Critical Reflection

 One of the goals that I had set at the start of this module was to further improve my communication skills which would better equip me for my line of work in future. Now that this module is coming to a close, I am glad that I have actually managed to build on my communication skills through the many things I have learnt throughout this module. The most impactful concept that was taught to me and helped achieve this goal was the Paul-Elder framework. The Paul-Elder critical thinking framework helps improve and upgrade the way I think, which greatly benefits the way I view and process different situations or scenarios. This affects many aspects of my life as critical thinking is used in majority of thinking processes, including communication skills. After learning the concept of the Paul-Elder framework, I started to apply it whenever possible in my daily life. Through this, I found that being able to better critically think in any scenario I could greatly benefitted me, as I was able to gain a better understanding on how to approach an issue and find a solution to it. Upgrading my thinking through the Paul-Elder framework resulted in better communication skills as I could better organize my thoughts and get my point across to someone clearly. Having gained a significant improvement in my communication skills through the Paul-Elder framework, I have gained more confidence that I would be able to communicate effectively in my line of work in future, allowing others to easily see things from my perspective. This will ultimately result in better team dynamics when working as a team, as the team would be able to communicate effectively, increasing productivity. It would also allow me to be a better leader, as a good leader must be able to communicate effectively and clearly.

For this module, I was also tasked to work as a team to research on improving a product, as well as write a report and give a presentation on it. Through this assignment, I was reminded that working as a team can be challenging, especially when your team members share a different ideology from you. Different people have different perspectives and when working as a team, one must be able to compromise and work with others despite not being entirely agreeable to certain ideas. Learning this has prepared me for more team oriented projects in future, reducing the chances of any conflicts that may happen within the group. Being tasked to give a presentation was also no easy task. I was never good at giving presentations especially in a formal setting, as I tend to get nervous and lose my train of thought during a presentation. Hence, when I was tasked to give a presentation with my group, I struggled to prepare for it and was worried on whether I would be able to deliver my presentation well. However, this module was able to prepare me well for the presentation and in the end I was able to deliver a relatively decent presentation, without losing my train of thought. I managed to learn that there were many different things to take into account in order to give a good presentation, such as the tone of your voice, eye contact with the audience, the gestures of your hands and even where and how you stand. All these factors put together would allow one to deliver an effective and impactful presentation that can grasp the audience's attention. Presentations in both school and work life are practically inevitable, hence the presentational skills that I have picked up from this module are very useful and can be applied to presentations that I might have to deliver in future.