Reflective Analysis of Academic Skills and Higher Education Learning Case Study

Exploring Personal Growth Through Module Experiences and SWOT Analysis

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A. Reflection on Learning

i) Reflective learning and its importance

Module 1 deals with academic skills for business management. The module has been designed to increase the writing, reading, and research proficiencies of students in higher education. The module has introduced some topics such as Referencing styles, research methods, reflective writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills (Cottrell, 2019). It has helped me to learn about various aspects of research and to develop interpersonal skills. These skills have the aim to help the students to succeed in the academic field as well as to increase their employability skills. Module 2 is related to orientation for success in higher education. This Module helps students to study in higher-level education by developing accurate study practices, attributes, and personal qualities necessary to succeed in higher education. It has helped me to understand how learning takes place at the undergraduate level and enabled me to formulate strategies for my future learning by teaching me to make CPD and E-portfolio.

ii) Description of the reflective model

After learning that reflection helps to improve learning, I shall use Gibbs's reflective model to reflect on my learning experience (Bassot, 2020). The model has six components and I shall describe each component to reflect on my learning, and how I can improve my learning and use them in my future professional life. The first component is Description- it helps to describe a situation and to reflect on that experience. Similarly, to describe the learning experience it shall be reflected that I got access to Module 1 which taught me about certain academic skills. It helped me to understand how to conduct research to gather different literature and data. I also learned how to do referencing such as Harvard referencing, I also acquired different interpersonal skills including problem-solving and critical thinking. The next element is feelings and this step helps to reflect on the feelings during the experience. Similarly, it shall be revealed that I felt very excited while studying Module 1 as I was going to learn about different skills. I felt happy as well as nourished as I acquired different skills.

Evaluation is the next component in Gibb’s reflective cycle and it helps to evaluate what is bad and what good happened during the experience (Adeani et al., 2020). Similarly, it shall be mentioned that the good things that happened are I could learn new things and new skills. However, nothing bad happened during the experience. The next component is Analysis and which helps to discuss what else could have been made out of the situation. Likewise, it shall be discussed that the module has taught us in depth about researching, referencing, and other related aspects however, some topics such as teaching varied types of referring styles and offering more practical classes could have further improved the learning.

The conclusion is the next component that reveals what else I could have done (Markkanen et al., 2020). Similarly, it shall be discussed that I have attained the lectures and took class notes to learn about the research, referencing styles, and others. However, additionally, if I would learn about similar things from others such as from library books or online courses then my knowledge depth shall have increased.

The action plan is the last and it refers that what shall be done if a similar thing happens again. Thus, it shall be revealed that if a similar thing occurs in the future then I shall use my learned knowledge and apply it. For example, I shall use the learning related to researching, referencing, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills in my academics. It shall also help me to contribute accurately in my future profession as the learning and the skills are crucial to become successful as an employee.

iii) Reflection on formative and summative assessment

Formative work refers to a wide range of methods that tutors use to include in-process evaluation of learners' comprehension, students’ needs as well as academic progress during a unit, lesson, or course. Formative assessment helps tutors to trace concepts with which learners are struggling to cope and skills that are difficult to achieve so that lessons can be adjusted for academic support (Cizek et al., 2019). Formative assessment has the goal to gather detailed information that can be utilized to enhance students' learning during it is happening. It includes modification of in-process teaching rather than designing tests and others. On the other hand, Summative assessment or summative work helps to explore student's learning, academic achievements, and skill acquisition at the end of a defined instructional period such as at the end of a unit, course, project, program, semester, or school year (Bhat and Bhat, 2019). Summative assessments are the opposite of formative assessments and summative assessments are of-learning process and do not occur during the learning phase, unlike formative assessments.

Feedback is one of the important elements to improve performance for every individual and it can be a student, employee, or any other person. However, the feedback shall be constructive to improve performance as negative feedback can demotivate the person. Similarly, at the end of the summative assessment, I got feedback from my tutor and I analyzed the feedback so that I can understand my weakness and give the effort to overcome the weakened areas. Exploring the feedback on my summative work I understood that I have performed well however, I can improve in some of the areas. For example, I have performed excellently in conducting research and have successfully used different research methods to gather the required data. I have also performed reflective writing accurately following the needed structures and models such as using Gibbs's reflective model. I have also shown effective problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities. However, the feedback highlighted that I need to improve my referring skills as I have done a few mistakes in Harvard referencing. Thus, I shall work on this area and improve it so that I can perform better in the next module. I shall feed-forward this while writing the E-portfolio so that I can reference it accurately in Module 2.

iv) Rounding up

To conclude Document A shall be highlighted that this document has helped me to reflect on my learning from Modules 1 and 2. I have learned about different research types, and referencing styles such as Harvard, and I have acquired different interpersonal skills and soft skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking (Succi and Canovi, 2020). Module 2 has helped to learn about attributes that are needed in higher education. Next, the Gibbs reflective model has helped me to reflect on my learning experience from Module 1 and that I am happy and enriched to gather the knowledge. Moreover, I comprehend that taking an additional class from an online course shall enrich my knowledge further and I can use the knowledge and skills learned to improve my employability skills. Furthermore, I have reflected on the concept of summative and formative work and I have received feedback from Module 1 that I have performed well however, I need to improve my learning on the referencing style. I shall address the feedback to enhance my performance for Module 2.

B. Reflection on Behavioral and cultural expectations

i) Reflection of learning

Attaining the class lecture I have understood that Culture is a complex concept that includes beliefs, knowledge, morals, customs, and other behaviors that are acquired by an individual or by a group of members within the society (Rapoport, 2019). I have learned that culture influences students' behavior and there is a set of behavior and cultural expectations from the students of business and management for example punctuality and others. The course taught the class has the culture to teach about different academic skills and cultural aspects such as time management skills, teamwork, researching skills, and others thus, I and my class mates have acquired such knowledge and culture. I also learned that culture is transmitted from peers via stories, language, and others. I have also comprehended various aspects of culture such as "culture shock" which is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing familiar symbols of social intercourse. For example, it occurs in a situation when the language spoken in class is more difficult than expected. Thus, students shall be prepared for such shock otherwise it can negatively impact their performance.

I learned that there are certain expected behavior and attitudes for studying business and management such as having a positive attitude towards learning and studies, good time management skills, ability to deal with difficult situations, stress managing abilities, ability to complete a task, ability to work well in groups, empathy, maintaining responsible self-esteem and self-worth. Students shall have passion for the selected subject, the ability to work and think independently effective communication skills, and so on (Use et al., 2019). However, there is some behavior to be avoided such as inconsiderateness, rudeness, lateness or leaving early, side conversations, cheating, distracting other students during the class, bullying others, poor listening, and so on. Students shall develop a reflective log to trace their positive and negative behaviors so that the negative behaviors can be identified and overcome.

Similar to educational institutes, every organization also has a culture and behavioral expectations that employees shall follow. I nurtured that every organization shall include a culture by setting a core value and they shall maintain the culture by making the employees understand the values. Moreover, hiring employees who have similar values helps to maintain organizational culture as well as to minimize future clashes (Sharma and Sharma, 2022). The course also helped me to understand the socialization model where the employees are included in the organizational culture with the metamorphosis process. Such knowledge enriched me academically and also enhanced my future professional life.

ii) Future implications

I have learned that culture is a set of beliefs and values that individuals have. Likewise, I comprehend that in class students shall maintain a culture of discipline and some positive behaviors. Similarly, I shall practice this learning in my classes well as in my future professional life. Likewise, I shall show passion for my subjects and a positive attitude toward learning. Moreover, I shall deal with my stress and manage my time to complete my course, assignments, and projects on schedule. I shall maintain discipline and communicate with my tutors or peers during my lessons or any group work. I shall also prepare myself to overcome any shock such as cultural shock and others. On other hand, I shall avoid negative culture such as I shall not bullying others, shall not distract my friends during class, and shall not cheat on my assignments, and so on.

iii) Implementations

It has been analyzed that with a tutor's guidance, advice from seniors, learning more from online courses, and taking guidance from library books I shall enhance my behavior, learning, and knowledge. However, there are certain areas of knowledge, culture, and behavior that I need to work on. Likewise, I have to enhance my referencing abilities. Moreover, to maintain accurate behavior and culture I shall try to improve some of the skills as follows:

Areas of improvements	Required resources	Required time
Referencing skills	Taking advice and guidance from my tutor, taking training from an online session	3 months
Listening skills	I shall communicate with my peers and listen to them, I shall opt for online courses	2 months
Time management abilities	I shall develop a to-do list and take guidance from my supervisor	3 months

C. Peer-to-peer support

i) Reflection on Learning

The term "peer-to-peer support" refers to the practice of information transmission and exchange between peers. When people help and are helped by others who share their interests and experiences, this is known as peer support. Mentoring, listening, counseling, and advocacy are all examples of kinds of peer support that may be provided by both trained and untrained peers (Topping, 1998). Peer support is helpful for many people for a variety of reasons, including mental health, rehabilitation, and social readjustment. Teamwork is also crucial in higher education, since it facilitates the completion of tasks and the dissemination of knowledge among students. Students who collaborate on assignments are more likely to get positive results. Conversation and open-minded consideration of others' perspectives boosts education (Cheng & Warren, 2000). This is just another reason why teamwork and mutual aid are so crucial. Students who develop their ability to collaborate gain skills that will serve them well in their professional lives. Peer tutoring and collaborative learning, for instance, are two methods I learnt about in the prior session for imparting knowledge about teamwork and mutual aid among classmates. As a kind of peer-to-peer help in higher education, peer tutoring places a student in the role of coach, allowing for the exchange of knowledge and insight amongst students. through addition, through collaborative learning, students work in groups to exchange and discuss ideas and knowledge. As a result, students are better able to learn from one another's experiences and perspectives. Students' attitudes and behaviors about working in teams are improved through group projects. 

ii) Future Implications

In my future professional life, I may benefit much from the guidance of my peers. It's crucial that I involve both the more junior members of the team and the veterans in this endeavor. It's possible that new hires might feel more at ease with their roles if they had a mentor to guide them. The ability to connect with senior company people is invaluable for new recruits. New employees may feel more at home more immediately if they have access to a company-wide LMS. Everything, from business ideals to salary, needs to be communicated through the central hub. Group projects and interactive exercises provide additional opportunities for students to learn from and with one another. Tong et al. (2013) suggest that one way to cultivate a community of supportive peers is to conduct a dialogue in which participants open up about the areas where they shine and the areas where they might need some work. Students' ability to self-evaluate their progress through courses and degrees depends on the frequency with which they get feedback. One technique to facilitate peer help in the workplace is to form a virtual workgroup. By bringing together novice and seasoned professionals in virtual teams, much may be learned. These tools boost productivity by encouraging more efficient communication and cooperation among teams. The best part is that this data may be accessible to everyone through a single location (Tong et al., 2013). Peer-to-peer support amongst employees and individuals requires effective leadership and mentorship. The team's productivity and morale will both increase with the introduction of peer assistance. Improved teamwork attitudes and behaviors may be seen in the everyday employees thanks to the positive effects of strong mentorship and leadership.

iii) Implementation

One of the assets required to put peer-to-peer learnings into practice is people. Knowledge about cooperative study and peer-to-peer tutoring can be gained through exposure to peer-to-peer learning. Individuals are necessary for both learning, which facilitates the exchange of information and ideas among participants (Tong et al., 2013). Peer support education may be successfully used in higher education with the help of digital technologies and approaches. Support from more seasoned peers comes in the form of advice and insight from those with more experience in the field. Learning may be more efficiently disseminated to other students in groups via the use of digital media and technology.

Areas of improvements	Required resources	Required time
Effective feedback providing	Observing my seniors and learning from senior supervisors	3 months
collaboration	Participating in team works and learning from course	2 months
Knowledge sharing	Effective communication channels and technical tools	3 months

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D. SWOT Analysis

This section shall include a personal audit to reveal the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats under the WSOT framework as follows:

• Strengths: I have analyzed from this learning experience and reflective writing that I have certain strengths such as I have strong communication skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. It shall help me in solving any academic challenges creatively. It shall also help me in my future professional life. Moreover, my strength is that I have the ability to research and it shall also help me academically (by searching academic literature) and professionally (to research competitor's data and others). I also have strong cultural and behavioral aspects. For example, I have passion for my course, I am disciplined, I do not bully others, and so on and it shall help me to maintain my positive attitude in every aspect of life.
• Weakness: I have noticed that I have poor referencing skills and I am not able to conduct Harvard referencing accurately. Moreover, although I have a culture of discipline and positivity, however, I have noticed that I lack effective listening skills and it is one of my bad behaviors as I fail to concentrate on my class lectures and I miss out on many important points. Furthermore, I have observed that I lack accurate time management skills and I fail to prioritize my time and fail to complete crucial tasks on time. Often I have wasted more time on unimportant things. All these inabilities can impact my academics. It can also impact my future career negatively if I do not overcome them.
• Opportunity: As I have the ability to research thus, I can research required data and it shall help me to complete my projects both my academic and professional projects (in the future). Moreover, my interpersonal skills such as communication, problem-solving critical thinking give me an opportunity to complete my assignments in a creative way moreover; in the future, it shall help me to complete my professional projects successfully. Moreover, I have a positive attitude and culture for discipline and that shall help me to maintain my attitude, and in the future it shall help me to contribute positively to my organization. Thus, I have the opportunity to become successful in my career.
• Threats: However, if I fail to overcome my weaknesses such as referencing style, listening, and time management skills I shall perform poorly in my class as well as in my future career. Moreover, some other issues such as health issues, financial issues, and family issues can restrict learning the needed skills and it can be a big threat to me.

Reference

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