Final Reflection on Learning

There are so many things I feel I learned more about. One of those things, specific to this module, would be presentation skills.

The peer teaching preparations provided an early opportunity to practise VC and NVC skills - selling (presenting) my point, listening, reaching a decision. I find it difficult to say if I was successful or not in this regard. My presentation during the actual peer teaching was not very good, but still an improvement from past ones where I was incredibly nervous and ...catastrophic. I really need to improve my time management - I realise I am too lax in this department, a character flaw. This is a personal demon I'll need to face myself.


Compared to the first one, I feel I practiced a lot more for the second oral presentation. Feedback from the first presentation and from my team Healthiomics helped me improve. Firstly, I feel my main stumbling block is lack of confidence. In this regard, I am very thankful for the encouragement and honest feedback I got from my teammates.

Secondly, my tendency to ramble and be long-winded. Given time, I have the chance to edit and check my writing. However, I am still unable to check myself in an impromptu, verbal situation.

Another concern is voice control - volume to be precise. I am still struggling with this, but I hope to improve somehow, perhaps with the breathing exercise that Ms. Lim gave (or just shouting more).

Overall, hand gestures was something I never really paid attention to. I still have difficulty controlling my body and hands, but it seems I have managed to prevent nervous shaking by now. The next step here is to be in total control of my movements and somehow use them to enhance my presentation.

Reflection on Oral Presentation

This oral presentation I had to do was not the first, and it likely won’t be the last. Thanks to my team mates, who provided me with a lot of support, I felt more prepared for this presentation than any other I have done. However, I still feel I have much to improve.

I always feel insecure addressing many people at once, especially in a formal setting. The many rehearsals we had helped me overcome that problem to a large extent. However, I feel I may have come off as too rehearsed; by the time of the presentation, I had memorized almost everything (I think my team mates had also memorized my part by then).

I realized how important it was to truly believe in what I was saying. The story I told, and the stand our team took – being able to support it allowed me to access more confidence in giving my presentation.

My voice being too soft is a problem. It may not have been ideal, but I feel I did my best. One thing I realized too late was that during the Q&A session, I spoke softer again because it felt like the people I was talking to were closer, and I let my guard down.

My body language could have been better. I probably fidgeted too much, and I still can’t manage a decent smile. I think I made better eye contact compared to the peer teaching session.

Finally, I learned a lot from this project about organizing slides and points to make, but I could have done better. I still wonder if the transition between points was adequate.
Again, I want to thank my team mates who provided me with feedback and suggestions on how to improve.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it.