Assignment 1C: Critical Reflection

 Throughout the course of the critical thinking module. I have been able to upgrade my existing skills and learn new skills that I did not know I did not have until this module. Firstly, at the beginning of this module, I was under the impression that my presentation skills were decent. However, during lessons, when I was being put on the spot, I realized that I got very flustered and panicky that I rambled and did not do a good job presenting my thoughts and ideas. One thing that our professor said that stuck with me and helped me through the oral presentation was ‘fake it till you make it’. It was entirely normal for me to feel nervous when I have the attention of a classroom full of people. I just needed to pretend to be confident until I started feeling comfortable. I believe that I have found a useful way in which I can gain more confidence when doing presentations and met my initial objective for this course.

 

The second objective of mine was to see the bigger picture and not focus too much on the smaller details. I would say I did not get much opportunity to work on that. Critical thinking skills are something that I can work on lifelong and not just through the expansion of this module. I can attend workshops or even classes in the future to continue enhancing my critical thinking skills.

 

The skill that I already had before attending this module was how friendly and approachable I am. This skill was very useful when I initially started working, with my groupmates as it made it easier for them to open up to me and for us to start brainstorming ideas.

 

The group project majorly contributed to the upgrading of my skills. As a team, we were able to put all our minds together and create an idea that would be very much applicable to the engineering field. What I learned about myself is that I am very passionate about being in service to the engineering field by creating and implementing sustainable ideas. This is because I have always been an advocate for sustainability and reducing global warming even before entering university. Thus, I realized that this is one way in which I could do my part for the environment even after receiving my engineering degree or even pursue sustainable engineering as a career after graduating.

 

Secondly, through this group project, I also managed to pinpoint my weaknesses. One of them is my presentation skills. As I have mentioned above, I am not very fond of presenting my ideas in front of a group of people. However, this group project allowed me to work on that weakness of mine through the numerous practice I have done for oral presentations. Adding onto that, by being able to watch my other classmates present, I was also able to learn and absorb their presentation techniques. Lastly, when my classmates review my presentation skills, they provide ways in which I can improve myself. That has been also very helpful for me personally to gain confidence. The technical report also allowed me to improve my grammar. Overall, as we were improving as a class, I felt more motivated to work to improve myself as well.

At the end of this module, I believe I have become more confident in front of people. I have learned that critical thinking and writing skills cannot be perfected over the course of a trimester. I need to constantly practice even after this module to ensure that I do not lose the skill. For example, I could continue updating the blog that we created. All in all, I will continue working on my skills even after this module.