Critical Reflection

Reflecting on my journey through this module over the past 13 weeks and assessing my progress in my personal development, particularly focusing on enhancing my communication abilities and critical thinking skills.

Module Learning:

My initial goal was to refine my public speaking and writing skills as it is an essential tool. This ambition, deeply rooted in overcoming my introverted self and my worry about public speaking was ambitious yet important for my growth.

Throughout this module, I've discovered the important impact of critical thinking in achieving these objectives. Critical thinking has been the foundation of my learning, guiding me through setting clear goals, recognising the complexities of good communication and overcoming the difficulties of putting my ideas into words. This ability was essential to improving both my writing and how I approached problem-solving.

The introduction to the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework was very beneficial. This approach highlights the value of meaningful, accurate, and clear thought, and fully aligns with my goals. It provides an organised method for breaking down issues and assessing data, which is quite helpful. I started using the framework as a tool to analyse my thought processes and strive for more persuasive and objective communication.

To further improve my public speaking and writing skills, I intend to participate more actively in class discussions and look for helpful criticism from professors and peers. By considering this feedback, I will be able to identify my areas of improvement.

Project Learning:

Reflecting on my recent project presentation, I find a mix of emotions in my personal development. Even though my presentation wasn't particularly outstanding in comparison, I feel a great sense of accomplishment knowing that I have made progress. I had put in the effort to improve my public speaking, taking feedback from my mock presentation, I avoided memorising a script and instead just had bullet points in my mind and also rehearsed multiple times to get my words flowing and to have more confidence.

A key component of our project's success was our teamwork. In addition to improving the quality of our work, the smooth cooperation, shared responsibility, and group effort also emphasised the need for efficient teamwork. I felt that our team's ability to look at different perspectives and find a common approach shows the value of multiple viewpoints and the strength of collaborative problem-solving.

The feedback received from Professor Blackstone and our peers was invaluable. The constructive insights from them enhanced my learning experience as they are able to offer new perspectives when viewing our work. This encourages deeper reflection and a better understanding of our project’s impact and areas for improvement.

Despite its difficulties, this project has been essential in changing the way I think about collaboration and learning. It serves as a pillar for my continuous development as a more thoughtful, capable and cooperative person. The lessons learned and the criticism I received helped prepare my further development. This also left me with a strong sense of gratitude for my team's combined efforts and constant progress.