Critical Reflection

At the start of this effective communication module, I had two goals to work towards to. One of the goals is to be able to speak in a calm and confident manner when presenting. The other is to be able to hold engaging conversations with people. 

In an attempt to work towards my goals, I have been actively monitoring myself when talking to others. This observation helped me to realise my body language patterns and analyse them before coming up with a solution on improving my body language. During the first few weeks where the class was split up into different groups for the technical report and proposal writing, I was appointed the role of the Speaker where I had to represent my group when presenting our findings to the class. This provided me several opportunities to work on my verbal and non-verbal languages. From my observations, I became more aware of my body language, which I was able to make changes instantaneously. An example of the breakdown of my thought process is as follows: 

I notice that I gradually start to speak faster and feel slightly warmer. I came to the conclusion that I was feeling flustered and panicky. To counter this issue, I remind myself to take a breath and exhale slowly. This helped to keep myself in check every now and then, which enabled me to pace myself and successfully articulate my thoughts across. Not only did this help me with my thought process, I became more coherent while remaining my calm composure. This gave off the impression of a confident speaker and carried out a professional flair.  

However, I did not pay much attention on my second goal of maintaining engaging conversations with others. Although, I do feel that with the improvements made with feeling more confident when talking, I was able to hold longer conversations with my peers. In order to achieve my goal, it would be beneficial for me to broaden my vocabulary and also attempt to engage in conversations with strangers to "test" my theory.

Apart from my goals, I have learnt to appreciate blog postings for several of the assignment. I feel that it has brought a sense of togetherness in the class, by encouraging communication with the peer reviewing done often. 

As for my project, the main challenge was how different the scope of my team's project was, as compared to the other students in the class. Instead of focusing on sensor applications, we focused on implementing new designs for an existing system. This did not hinder us from doing our best to research on our topic while juggling with the workload from other modules. While it might be seen as a disadvantage, being a hurdle to overcome, it can also be seen as being unique and standing out from the crowd. My team and I had to arrange for an interview with an individual working in the architectural industry for more information on the construction of buildings in Singapore. This heightened the aspects of the project by giving it a professional edge. 

Through the report writing, I have improved my skills in technical writing, and I feel even more prepared for future scenarios where I might require this style of report writing. What I have learnt from SIE2016 Effective Communication module has helped me with my writing, presentation skills and interpersonal skills with the amount of interaction taken place during lessons. 

I am grateful for this module as it has made me realise the importance of good communication, and how it should be practiced daily, and not necessarily only during the lesson.