Reflective Account of Learning and Development

This report includes a reflection on learnings in Semester 1 and Semester 2, and how to improve learning approach. It discusses the application of Kolb's and Gibbs' models of reflection, and the development of a personal development plan.

Reflection on learning
and development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
The reflection on learning of semester 1.....................................................................................4
The way I will use those learning to improve outcomes of learning in semester 2....................4
Semester 2 reflection in order to develop knowledge and skills.................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Learning and development are two major crucial elements in academic life which helps
in overall development of personality (Baldwin, 2016). It is essential role of an individual to
focus on all major teachings and lectures in order to gain and develop knowledge related to a
subject matter. It is also one of the major role and responsibility of a person to use application of
knowledge in professional and personal life to get optimum results. In this report there is a brief
reflection on my learnings in Semester1 and Semester 2. This project also includes analysis of
how will I improve my learning approach and use semester learning in near future.

MAIN BODY
The reflection on learning of semester 1
I have learned several things in my semester 1 which will help me in increasing my own
value and knowledge. I will also take into consideration developing different skills which were
learned by me during Semester 1. The knowledge related to development of skills will make me
a distinct person in the career as well as in social and personal life. I learned about business
management and the way things are managed in an organisation in a practical manner. I will
apply Kolb's learning styles which contains four key stages in learning and development
(Cowan, 2020). In the first stage of this model, active experimentation stage is there in which a
learner focused on what he/she has learned. Under the first stage, I have learned knowledge of
business and different aspects of business management to manage large number of employees. I
am also prepared to focus on practical aspects of learning along with increasing strength of
business. In the second stage, concrete experience is developed by a learner which includes real
or practical experience related to learning. I have applied the knowledge of business management
in different areas and also learned practical aspects of learning. I have also developed several
skills like time management, decision making and problem solving which will help me in
increasing my practical approach towards business management tasks. In the Kolb's cycle, the
third stage is abstract conceptualisation in which a learner evaluates what is learned from the
experience (Deslandes, Lucas, and Mantzourani, 2018). I have learned several things from the
practical experience of my learnings. The last stage in this model is reflecting on experience in
which I have learned to reflect on my overall experience with practical aspects.
The way I will use those learning to improve outcomes of learning in semester 2
All the major things which I have learned in semester will definitely help me in order to
perform well in semester 2. I will analyse all major skills and studies which are developed by me
during the semester 1 and will implement them in a major sense. In order to implement learnings
of semester 1, I will take into account main supervision and control of different skills and
knowledge. I will also develop and prepare a major personal development plan at the starting of
semester 1 and also focus on them using key approaches, tools and techniques (Hansen, 2019).
This is one of the major role of mine to implement different skills which are learned during
semester 1 to support learning in semester 2. I will also focus on application of professional

development plan in order to develop crucial ways of studying a subject. I will also focus on
practical approach of learning rather than focusing on theoretical approach of learning. In the
professional life, I will analyse role played by overall development of an individual to focus on
key areas of development. In semester 2, I will apply my knowledge with major emphasis on
business and operations management learning to gain competitive advantage. In order to gain
effective edge in the competition , I will also focus on development of my soft and hard skills.
Semester 2 reflection in order to develop knowledge and skills
The Semester 2 will be very much important for me in order to develop various learning
opportunities. I will analyse my key competency skills to develop knowledge related to key areas
which are important in academic life. In my views, semester 2 was more important for me than
semester 1 as it focused on increasing overall practical knowledge of mine. It is one of my major
responsibilities to develop key areas of business and operations management to learn practical
aspects. I will also develop effective and essential knowledge related to business studies with the
help of my teachers and professors (Jamil, and Hamre, 2018). It is crucial role of an individual in
the academic life to focus on development of planning frameworks which are essential for
personality development. I have also developed several skills which are important for me in my
career path. In the semester 2, I have applied Gibbs model of reflection in order to support my
learning and development. In the Gibbs model of reflection, there are six stages which helps a
person to develop effective reflection. The application of Gibbs model of reflection for my
learnings in semester 2 are mentioned below:
 Description- This is the first stage in Gibbs model of reflection which includes a brief
description of experience. In this stage a learner conducts in depth analysis on a particular
research and shares experience. In semester 2, I have experienced development of
different skills which will help me in increasing my strengths and make me a more
advanced person. By the help of semester 2, I have learned and developed key skill like
coordination and communication, which will increase my overall potential. The
description of my experience related to studies will help me in increasing my knowledge
and experience as well (Körkkö, Kyrö-Ämmälä, and Turunen, 2016). I will take into
consideration all skills which I developed during my academic life in order to make my
self more efficient. It is one of my major responsibilities to develop these skills in an
effective manner in order to gain results in a set period of time.

 Feelings- This is the second stage in Gibbs reflective cycle which includes thoughts
about experience which helps an individual to develop effective values. All major
academic institutions develops emotional intelligence in students for facing different
consequences in learning and development. The feelings related to my whole learning
experience will help me increasing my emotional intelligence along with increasing
positive mindset and perception. In semester 2, I have learned about management of
employees in the operations management with use of different parameters of mental
strength (Lotter, and Miller, 2017). I will take into consideration key advantages of
overall learning and knowledge development with help of effective tools and techniques.
 Evaluation- The evaluation of goals and objectives is majorly implemented with help
and support of major policies and plans. I will evaluate all major learnings in a good or
bad manner on the basis of my learning experience. I have learned positive skills like
leadership, decision making and problem solving which will help me increasing my
values. All major evaluation techniques which are learned by me will help me in
increasing my strengths. Negative side of my learnings will create major obstacles and
hurdles for me in my career path (Mälkki, 2019). I will also develop an evaluation plan
with support of my teachers and professors in order to increase my learning and
development based opportunities.
 Analysis- In the academic life, it is essential for a student to analyse briefly the situation
and develop a focused approach. I will analyse situation in my career related paths and
objectives in a systematic manner to achieve best outcomes. In order to analyse the whole
situation I will take assistance of SWOT analysis which will facilitate my learnings. This
analysis will be a major analytical tool, that will be helpful for me in increasing my core
competency skills (McGivem, and Thompson, 2017). It will also help me in identifying
various weaknesses that I am facing and will lead to develop a key approach in handling
the weaknesses. In semester 2, I learned about capability to influence others with support
and help of communication skills. I will be able to develop key skills related to
personality development in different sessions which were conducted on regular basis
(Sharmahd, Peeters, Jand Bushati, 2018).This is also one of the major role of an
individual to focus on development of effective analysis which is supporting my overall
growth.

 Conclusion- From the learning of semester 2, I can conclude that I have developed
crucial skills which will help me in professional life. I can also conclude that, it is
essential for me to learn and develop a career development plan which is helpful in
exploring different abilities related to practical working. The learnings I gained during
semester 2 will also help me increasing my key areas of business studies. I have learned
to evaluate different dimensions of career path which will help me increasing my core
skills and plans (Olteanu, 2016). The planning frameworks which will help me in
development of crucial knowledge related to my subject in order to lead the competition.
I can easily conclude that I have learned about various career based parameters that will
help in increasing my professional life based approach.
 Action plan- It is essential for a student to develop a major action plan related to career
and academic life for developing key operations and activities. I will take into
consideration, application of developing effective working environment in the future to
make myself more productive (Pammer, Krogstie, and Prilla, 2017). I will be able to
develop a focused approach in my social and career life with the help of planning
frameworks and strategies. My action plan will include effective strategies and
approaches that will help me in increasing key areas of academic strengths. The action
plan will include specific time period in order to learn key skills and competencies which
will be important in career growth and expansion. In order to develop and achieve targets
of action plan, I will also take into consideration application of personal development
plan to facilitate my key areas of development (Schedlitzki, 2019). I will take guidance
from teachers, professors, books and journals in order to develop effective knowledge of
subject matter. The business and operations management knowledge which I gained
during my studies will help me making myself a dynamic and effective person.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, learning and development are two
major parameters which are essentially. The main role of an individual to focus on key areas of
development in order to gain desired success in academic life. It is also essential for an
individual to focus on learning and development in a precise and systematic manner in order to
lead the competition. This project concludes importance of Gibbs model of reflection and Kolbs
model which are effective in development of reflection by an individual. This report concludes
my strategic and future planning frameworks which are helpful in increasing competitive
strength of a company. I will develop a major strategic planning in order to facilitate my
development related to career field. I will also take help of my professors and seniors in order to
gain effectiveness in my professional career. I am now very enthusiastic and eager to facilitate
my learning and development with the help and support of professional development plan. I will
also focus on development of key skills and competencies related to my personal development in
a set period of time.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baldwin, M., 2016. Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization. Routledge.
Cowan, J., 2020. Students’ evidenced claims for development of abilities arising from linked
reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action. Reflective Practice, 21(2), pp.159-170.
Deslandes, R., Lucas, C., and Mantzourani, E., 2018. Development of a template to facilitate
reflection among student pharmacists. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 14(11),
pp.1058-1063.
Hansen, S.L., 2019. Using reflection to promote career‐based learning in student
employment. New directions for student leadership, 2019(162), pp.61-73.
Jamil, F.M. and Hamre, B.K., 2018. Teacher reflection in the context of an online professional
development course: Applying principles of cognitive science to promote teacher
learning. Action in Teacher Education, 40(2), pp.220-236.
Körkkö, M., Kyrö-Ämmälä, O. and Turunen, T., 2016. Professional development through
reflection in teacher education. Teaching and teacher education, 55, pp.198-206.
Lotter, C.R. and Miller, C., 2017. Improving inquiry teaching through reflection on
practice. Research in Science education, 47(4), pp.913-942.
Mälkki, K., 2019. Coming to grips with edge-emotions: The gateway to critical reflection and
transformative learning. In European perspectives on transformation theory (pp. 59-73). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
McGivem, J. and Thompson, J., 2017. Dialoguing for development: Lessons for reflection.
In Organizing reflection (pp. 156-169). Routledge.
Olteanu, C., 2016. Reflection and the object of learning. International Journal for Lesson and
Learning Studies.
Pammer, V., Krogstie, B. and Prilla, M., 2017. Let's talk about reflection at work. International
journal of technology enhanced learning, 9(2-3), pp.151-168.
Schedlitzki, D., 2019. Developing apprentice leaders through critical reflection. Higher
Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning.
Sharmahd, N., Peeters, J. and Bushati, M., 2018. Towards continuous professional development:
Experiencing group reflection to analyse practice. European Journal of Education, 53(1), pp.58-
65.