The Role of Self-Study - Term Paper Example

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Student’s Name: Code + Course name Professor’s name University City, State Date Introduction Over the years, institutions have identified the crucial role played by self-directed life-long learning to the career development of students. As a result, it is clear that self-managed life-long learning is the future wave of learning especially for students in higher institutions of learning as a tool of preparing them for the future (Kerka 1999). Life-long entails the embedment of education in the ongoing work activities. The different work situations enable the identification of new topics within the learning process. As opposed to the expert novice model of learning witnessed in school-based learning, life-long learning entails the use of reciprocal learning. Self-managed life-long learning also entails the construction of knowledge by the student instead of the absorption of knowledge that is evident in school-based learning. Knowledge construction evident under self-directed life-long learning emanates from the fact that it is the responsibility of the student rather than a computational system or a teacher to set the goals. In essence, it is proper to state that self-managed life-long learning guarantees the understanding of the constructed knowledge. The report provides an individualised case of self-managed life-long learning aimed at constructing communication, self-management, leadership, self-awareness, and team working skills. Summary of the Personal Development Plan Self-awareness suffices to be one of my skill areas that require development. On the skill area, I am supposed to understand the different personality types as well as the use of the skills in interacting with others. Currently, this is a current strength since I am able to assign “playfuls” to tasks associated with networking and socialising, “peacefuls” to tasks associated with team building, “powerfuls” to administrative tasks, and “precises” to tasks associated with handling sensitive information. However, I identified the need to understand the proper ways of dealing with the other personality types especially in other forms of interaction such as socialising besides the allocation of tasks. I also understand the importance of seeking feedback from my peers that enables the modification of my behaviour in accordance the skill requirement. Currently, I have managed to use questionnaires, formal and informal meetings, interviews, focus groups, and emails in seeking information from other people regarding my behaviour. However, I still need to understand proper ways of provoking feedback from my peers to guarantee their response to my emails and questionnaires. Communication is the other skill area that I identified in my self-managed life-long learning. The skill requires the ability to communicate information effectively both verbally and in writing to all types of audiences such as peers, authority figures, individuals, and groups. From my personal audit of the skill area, I found out that I am able to use closed-ended and open-ended questions in asking the audience to state whether they have understood my message. I use open-ended questions to seek individualised feedback on facts about the presentation. However, I need to understand the effective ways of using questions to obtain feedback from the audience. The other subarea under communication skills is the possession of effective listening skills that enable the proper identification of key issues. This is a skill area that I have tried constructing the required knowledge on listening skills. For instance, I turned off my smartphone and tablet during my last meeting to eliminate any potential source of distraction. I also jotted down notes on the main points learnt from the presenters in the meeting. I identified areas that required further explanation and waited for the opportunity to ask the questions from the presenter in order to avoid interrupting the presentation. However, I identified the need for using additional listening skills such as tonal variation and gestures to ascertain that I get the right message from the presenter. In communication skills, I also understand the essence of demonstrating respect to the opinions of other people during a meeting. Currently, I have tried to construct the skill requirement by acknowledging the opinions of other people when handling controversial issues such as the rights of minority groups such as the indigenous populations. However, I still need to learn the avoidance of rudeness and arrogance in responding to the opinions of other people. Avoiding arrogance and rudeness contributes towards preventing possible conflicts with other individuals in the meetings. The ability to handle conflicts effectively is the other area under communication skills that an individual has to understand. Currently, I have learnt effective ways of dealing with natural tensions such as cultural differences in handling conflicts. Apparently, natural tensions are responsible for most of the conflicts that occur among individuals. However, I identified the need for communicating the acceptable behaviour or code of conduct as an area that requires skill development. Effective communication skills also entails the possession of persuading and convincing skills that are critical in ensuring the successful communication and execution of the message. Currently, I understand that effective negotiation entails ensuring that both parties achieve a win-win situation in the negotiation. This requires the consideration of the interests of both parties during negotiations. However, one of the skill areas that I need to develop is the ability to listen effectively to the interests of other parties during negotiations in order to ensure the consideration of the interests in the development of solutions to the conflict. Finally, effective communication also requires the identification of the different communication channels such as emails, excel, word, among others and the effective use of the channels under specific circumstances. However, one of the areas of skill development that I realised from the individual audit of my communication skills is the need to learn specific instances that require the use of particular communication channels. My personal development plan also includes the need for learning self-management skills. Under self-management, the two main areas that I noted include the effective planning of workloads and the keeping and maintaining of workloads. On the planning of workloads, I already understand the role played by a “to-do” list in the planning of workplace roles. The list plays a crucial role in the structuring of the individual work activities according to their level of complexity and urgency. From my last project, I realised that I was unable to complete certain tasks within the allocated timeframe. As a result, I need to learn the timing of tasks to ensure their completion within the required schedule. On the skill subarea of appointments, I identified that an emergency that occurred during the course of the project prevented me from completing the project activities within the required timeframe. As a result, I considered the handling of emergencies as a crucial development area that would prevent the failure to complete certain tasks within the allocated timeframe. The personal development plan also includes the learning of team working skills that entails the understanding of team working theory and its utility in becoming a good member of a team as well as the use of difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness in team working. In auditing my team working skills, I referred to my experience in the last group work in which I was a member of the team. During the project, I started by establishing positive relationships with the other members of the team in order to ensure that they communicate their likes and dislikes as well as other significant information to ensure the successful completion of the project. However, I still need to understand the effective ways of forging relationships with the other members of the group as a crucial aspect in ensuring the proper running of the project. I also understand the essence of being assertive rather than aggressive in handling team-based projects. Assertiveness entails listening to the different opinions presented by different members and using the opinions to make decisions rather than ignoring the opinions as it is the cause under aggressiveness. However, one of the areas that require development is the effective way of integrating the opinions of different members of the team to make critical decisions that contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the project. Finally, the personal development plan also identified the need for learning leadership skills as a crucial tool in preparing an individual to become a good leader in the future. On what it takes to become a good leader, it is essential that one should understand effective leadership traits that motivate individuals within a team and ensure their motivation towards delivering the objectives of the team. In our last project where I was the project leader, I started by communicating the acceptable code of conduct to the other members of the group. The code of conduct or acceptable behaviour would act as the guiding framework for the conduct of all the members of the group in a bid to prevent instances of conflicts and other challenges that could affect the project because of the engagement of members in unacceptable conduct. However, I identified an area that required professional development. Rather than the mere act of communicating the acceptable code of conduct to the members of the project, I understood that some members fail to understand the required behaviour. In such a case, I need to learn the effective ways of communicating the conduct to all members in clear and comprehensible terms. Discussion of the Personal Development Record and Activities As mentioned above, communication is one of the skill areas that need the construction of knowledge under the self-managed life-long learning initiative. Under the skill area, I need to learn effective communication and presentation skills. The need for the skill was evident in one instance when I had to deliver individual messages to all the members of the group. The messages had different content and targeted different individuals. Some of the contents were private and confidential since they specified the role that the individual would play in the project. However, I was unable to select the appropriate channel of communication to use in delivering the message as I argued within myself on whether to use emails or SMS. There are several aspects associated with communication that I identified are essential in learning communication skills. For instance, I need to learn the essence of ensuring the clarity of the purpose or message before delivering the message to the target recipients. Understanding the purpose of the message and ensuring that it is clear enables the recipient to understand the message properly and carry out its requirements without the need of further instructions from the sender. I also realised that I need to understand my audience before deciding to send any message to any member of the audience. Understanding my audience would be essential in enabling the proper way of sending the message and addressing the individual recipients. Finally, I need to practice adequately for the presentation before embarking on the presentation. Adequate practice would ensure that I gain substantial insight about the message to ensure its effective delivery to the audience instead of referring to Power Point slides throughout the presentation. However, I also need several resources to learn communication skills. Some of the most important resources include the being a member of thesis writing and presentation circles and drop-in sessions. Other resources include online resources for making online references, a toolkit for cultural diversity and inclusive toolkit, and a student-learning centre. Several success criteria are applicable to evaluating my success on the skill area. The toolkit would act as my main criteria for measuring success. Some of the items under consideration in the toolkit would include identifying whether I am able to use questions in gauging the understanding of the audience on the topic and the ability to select an appropriate communication channel to relay messages. The other measures include my ability to use body language and appropriate facial expression. As the first skill area to learn, I would allocate the entire month of July to the learning of the skill and the subsequent assessment. The second skill area that requires learning is self-awareness. It entails the ability of an individual to modulate his or her behaviour effectively (Vago & Silbersweig 2012). I identified the need for the skill during one of my presentations when I never gave the audience time to give feedback on my presentation. In another case, I grouped individuals of different personality traits in similar groups; an action that created unnecessary conflicts that I could have avoided in advance. In order to understand the skill, I need to learn the different types of personalities such as “peacefuls”, “playfuls”, “powerfuls”, and “precises” in order to identify the effective ways of interacting with them as well as allocating roles to them. Some of the resources that I need include My Abilities sheets, online resources on the development of self-awareness skills such as My Future and Youth Central. My success criteria would entail scoring “very good” on the core-competency self-assessment test that requires one to select an entry on the 5-Point Likert scale. The scale asks the respondent to give feedback on his or her actions under specific circumstances. The other success criteria would entail taking part in an entire project as the project leader and using a third party to evaluate my performance on the use of personality types in role allocation and interaction. As the second skill area that requires learning, I would allocate the learning of the skill to the month of August 2011. From the personal development plan, I also need to learn self-management skills. Self-management refers to the ability of an individual to practice specific behaviours termed as success behaviours for accomplishing a certain task (McGowan 2005). I learnt about the need for the skill during my last project when I was unable to handle all my activities within the required timeframe. The failure to handle some of the activities within the expected period emanated from an emergency that happened during the course of the project. Apparently, the occurrence of emergencies in the course of a project is inevitable. As a result, project leaders should be able to work on all project tasks as well as emergencies within the required periods. Based on the identified skill area, I need to learn the effective management of workloads through the creation of a “to-do” list as well as the handling of emergencies. The “to-do” list contains all the activities that I should perform in the course of the project. Dealing with emergencies would also enable me to complete the project within the allocated time without having to seek unnecessary extensions. The self-management toolkit is the first resource that I require in learning the skill. I also need online resources on self-management for reference purposes. The criteria for measuring workload planning and handling of emergencies would entail using the toolkit to seek my feedback under various scenarios in workload planning and emergency handling. Before considering the learning process to be successful, I should be able to attain a “very good” score on the assessment. I have allocated the half-month period from first to 15th September as the dates for learning the skill and undergoing the assessments. Moreover, the personal development plan identified the need for learning team-working skills in my self-managed life-long learning. A successful team is a group of individuals that work together under a cooperative environment to achieve a common goal (Tarricone & Luka 2002). To be precise, I did not have adequate knowledge about team working theory in our last team project where I was the tem leader. Therefore, I headed straight to communicating the objectives of the project to all members without identifying the essence of establishing relationships with the other members of the team. Therefore, I need to learn the expression of openness to other members as a way of forging initial relationships that are critical to the eventual success of the project. I also need to learn the communication of self-disclosure and the essence of trust in a team project. Besides online resources that would provide additional information on teamwork skills, the teamwork assessment checklist is the fundamental resource that I need to have in order to learn team-working skills. In measuring the success of the acquired skill, I would use the checklist to determine the understanding of the different aspects of the project by other members. In the event that the cumulative score attained by all members is at least “good” or 3 on the 5-Point Likert Scale, then it would be evident that I have succeeded in fostering information sharing among the members of the group. I would undergo the learning process between the 16th and 31st of October 2017. Finally, the personal development plan also mentions the need for learning leadership skills in the preparation to become exceptional leaders in the future. I identified the need for the skill during my last project where as a team leader; I started communicating the objectives of the project to all members without communicating the code of conduct or acceptable behaviour. I did not identify the significance of the code of conduct until the instance where one of the members released confidential information about the project to a non-member that inquired about it. Even though it was evident that the individual had contravened one of the crucial requirements in the acceptable code of conduct, I understood that I had not communicated the do’s and don’ts associated with the acceptable behaviour. With help from the communication skills learnt earlier, I need to learn the communication of the code of conduct to the members of a group and its significance in leadership. I also need to learn the provision of clear and comprehensible objectives to ensure that members of the team understand the direction and scope of the project. The leadership assessment checklist is the most important tool that I need in learning leadership skills besides other online sources for reference purposes. The checklist contains multi-rater assessments, market-based interviews, behavioural-leadership interviews, case simulations, and leadership inventories. I should be able to attain a score of “very good” on all assessments before considering the learning process successful. As the last task in the self-managed life-long learning, I would undergo the learning process and assessment between 1st and 15th September 2017. Table 1 below shows my personal development plan that details all the activities and assessment criteria for each skill area. What do I want/need to learn? (specific and realistic) Where was this need identified? What will I do to achieve this? (achievable) What resources or support will I need? (awareness of limitations and opportunities) What will my success criteria be? (measurable) Target dates for review and completion (time constrained) I need to learn communication and presentation skills. On one occasion as a team leader, I was unable to determine whether to use SMS or emails in communicating a specific message to the group members. I need to be clear on the purpose and message before presenting or communicating the message. I also need to understand the audience. Moreover, I need to practice adequately for the presentation. Thesis writing and presentation circles, online resources for making references, and drop-in sessions, student learning centre, cultural diversity and inclusive practice toolkit. The use of questions to gauge the understanding of the audience, the selection of proper communication channels to convey messages, the use of appropriate facial expression and body language. 1-31st July 2017. I need to learn self-awareness skills During one of our classroom presentations, I did not give the audience the opportunity to give feedback concerning my presentation. When handling the group task, I was also unable to group individual group members based on their personality traits. I need to understand the different types of personalities such as “playfuls”, “peacefuls”, “powerfuls”, and “precises” and use the understanding in interacting with individuals as well as role allocation. Copies of My Abilities sheet, online resources such as the Youth Central and myfuture websites to identify my abilities. Undergoing the core-competency self-assessment test that requires me to select an entry on the 5-point Likert scale that indicates how often I act in certain ways. 1-31st August 2017 I need to learn self-management skills I was unable to work on all of my activities within the required time because of an unexpected emergency that required my attention during the course of the project. I need to learn how to handle emergencies in order to ensure the completion of the project within the scheduled timeframe. In essence, I need to learn the effective ways of managing workloads. The self-management toolkit, online resources on self-management skills. I will use the toolkit to seek my feedback on various scenarios under workload planning and emergency handling. I would not consider the learning process successful unless I attain a score of “very good” on the assessment. 1-15th September 2017 I need to learn team working skills On my last project as a team leader, I failed to start with forging relationships among the members; a mistake that resulted in the failure of the project to achieve its goals. In order to develop the sense of cohesion required in teamwork, I need to express openness to other members, self-disclosure and trust, support to other members. I also need to learn to respect other members. Teamwork assessment checklist. With the teamwork assessment checklist, I will measure information sharing by determining the understanding of group members about the different aspects of the entire project. I would consider the learning process on the skill area successful if the average score attained by all members on the 5-point Likert scale is at least 3 or “good”. 16-31st August 2017 I need to learn leadership skills I started working on a team project without issuing the Code of Conduct. I did not realise the mistake until one day when a member of the group disclosed confidential information about the design of our project to a potential rival group. I need to learn the essence of communicating the code of conduct to group members before embarking on a project as well as the provision of comprehensive and clear objectives to the members of a group. Online multi-rater assessments, market-based interviews, behavioural-leadership interviews, leadership inventories, and case simulations. I should be able to attain a score of “very good” on the 5-point Likert scale after undergoing the assessments in order to consider the learning process to be successful. 1-15th September 2017 Table 1: Personal Development Plan Conclusion From the audit of my skills, the different skill areas that require development include self-awareness, communication, self-management, teamwork, and leadership. In order to develop my self-awareness skills, I need to understand the four personality types of “playfuls”, “peacefuls”, “powerfuls”, and “precises” as well as the allocation of roles to individuals having the personalities. In the development of communication skills, I need to learn effective listening skills and the proper selection of communication channels to communicate specific messages to the audience. Some of the areas that require further development on the self-management skill area include the creation of “to-do” lists in handling activities and the effective ways of dealing with emergencies. On teamwork skills, I need to understand the essence of establishing relationships among team members to encourage information sharing throughout the project. Finally, I need to learn the need for communicating the acceptable code of conduct to team members as an essential development area for my leadership skills. Reference List Kerka, S., 1999. Self-Directed Learning. Myths and Realities No. 3. McGowan, P., 2005, September. Self-management: a background paper. In New perspectives: international conference on patient self-management. Tarricone, P. and Luca, J., 2002. Successful teamwork: A case study. Vago, D.R. and Silbersweig, D.A., 2012. Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness. 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