Learning Portfolio: Critical Reflection (Final)

Before the start of this course, I had a particular perception of my communication skills. While I am proactive, I have learned to work with others in peer reviews or technical report discussions, I have listened to others occasionally and became open to the ideas of others.

When pitching an idea for the scope of our technical report, I listened to the ideas of others and in doing so, EyesOnStripes was founded. While it was difficult to be a less proactive team member, I found opportunities where my strengths could be contributed which included report-writing as well as studying literature reviews.

Throughout this module, I have accepted the views of others, and my use of language has also improved as I realised that most mistakes surrounding language use are due to common speaking habits. In writing, I have consulted with APA formats more often, and have used paraphrasing to shorten my writing while providing a more concise point to the reader.

In week 8, we were tasked to draft the background to our technical report. This was a daunting task to write with no prior experience to the topic and had to research it online via scholarly articles, books and also our annotated summaries. However, as we research online, we began to realise that the scope of our research was bigger than first anticipated and that there was a lot we can talk about. This experience has enriched my skills in literature research that I would be able to apply in future modules.

When writing the background, we realised that the background provides the reader with an insight into our problem and the thought process in coming up with the solution. Additionally, this would extend towards our writing in the later parts of the report and eventually the presentation segment where it serves to captivate the audience.

With that being said, I have realised that different people have their styles in writing and presenting. One style is not dominant over the other, but it can be learnt from each other, to be able to present or write better in the future. Similarly, as one writer differs from the other, it can be a challenge to portray a similar tone in a report.

As this module concludes, I have realised the flaws in my writing and presentation skills, but being aware of my flaws is the first step to improving them. By continuously correcting my flaws and learning from others, I can improve on my communication skills in the long run.