Using Gibbs Model for Personal Reflection to Uncover Things I Have Learnt About Myself - Admission/Application Essay Example

SELF-REFLECTION Name Course Tutor Date of submission I have never participated in a team that is comprised of members from diverse backgrounds. However, this semester has provided me an opportunity to be part of a team that has different members. In our team, I was Chinese while the others were AU locals. The team was involved in a lot of learning activities and above all sharing of insights and information from every team member. Each member participated in an activity that contributed to the overall achievement of goals. The team was ideal for me as through it there are a variety of things I have learnt of myself that I was unaware of. In short, this team was more beneficial in making me change my conventional belief that excellence in academics and professional areas is just something that happens when there is hard work. The Johari window has helped me identify myself better especially through feedback from group members. The feedback from the team members helped me understand myself as a learner than the previous beliefs that I held of myself. At first I had a small open area and blind areas and large hidden and unknown areas. However, as we advanced in the team the open area and the dark areas slowly expanded because we were cooperating as a team through disclosure thus reducing the blind, hidden and unknown areas. Lastly, as we further interacted the unknown areas, blind spot, open areas and hidden areas were of the same size. In this paper, I use the Gibbs model or framework for personal reflection to uncover some of the things I have learnt about myself as a learner in the subsequent sections. Initially, I underscored the importance of self-regulation in achieving personal, academic excellence and professional experiences. However, the teamwork has not only presented me with a chance to learn a lot of things but also been useful in changing my perceptions of what makes us academic achievers. Academic achievement is probably the most overrated concept in the minds and thoughts of many people. I have been able to experience the importance of knowledge sharing as a core in the future change expected at various levels of life. Additionally, I have learnt that having the meaning of what I have learned is the key point in differentiating between knowledge and what is taught. I believe that by measuring and utilizing our learning needs we need to be articulate. In this paper, I personally reflect on what I have directly and indirectly learned from the course, backing up my arguments with the ideas reflected in the text and a combination of other similar texts. Self-regulation is the key drive in academic excellence as well as professional experience (Zimmerman, 2002 p.85). I have been able to integrate self-regulation channels when making significant academic conditions after understanding my capabilities in self-regulation. Through the personal initiative, self-directive skills and diligence as stated by, I have been able to learn that quality instruction coupled with mental aptness has been the strong core of self-regulation (Zimmerman, 2002 p.85). Self-regulation is more than just achievement but also self-generated and evaluated thoughts, actions and feelings that are key when achieving personal goals (Zimmerman, 2002 p.85). I have learnt of the importance of ethics and teamwork, two factors that are key to both professional and academic experience. Self-regulatory processes go as far as outdoing talent when it comes to learning and personal performance. Task-specific knowledge and skill are what defines expertise (Zimmerman, 2002 p.86). Learning requires continuous high-quality practice over a given period of time (Zimmerman, 2002 p.86). The development of expertise is anchored on self-directed practice episodes whether through ourselves or through others (Zimmerman, 2002 p.87). I have learned the importance of goal setting that can be used when giving a sense of direction for the intended actions. Maladaptive goal setting moves have the ability to mask learning (Zimmerman, 2002 p.88). Task strategies are also important when it comes to setting the methods of learning. Learning can also be assisted through imagery where an individual creates a mental image that helps in learning (88). This knowledge of the importance of building mental pictures, could be essential to me as a learner since I will be handling a lot of concepts. Through interactions within the team, I have significantly developed an inner urge to immerse myself in situations and simulate the outcomes through self-regulation. This might be beneficial in engaging with people from diverse backgrounds in the professional world as well as during my masters. For me the most important aspect of the team been my self-drive and confidence when in the team. Previously, I was for the idea that mental pictures are just tiresome and useless. However, I now understand their essence in helping me to remember concepts. I am not sure how to build mental pictures but am convinced that they will help me handle assignments better.. As suggested by Zimmerman (2002, p. 88), knowledge of the importance of self-instruction has assisted me to overcome my weak points in learning. Time being a factor to me, I have been able to budget on time and estimate the duration required for me to achieve the set goals. Zimmerman (2002 p.89) reckons that self-evaluation enables one to set standards and use them as a reference point for self-judgement. At the moment, I have noticed that am very much distracted by the presence of people and need some quite time for high levels of concentration. I have significantly improved on my concentration through being able to spot and avoid distractions. Having learnt this, when am about to read and undertake an assignment, I would prefer a quiet room that is with or without people as long as there is calm therein. Zimmerman (2002 p.89) further suggests that however successful one is they have to engage the process of help-seeking. I have been able to learn that teachers, teammates, books especially personal or self-development and biographies of successful people have been there to inspire me into new paths in my academic journey. As stated by Zimmerman (2002 p.90), self-efficacy of an expert is founded on self-regulatory procedures, I have been able to build on the above-stated aspects of self-regulation and known where my strengths and weaknesses lie. This far, I am able to develop forethought processes, performance phase process and lastly the self-reflection phase when undertaking anything. Social interactions also have an impact on academic and professional excellence (Kumar, 2007). I have been able to learn how to analyse the task ahead of me, build on my motivational beliefs, garner personal self-control and achieve self-judgment and reaction after a task. Achieving of self-efficacy is also tied to learning. I agree with Zimmerman (2002 p.100) that, the Imitative experience is one of the key experiences that is also intertwined with refinement and skill acquisition. Through observation of what my teachers are good at or how they approach tasks, I have been able to build a strong skill background whether be it in communication and listening as well as critical thinking. Social interactions have further aided me in affirming my skills and building upon them (Schargel, Thacker, & Bell, 2007). For example, at the time I was interacting with the team members, I noticed that I was unable to support my ideas and give the reasoning approach I used. Subsequently, through collectively critiquing the answers given by each, I developed articulate skills and could present and defend my approach. Through critiquing and arguing out our points one gets to develop critical thinking skills (Kumar, 2007). In my masters degree and later career, I will be able to adapt to the changes that are bound to occur in order to perform better. That way I will be applying Zimmerman’s self-regulated level that in itself is tied to academic and professional excellence. Even so, the principles of ethics will not depart me since academic or professional is founded on strong ethical principles (Lombardo & Thomas, 2011 p. 292). Zimmerman (2002 p. 103) suggests that a multilevel approach helps in learning skills and enables students to self-monitor themselves, set goals and adapt their performance in their practice and actions. Zimmerman (2002 p. 101) comes up with a four hierarchy model that helps in self-regulation. I have noticed that observation will be able to induct with the best and refined skills in my future learning and professional environment. Through emulation, I will be able to imitate what is good and discern it from what is bad for my academic and professional excellence. Additionally, self-control will give me the ability to use the particular skills adopted under structured conditions and enable me to perform exemplarily (In Altbach & In Salmi, 2012). Lastly, the bigger picture that is self-regulation will enable me to use the skills through environments and status quos that keep on changing (Lombardo & Thomas, 2011). The self-regulatory process will not only present me with a chance to excel professional wise but also give me an edge when interacting with people from diverse backgrounds. An integration of other people’s skills and mine will enable me as an individual to choose after self-reflecting, the best idea or skill to stick with for the better (In Altbach & In Salmi, 2012). Lately, I have changed my perspective that learning and academic excellence depends only on talent, giftedness and exposure. Instead, I have conformed to the conclusion that academic excellence depends more on the level of motivation and the number of time one practices the acquired skill (Zimmerman, 2002 p. 106). Perhaps, I would stick to the fact that an expert is defined by the effective use of self-regulatory processes such as self-monitoring, evaluation, reliance on systems feedback and goal oriented attention (Zimmerman, 2002 p. 106). With respect to the idea, I believe that as I enter the masters class persistence, and motivation will be my cup of tea as I desire to achieve academically and thus set the pace for the employment to come later. Bibliography In Altbach, P. G., & In Salmi, J. (2012). The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World-Class Research Universities. Washington: World Bank Publications. Kumar, A. (2007). Personal, academic and career development in higher education: SOARing to success. London: Routledge. Lombardo, & Thomas. (2011). Wisdom, Consciousness, and the Future: Collected Essays. Xlibris Corp. Schargel, F. P., Thacker, T., & Bell, J. S. (2007). From at risk to academic excellence: What successful leaders do. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Zimmerman, B.J. 2002 “Achieving Academic Excellence: A Self-Regulatory Perspective” in Ferrari, M. (Ed). The Pursuit of Excellence through Education. Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ. Pp.85-110. Read More