Reflective Writing Report: Mechanical Engineering Project Analysis

This report presents a reflective analysis of a Mechanical Engineering project, detailing the student's experiences and insights. The student discusses the importance of team coordination, leadership skills, and the challenges faced, particularly in communication. The report covers self-evaluation of strengths and weaknesses, including areas for improvement such as communication and overconfidence. The student reflects on time management, career aspirations, and the need for continuous learning and skill development in the field. The assignment includes responses to specific questions about project experiences and future goals, supported by a bibliography of relevant academic sources. The student's goal is to develop technical skills further and grow their knowledge base.

Running Head: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Reflective Writing: Mechanical Engineering
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Answer to Question 6a
.After reading the text book and working on this particular project, I see many ways of
collaboration in them. As a student in the field of mechanical engineering, I receive projects that
are complex and application of single effort will not be sufficient for completing the project.
Hence, team effort and coordination are the two main requirements in the project. During my
time working in the project, I noticed that team coordination was slowly built up with the team
and with more time gone, the project team members helped each other in order in completing the
project within time. This is called team coordination and our project could not be completed
within time and specifications without the team coordination.
For me, leadership skills are easy. I know there are some born leaders in the team.
However, I exhibited significant leadership skills by instructing my team mates regarding what
needed to be done. Moreover, I motivated them provide their 100% whenever there were any
stuck with some technical and other problems and issues.
According to my self evaluation, I am now currently developing communication skills in
pure English. Before starting the course of engineering, I was not an adept speaker in English.
Currently, I am under vocational training so that I can talk in fluent English much better and
communicate with any other people without any difficulty.
Collaboration in the project was extremely important in determining the outcome of the
project. Most of the project duties were complex and time consuming and it required joint
participation of the team members to complete all the deliverables within time. In these aspects,

2MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
team coordination was necessary to overcome all the challenges and establish a strong
foundation of the project.
For me, my eagerness to learn worked well. During the entire project, whenever I faced a
difficult task, I immediately searched for literature and found out suitable solutions that can
address the challenges. My eagerness to learn helped me overcome any significant challenges
that were included within my duties in the project.
The most frustrating aspect I faced in the project was the lack of my sufficient
communication skills. The common language was English and although I have strong English
vocabulary, I have poor communication skills. This shortfall of fine frustrated me many times
during the project.
Answer to Question 6b.
During a certain activity of the project where 2 of my team members were working, one
of the members approached me and asked for help. I went over and analyzed the problems and
explained them to the coworker. After that, I instructed him to make suitable changes in the work
and do according to my instructions.
The process was easy because I already good at having sound technical knowledge that
helped me overcome any challenges (technical) during the course of the project.
The main difficulty was the language barrier. As the team was built up with diverse
cultured team members, the language barrier often occurred as the team members were trying to
communicate their ideas for solving some technical problems.

3MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Answer to Question 7a.
The first key change I would like to bring is removing overconfidence from my mind.
Having some good quality of technical knowledge, I often become too carried away and get
overconfident. The second thing I would like to improve on my English communication skills
and vocabulary. This will enable me to contact with project team members without any
difficulty. Thirdly, I would like to develop strong mentality for avoiding ignorance and
overconfidence while performing the duties in the project.
Answer to Question 7b.
I believe I show moderate behavior in terms of time management. Although I complete
my duties within a specific deadline, there are several cases where I crossed the deadline by
some time resulting in earning penalties.
My best behavior in terms of time management has been early completion of work and
during worst cases, I have missed my deadline and penalties were imposed on me.
Answer to Question 7c.
I would like to work for a company that will be able to provide me a challenging role
within the field of my study. Moreover, I would like to develop my technical skills further and a
job in a suitable company will help me develop my technical knowledge and skills.
I want to do work that is within the field of my study. That will help me to enhance my
technical skills and further grow my knowledge base.

4MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
I will initially need learning skills so that whatever comes my way, I will continue to
learn.
For developing skills, I need to join suitable tutorials where the development is promoted
by expert professionals.

5MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Bibliography
Armstrong, G.A., Kofman, A., Sharpless, J.J., Anthony, D. and Wald, H.S., 2014. Bringing our
whole person to whole person care: Fostering reflective capacity with interactive reflective
writing in health professions education. International Journal of Whole Person Care, 1(1).
Brown, K., Andrews, V., Lea, P., Loresto, F., McLean, M., Morey, O., Rojas, J. and Young, T.,
2014. Board# 108-Research Abstract Using Reflective Writing to Assess Impact of an Inter-
Professional Cardio-Pulmonary Workshop for Medical, Nursing and Respiratory Therapy
Students (Submission# 8645). Simulation in Healthcare, 9(6), p.400.
Farrell, T.S.C., 2013. Reflective writing for language teachers. Sheffield: Equinox.
Naber, J. and Wyatt, T.H., 2014. The effect of reflective writing interventions on the critical
thinking skills and dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 34(1),
pp.67-72.
Poldner, E., Van der Schaaf, M., Simons, P.R.J., Van Tartwijk, J. and Wijngaards, G., 2014.
Assessing student teachers’ reflective writing through quantitative content analysis. European
Journal of Teacher Education, 37(3), pp.348-373.
Powers, E.M., Vance, L.D. and Fleming, A.E., 2016. Teaching Reflective Writing Through
Learning Communities: An Opportunity to Meet Student Needs and Improve Student-Faculty
Relationships. Medical Science Educator, 26(1), pp.129-133.