Personal and Professional Development

This document discusses the importance of personal and professional development in higher education. It explores the skills needed for a higher education learner and provides insights on reflection and team working skills. The document also suggests ways to improve these skills and become a better learner.

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SKILL DEVELOPMENT................................................................................................................4
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Reflecting writing is a practice of analytics in which the writer describes a real or imaginary
scene, interaction, event or thought as a personal reflection. In this reflection writing the writer
told about personal and professional development and its importance (Elfeky,2018).
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Skills need
The skills required for a Higher Education learner is to be good at catching ability and
developing ability to make things developed and understand easily. HE learner need to have a
required set of skills as follows: -
Develop effective team working : - it is important for the Higher Education to have a good team
building skills and should know to make the team work done in well context as it is important for
them in there lifelong.
Academic writing skills: - It is important to have good skills of writing as writing is a part of
Higher Education and is used continues and repentantly in the process.
Presentation skills : - These skills are important as in life of an Higher Education the
presentation is a valuable point and is required as a person should know how to represent itself as
it gives confident and well-being.
Communication and IT skills: - Communication and IT are part of Higher Education on regular
terms and it is important to have a good communication and IT skills so that they can work on
assignment and can communicate better in terms of developing personality and representing
itself (Cornali,2018).
Problem solving and decision-making: - Higher Education learner need to be good at solving
problems which they face and also know about the decision they make should be correct. They
need to understand the importance of this.
Reflection
As a Higher Education Learner, I think I have many skills but still lacks in some which are to be
developed. In order to analyse the best learning styles which will help me to develop those
remaining skills in the most effective way, I have given the Honey and Mumford test which
gave me deep insight about which type of learner I am and how can I acquire the skills needed to

be the best Higher Education learner. The test contained 80 questions whose answers were to be
given in order to know the type of learner whether I am activist, reflector, theorist or pragmatist
(Egan and et.al., 2017).
Figure 1: Results obtained by giving Mumford and Honey test
Source: Mumford and Honey LSQ, 2020.
After giving the test honestly, I realized that I am a reflector as I want to learn by observing
things from different perspectives and prefer to stand watch watching from the side lines. The
test also explained that I want to experience everything by collecting the data from different
sources and then draws a significant conclusion. I always notice other people and consider all
possible angles before making any move. This also helped me in predicting the outcomes.
So, I have the skills of reflection and using these skills it becomes easy for me to solve most of
the problems on my own and makes optimal decisions for myself. As I observe everything very
cautiously and love to notice other people in action, I realized that I am thoughtful and can write
my observations in very well-manner as I study each and everything from various perspectives.
This is how, I improved my academic writing skill which helped me in presenting myself and my
opinions through writing but I hesitate presenting myself verbally and through actions. I took
part in various self-analysis questionnaires, coaching and interviews which enhanced my
reflection skill which is important to become a Higher Education learner but lacked those team
working and communication skills which are equally important (Tsang, 2020).
In order to analyse my behaviour in teams, I have filled the Belbin's Questionnaire which
describes the need of nine clusters of behaviour referred to as 'Belbin Team Roles' in every
effective team. It suggested that every team must have people who can play some roles not
necessarily alle. After filling the questionnaire, I realized that I lack all the team working skills

this is why I hesitate communicating with people. The roles were like Resource Investigator,
Team-worker, Co-ordinator and many more.
In order to improve these skills, I must try to discuss with the people I observe and must over-
communicate with them. I must not only rely on the visual aids but engage the other people in
my self-disc1ussions. As I am a good listener and observer, I must take the feedback from those
people whom I listen to as they will judge me correctly. I must take part in group discussions, so
that I will be able to remove my hesitation to talk to others effectively and it will enhance my
team working skills. I will listen to the views of all the team members and must also express m,y
own views which will give me much confidence to present myself verbally and by actions also
which will contribute greatly to become a Higher Education learner (Khlaisang and Songkram,
2019). After taking part in some discussions, I also realized that I lack some IT skills, so I must
also use much advanced technologies which will boost my confidence and can make me much
motivated to communicate with others and coordinate with them to take optimal decisions. This
will enhance my team working and problem solving skills.
So, in order to become the best Higher Education learner, I must work on the activities which
can improve the skills which lacks in me and must brush up the skills I already have.
BELBIN SCORESHEET
Section CW CH SH PL RI ME TW CF
1 7 6 6 7 6 7 8 7
2 6 7 8 7 8 6 6 7
3 8 7 8 9 7 8 7 8
4 7 8 6 7 7 8 7 7
5 8 7 8 7 6 5 7 7
6 7 7 6 8 7 6 7 8
7 8 7 8 7 6 7 6 7
Total 51 49 50 52 47 47 48 51

CONCLUSION
It is concluded that reflection writing tells about personal reflection of the scene, events etc. in
this the reflection of the personal and professional is described to utilize the ability at Higher
Education learner.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cornali, F., 2018, July. Training and developing soft skills in higher education. In 4th
International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAD'18) (pp. 961-967).
Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València.
Egan, A. and et.al., 2017. Developing creativity in higher education for 21st century learners: A
protocol for a scoping review. International Journal of educational research. 82. pp.21-
27.
Elfeky, A.I.M. and Elbyaly, M.Y.H., 2018. Developing skills of fashion design by augmented
reality technology in higher education. Interactive Learning Environments, pp.1-16.
Khlaisang, J. and Songkram, N., 2019. Designing a virtual learning environment system for
teaching twenty-first century skills to higher education students in ASEAN. Technology,
Knowledge and Learning. 24(1). pp.41-63.
Tsang, A., 2020. Enhancing learners’ awareness of oral presentation (delivery) skills in the
context of self-regulated learning. Active Learning in Higher Education, 21(1), pp.39-50.
Online
Mumford and Honey LSQ, 2020. [ONLINE]. Available through:
<https://www.mint-hr.com/results.html>
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