WEEK 13: CRITICAL REFLECTION

At the start of this module, I remember professor Brad asking me to explain what was critical thinking as I was deemed to be the person who was most adept at it through a class activity. However, my understanding was quickly proven wrong and I learnt that there was much more to critical thinking skills other than being adaptable. It was then I told myself I needed to unlearn my incorrect perception and learn the correct methods of critical thinking. The second skill that I wanted to learn and improve on would be my confidence in speaking to an audience. At the very first lesson, we were already required to mingle around with our peers in order to get to know them better. Through that activity, I realised that I was not confident in speaking to strangers and was more dependent on my partner to start off the conversation.

Throughout the module, every week was a new learning experience for me as I was exposed to many new communication methods that I was not aware of previously. One of the new interesting skills that I had picked up is the Paul Elder’s Framework, which is a tool to help us analyse any given problem and come up with a solution through critical thinking. I was given the opportunity to familiarise with it through carrying out activities in class and learning how to apply it. It was also through these activities where I could improve on my confidence in speaking to an audience as well. This was because we were often required to read or provide explanations to the whole class which made me step out of my comfort zone to speak to a large audience.

Other than the exercises to help us get better at using critical thinking framework and report writing skills, I also try to apply the skills I learnt in this module in my other modules as well when we are required to write comprehensive reports. This has made me realise and appreciate that the skills I have learnt in this module do not only apply within this module. Subsequently, we were also required to write a technical report after obtaining the required skills to do so optimally.

When doing our technical report, my team and I actually started off without knowing what topic to base the report on. It was through extensive research and several consultations that we became more confident on what we were looking for and managed to decide collectively in working on implementing machine learning and automation for a fully automated Common Services Tunnel inspection.

Although we had the information due to the fact that one of my teammates had experience working on this topic, we were stuck at times as we were not familiar with the APA 7th style. I also had problems when researching for information to add to the report as the idea my team had chosen to propose was relatively new and has not been implemented elsewhere in the industry before. Furthermore, when it came to presenting on the chosen topic, I was not confident in speaking fluently as well because I was not adept at it.

However,  I realise that with reliable teammates, I was able to finalise much of my indecisiveness in determining which information to include in it and together we managed to come up with a decent report with ample content to back it up. My teammates also provided constructive criticism and corrected my presentation skills which I am thankful for. This has allowed us to have a research project which I believe will exceed expectations.

In conclusion, I now understand that I am constantly learning new concepts and trying new initiatives and it is alright to feel lost at times. I will have to trust in the process and learn from my surrounding peers in order to constantly improve on myself.