Critical reflection on developing communication skills. (Updated)

In just a couple of weeks’ time, the first trimester of university will come to an end. As much as I am procrastinating for this module to be over, I appreciate its intention as it forces me to sharpen my writing and oral skills. What makes this learning journey a less tedious process is its setting; it is conducted in an interactive and thought provoking manner where everyone is open to ideas and criticism. I am really grateful to my tutor, Brad and my fellow tutorial classmates in making this learning journey a pleasant one.

The takeaway I have from this module is beyond mere “education”. As humans, it is in our nature to communicate with one another; however “communicating” alone is not sufficient. It is even more essential to communicate in an effective manner whereby others are able to understand the message I am trying to convey. Having said so, this effectiveness cannot be achieved if it is only one-sided, just like how we need both hands to form a clap.

Assignments such as writing a reader response of an article, which one may consider it as a simple task, is actually quite a handful for me to handle. My peers and tutor spent precious time giving valuable feedback to me. It is only right for me to be constantly reflecting, reviewing and improving on my work. Not forgetting my technical report group mates: Kevin and Danish, for being so co-operative in “getting things done” and distributing the workload. From brainstorming of the problem statement, crafting & editing the report and lastly to submitting of the report.

I can already anticipate that there will be more report writing in the remaining course of study. Whatever I’ve learnt in this module can definitely be put into good use. And with practice, I can further develop my writing skills to be more concise and coherent.

Separately, I truly enjoy how this module reminded me the importance of self-reflection. In this hectic and fast pacing era, we are always either quick to pass statements without actually giving much thought or busy meeting deadlines that we often neglect the most important thing - our own well-being. I found a quote online by Ariel Garten that reads “Much of time we are transfixed by all the ways we can reflect ourselves out into the world and barely find the time to reflect back deeply in on our own selves.” and couldn’t agree more! Self-reflection allows me to take some time off and simply appreciate myself better.

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Updated on: 29 Nov 2016.

"Know thyself, with a brain scanner"

Garten, A. (2011, September). Know thyself, with a brain scanner [Video]. Retrieved November 29, 2016, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ariel_garten_know_thyself_with_a_brain_scanner/transcript?language=en