Reflective Learning in Practice - Assignment Example

 Personal and Professional Development CONTENTS TASK I…………………………………………………………………………..3 TASK II…………………………………………………………………………5 TASK III………………………………………………………………………..11 TASK I: PERSONAL SKILLS AUDIT A. Tests Taken The tests taken were measuring aptitude, personality, multiple intelligence, and time management. Overall, I think having completed these tests showed a remarkable ability to multitask. I completed them all at a relatively fast pace. This proves my superior abilities as a test-taker, and I think that should be considered when thinking about my strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT analysis, which I will go into more detail in a discussion within the section to follow. B. Personal SWOT Analysis 1. Strengths—The strengths of my tests proved that I had a strong aptitude, a likeable personality, and various types of intelligences. One of my obvious strengths, as I mentioned above, was multitasking. I completed all four of these tests, plus a learning styles inventory, on my own at one single time! I thought this was great—not only because of the time element involved, but also because I was completing multiple tasks at one time. I pretty much found this to be an amazing skill that I never knew I had. 2. Weaknesses—My one weakness is that I could have better time management. I know that I could definitely improve my time management skills, but I’m not sure exactly how to go about it except by just being on time—everywhere I go. I like to have some flexibility with my schedule. This is my only real weakness that stands out like a sore thumb. I need to have better time management. It’s not an option; I must improve or risk being seen as incompetent! 3. Opportunities—I see the fact that I don’t have good time management as an opportunity to learn and improve myself and my skills. I have to look at it that way, otherwise I would feel much worse than I already do about the fact that sometimes I am not “as” punctual as I could be. I also see an opportunity with my multitasking skills to use these in the field! 4. Threats—My biggest potential threat that looms above my head is that, if I don’t get my time management skills honed, I am going to worry about this in the long run because I won’t be organized. Good time management says volumes about how well-organized a person is. Therefore, I feel that if my time management is not that good, that my organizational skills are somehow to blame as well. C. Test Results 1. What the Test Results Say—The test results generally showed the following. On the aptitude test, I ranked as someone who is definitely gifted (whose Intelligence Quotient or IQ is between 131-141). Personally, I kind of think that I am a genius, but I’m a little biased. Having said that, I think I could’ve scored at least a few points higher than I did in order to get above 141, putting me in the genius category. I’m somewhat of a phenom—I just happen to be very smart! The other test results showed I had high linguistic and interpersonal intelligences on the multiple intelligences test. I took a personality test and found out that I am a type B personality. My time management test didn’t go so well, but the results basically stated that I was a poor manager of my own time. My learning styles inventory ranked me the highest as a visual learner. 2. What I Already Knew About Myself—I knew I was a pretty good organizer (of course, not including time management!), but I had no idea that my multitasking abilities were this great. This has helped me realize how I can better use my time in the future in terms of organizing how to accomplish multiple tasks at once. 3. Identified Development Needs and Opportunities-- Development needs include having to watch how I manage all my time. First, what I am going to do is organize how I manage a regular day—what I do, where I go, what I eat, when I do things, et cetera. Then, what I’m going to do is make a budgeted plan of how I want to spend my time instead. I see this as an opportunity. D. Learning Style Inventory Results 1. Results—The learning style inventory results, as mentioned in one of the sections above, demonstrated that I am mainly a visual learner and therefore learn best by visual means—either with visual aids supporting writing that is done on the board or whether I am presented with charts, tables, graphs, or pictures. TASK II: SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT I. Introduction A. What is Professional Development and Lifelong Learning? Professional development is basically ensuring that one continues learning in one’s field long after having become an expert—in my case, a managerial expert. I am a lifelong learner, which means I expect to continually be improving myself always. B. The Evaluation of Three CPD Methods—Three methods for Continued Professional Development include: taking classes online; taking classes at a college; or taking a correspondence course that would entail rigorous study. The goals of such studies would be to improve on my skills and hopefully attain more education than I already have now, which is substantial. I hope to definitely be a team player and someone who is committed to my job—ensuring that I have the credentials and the brainpower to lead a team where my managerial expertise is needed. C. How Professional Development Can Be Encouraged—Professional development can be encouraged by ensuring that the work environment is also conducive to learning and is not anti-intellectual. So many times, anti-intellectualism runs rampant in the workplace because people assume that since one is at work, one should not think about schooling or education—when that is exactly opposite the truth. D. The Evaluation of CPD for Both Individuals and Employers—Continued professional development should be a goal both for individuals within a company as well as the employers—who are subject to having to undergo ongoing professional development by attending conferences, workshops, and so forth, in order to attain more professional core competencies. It is important that individuals and employers work together in order to challenge each other to reach new heights of education. Thus, individuals will feel encouraged that their own employers are searching out various opportunities in higher education, thus emboldening them to broaden their own horizons as well. E. Understanding Concepts—I felt that, from the first, I understood general concepts very well. If there were any concepts that I was unsure about, I would immediately make sure to look these up online—usually on Google. Google can be a very useful tool for learning about various subjects—so I use it often. There weren’t many concepts that I had to Google, although, I did have to look up what was CPD because I wasn’t immediately familiar with the acronym. II. Methodology A. A List of the Tests Taken, Using a Range Quantity of Self-Assessments— The lists of the tests taken ranged in variety and quantity. The self-assessments that were taken included: an aptitude test; a personality test; a multiple intelligences test; and a time management test. I also took a learning styles inventory that assessed me as being primarily a visual learner, speaking overall. B. Well-Planned and Well-Managed Assessments—I thought that my assessments were generally well-planned and well-managed. I took time off from my busy schedule in order to make sure I had a block of time set aside for taking all of these tests, and then whizzed through them summarily, in the order that I set out to accomplish having taken all four tests and the learning styles inventory all at once. I know this was a bit ambitious on my part, but I am generally a pretty gregarious person. So, it is no surprise to me that I decided to make sure that the assessments I took were managed well and planned in advance, well ahead of the time that I knew I would need to submit anything. It took me awhile to do the write-up but once I got going, everything flowed! III. Analysis A. What I Learned About Myself As a Result of My Skills Audit— What I learned about myself as a result of my skills audit is that I am a very vivacious person. I’m full of life—‘vim and vigor,’ as one might put it. I’m very energetic, I have a high-voltage personality with a lot of love to give to the world. I’m a carefree, upbeat person with a great personality and lots of different skills that I have to offer at whatever job I set my hand to in life. I am pretty sure that a lot of people look up to me because of the high standards and goals I have for myself in life. B. Analysis of Myself After Each Individual Test—My analysis of myself after each individual test was interesting. I honestly did not know beforehand that I was gifted. I mean, I always knew I was smart, but on some level I had no idea that I was gifted in that way. I had an idea what my personality type was, and I also had an inkling what my multiple intelligences test results would say because I have taken those types of tests before. I also knew that I was a visual learner before I completed the learning styles inventory. The only real surprising element was to learn that my time management needs desperate improvements. C. An Overall Holistic In-Depth Self-Assessment (Thoroughly Evaluated)— When I evaluate overall, holistically and in-depth, how my self-assessments turned out, I generally think that I did very well on these assessments. I’m not used to taking so many tests at one time—nor was I used to the fact that I had to get these done under some amount of time pressure because I knew I then had to write this write-up as fast as I could after I finished the tests so I could turn in my paper on-time. IV. Learning Styles A. My Preferred Learning Style—My preferred learning style is that of a visual learner. I like the utilization of visual aids to help me learn new things. B. Explanation of Relevant Learning Style Theory—Relevant learning style theory that I guess would help to explain why I am a visual learner more than anything else is probably because I grew up enjoying drawing and activities like that. I am definitely a visual learner more than any other type of learning style and I think that shows in the way I conduct myself as a manager. V. Conclusion A. Reviewing What Has Been Learnt About Current Personal and Professional Skills—After having reviewed what I learnt about current personal and professional skills, I’ve decided that, in order to be more effective as a professional, I need to really get my act together in terms of being organized and being on time when I go places—and generally need to follow up on doing things when I say I am going to follow through. Those are important skills to have and I hope to improve upon those skills in the future. B. Logically Assessing the Skills Needed to Be an Effective Manager— In assessing the skills needed to be an effective manager, I know that I have much to work on. There are several areas which I can see obviously need improvement. I would say my most difficult area with which I struggle is that of time management, so I hope that I can really improve upon this area within the shortest time frame. I need to have better time management skills so people will think of me as a serious, organized, and focused person. C. Ways In Which I Might Gain These Skills—Ways in which I might logically gain some of these skills just include the fact that I need to be able to manage all of my scheduled activities better so that they don’t cause me a lot of unnecessary headaches and so forth. I really need to feel like I am improving in the area of time management by managing all my other skills with a sort of facility or ease as well. D. Some In-Depth Reflective Synthetic Thinking—Some of the reflections I’ve had lately have made me think that perhaps instead of being a good manager, I can be a great manager. But, I can’t help but feel that my time management skills are not going to improve unless I focus upon them with all of my intensity and passion to see this through to the end of my goal’s accomplishment—to have better time management. This is my top priority. E. An Evaluation of My Approach to This Assignment—My approach to this assignment was to welcome it with open arms, because I really needed to find out about my time management being an issue. It’s one thing to know that I am constantly late and missing deadlines—but it’s another thing to fully acknowledge the fact that one has a problem, and then put an action plan in place to address those issues. TASK III: MY PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Four to Six Short- and Long-Term Learning Goals (May Include Time Management, Communication, and Problem-Solving Skills Improvements) 1. One short-term goal is improving time management. 2. One long-term goal is also improving time management. 3. One long-term goal is improving my interpersonal communication skills. 4. Another long-term goal would be to improve my intra-personal skills, so I can learn how to more effectively listen to myself and how I am feeling about any particular subjects. Details of a Range of Activities To Do To Implement Each Development Plan and Achieve Each Goal (Showing Learning Style, Being Realistic and Appropriate to Help Reach the Goals A range of activities which I can employ in order to develop these skills are: 1. being more realistic about how much time I need to complete tasks; 2. having a calendar with visual cues on it; 3. participating in community and networking events more; and 4. keeping a daily journal. Identify Resources, Support, and Help You Need to Achieve Each Goal in Your PDP (Personal Development Plan) My personal development plan includes the following resources: the Internet, friends, and family. Support I need will come from my friends, family, and work colleagues. The help I need will hopefully come from a variety of sources, including asking people to help me on track when I am becoming unfocused or unclear in my goal-setting. Identify Anticipated Obstacles to Achieving Each Goal And How You Will Overcome Them I have identified the following obstacles as standing in the way of my goals for each goal: 1. I might get lazy and not want to plan; 2. I might not feel like looking at my long-term goals every day; 3. I might not particularly feel like networking on a regular basis due to social anxieties; and 4. I might not feel like journaling every day. How I will overcome these obstacles are: 1. I will not allow myself to be lazy; 2. I will force myself to think about long-term goals every day; 3. I will force myself to interact socially, even when I don’t feel like it; and 4. I will overcome the fact that I don’t want to journal every day by forcing myself to write at least something down everyday. Specify Clear Success Criteria, i.e., State How You Will Have Reached Each Goal I will have reached each goal when: 1. I can manage my daily schedule well; 2. I can manage my monthly schedule well, looking not just at short-term planning goals, but also at long-term planning goals; 3. I can interact and network with people without as much social anxiety as I have now; and 4. I can look at my daily journal and see that I have been keeping reflections there on a daily basis for at least a few months. Set Appropriate and Realistic Target Dates/Deadlines For Completion and Review of Each Goal, Within the Context of a Well-Constructed and Clearly-Presented PDP—Following From My Personal Reflection on the Self-Assessment Process and the Identification of My Preferred Learning Style(s) I will set my goals to be achieved as follows: goal #1 will be achieved within a month; goal #2 will be achieved within the span of 2 months to a year; goal #3 will be achieved within 2 months; and goal #4 will be achieved within the span of one year. BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, E., & Seaman J. (2010). Learning on demand. Retrieved from: . American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). (2010). E-learning glossary. Retrieved from http://www.astd.org/LC/glossary.htm Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Bain, J. D., Mills, C., Ballantyne, R. & Packer, J. (2002). “Developing reflection on practice through journal writing: impacts of variations in the focus and level of reflection.” Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8(2), 171–196. Bernard et al. (2004). “The development of a questionnaire for predicting online learning achievement.” Distance Education, 25(1). Boud, D. (Summer 2001). “Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 90, 9-17. Eric Education Journals. (EJ630506) Brockband, A., McGill, I., & Beech, N. (2002). Reflective learning in practice. Burlington, VT: Gower. APPENDIX TEST RESULTS APTITUDE TEST: I scored in the range between 131-141 for IQ—the “gifted” range. PERSONALITY TEST: I have a type B personality. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES TEST: I have high ratings in both linguistic and interpersonal intelligences. TIME MANAGEMENT TEST: Overall, I have poor time management skills. I hope that they will definitely improve over time. LEARNING STYLES INVENTORY: I am primarily a visual learner. Read More