Module Reflection

 

 

Through this module, I have learnt a lot about the importance of proper report writing and what I felt will be beneficial is the Paul elder framework. It has guided me through some of the important details that are needed for me to write a report, a thesis, or a literature review, specifically on the portion “All reasoning is based on data, information and evidence”. Through this module, I learnt that it is important that a writer must considered how reliable, and to ensure that a source is valid. Also, making assumptions with no evidence to support the argument can easily lead to an essay to be inaccurate and biased. I have applied this throughout my essays and report in this module to ensure my report and essays are relevant with accurate information. By challenging assumptions, it allows me to have an open mind and write an essay without being bias.

 

On the other hand, I felt that there are still some important points that I am still actively trying to get used to. For example, when transitioning from a speaker to another speaker I may still unintentionally tend to use “I will pass my time to the next speaker". This is a habit that was stuck with me through my previous years of education which I may have unintendedly used in some small presentations I had in class. As Bill Clinton once said, “The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.”  Therefore, I do aim to get used to the proper way of making a presentation now to improve my skills to engage audiences better in the future.

 

Engaging the audience

In this module, I have learnt the importance of engaging the audience to get them to be interested in what I am about to present. It is crucial as it decides whether the message I aim to deliver will be delivered and they are more likely to remember the content that I have presented. With this, it helps to ensure that my message is well presented to the audience.This can be done using hand gestures, asking the audience questions. It is also critical that the slides are clear and most importantly keep eye contact with the audience.

By engaging the audience, I have noticed that the audience will be more attentive and are looking up more as questions were asked and eye contact were made. This is as compared to when a presentation that I did in my Polytechnic course whereby on hindsight, I realised I did not properly attempt to engage the audience. This resulted in the audience being distracted and uninterested.

Therefore, I do believe that this skill that I have learnt in this module can be applied in the future, be it in future school presentations or even my daily life. This can be a useful communication skill as it can be applied anywhere. For example, whenever constrained by logistical reasons such as being in a large room without a mic might cause the audience to be disinterested. However, being able to see the slides that are on the screen can aid in understanding of the contents of my presentation. Asking questions to the audience also helps to engage an audience especially when the contents of the presentation are dull. It can help ensure the audience follows the content that they need to know. Hand gestures are also another way of improving the presentation skills. It can help stress the importance of messages that you want to send to the audience. Lastly, by making eye contact with the group of people, I can know that the audience is aware that I am talking to them, and by looking at them I can also read the expression of the audience if they understand what I have mentioned.