Critical Reflection

As the past 12 weeks have passed, I have achieved and learnt much from UCS. Hence, I will be reflecting on the goals I set in my self-introduction letter and sharing my thoughts and lessons learnt.


The first area of major concern to me was communication, especially verbal and written forms. There were multiple opportunities for me to work on my fluency, including, but not limited to reading the information from the screen and mock presentations. Learning to speak in a slow and controlled manner helped to mitigate my stutters and gave me time to convert my thoughts into words. This also had the additional benefits of conveying my ideas more clearly and allowing the audience to process the information.

 

Similar lessons were learnt for writing and reading as they go hand in hand. By learning to read and fully understand the instructions, I have saved time by focusing on my research and thoughts instead of making guesswork. This was achieved by prompting gAI to break the sentences down and explain them to me, or to rephrase my sentences to better suit the assignment. This was difficult to implement consistently due to the pressure exerted by other assignments and projects, hence leading to me taking the easy way out and settling for good enough.

 

All of the practices and assignments early on were leading up to the final project, which includes both the report and presentation. It would be a huge understatement to say that this project will put my skills to the test and expose some shortfalls. My team member had previously conducted research on SLA 3D printers and hence, was vastly more knowledgeable than I was. Before I could make any meaningful contributions to the project, I would have to invest time to research the topic, time that I did not have. Fortunately, what I did have was the ability to consolidate and share our research between my team members and I learnt to coordinate our efforts toward a common goal. This common goal was to focus on nanomaterial-embedded resins to be used in SLA 3D printers. Our creative differences enabled us to research different but relevant information which gave us ideas to improve our presentation and report content.

 

I felt that I had let myself down during the presentation as I knew I was capable of much more. Insufficient practice and stage fright severely hampered my efforts, and I knew that I had not given my best performance. This feeling was temporary and I was receptive to the constructive feedback given to me by my professor and classmates. Some of this feedback includes focusing my attention on a friendly face in the audience, cutting the filler words to recollect my thoughts, and imagining presentations as a place where I can share my knowledge with the audience.


Even with all that I have learnt and respectable progress made, I have barely scratched the surface and have much to learn and work on. Here's to more opportunities ahead.

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