Employability: Personal Development Plan - Coursework Example

 Employability: Personal Development Plan Introduction Personal development plan is a supported and structured process carried out by individuals in reflecting their performance, learning and achievement in order to plan for their education development. The approach embraces a number of methods in learning to connect plan, actions, ideas and reflection. Personal development plan involves building an action plan that is based on values, awareness, objectives, plan and reflection to promote education, career or relationship personal development. This approach has been adopted in higher education program by including a portfolio illustrating the skills that have been accumulated by a student over a specific timeframe. The appreciation of personal development in higher education is expected to help in developing learners who are independently self-directed. This paper explores on the benefits of embracing personal development in higher education for the students. In addition, the paper elaborates on the improvements that need to be introduced on personal development plan study at higher education level in future. Benefits of Studying Personal Development Plan One of the benefits of undertaking personal development plan is that it allows students to incorporate their academic and personal development and improve their capability of reviewing their growth against the expected outcomes of their learning program (Jones, Selby, & Sterling, 2010). Students undertaking personal development plan are able to reflect on their personal expectations in life with the education they are undergoing that is essential in cultivating a strong academic concentration. The ability of the personal development plan to ensure that students are able to relate their personal goals with their education path is crucial in allowing students to appreciate their studies to become effective and efficient executors in future. Furthermore, personal development plan study helps students to be more independent, confident and effective self-directed student (Kumar, 2011). This is instrumental in enabling the students to be effective, confident and independent in their future career due to the strong foundation created by PDP. The success of students who undertake PDP at the higher education level in their future career path is higher compared to other students. In addition, personal development plan study enables students to comprehend the way they are learning and relate their study to a broader perspective (Kumar, 2011). This ensures that students are able to appreciate their learning that is essential in enabling a student to succeed in their academic path. Personal development plan also, helps a student to discuss and recognize their weaknesses and strengths. Similarly, a student is able to express his personal objectives and assess growth towards achievement of the goals. These aspects are crucial in enabling a student to focus on his academic and personal objectives while in school. Moreover, personal development plan study assists a student to recognize opportunities for personal and learning development beyond the curriculum coverage (Rose, 2008). A student is adequately prepared in exploring the external opportunities to enhance his life by undertaking a personal development plan course. PDP Changes That Should Be Introduced In Future To enhance the benefits of personal development plan at the higher education level to the students, a number of changes need to be introduced for future students. One of the areas that require changes currently is the module overview. The module provides that at the end of week ten the session will be conducted through individual presentation only. This should be changed to be a group presentation. The reason behind this change in the module overview employed by the school is that the students work in group throughout the course. Consequently, changing the week ten class presentation to group presentation will help in capturing the overall understanding of each team in assessing their performance. Similarly, one of the learning weeks should be replaced by interview practices conducted by individual students. This is essential in developing the ability of the students to be confident in facing real life interviews when they enter the job market. Consequently, it is instrumental for the session to introduce one week of exposing students to practical market interviews to prepare them adequately for the market. The module overview of the school has been assisting self-understanding to the students through individual discussions and group reflection. Consequently, the facilitation the module has been offering has not been adequate in exposing the students to real life experience that is essential in promoting their personal and academic development for future success and growth. This implies the limitation of the module in facilitating students to develop a strong relationship between their academic and personal endeavor through personal discussions and group reflections is not adequate in exposing students to practical life experience that is essential in developing a strong relationship between their education and future expectations. Accordingly, the module overview should integrate real life experiences in assisting students to develop self-awareness. This implies that the module overview encourage students to interact with market players during their study. The new perspective will involve the students engaging with firms and persons engaged in their field of study in the market. This will expose the students to the real life experience of their academic beyond their curriculum reach. Consequently, students will be able to relate their academy with real life experience while in school. One of the reasons behind this new perspective under the module overview is that it will connect the students with real scenarios (Nutley, 2009). Thus, it will be possible for the students to identify prospects for personal and learning development beyond the curriculum. This is because by allowing the students to interact with individuals and firms that have succeeded in the market, students will be able to construe the benefit of their education to personal development (Rose, 2008). In addition, the real market interaction introduction under the overview module will enhance the skills of the students in managing their study and career development while in school. Consequently, introducing real life experience under the module overview is essential in promoting self-awareness to the students. Furthermore, the module schedule should introduce a focus group under which the various class groups will be assessed on their attitude, perception and opinion on the conduct of the PDP course. In addition, the groups will be assessed on their collective view towards the benefit of the PDP program in their personal and career goals. This session should be put under week ten that is last learning week of the program. The introduction of the focus group is essential since it will help the school in developing the PDP program by integrating the feedback of the class group in future PDP development and learning strategy. Consequently, the school should consider integrating a focus group session in the weekly topics. Similarly, the assessment criteria employment by the school needs to be changed for future student benefit. Currently, the assessment of the students is undertaken through group work coursework. This approach may fail to capture the development of the individual students adequately. Consequently, a weekly test in the class should be introduced in assessing the students’ development during the course. This will involve assessing the students’ understanding of the various weekly topics throughout the coverage of the course. Employing this type of assessment approach is essential in ensuring that students are able to connect the various the topics introduced during the course (Rose, 2008). This is because the weekly assessment will ensure that students do not move to the next topic of the course without a clear assessment of their previous topic understanding. The weekly assessment has the capacity of enhancing student concentration on the topic been covered in the various weeks since they expect to be tested for the particular weekly topic (Nutley, 2009). Consequently, introducing weekly assessments in the class under the personal development plan study will enhance the understanding of the concepts introduced throughout the course coverage. This will enable students to gain optimal benefit of undertaking the study at the higher education level. In addition, online tests should be introduced under the assessment of the PDP. Online tests are essential in capturing the individual students’ level of understanding the new concepts introduced under the PDP course. This is because the students will be exposed individually to assessment conveniently through the application of online tests. Thus, the tutors will be able to identify the weak students effectively through this approach to advance extra effort (Rose, 2008). This will promote the understanding and appreciation of the study by the weak students for their own benefit. Teaching strategy is another aspect of the personal development plan that needs to be changed in future. This involves adopting new topics to be taught during the weekly teaching strategies employed. One of the topics that should be introduced in future is teamwork techniques in the weekly topic coverage. Teamwork technique is a growing trend in the modern environment due to the need to create a unified and coordinated teamwork in organizations to counter impulsive competition (Burns & Sinfield, 2008). Consequently, it is essential for the personal development plan course to introduce teamwork technique to higher education level students to ensure they are able to connect their academic and personal development effectively. Personal Reflection on PDP Benefit Personally, PDP course has been instrumental in enhancing the ability of the writer to search for employment in the market. This has been due to the ability of the course in preparing students in presenting themselves to the external world. The course has exposed the writer to good CV creation, networking and engaging in interviews that are competent. Consequently, the study has been beneficial in enabling one to build a presentable approach in seeking job in the ever competitive job market. Similarly, the study has been beneficial in developing a better approach in listening and speaking. The elaborative communication skill concept under the study has improved the ability of the researcher in making good speech and being attentive to others in debates and conversation. This is essential in enhancing positive outlook of learning during the life of the writer. Reference Burns, T., & Sinfield, S. (2008). Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to University Success. London: Sagge Study Skills. Cotrell, S. (2010). Skills for success: Personal Development and Employability. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Jones, P., Selby, D., & Sterling, S. R. (2010). Sustainability education: Perspectives and practice across higher education. London: Earthscan. Kumar, A. (2011). Personal, Academic and Career Development in Higher Education. New York: Taylor & Francis. Nutley, T. (2009). The Little Book of Personal Development. Boston: Wiley. Rose, C. (2008). The Personal Development Group: The Student's Guide. Manchester: Karnac Books Ltd. Read More