Benefits of Hodges University - Essay Example

Reflective Analysis Essay Introduction Hodges University is a non-profit organization, which is tirelessly working to improve the standards of education. In this essay, I will attempt to explain that how I have been benefited as a student of the University in increasing my human capital. In today’s knowledge based society, personal and professional development are not enough. Participation in community development is also important. Personal learning and professional growth are the keys to enhance community life. In this process, the University focuses on five critical learning outcomes: critical thinking, effective communication, research ability, leadership ability, and initiative. Since I aspire to become a teacher, this approach of the University has helped me immensely. I have been able to reiterate the substance of the learning of my whole academic career with reference to the field of Biology and Health Sciences. Research Question: What value have I added to my human capital in terms of the five educational outcomes due to my participation and learning experience at Hodges University? My Academic Career Hodges University has provided me with a very necessary insight to my academic career so far. Now I understand more that the things we learn through our school and college life, inside or outside the classroom, are very valuable indeed. Right from my school days I was very interested in science, particularly Biological Science. I developed my early career in the healthcare sector. Presently, I am working as a respiratory therapist at Health Park Hospital. I have two children and I understand my responsibility towards the future generation. I believe I must reach out to the community to enhance the ethical substance of both my personal and professional lives. During my studies at the Hodges University, I realized that I should seriously develop my professional career in such a way that I can bring up my children, satisfy my intellectual hunger, and serve the greater community. I have taken a lot of science courses including Cellular Biology and Histology, and I wish to become a biology teacher in some high school. The Hodges University has given me a unique opportunity to sharpen my knowledge, skills, and abilities so that I can fully utilize the academic and professional experience I have gained till now. Effective Communication Communication can be defined as the process of transmitting ideas verbally, nonverbally, and through the use of technology. Communication is very important, particularly for those who are aspiring to build a career in the field of education. In the course of my studies under the University, I leaned the ways and significance of organizing thoughts. Communication must involve description, examples, reasons, and/or research to support assertions. Otherwise, the audience may be misled, which can be extremely dangerous in teaching profession. Appropriate sentence structure and word selection are crucial since these linguistic skills would ultimately help me to express my ideas and interpretations. Also, the training imparted on using the software tools, electronic media, etc. would help me to increase interactivity during communication, especially while delivering a speech or writing an essay. Critical Thinking Critical thinking involves thoughtful judgment, reflective decision making, application of reasons, and drawing conclusions. Analysis and logic are the pillars of critical thinking. The University curriculum provided me with crucial articulation skills and knowledge in search strategies. It also helped me to learn how to interpret and analyze relationships, concepts, and facts on the basis of evidence and data. I learned how to clarify that whether I support, oppose, or remain neutral regarding a topic or belief. Also, I learned how to consider different viewpoints in the course of eliminating contradictions. Most importantly, the University helped me to develop quantitative abilities and do calculations better. Initiative Initiative can be defined as the self-motivation and determination to begin or follow through with a plan or task. This directly affects organizing skills. The University provided me with key lessons to solve real life problems, manage people, and achieve goals. At the bachelor level, I am taught that how can I help the community in enhancing the social processes and work together with or inside an organization to achieve the professional goals. Maintaining an managerial and communication process depends on the patterns task assignment and/or planning, which ultimately gear the organization in the right direction (Nelson and Quick, 2007). Thus, appropriate organizational behavior is based on initiative, which can not only help in enhancing the community life but alos provide ample functionality in a corporate setting. I believe that the University program has fully prepared me in this regard, and today I have developed better organizing skills. Leadership Ability Previously, I seldom seriously reflected on the topic of leadership ability. Although I have valuable work experience and in my personal life I have the experience of parenting, in practice I seldom tried with my leadership skills. At the Hodges University, I not only identified the leader in me but also strengthened my leadership skills. This was achieved mainly through the classroom sessions, where I had the chance to interact with people regarding collaborative projects. Leadership ability can be defined as the ability to guide or influence others to accomplish goals. Collaborative projects as organized through classroom interactions have been very instrumental in developing my leadership ability. Creative leadership is most interesting to me. It helps the subordinates to achieve their goals (Sashkin and Sashkin, 2003). In Hodges University too, accomplishing goals forms a crucial aspect of leadership education. This sort of viewpoint has helped me to improve my human capital particularly in the field of education, where leadership is very important nowadays. Research Ability We can define research ability as the capacity to obtain, analyze, and utilize relevant and credible information in an ethical manner. Through the degree program, I learned how to find out reliable sources of information. Modern research is based on a methodological approach. The University provides training on identifying and using proper information retrieval methods for conducting a meaningful and authentic research. I further learned searching, extracting, recording, and managing the information and its sources along with the development of articulation skills in the context of research. Interpretation and application of the information obtained in a logical way is perhaps the most important aspect of doing research so that dependable inferences can be made. The University curriculum has been very appropriate in developing all round research skills in the students like me. Conclusion The Hodges University is functioning with a noble intent to reach out to the greater number of students. Its work culture is proficient and social outlook is unbiased. The philosophy of the organization is reflected in its curriculum too. As a working professional, I found the University’s program very adaptable and helpful for both my personal and professional lives. In sum, I would like to state that the University has helped me to identify my management style in the form of creative leadership oriented to appropriate initiative. I believe that this will particularly help me in my future career options, as I prefer to become a Biology teacher. My leadership skills, professional experience, proficient organization behavior, and communication skills are my strengths, which have been supported and nurtured by the University. However, I had less exposure to research projects and my quantitative skills had been very average. These might be my weakness, which I must overcome with the help of the lessons that I learned at the University. My goal is to become a teaching professional in the subject of Biology and serve the community better. References Nelson, D.L. and Quick, J.C. (2007). Understanding Organizational Behavior, 3E. Mason: Cengage Learning. Sashkin, M. and Sashkin, M.G. (2003). Leadership That Matters: The Critical Factors for Making a Difference in People’s Lives and Organizations’ Success. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. Read More