Module BMSW4001 Academic and Employability Skills Student Name:Alice Iuliana Ioan Student ID:1911517 Table of Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle 3 Description 4 Feelings 4 Evaluation 5 Analysis 5 Conclusion 6 Action Plan 6 Personal Development Plan (PDP) 7 Foundation (Self-Reflection) 7 Alignment with Department’s/ Institution's Future (Self-Reflection or Can Be Completed with Mentor or Supervisor) 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction: The report is based on my experience of being given a redo assignment and incorporating the principles of Gibbs’ reflective cycle model in the assignment to make an assessment of my shortcomings and use feedback and feed-forward with the information provided by the tutor to achieve greater success. It is indicated by Weber et al. (2018), a student can enhance their learning experience if they incorporate reflective learning along with feedback and feed-forward in their learning. The report also aims to research and present the findings in a format to gain employability skills. The report also includes a PDP (Personal Development Plan) which is based on the feedback received from the mentors. At UWTSD, I came to know why it is important to reflect on my learning and why it is important to use feedback to improve. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle: Gibbs' reflective cycle is a framework developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988, which promotes learning techniques to enable people to learn from their experiences. After the module, I came to know about the reflective model and how it can help us. I found out that Gibbs divided the process into six different steps to analyse which can help us learn from the experience in every aspect. Gibbs' model is divided into description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan which can help us to evaluate ourselves more. Figure 1: Stages Described as per Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle Description: Gibbs explained the description process to answer the questions concerning: • What happened • When it occurred • Who was there • What did they do • What was the outcome The module taught us how it is important to outline our work and to limit the information to keep it simple and short and to the point. We do not need to go on about details which are irrelevant to the topic. After the assignment was sent back to me, I realised the valuable points I was missing. I realised my report on "how to motivate staff in a workplace" was missing important discussion topics while I wrote about some of the things that were not as important. The topics I mentioned lacked some topics like a good working environment and a good leader. Both Taheri et al. (2020) and Chauhan et al. (2019) have respectively stated that a good working environment and a good leader are both essential for an employee to stay motivated. I also noticed from the feedback that my work was satisfactory but average. It was pointed out to me that my report lacked a proper sense. I will try to rectify those mistakes and try to incorporate the changes recommended by the tutor. Feelings: The feelings describe the thoughts and feelings I was feeling during the situation. It answers the following questions: • How I felt during the situation • What was I thinking during that time • What was the impact of my emotions, beliefs • What do I think about the thought process of other people during the situation • What I thought about the situation afterwards Gibbs stated that I should describe my feelings and thought process honestly. During the situation when I was given a resit assignment, I was sad and frightened that it may affect my grade. It is said to be very natural to feel depressed when adverse situations occur (Li et al., 2020). Questions like, "Did I fail the assignment", "I will be a laughing stock for everyone" and "How will I face my parents" came to my mind. My emotions were completely unexpressed although I feel a hint of fright might have been visible on my face. I felt my peers were laughing at me when I failed to produce first-rate results through my assignment. Now, after I have calmed down and thought logically over the incident, it became obvious to me that it did not matter at all. The fact that my peers were laughing at me did not matter. The only thing that matters is if I can bounce back from the incident. I also realised after talking with my friends that they did not laugh at me and that gave me the confidence to produce a better result. The tutor also provided me with a valuable suggestion that influenced my thinking process a lot positively. Evaluation: Evaluation is the third step as stated by Gibbs. In this stage, he mentioned the importance of evaluating the incident. The basic questions this stage answers are: • What according to me was good and bad about my experience • What went smoothly and what did not • What were my contributions and were those positive or negative • If the situation I was facing was difficult and if yes then did the situation revert back to normal later The situation I faced during the module was positive. I came to know about various instances where employees may feel remorse and neglected. I also came to know about different types of motivation that employers or managers should provide in order to multiply the positive reinforcement in the workplace. The incident when the tutor gave me below satisfactory results was a bit depressing for me. I felt I worked hard enough on the assignment. I acknowledge the fact that the assignment was lacking in certain aspects but I expected somewhat of a better result. The tutor helped me a lot and provided me with much-needed guidance that left a positive impact on me. He also complimented me on some little aspects of my assignment which made me feel better as Skrzynski and Creswell (2020) have stated that positive reinforcement can help build motivation. I felt I contributed next to nothing during the module. I felt that was negative as I had some doubts in my mind that I did not clear up during the module and that affected my assignment. Reflecting back on the incident I feel was necessary for me to understand the importance of speaking up. I promised myself to concentrate in class and to vocalise my thoughts. I vowed to have a clear concept and ask for the tutor's guidance as many times as it is necessary. The tutor also assured me to help me whenever needed and this left a long-lasting positive impact on me. Analysis: The next step that Gibbs described is analysis. Gibbs suggested making sense of what is happening by the use of theories to develop our understanding. In this step one may ask questions like: • Why did things go well • Why did things not go well • What sense does the situation make to me • What knowledge can make me understand the situation be it my ideas or others I feel the module went well in spite of me not being vocalised about my thoughts. I was silent and a little inattentive but the module went overall nicely. My peers solved a few of my doubts by asking about their doubts. I also felt the tutor was very knowledgeable and experienced from the way we were guided and our problems were solved. It also motivated us further as indicated by Fidele et al. (2019). After the module, I even heard a few of my peers say they found the module very fruitful and the tutor also seemed to have a good grasp of the topic that was being taught. Ismail et al. (2018) also stated that such teachers who are knowledgeable and skilled are much needed. Conclusion: The fifth stage described the importance of concluding the above learning. Gibbs suggested having a two-step conclusion where one is a general conclusion and the second one should be focused on a personal situation. This step answers the questions like: • What I have learnt (both general and personal) • What could have I done better • What should or could I have done differently • What skills would I need to incorporate to handle the situation better I feel the experience was smooth overall except for the incident of redoing the assignment. However, I am at fault for my performance. I should have vocalised my thoughts and spoken up during the module. I have understood my mistake and I will rectify my mistake. I feel if I had better concentration and communication skills I could have handled the situation better. I also feel I need to develop academic writing skills to have better my non-verbal communicative skills while boosting my confidence (Farahani et al., 2019). Action Plan: The final stage that Gibbs described is the importance of the future. In this stage, the student must incorporate the knowledge of the aforementioned five steps into planning a direction for the future. This stage answers the question: • How or where I can use the knowledge and experience gained • How can I improve my skills or learn the skills • If the same situation occurred again what changes will I incorporate into my actions I feel the knowledge and experience I gained will help me in building a firm base for my future. The module presented me with the opportunity for laying the groundwork for my future. I can use the information I gained and change myself as needed for my own development. I will prepare a PDP or personal development plan where I can keep track of my goals. I will also join a vocative training class in order to develop my communication skills (Behlau et al., 2022). Personal Development Plan (PDP) Name:Alice Iuliana Ioan Foundation (Self-Reflection) 1. What are the five skills and abilities that I bring to my department/university? Answer: The five skills I want to bring are improved communication skills, the ability to think calmly even in a tense situation, confidence in what I am doing, leadership skills and the ability to connect better with my peers. 2. Think about your career aspirations and path. What 1-2 skills and abilities would you like to move/ maintain your career path? Answer: In my career path I will try to better my communication skills and incorporate leadership skills along with enhanced confidence to land a job in a managerial position. Alignment with Department’s/ Institution's Future (Self-Reflection or Can Be Completed with Mentor or Supervisor) 3. Think about the trajectory and strategic plan for your department and/or institution. What projects or initiatives appeal to you? Answer: I feel within two years I must fully draw out my potential and enhance my confidence while also developing communicative and leadership skills. 4. Am I positioned to get involved now and if so how? If not, what can I learn that will help me contribute? Answer: I cannot contribute just yet but I feel I can take the help of my mentors to fully understand the contributions I must provide. 5. How can I develop the expertise I need (work experiences, training, rotating assignments to cross-train, conferences, books to read, mentoring, memberships etc.)? Answer: I will join a vocative training class and participate in team activities to learn more and gain experience in leadership and communication. I plan to develop these skills and abilities within two years to develop the skills to the above-satisfactory results. Conclusion: After the module and completing the self-reflection, I feel like I have enhanced my knowledge about myself and my strengths and weakness. I have also discussed this with my mentor and asked for guidance to increase the effectiveness of my participation. I will also follow my personal development plan to keep track of the improvement of my abilities and skills. I will also join team activities and volunteer to be the leader of the group to enhance my leadership skills. It is indicated by Fair and Kondo (2020) that team activities can enhance the confidence of a person and develop leadership and communication skills. I will also ask for the guidance of my mentors and ask them to organize such team activities inside the institution so they can also keep a keen eye on my progress. I feel by doing these things I can organise myself and develop my skills so I can incorporate them to fulfil my future career goals. According to Morris et al. (2021), tutor guidance can help the students feel encouraged and thus they might want to actively participate in other such activities and so I will rely on my tutor to give me critical feedback in order for me to develop rapidly. References: Adeani, I.S., Febriani, R.B. and Syafryadin, S., 2020. USING GIBBS’REFLECTIVE CYCLE IN MAKING REFLECTIONS OF LITERARY ANALYSIS. Indonesian EFL Journal, 6(2), pp.139-148. 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