The Critical Reflection

 

Critical Reflection

Module

In the module we went through aspects of writing and presentation. Both I set goals to get better or learn more about at the start of the module. Starting with the written aspect of the module, I have learnt that writing a report can be a long process or multiple re-iteration and research before the final and properly report is presentable. Report writing is also a skill that I must continue to work on even after this module, not just cause other module requires it but it will be beneficial to my future work. The two main issues I have are referencing and using the appropriate language in the report, both can be improved by writing and having more exposure to reports. The presentation part of the module was where I was more confident in at the start. I knew the basic of presentation from experience in Polytechnic but knew there had to be more to learn from this module as well. In the module, I picked up some key presentation things like how to hand over the presentation spot to the next person and got reminded of posture to have, position to be at, volume to be at and words to avoid when making a presentation. I think I did a fair job on my presentation, with the many more presentation to come all this learn points will come in handy and eventually become a natural to me when I present.

 

Research Project

The project my team did research on Tesla Model S’ battery management system. The specific part we wanted to make modification was the baffles in the cooling pipes. I will evaluate this in three parts, teamwork, writing and lastly presentation. Starting off with the teamwork of my team, I was assigned the group leader role for my team and that set different expectation on me. I had to set paths for the team to follow through, ensure progress to be made at a reasonable speed and that all work was done on time before moving towards the next phase of the report. Meetings are made regularly to ensure all this, and well-planned meetings are a key in producing work. In the past 13 weeks, I learn that a well-planned meeting will ensure that everyone understands what is to be expected and accomplish within the meeting, so we can set new goal after the meeting in view of the next meeting. This leadership role requires a lot of experience and I lack that and will take up more of such roles to learn and be a better leader. Next will be the written part of the report, the research of this report was done separately and consolidated the ideas during a meeting. Once a structure of the report was formed with the agreement of everyone, we split the workload and start writing our parts. We would give input and suggestions to each other and clarify doubts as we write, with everyone understanding the idea of the project discussion are of more value. This showed the importance of knowledge before the meeting as well as producing work for the report. Lastly the presentation part of the report, we did not have a good presentation grade as the content was not enough and presentation seem a bit too rushed. I truly agree to these points and felt bad for not performing to standards set by myself or expectation given by the professor. I learn that even with great presentation skills, I must have a content good enough to be presented. Understanding my report and presenting the idea are two different concepts, as one would need to explain in simpler term to other and that require a lot of knowledge in the subject. This only made me understand the importance of written content and not just presentation skills alone.