Critical Reflection

Over the many few weeks in this module, I have learned so much about communications. I have learned to write better in terms of emailing my professors, writing a critical and informative essay, quote effectively in APA style, writing a detailed report and lastly, to put myself out of my comfort zone to give a presentation to a small class. 

Looking back at the first blog entry that I wrote to my professor in a form of an email, I wrote that I want to improve my speaking and interview skills as they are important in the workforce. After 12 weeks, I am confident to say this module has definitely helped me in the skills I sought to improve. I have learned to become a much more confident speaker through the many impromptu mini-presentations and final presentation assignment we have in class. The useful feedbacks I have gotten back has helped me to identify the areas I lacked in and point me in the direction to work towards to. For example, I am not fluent in my presentation skills as I do most of the work by memorising. This caused my presentation to sound unnatural and it can be obvious that the audience knows that I  have memorised it. Even though it is a good effort to memorise my script without any cue cards, it is not the best choice to gain and hold the attention of my audience. Therefore, what I could do from now on is that I will stop memorising my script. Instead, I will make it more engaging by practising it with different audiences such as my friends and families. Through this many practices, I will be able to gain feedbacks and also be fluent in a more natural way in my presentation. 

Through this module, I have identified the areas I am lacking. One of which is to learn how to captivate my audience during the presentation. I learned the importance of engaging my audiences and it is something that is easy to do. Definitely, it is not something that anyone can acquire overnight and it requires experience and constant experimenting because the audience is always changing. I have learned that audience analysis is important as it involves identifying the audience and adapting a speech to their interests, level of understanding, attitudes, and beliefs. Taking an audience-centred approach is important because a speaker's effectiveness will be improved if the presentation is created and delivered in an appropriate manner. I have learned to not shy away from opportunities when it comes to voicing out my opinion and presenting my ideas to my peers, as I consider these common day-to-day practices that can impact and improve my speaking skills. Ultimately, the presentation is not an easy task and requires effort to be better at it.

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1) Jun Peng
2) Cheron
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