The Self Criticism And Reflection Education Essay

During the college years, I had multiple hurdles that I have encountered. One of the biggest hurdles was time management and procrastination. Throughout my education, I have always been a procrastinator, even in finishing up this essay. When I go into my assignments, I will always go with good intentions and plan on getting them done early so that I will not have to worry about doing them later. However, life seems to get in the way. I always find something else that needs to be done immediately, while my assignments are not due for a few days. I also find it very difficult to motivate myself if the assignment is not due right away. I have myself convinced that I will do better under pressure. So I always end up putting myself in that situation. Although throughout my education so far this technique has worked, I certainly believe that it will not work through university.

In order to change my ways of thinking about assignments and deadlines, I need to set some concrete rules for me to follow. First off, I need to set realistic goals. I often set goals that are very unlikely to get my work done. Therefore, to improve this, I will try to break my assignment into parts and give myself more than enough time to accomplish each task. By doing this, my time will be fully utilized instead of wasted.

In co-curricular activities, I realized that I had done little in games and clubs within the university, despite having a number of athletic teams, training personnel as well as other facilities. I was not able to attend any of the activities and even spent most of my time playing games on my personal computer rather than being involved in real athletics.

Therefore, I have made strict schedules to allow me attend my favourite games which are football and rugby. I believe sports can season me to be mentally and physically fit. Moreover, physical fitness is important for all, and is also the main core for engineers to go the distance. In life, we are bound to encounter challenges. Thus, by doing sports, I hope they can help me to steel myself in coping with the challenges in life. Furthermore, as most sports involve precision, which is fundamentally linked to engineering, it also helps me to develop the natural traits as an engineer.

Through the hurdles, I also realized some of my strength. One of them is that I always get all of my work done. I always make the time and find the will to get them done. This takes a lot of self-discipline, because I could always been distracted with other matters. If I get all of my work done, then surely it will help me in final year examinations. I am also learning all that I am given in order to expand my knowledge and do well on assignments, laboratories and coursework. This will ultimately help me to be more knowledgeable throughout my life.

Professional Engineering principles and personal opinions

Being a professional engineer, it means that I have to work to enhance the welfare, health and safety whilst paying due regard to the environment and the sustainability of resources. Personally, there are three fundamental principles that I think we, engineers, should hold as guidance in achieving the high ideals of professional life.

Firstly, without any doubt, a professional engineer should normalise themselves with integrity and honesty. Professional engineers should adopt the highest standards of professional conduct, openness, fairness and honesty. Therefore, from now, I should start training myself to be alert on the ways in which my works and actions might affect others, and duly respect the rights and reputation of others too. I also need to avoid deceptive acts and take steps to prevent corrupt practices or professional misconduct. Bribery and improper influence should not be in practice too.

Other than that, I would weight leadership as one of the most important principle for professional engineers as we should aspire to high standards of leadership in the exploitation and management of technology. Being a professional engineer, it shows that I hold a privileged and trusted position in a society. Therefore, I am expected to demonstrate that as professional engineer, I am seeking to serve wider society and also be sensitive to public concern. Thus, I have to be aware of the issues that engineering and technology raise for society, and also listen to the aspirations and concerns of others. Moreover, I have to actively promote public awareness and understanding of the impact and benefits of engineering achievements.

Lastly, I believe professional engineers should be accurate and rigour. We hold a duty which is to ensure that we acquire and use widely and faithfully the knowledge that is relevant to the engineering skills needed in their work in service of others. Therefore, I should always act with care and competence. I have to get my knowledge and skills up to date and also assist the development of engineering knowledge and skills in others. In addition, I should present and review engineering evidence, theory and interpretation honestly, accurately and without bias. As a Professional engineer, I also need to identify and evaluate risks before take any actions.

University experiences.

University life has taught me to be more self discipline. Back in college, I was assigned with daily homework and teachers will check them on regular basis to ensure that the works given were properly done. However, when I step into university life, I am trusted to complete my assignments without being reminded. I also have to relate what I have learned in class to my readings. Most importantly, I have to keep myself notified the due date of my assignments.

Other than that, it teaches me to be more independent thinker. In college, teachers will still check my homework and guide me through different thinking process, whilst in university; I have to develop my own independent thinking. An obvious example is when having a discussion with course mates on certain topics, there will be conflicting views on a single subject. However, in compensation, university provides us with more resources to clarify some disputes.

Conclusion

Upon finishing this essay, I have learned that time management is the most critical tool towards achieving personal goals not only in education, but also in other aspects of life. I have realized that my overall academic grades, as well as in extracurricular activities, improves with proper time management and the ability to work with strict time schedules.

I have also learned a lot of useful insight from this whole module. Some of them have helped me to understand myself better. The questionnaires given during SESM1015 lecture have really helped me to understand about the different learning styles and thus made me realize which style that best fits me. Knowing this information also will help me utilize my strengths and ultimately learn better.

To become the cream of the cream, one must always continue to learn and progress. Therefore, I set some expectations on myself for this year. One of the expectations that I have for myself is to continue to complete all of my work because that is the only way that one can truly learn. I am also going to work on feeling more confident about myself and my abilities. I have thoughts and ideas and I want to feel like I need to share them. That is going to be difficult for me since I am an international student, I have always been a quite one, but I will work on it. I am also expecting to be presented with ideas that I have never thought of, so I can learn from them. I want to learn a lot and look back on this year from now and be glad that I took it. Overall, I want to be taught things that I need to know in order to be the best professional engineer that I can be.