Reflect on Your Learning Experiences During the Semester - Personal Statement Example

Learning how to manage business has always been a passion that has always inspired me to take up business management. During the first week of the course, I am very eager to learn the theories and techniques in managing business since the first week of the module. The complexities and mysteries behind the learning process in an organizational setting appealed to me very much. Being an activist, I know that I can pass this course with my aggressive personality. With my dogged determination to advocate and defend the ideals and endeavours that I had in mind, I found it interesting to know and explore the theories behind learning in an organizational scenario. That is why on my first week I am very excited in immersing myself in a university learning setup. However even from the start I had trouble balancing work and university life. My busy schedule in my work had given me very limited time in my studies. From the start I have doubts on whether I can fully absorb what the instructor is teaching. Also, knowing my tendency to jump into any activity without clearly thinking on the possible loopholes and disadvantages in embarking on this undertaking has intensified my fear that I might have wrongfully chosen the course that I enrolled in. I also felt that I might fail to observe and reflect on the inputs that I should have received. Kolb and Fry’s Experiential Learning theory provides a clear strategy on how to fully immerse myself into the lessons that I really want to learn. It is a learning cycle that starts from one’s concrete immersion to the knowledge and skills that I want to learn. After one’s immersion, a person should observe and reflect on the stimuli that he received. This time, his analytical mind should work to pick up the loopholes and the flaws in learning the skills. The holistic mind accumulates these loopholes and mistakes. It will then use these in laying down fresh guidelines in performing things. Practical testing of one’s newly ratified procedures in carrying out things is the last part of the cycle. This will continue to a lifetime upward cycle of personal renewal and development until a person actualizes his fullest potential. I realized in the second week in this course that there are several theories on how an individual learn individually and in an organizational setup. From sensory stimulation, reinforcement theories to experiential and adult learning, numerous learning theories, I have learned in a brief amount of time the explanations done by psychologists that lay down why and how humans learn. Surfing through these theories, I realized that having learning disability, such as dyslexia, could be advantageous in an organization. It just depends on how you place yourself in an organization. What role would you assume in a society. In my case I found out that I am a doer or accommodator according to Kolb and Fry’s Experiential Learning theory. I also discovered that accommodators use concrete experience and active experimentation in performing their roles in an organization. I am good at risk taking, one of the strengths of this learning type. Being a visual learner, I prefer to use diagrams and pictures than to read written sentences and paragraphs or listening to sounds. This allows me to think in a broader and wider perspective than focusing on the details. I learned in the third week that our perceptions on the things we experience greatly affects the way we learn. Our mental model of the world is usually what we believe as reality. It is a glass that where we look through. Once the glass is foggy or gloomy, the way we look at things will also be gloomy. It is the way we see things through our mental and psychological image of the world around us. Our perceptions about the world then become our basis on the attitude we have towards things and other people. I realized in this session that it is the way I see things that makes my learning process easy or hard on me. If I perceive learning as a tedious and boring task, my attitude toward it will follow suit. The ever-intriguing personality types, the unique blueprint each one of us has, was tackled on the fourth week of the module. ­Theories of personalities by different psychologists were comprehensively expounded. It is through this session that I appreciate my uniqueness and individuality. I realized that we have unique qualities that constitute or personalities. Having this exclusive imprint, I found out that I should not compare myself to others in terms of personality. Instead, I should accept my uniqueness and my qualities. Only through acknowledging them as my own can I make modifications to them. Upon knowing my personality in the previous session, I have ascertained the specific role that I would portray in an organization. By distinguishing the unique qualities that a person has in a group setting, he can easily fit in to the group. In my case my aggressive and my on-the-go personality would qualify me to become a leader of the group. My qualities as an accommodator learner even intensify my possibility of becoming the leader of an organization. Now that the organization is furnished with people fitted with specific roles and functions, the responsibility of assuring that the group functions smoothly is now delegated to the leader. It is he who will motivate the group to perform its function at an outstanding level. Being a passionate activist, I believe that I have the ability to inspire and motivate others. I think I have the ability to perk up the spirits and the morale of the team that I join. On the seventh week, groups and teams are posed under scrutiny. The dynamics of the assembly of people designated for a particular task is given emphasis. The interaction between the leader and members of the group is highlighted. Characteristics of effective groups and teams were pointed out as well as the procedures on how to be a effective or group or team mate. This serves as the culmination of the lessons taught in the previous lessons. After studying and concretely experiencing the fundamental principles behind the existence of an effective group, we started to prepare and plan to work as a team. This is first execution part of the module. The accumulated experiences and realizations/reflections that we had received had been put into test. There were even exercises aimed to improve the bonding and the effectiveness of groups and teams. Oral communication skills were stressed out especially on giving feedbacks and advices to each other on how to improve as a team. Group activities on interpersonal skill and conflict solving were tackled the next week. Some of the most serious problems that a team faces belong to intra-group miscommunications. I realized that if neglected, even a simple spark of conflict could create tremendous effect on the stability of the group. If not attended at once, it will definitely lead to its disbandment. Aside from oral, written communication, whether intra- or inter- group or team are also covered in the module. Letters, emails, fax, and other formal written communication tools are formal conveying of messages. The last session in the module is about long-term career development of a person. This wraps up the whole module by tackling the future of the enrolees in this course. In my assessment it is the culmination of the activities and learning that had been taken in the course. All-in all, I have found out that I need to focus more on my strengths and how could I maximize those so that I can join and contribute my skills to the group. Given the fact that a group comprises of diverse personalities, I have to fit into the team by using my strengths for the benefit of the team. I have stated above that I am aggressive person who enjoys doing things than thinking and planning about them. I am more of a go to person, willing to risk take and to inspire others by my passion in doing instead of speaking. My capacity to think and learn visually is beneficial especially in charting out plans for the organization’s future. I also found out that I have to acquire and develop certain skills necessary for me to improve my career and myself in the future. The first skill that I want to acquire is my ability to manage my time. Juggling between work and university life requires intense time management. It is a problem on my part because I have the tendency to haphazardly try something that I want to experience. This module has opened my eyes to manage my time and to discipline myself to stick to the mission and goals that I am fulfilling. The second skill that I have to acquire is to gain focus on the little and detailed things. I am poor in referencing most probably because I have difficulty in focusing on details. This task requires detailed account of the sources used in finishing my assignment. My proneness to embark into things without considering its effects and repercussions is most probably due to the fact that I am not particular in the details that should be discerned before hand. Should I have the skill to delve into the details of a project or a responsibility that I should undertake, I could have qualified whether I should commit myself into it or not. By accounting the benefits and costs of my decisions, I would have a more objective and economically sound view on the tasks that I should have and been performing. Taking things objectively is another ability that I think I need to possess in my decision making process. Being a future business manager, I need to brush up my analytical and estimative faculties. With the help of logic and some mathematical tools, I can discern which are the tasks that are required of me to do, and those that can be foregone. This module taught me the value of learning not only from the seemingly foolproof theories but more importantly from my mistakes and shortcomings and the insights that I encountered as I reflect on them., This revolutionary learning method makes me an active learner in the whole course, which is far more interesting and motivating than the traditional spoon-fed style of learning. References Bostock, S. 1998. Learning Styles. Retrieved January 11, 2007 from http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/landt/lt/docs/LearningStyles.htm Boyatzis, R.E. 2001 Unleashing the Power of Self-Directed Learning. Retrieved January 10, 2007 from http://www.eiconsortium.org/research/self-directed_learning.htm Dunn, L. 2000. Theories in Learning. Retrieved January 11, 2007 from http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html Smith, M 2001. David A. Kolb on Experiential Learning. Retrieved January 11, 2007 from http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm Smith, M 2001. Learning in Organizations. Retrieved January 11, 2007 from http://www.infed.org/biblio/organizational-learning.htm Read More