My Personal Learning Goals - Assignment Example

Portfolio 2 Student’s Name Instructor Course Date of Submission Portfolio 2 Task 1 My personal learning goals are four can be stated as follows: 1) to have a steady professional employment in the field of sustainability; 2) to combine teaching English with travel; 3) to start video blogging; and 4) to improve my knowledge of alternative economics. To pursue a career in sustainability, which is my first personal learning goal, I need to engage a breadth of knowledge and experience, and acquire the skills to integrate several domains of knowledge to prepare me for a number of careers in sustainability. I am well aware that sustainability graduates can assume a number of positions in nongovernmental organizations, governmental agencies, nonprofits, regulatory agencies, utilities, industry, and consultancy[Ham12]. Since I am interested in a career in sustainability, I have made some several steps that help me in achieving my dream. The first step I have done is to connect with sustainability career specialists through social media. I have joined a number of groups related to sustainability careers that serve to provide a place for exchanging ideas and networking. These groups also help me to find all the information concerning existing internship opportunities and this can help me to find a place where I can practice my career. The next step I have taken is to ensure that I attend all the workshops and lectures related to sustainability. All the workshops and lectures held at the institution are a great step forward towards attaining my career goals as they usually address what I can do with a sustainability career after graduating and all the tools I require in order to reach there. I have also enrolled for a sustainability degree as this will allow me to have skills that can be employed to virtually any profession or field. As sustainability is something I love, I make sure I embrace any activity that will propel my career. I locally engage myself with groups that deal with sustainability on campus and off campus. Achieving this goal is very important as it will determine my future success. This course has also contributed positively towards achieving my career goal. The teamwork helped me to experience a leadership position, which allowed me to have an experience of what I should expect when working with others in the field of sustainability. My second goal is to teach English for tourism or rather to combine teaching English with travel. Teaching English for tourism is an exciting chance to teach the learners language that is applicable in real-world[Ham12]. I have made some tremendous effort to achieve this goal and one of the first things I have done is to enroll in a college that is offering English for tourism course. I have also registered for a number of standardized English tests that will be done later this year. I also plan to take a common entrance exam at every level of English studies. Finally, I have made an effort of knowing the travel industry in a better way than before; I interact with tour operators, visit airports as well as immigration and customs department in order to be accustomed with the English language they speak there. This goal is very important for my future because I hope one day I will find myself working in the tourism and travel industry. My third personal learning goal is to start video blogging and I have made some steps towards achieving this goal. The first step I have taken is to use the free video blogging hosting services at www.podbean.com to start my video blog. Though I am using this service my future goal is to start my own video blogging website. Since my interest to work in a sustainability field, I have already started to archive videos related to this field. I have used some of them in my blog, while others have been archived in my PC for future use. My final learning goal is to improve my knowledge of alternative economics, which is also a field of my interest. One of the goals of sustainability professionals is to assist organizations attain their main objectives by making sure that business practices are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable[Ham12]. This means that I need to study economics as it is part and parcel of sustainability field. I have already started attending a number of lectures related to alternative economics. I also intend to take personality test results for economics. Achieving this goal will help me a lot in future as it will cement my sustainability career. Different people prefer varying learning styles and techniques. Learning styles can be described as the number of ways that people employ to learn[Fel10]. Some people prefer to use a mix of learning styles, while others have a dominant style of learning and avoid using other styles. Some people use also use different learning styles in different situations[Fel10]. Though there are different learning styles, there is no style which is perfect nor is there a right mix[Fel10]. The important thing is to understand your own learning styles as this will enhance the quality and speed of your learning. While I was studying this course, I realized I employ a dominant learning style referred to as logical. I prefer to reason logically and intuitively while learning. This was my dominant learning style but I also employed the social learning style, where we formed study groups with other students. Task 2 Effective functioning of our team was directly influence by the members’ actions, behaviors and characteristics. Effective team functioning derives from a number of fundamental characteristics[Zac01]. Team members are supposed to successfully integrate their personal actions. Members have unique and specific roles, where the functioning of each role leads to collective success. This indicates that the causes of failure in a time may come from not only in member failure, but also in members’ collective failure to synchronize and coordinate their personal contributions[Zac01]. Therefore, team processes are significant determinant of team effective performance, and often intermediate the influences of many other external factors. Team leadership also plays a greater role in effective performance of the team. In most of the teams, certain individuals are given the mandate to define team goals, and develop and structure the team in order to achieve these goals. However, a leader’s success in defining team directions and structuring the team to improve progress along such directions significantly contributes to the effectiveness of the team. In fact, it is correct to argue that effective leadership processes represent the most important factor that determines the success of a team[Zac01]. The personal characteristics that I would bring to the team include communication skills, motivating skills, team building skills, risk taking skills, visionary and goal setting. Though the list of the personal characteristics I had listed in portfolio1 is important to the team I would also add some other characteristics such as listening skills, flexibility skills, problem-solving skills, and cooperation skills. I will add the list of my personal characteristics as the ones listed before is not enough to make a member an effective team player[Zac01]. Adding an extra four personal characteristics will actually make me an effective team player, who will contribute positively to the performance of the team. Our team used to meet every Friday and we were handling 3 assignments that were to be compiled into the team report. All the members of the team depended from one another for the resources, materials, and information needed to accomplish work for the team. There were three top leaders in the group, who helped in defining the goals and directions of the group. I was among the three leaders and my main role was that of a coordinator. Being a coordinator, I attempted to coordinate activities among team members. For instance, if we were going to hold a meeting concerning tasks we were supposed to accomplish, I would coordinate all the activities to be carried out in that day including the place we should meet. As a leader, I was supposed to make decisions for the team and provide direction and control over team members who carried out assigned tasks[Zac01]. References List Ham12: , (Hamilton 2012), Fel10: , (Felder 2010), Zac01: , (Zaccaro, Rittman & Marks 2001), Read More