Evaluation and Reflection: Reflective Learning Models and Importance of Reflection

This report discusses the importance of reflection and reflective learning models such as Gibbs reflective learning cycle. It also presents the author's learning from the PPDI module and how it helped in personal and professional development.

Running Head: Evaluation and Reflection
Evaluation and Reflection
Portfolio
Assignment

Evaluation and Reflection P a g e | 1

Evaluation and Reflection P a g e | 2
Table of Content
Task 1A-Reflection on one week Event................................................................................................... 3
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Reflection of the Event................................................................................................................................... 3
Significance of the Event............................................................................................................................... 4
Reflective Model............................................................................................................................................... 4
Initial Reaction to the Event/Application of the Learning Model................................................6
Usefulness of Learning through Reflection........................................................................................... 7
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Entry 1B-Reflective Final Summative Report....................................................................................... 8
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Importance of Learning through Reflection.......................................................................................... 8
Gibbs Reflective Learning Cycle................................................................................................................. 9
Learning from PPDI...................................................................................................................................... 10
Decision Making........................................................................................................................................ 10
Value Propositions................................................................................................................................... 11
Working with teams................................................................................................................................ 11
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................ 12
Entry 2A- Personal Analysis..................................................................................................................... 13
Entry 2B-Setting of SMART goals............................................................................................................ 14
Entry 2C- Personal Objectives.................................................................................................................. 15
References........................................................................................................................................................ 17

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Task 1A-Reflection on one week Event
Introduction
Being a part of a global university gives a person and opportunity to student to learn
and interact with student studying across the globe and prepare oneself to face the
challenges in the future. My college due to its international affiliation holds a lot of guest
lectures, cultural events and industry meetings for the benefit of the student. I myself
have been part of a cultural event committee wherein I was responsible to get
sponsorship for the cultural fests. It was a great learning event for me as I visited
various corporate and retail organizations and overcome their objection to sponsor the
event. It was a great learning activity for me, and the experience of it is something which
I would remember for a large part of my life.
As a part of this reflection report, I will discuss about the event in which I actively
participated and why this event holds significant importance to me. Further to this I
would use a model of reflection which helped me in preserving my learning and
carrying it forward for the future. Towards the end, the report would mention how
effective my learning has been through the reflection lens.
Reflection of the Event
I am indicating on one of the cultural event which took at my place. The agenda of the
cultural event was to engage the student and provide them with a real time handling of
the event. As a part of the cultural committee which was to organize the event end to
end, the first task at hand was deciding on the agenda of the program.
We all unanimously decided to get some outdoor activities for the students along with a
music and food festival for the event. We then calculated the budgetary requirement for
the event, and also planned for arranging the funds for the event. We also decided to
create T-Shirts by the name of the Event “Confluenza”. We decided to keep the event
closed, as in the event can only be attended by the student, professors and their families
and nobody from the outside world. Thus, we had to collect a lot of funds and finds
sponsors who can fund our event and help us in making it a good success.

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I was a part of the sponsorship team and deciding on the sponsors to be approached. I
was given this duty because firstly I had some experience in getting sponsors during my
earlier events and also because I have good negotiation skills, which gives me an upper
hand while handling the objection of sponsors.
Significance of the Event
Being an international student, it was my first experience in meeting the international
sponsors. In order to effectively communicate with them and convince them to be a part
of the sponsors it was most definitely a challenging task, due to high cultural difference.
Thus, I had to learn a lot of mannerism, attitude of the British people and tried to be as
much inclined as possible to their likes, dislikes and their areas of interest.
This made me learn a lot about British culture, about their weather, their punctuality
and discipline, their way of thinking and about their favourite sports and many such
techniques. I also watched a lot of online content on YouTube to see how funding
activities takes place in a systematic manner and what is the right way to approach a
company for sponsorship opportunities. Thus, the event was an eye opener for e and I
faced many challenges, however at the last I succeeded in completing 80% of the target
from the sponsors I was supposed to achieve for the event.
Reflective Model
There are a number of reflective models but I am particularly comfortable with the
Gibbs reflective cycle model of 1988, which is loosely based on the Kolb’s experiential
cycle. The model in full swing suggested how a fully structural analysis of the situation
can take place by being proactive and asking questions at each stage of the learning
cycle.

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This is a representation of the model with an example of different questions asked at
each stage of the Gibbs cycle. The various stages of reflective learning of the Gibbs
reflective learning model are:
 Initial experience
 Description
 Feeling/Reactions
 Evaluation
 Analysis
 Conclusion
 Personal Action Plan
Thus, the Gibbs reflective cycle helped me a lot in learning about my feelings,
experiences and my personal action plan towards my learning and development cycle
pertaining to the event.

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Initial Reaction to the Event/Application of the Learning Model
So, as per the Gibbs cycle, the first and the foremost question to ask oneself is “What
happened, provide a description?” The question in itself is thought provoking and
summarizes the reflection of the initial experience to the event. My initial reaction can
be summarized with the help of the following points:
 Providing me an opportunity to contribute towards the cultural event of the
college helped me feel valued. It also made me realize that I do have certain skills
which can be put to better use for the benefit of the college and create a good
cultural show for the fellow mates.
 I was really proud and happy as it was me who asked the committee to give me
the opportunity to collect funds for the sponsorship and get the event funded.
The logic here was to create a win -win strategy for both the college and the
sponsoring company.
 I in order to approach the sponsorship opportunity in a systematic manner
created a list of 100 companies comprising of Retail, corporate, e-commerce and
IT companies.
 I then made my first base of contact with them through linked in, Facebook and
Twitter. I also tried to approach some of the decision makers by getting in touch
with them over phone through some contact in the college.
 I created a presentation for the sponsorship opportunity and created four
packages on the likes of ; Diamond sponsorship, Platinum, Gold and silver
sponsorship. All these sponsorship had different benefits, reach and
opportunities for the companies.
 Towards the end I was able to achieve 80% of the target I was given initially
towards the sponsorship opportunities.
Thus, the Gibbs reflective learning cycle helped me in better expressing the feeling and
emotions I felt during the event. This initial reaction I gauged through the Gibbs
reflective learning cycle has helped me a lot to brush my skills in reflection.
As mentioned earlier there are other reflective models such as John’s, Driscoll and many
others. In my opinion using other models of reflection I would have not been in a
position to better express my reaction and feelings. The Gibbs reflective model is one

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model which by the virtue of asking descriptive question helps in better reflection on
my learning and development. Hence, if I would have used any other models I would
have not been in a position to better reflect on my learning.
Usefulness of Learning through Reflection
Reflection as is known is the ability of a person to gauge on his own experiences and
develop learning out of that reflection. Reflection is an effective practice which helps in
the overall development of the individual by analysing the lacunae in one’s own
personality. Before joining the university I was completely aware of the concept of
reflection and the potential benefits of this exercise. But now, when I look at myself I
feel that I am a better individual and have adopted a scientific and systematic method of
learning about myself. For instance, being a part of the event which was organized at the
event, I could do a SWOT and a SOAR analysis for myself, based on which I even created
my SMART goals and objective for the future.
Most definitely, there has been a change in my personality and attitude as I have learnt a
scientific way of learning and approaching things. Reflection has given me an attitude
which is based on evidence, experiential learning and my aspiration based on my
reflective learning. My attitude has become more and more positive and I look forward
to work on challenging tasks to further expand the horizons of my learning.
Conclusion
Reflection in the simplest words is about student or an individual becoming self-aware
of their own thinking process, and also makes the thinking transparent to others.
Reflection refers to the assessment of the “why” and “how” and what has to be done as
the resultant of the learning. I particularly use the Gibbs reflective cycle of Learning
while analysing and reflecting on my learning cycle. For instance, after being a part of
the cultural event at my college I got to learn a lot about my strength and weakness and
also learnt about how I approach to things and make them in my favour. Thus, reflection
is an apt exercise for an individual to become self-aware and create developmental
goals for self.

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Entry 1B-Reflective Final Summative Report
Introduction
Being a kid I used to play with my mother in the Kitchen and quite often got hurt, once I
placed my fingers in the electrical socket and got a massive shock. This in my mind got
registered as, electrical socket=danger (Never to meddle with it and put my hand). Now
this example isn’t based on reflective learning, and it’s more of a causal effect. Reflection
or reflective learning is more about being self-aware of one’s own surrounding, attitude
and behaviour. For instance, as a kid I was extremely distracted, most of my attention
was towards the lunch hours, play field, cafeteria and playing with my friends. Due to
such high distraction I failed in Maths. I knew exactly why I failed; I failed in Maths
because I was distracted. Hence I was able to reflect on my behaviour which led me to
fail in the Maths exam. Most of the students however are really not self -aware and
cannot find a reason behind certain attitude and behaviour in their personality(Bell,
2018).
Drawing from the Preamble which serves as an introduction to the reflective summative
report, the purpose of the assignment here is to understand why reflection is important
and what values it could bring to the person’s professional development. I am
particularly a promoter of Gibbs reflective model; hence the assignment will give
insights into the reflective model. I will also present my learning from the module of
PPDI and how does my learning differ from the previous knowledge in these areas.
Towards the end, I will explain how acquisition of this knowledge of PPDI model helped
my thinking and outlook towards things.
Importance of Learning through Reflection
Reflecting and composing a page of self -reflective learning has become an increasing
important element to any form of study or learning. Reflection helps in developing one’s
skills and reviews their effectiveness. Reflection is most definitely an improvement
over the earlier practices which did not follow a systematic pattern of learning(Gay &
Kirkland, 2003).

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One important attribute which emphasizes the importance of reflection in the learning
is to become more and more self- aware of oneself, attitudes, behaviour and certain
other characteristics(Zimmerman, 2000). Successful leaders in the past and present
have been using reflective learning to better sharpen their gap areas and also to become
self -aware and scale the envisioned heights for themselves. In simple words, by asking
simple question to oneself, a person develops and understands his own strength and
weakness, which can be further leveraged to create personal and professional
goals(Furman, Coyne & Negi, 2008).
I personally believe that self-reflection helps in identifying the values a person relates to
the most. For instance, my values of Integrity, honesty and commitment towards work
and goals make me a good employee. Organization can rely on me, and I can in this
manner set my professional development goals. Based on the self- reflection I have
created a career development plan for 5 years. All this has been possible after the study
of the PPDI module which opened new avenues of learning for me(Sedikides &
Skowronski, 2015).
Gibbs Reflective Learning Cycle
A lot of people are of the opinion that they learn from their own experiences, however if
they are not able to reflect on their own experiences and if they are unable to
consciously think about how they can do better next time, all the efforts are futile. This
is one of the biggest reason why I am such a big promoter of Gibbs learning cycle, as it
helps in making the right sense of the situation, and also helps in understanding what
went well, and what one can do to improve the outcome the next time(O’Regan &
Nestel, 2015).

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(Source: Potter, 2015)
The model which is highly engaging in nature, asks certain question at each stage of
reflection writing or description which helps in better understanding the experience
and creating learning out of it. The model can be further broken down in 5 steps which
goes as:
 Description- As the name suggest, this step describe the reflection situation in
detail. The purpose here is to simply put down everything which happened at the
event, which contributed towards the learning(Emery & Chang, 2017).
 Feelings-This is the next stage under which a person has to express his initial
feeling and thoughts about his experience with the event. It helps in providing
intangible emotion to the experience(Smith & Roberts, 2015).
 Evaluation- This is the third step which asks to evaluate the good and the bad of
a situation or an event and objectively look at the situation from various
angles(Mann & Walsh, 2017).
 Conclusion- This is the step where the person concludes his reflection piece by
drawing conclusion from the situation(Li & Peng, 2018).
 Action Plan- This is the last however the most important stage of the Gibbs
learning cycle, an action plan can be created or drawn from the above 4 stages of
situational analysis which further helps in the professional development of
individual(Bassot, 2015).

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I particularly like this model because it is simpler to implement, easy to understand and
covers all the requirement pertaining to the reflective cycle of an individual.
Learning from PPDI
The assignment which was based on PPDI helped me learn a lot about the oil and gas
industry, exploration, value chain analysis, team working, decision making, marketing
research and analysis the trend of the market using different models. However, in order
to summarize my learning in three aspects it would go on as:
Decision Making
Decision making is extremely critical to the success of the business organization, and
hence most of the organization gives this power to the senior or top management. I
learnt how the organization uses various models of decision making such as SWOT, T-
Chart, Pro and Con analysis to arrive at the most suitable and a viable decision. I
personally started using the T-Chart in taking a personal and professional decision in
my life.
Value Propositions
The concept of value proposition was extremely new to me, and I only had a theoretical
understanding of the model .However, the PPDI assignment helped me in better
understanding the rationale of value proposition used by the organization to create
value for the customers. I learnt the concept of value the organization delivers to its
customers which helps in creating a sustainable competitive advantage for the firm.
Working with teams
Team work has the propensity to achieve bigger and better results for the organization
in comparison to one person working alone. The assignment of PPDI was a team
assignment involving 7 people to work on the project. Herein, I leant how teams are
formed, how tasks are divided and how the task progress is monitored and evaluated to
achieve the desired result.

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Thus, learning from PPDI has been extremely helpful for me and I acquired new skill
sets and also developed new and systematic way of thinking. This has absolutely
created a change in my learning cycle. I did reflect on my learning from the PPDI
module, because I wanted to apply the model of Gibbs reflective cycle in full
functionality. Thus, PPDI module helped in in getting new ideas on how things are done
in teams and what makes a team really click.
As mentioned earlier, I had literally zero idea on creating Gantt chart, neither had a
practical exposure to it. But, I learnt it on my own looking at various video tutorial and
subject module distributed in the class. Based on my learning of the Gantt chart I was
able to come up with the Gantt chart for the PPDI assignment. My learning has
expanded and I am extremely happy, content and proud that I learnt a useful tool.
My knowledge has significantly expanded, thanks to the reflective model of learning and
the assignment. I got to know that there is always a systematic way of approaching
towards a problem and coming up with a solution. A systematic and scientific way of
thinking has surfaced in my mind, and henceforth I have started approaching various
situations in my life differently. For instance, I was of the opinion that team work is a
time wasting activity and its only one or two people who work in a team activity or an
assignment. But, I was amazed to see, the way the entire team came together, divided
the task, allocated the task, reviewed and evaluated the progress of the tasks and
completed it on time. Hence, it was not only an eye opener for m, but definitely set the
base for my future endeavours.
Conclusion
Reflection as mentioned is a useful exercise which makes an individual become self-
aware of one’s own feeling, emotions, experiences and way of looking at a situation.
Self-reflection in totality is the best way to learn about oneself, and this practice has
been catching up in the recent past. The times are changing and so are the
organizations, they are looking for individual who have high self -awareness and utilize
their own learning and experience in their future endeavours. This particular
assignment for instance helped me in framing questions for self, which would make me
better frame question for self- reflection.

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

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Entry 2A- Personal Analysis
The SOAR model (Strength, Opportunity, Aspiration and Result) will help in the creation
of personal and career development plan and also help in providing a theoretical base to
focussed learning(Cole, Cox & Stavros, 2016).
Strength
 Excellent communication skills
are one of my greatest strength
and asset.
 Relationship building skills.
 People’s Person.
 Quick Learner
 Decision making ability
 Team Player
 Good Presentation skills
 Good Negotiation skills
Opportunity
 The growth in e-commerce
sector is a big opportunity for me
as i would like to make my
career in the online industry.
 Growing euphoria and
opportunities in the online
space.
 Technology revolution
 Increasing globalization and
workforce diversity across the
globe.
 Huge gap in the employee
market in terms of the digital
marketing competency.
Aspirations
 My short term aspiration is to
become a part of the world’s
largest e-commerce company
Amazon.
 I want to work in the capacity of
digital marketing executive in
the short term.
 Lead and motivate the digital
marketing team at Amazon.
 Gain and learn leadership skills
in the longer run.
 My long time vision is to open my
own digital media agency and
handle end to end marketing
activities of the clients.
Results
 The result of my aspiration can be
measured by looking at my career
progression graph.
 Feedback of my peers and
managers will also help in
understanding my work behaviour
and ethics.
 The growth in my profile and
salary.
 Change in my personal attributes
towards leadership.
 Recognition, award and
appreciation from the organization.
These are some of the focus area for my development. I was always amused by the
growth and development of the e-commerce sector; this has lead me to pursue my
career in the industry. At the very same time, my ardent interest is towards online and
social media marketing, and I would like to create strategies for the brand and deliver
great results.

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Entry 2B-Setting of SMART goals
Identifying and creating SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and
Time Based) is the first step towards the professional development plan of individuals.
Creation of SMART goals in a framework help the individual to approach ones
professional and personal journey in a systematic manner and helps in achieving the
desired results(Lee, Hancock & Hu, 2014).
What do I want
to learn?
What do I have
to do?
What support
and resources
will I need?
How will I
measure my
success?
Target date for
review of
results
Digital
marketing
skills (SEO,
SEM, Social
media
marketing,
influencer
marketing, web
designing,
HTML, content
creation and on
site
optimization
and many
more)
Enrol myself in
a yearlong
dedicated
program by
Google and
Facebook
I would require
financial
resources to
get myself
enrolled in the
training. Along
with it I will
have to need
financial
resources to
purchase a
domain name
and do real
time online
marketing
strategy
The success of
the same can
be measured
by my result,
evaluation of
my
performance at
the training
program. Along
with this, the
performance of
my created
marketing
strategy on my
domain will
further help in
seeing the
progress of my
training
deliverables
1 Year after
enrolling
myself into the
digital
marketing
certification
program.
31/08/2019
Professional
communication,
Professional
development
and business
communication
skills
I will have to
again enrol
myself into a
training
program to
acquire the
skills which
will help me in
exceling in my
professional
life.
The financial
resources in
acquiring these
skills would be
less in
comparison to
training.
However, I will
have to invest a
lot of time and
reflect on my
learning from
my working in
the
organization.
My success can
again be
measured by
the feedback I
received from
my Human
resource team
and other
managers
6 Months
course
31/03/2019

Evaluation and Reflection P a g e | 16
Leadership
development
Skills
Leadership has
to be highly
flexible to
better adapt to
the changing
times. My
aspiration is to
become a
leader of my
own business
in the longer
run, hence for
that I will have
to sharpen my
learning in
leadership skill
development
The support I
am looking
forward is
from my future
organization to
enrol me into
the leadership
development
plan.
My success can
again be
measured by
my Net
promoter score
and my
ranking score
in leading and
managing
teams.
I would like to
give myself 2
years to
acquire, learn
and absorb all
the skills
related to
leadership
Entry 2C- Personal Objectives
Short Term Goals- Next 4 Months
 Start my search on the competency required to excel at a job in the digital
marketing field.
 Search and make a list of top 10 companies I would like to work in.
 Start collecting data on various training programs offered on digital
marketing.
 Apply for Internship programme at Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Tesla
Medium Term Goals –Next 2-3 Years
 Be a team leader of the digital marketing team at my organization and see
myself spearheading the social media team.
 Apply for the leadership program at Amazon.
 As a part of Job rotation I would like to see myself creating digital
marketing strategies by being a part of the tactical team at my
organization.
 Effectively implement and create a motivation program for my team and
clear for them goals for sustainability and Personal development.
Long Term Goals-(Following 3 to 5 Years)
 My long term goal is start a digital marketing organization of my own and
spearhead the organization by virtue of the learning and experience I have
gained in professional journey.
 Create a name and recognition for myself in the digital marketing industry.
 Master the art of leadership and follow transformational style of
leadership to lead my future organization.
 Be a part of create for my own an innovative lab to experiment and create
the next big thing in the industry.

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My life goals are based on my aspiration to be a successful digital marketer and create
strategies and tactics to ensure the success of the brand. At the same time, my aim is
also to build good relationship with people, master my people handing and relationship
building skills to ensure sustainability in my professional journey.
References
Bassot, B., 2015. The reflective practice guide: An interdisciplinary approach to critical
reflection. Routledge.

Evaluation and Reflection P a g e | 18
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worlds in our learning. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 11(2), pp.179-191.
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emotional intelligence: Mediation by SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and
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