My goal at the start of this course was to improve on my presentation skills. I was given a few opportunities to do pitching, and I think that these practices has made me a better presenter than before. I have now found myself to be more comfortable in making eye contact, and can respond to questions raised during the QnA session. I think that I still need to work on my content delivery during presentations, as I have received feedback from the audience that I should spend a little more time explaining about the diagrams.
I think that reading on the websites suggested in the instructional units and the articles written by professors in Harvard is useful. I have gained knowledge on how to become a better communicator, learning tips on how to write and present in a professional manner. I hope to apply what I have learnt in this course into my future school projects, and further enhance my communication skills with continual practice and reflection on a bi-monthly basis.
I would like to highlight two insights that I have gained from this project regarding teamwork. The first learning point is that I have come to understand the importance to recognise each member’s strength and weaknesses. The team should know what they are and work according to it. For example, a member can be strong in presenting but is weak in writing. This member can then have the responsibility to take charge in the team’s presentation aspects while receiving assistance to his or her report writing.
The second takeaway is to assimilate about the beauty in collective learning, which is being more productive than individual learning. An individual can only do so much than when having everyone to split up the work and then share their insights, given the same amount of time. For example, the class been tasked before to read on different websites and then summarise the content for one another. This kind of activity has made me want to practice collective learning for my future project during the research phase, because of how the work productivity can be increased.
Great teamwork makes the dream work. This project experience has made me understand the strength and limitation of an individual, and that team effort is the most significant contribution to a successful project.
