Critical Reflection

MODULE LEARNING

As I came to the class for the first time in this module, I tried to have an open mind and not take it as a boring and mundane communications module. I felt at ease when professor Blackstone had a small chat with me as I settled down 15 minutes before class started as I felt that he had an interesting and lively character. However, I was very reserved within the first few days in the class especially during the ice breaker activities as I find it difficult to initiate conversations.

After doing the first assignment on the introductory letter, I set a goal to myself to be more confident in speaking publicly, not just in presentation but also in small groups of people. I always listen to prof Brad's advice on how to deliver a pitch, how can we sound convincing, and many more important set of skills that we not only use in class but outside school as well. 

After doing our presentation for the tech report, I felt that it was one of my best presentations + Q&A I have done. Though improvements can still be made, comparing all the presentations I have done before UCS, I was less stiff in terms of hand gestures, I only had minor stumbles, but most importantly, I had a lot of confidence while presenting and answering questions. This would have been impossible without prof Brad's teaching. 

PROJECT LEARNING

Of all the projects that I have done, I felt that this was one of the more challenging ones I have faced. 

One challenge my team faced at the start of the project was brainstorming ideas. We felt that some ideas were too basic while some ideas already had an existing solution and is already being implemented. In the end we chose to do a smart water bottle that can tailor everyone's hydration needs. However, after doing further research, we stumbled across a product called HidrateSpark Pro Lite Smart Water Bottle which does everything our group wanted to. In the end, I opted to stick with the idea as it would have been too late to change everything and try to stay positive. My team and I were able to counter this problem as we found out that the product came in with several flaws in terms of user experience, hence, we were able to get ourselves back on track.

Another challenge was the tech report can have many different styles of writing in terms of the flow of the pointers in the introduction. Our group felt that our introduction felt off while reading all the content as it does not flow well together or some key points are missing. We made many iterations throughout the 6 weeks duration until we were able to discuss and finalise our final draft. 

Last but not the least was our time. Other than doing the tech report, we had modules we several tests, projects and reports. Managing our time for every module proved to be a tough one and had to make sacrifices along the way. Our solution to this was to delegate the tasks effectively and ensure that the member is confident in doing those tasks within the deadline he/she has set for themselves. 

To conclude, this experience we had on this project, although it proved tough for everyone, it taught the group to be more resilient, communicate clearly, and keep a positive mindset when doing the work.