deepened my understanding with citations, paraphrasing as well as the formatting.
Preparations for the presentation also provided me with the confidence to pitch ideas to people. Adapting Garr Reynolds' 3 pillars to give a presentation (prepare, design and deliver) better fostered my understanding to give a proper presentation. Of course, the small group sharing sessions during class aided to put what we have learnt to the test.
Overall, I find the module to be fruitful and fulfilling. The group sharing sessions and blog entries have organised my thoughts better, albeit the minor mistake during the final presentation. Skills garnered here will definitely be used in the future.
Thank you, John, for this well organized, clearly focused reflection. You do a very good job reviewing the key tasks in the module and expressing how you felt about those tasks. Of course, the essence of a critical reflection in contrast to a descriptive one, as I had mentioned earlier, is that one reacts to the events/tasks explained. You do that but you don’t give an accompanying explanation of how the experience moves you forward. What in specific, for example, will you do to give the best possible presentation in the future? How did your experience in SIE2016 prep you for future presentations?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I appreciate all your hard work this term. Best wishes as you continue your learning journey!
Hi Brad, I will take note of the difference between a descriptive and critical reflection. I was probably worried about exceeding the word count that I forgot the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteThank you for everything during the trimester. Really appreciate the effort especially the prompt replies in email outside curriculum period. Keep doing what you are doing, sir!