Portfolio for Preparing for Success: Self Development and Responsibility

This portfolio includes mini project workshops attended, importance of appendices, personal development plan, personal SWOT analysis, reading log, photos of work produced in class, time management skills, communication skills, social and ethical awareness attributes, employability skills, notes on reflection, up-to-date curriculum vitae, and action plan on a specific academic or professional goal.

Module: (FY027) Preparing for Success: Self Development and Responsibility
CW1 - Portfolio
Student’s Name:
LSST ID Number:
BNU ID Number:
Table of Contents
1 Introduction Page No.

2 Mini project workshops attended and how they contributed towards the development of my
Social and Ethical Awareness and Responsibility.
3 Importance and value of the Appendices (12 Documents) that I have compiled and provided as
part of my portfolio
2

4 Conclusion
5 References
6 12 Appendices for the Portfolio
Appendix 1 Personal Development Plan
Appendix 2 Personal SWOT Analysis
Appendix 3 Reading Log
Appendix 4 Photos or samples of work produced in class (during lessons or workshops) relating
to Social and Ethical Awareness and Responsibility.
Appendix 5 Time Management Skills: Weekly Schedule
Appendix 6 Communication Skills: Identification of the most effective skills
Appendix 7 Social and Ethical Awareness Attributes: Comparison between Good and Bad
Attributes.
Appendix 8 Academic Writing Skills
Appendix 9 Employability Skills
Appendix 10 Notes on Reflection
Appendix 11 Up-to-Date Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Appendix 12 Action Plan on a specific academic or professional goal you aim to achieve
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1. Introduction:
Personal development skills refers to the overall self assessment and improvement of an individual. The concept of personal
development basically consist of aspects related to personal and professional development that helps an individual in order
to achieve goals with support of effective utilisation of various abilities and skills. These are the skills that help in terms of
maximizing an individual potential. This kind of process also known as self development or personal growth. The
development of personal skills plays a very vital role as they provide an individual with a wider perspective to overcome
complex issues and task in an optimal manner.
2. Answer to the question: Specify the mini project workshops that you attended and explain how and why
they contributed towards the development of your social and ethical awareness and responsibility. (500
words)
4

The personal development is an essential part for an individual to develop their personal skills as it allows them
to grow and enhance their overall performances and provide them support in their professional career path. It is
crucial process for an individual to have self-improvement in order to gain new skills that will provide them
assistance in both their personal as well as professional life. In order to enhance my personal development there
were various workshop attended by me. The workshops provided me support to enhance my knowledge relative
to various areas. The fist workshop I attended provide me support relative to personal development as it allowed
me understand the necessary skills and abilities I require for personal development. This allowed me to take
necessary steps and actions that needed to be considered for the development of my overall skills within a
specific time frame. The next workshop I attended focused upon developing and understanding personal SWOT
analysis. This analysis allowed me to understand my overall strengths and weakness along with providing me
vital insight regarding my opportunities as well as threats. The next workshop I attended required me to read
logs that included various books that were focused in personal growth and development. The various books
allowed me to gain valuable knowledge and enhance my personal growth. The next workshop I attended
focused upon understanding the crucial nature of time management and why is is an important skill to have. The
time management workshop enabled me to develop a suitable scheduled for me and allows me to complete my
task in a time efficient manner. The workshop allowed me to develop and enhance my time management skills
that will provide me extreme support in my professional career path. The next workshop I attended paid
emphasis on communication skills and provided me insight relative to what effective and ineffective
communication skills are. I was able to gain valuable information relative to effective communication and how it
can be utilized by me in order to communicate my through and opinions to others. In addition to this the
communication skills allowed me to gain motivation to speak in front of a large audience. This skill will provide
me support in both my personal and professional life. The next workshop I attended provide me with information
relative to social and ethical awareness attributes consisting of positive and negative attributes. I was able to
learn that positive attributes are essential in the creation of a positive image in an individual. The next workshop I
attended focused upon employability skills and how vital they are in order to be successful in professional career
path. Identification of these skills allowed me to understand why personal develop is the key to not only have
self-enhancement but also be successful in professional career path. In addition to this I was able to understand
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what skills I need to develop in order to have a successful career path. The up to date curriculum also allowed
for the creation of successful career growth and development which is crucial.
3. In a paragraph or two explain the value or usefulness of the Appendices (12 Documents) that you have
compiled and provided as part of your portfolio.
The appendices in the document helps me in terms of understanding the personal development concept
in critical manner and also support in terms of development of overall personal and professional career
path. It also provided information that supports in terms of overall improvement and self enhancement in
productivity along with performance.
4. Conclusion:
It has been concluded that personal development plays a very important role in the context of overall
development and self enhancement. Personal development skills are helpful in terms of development of
personal and professional career path. It is a kind of ability to maintain higher standards which is relative to
productivity and performance. Personal development is also helpful in terms of planning a long term vision
for the future career path.
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5. References:
Bryant, J.C., 2021. MENTORED IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT. The Art and Science of Mentoring: A Festschrift in Honor of Dr.
Frances Kochan, p.135.
Dhull, P., SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN TEACHER EDUCATION.
Dolhey, S., Dash, M.K. and Patwardhan, M., 2018. A literature review of entrepreneurship, skill development and training from 2000
to 2016. Prestige International Journal of Management & IT-Sanchayan, 7(1), pp.44-65.
Farkhari, G., 2020. Skill Development/Employability Enhancement Programs for Marginalized Youth in Kerala (Doctoral
dissertation).
Mathunni, S., Sharma, S., Kohli, A. and Ghai, S., 2018. Skill development programme of teachers for identification of attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder among primary school children in selected government schools of Chandigarh. IJAR, 4(6),
pp.256-261.
Mattesen, A.R., Shea, J.E., Frigo, J. and Rigney, R.J., 2017. Laying the Tracks for Soft Skill Development at TransNamib.
Motkuri, V. and Revathi, E., 2021. Skill Development in India.
Nguyen, T.T.K. and Phan, H.M., 2020. AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT: A REAL LIFE APPROACH TO WRITING SKILL
DEVELOPMENT. International Journal of Applied Research in Social Sciences, 2(1), pp.20-30.
Skoura-Kirk, E., Brown, S. and Mikelyte, R., 2021. Playing its part: An evaluation of professional skill development through service
user-led role-plays for social work students. Social Work Education, 40(8), pp.977-993.
Temple, K.M., 2017. Teen Leadership Skill Development through the Junior 4-H Camp Counselor Training Program.
Zardo, Z.K., 2015. A mixed-methods (quantitative-qualitative) study to identify the perceived level of transformational leadership
skill development by students enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational leadership (Doctoral dissertation, Brandman
University).
6. 12 Appendices for the Portfolio
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APPENDIX 1: My Personal Development Plan
Title of Course I’m Enrolled For: BA (Hons) Business Management with Foundation
Level at which I am Currently
Studying:
Foundation Level 3
My Reasons/Motivation for Doing
this Course:
Why are you doing this course?
Objectives for my
personal development
Actions required to
achieve my objectives
Support and/or
resources I need
IT skills Become familiar using
the microsoft package
Laptop or
computer to
practice my skills
at home
Improvement in terms of
public speaking skills
Interaction with large
number of people and
participation in public
activities
Practice classes,
participation in
seminars and
conferences
8

Improve time management I will need to avoid
multitasking.
Google
calendar,boullet
journaling.
Develop emotional
inteligence.
I need to improve my
social skills.
Internet, books.
Coultivate resilience. I need to practice
relaxation techniques.
Reading books.
Learn new things Take note in class and
review them.
Support from
teacher, laptop,
notebook.
APPENDIX 2: My Personal SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS (strong points) WEAKNESSES (weak points)
1 Research skills 1 Self-control
2
Communication Skills
2 Decision-Making
3
Problem Solving
3 Spontaneous
Nature
4
Patience
4 Writing Skills
5 Discipline Nature 5 Concentration
power
6 Honesty 6 Deep thinker
9

7 Public speaking skills 7 Time Management
OPPORTUNITIES (potential gains) THREATS (potential losses
1 Library full of resources 1 Working full-time
2 Achieving personal growth and contribute to
improvement in society.
2 Stress rates are
much higher.
3
Gain a professional qualification that is
recognized on respected worldwide.
3 For new positions,
there is a lot of
competition.
4
Work for a large company with lots of new
vacancies.
4 Flexible working may
be difficult for more
jobs.
5
Availability of training.
5 Managing work and
school.
6 There are many mentors available. 6 Economic limitations
APPENDIX 3: Reading Log
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READING LOG
DATE TITLE AUTHOR TIME SPENT NUMBER OF PAGES
READ
29/11/202
1
The Mindful employee and effective
employee
Flaxman, P,
E,. Bond, F,
W,. &
Livheim, F.
30 minutes 20 pages
20/04/202
1
"Harvard University shows LSST how cats and
nature are propelling pandemic progress."
(“Harvard University shows LSST how cats
and ... - LSST Connect”) (“Harvard University
shows LSST how cats and ... - LSST
Connect”)
Francesca
Tomassini
30 minutes 3 pages
19/03/202
1 “Lessons from a Pandemic Year: LSST’s
roadmap to recovery”
Kunal Chan
Mehta
30 minutes 3 pages
11/01/202
1
"LSST Students: 2021 will be challenging but
there is still hope!" (“LSST Students: 2021 will
be challenging but there is still ...”) (“LSST
Students: 2021 will be challenging but there is
still ...”)
Kunal Chan
Mehta
1 hour 8 pages
19/07/202
1 “LSST celebrates strong NSS 2021 results
based on enhanced student support and
mental health service focus”
Kunal Chan
Mehta
10 minutes 1 page
11

APPENDIX 4: Photos or samples of work produced in class (during lessons or workshops) relating to Social and Ethical
Awareness.
Caption: A TED talk explaining the bystander effect: The
bystander effect is....
Caption:
APPENDIX 5: Time Management Skills: Weekly Schedule
SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT
6:00 AM Running Running Running Running Running Running
7:00 AM Bath time Bath time Bath time Bath time Bath time Bath time
8:00 AM Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast
9:00 AM Travel to university Travel to university Travel to
university
Travel to
university
Travel to
university
10:00 AM Attending Uni Attending Uni Work Work Work
11:00 AM Attending Uni Attending Uni Work Work Work
12:00 PM Attending Uni Attending Uni Work Work Work
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1:00 PM Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
2:00 PM Attending Uni Attending Uni Work Work Work
3:00 PM Attending Uni Attending Uni Work Work Work CV building
4:00 PM Attending Uni Attending Uni Researching
5:00 PM Attending Uni Attending Uni
6:00 PM Reading
7:00 PM
8:00 PM Study time Study time
9:00 PM
10:00 PM Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
11:00 PM Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
12:00 PM Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
1:00 AM Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
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APPENDIX 6: Communication Skills: Effective vs Ineffective Communication
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1 Appropriate eye contact 1 Being distracted
2 Active listening 2 Judging people
3 Connection on personal basis 3 When addressing individual it is
difficult to maintain eye contact
4 Body Language 4 Ignoring behaviour where attention is
not paid what others are saying
5 Writing skills 5 Behaviour
6 Presentation skills 6
Low self confidence level
7 High level of confidence 7 Not clear about what needs to be
conveyed to others
BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1 Can help build understanding between people
2
Quick problem solving
3
Strong decision making
4
Better control
5 Consistence in the workflow
6
Strong business relation
APPENDIX 7: Social and Ethical Awareness Attributes: Comparison between good
and bad practices.
No. GOOD ATTRIBUTES No. BAD ATTRIBUTES
1 Altruism 1 Not helping people
2 Acceptance 2 Stereotyping - Judging people
without knowing them is bad
practice

3 Take responsibility for your action 1 Negative comparison with others
4 Act consistently with relevant
regulation and low.
2
The desire to blame
5 Handle personal data and
information in a professional
manner.
3
The fear of failure and making
mistakes.
6 Demonstrate honesty in dealings
with others.
4
Negative assumption.
7 Respect for others. 5 Negative rumination about past.
APPENDIX 8: Academic Writing Skills:
Select from the following list, any three skills that you have learnt from the lessons
and workshops that you have attended; and briefly state the BENEFITS you have
gained from learning the said academic skills:
 Referencing
 Summarizing
 Paraphrasing
 Editing of text
 Data analysis
 Creating a Table of Contents
 Interpreting feedback given by your lecturer; and acting on it
 Using punctuation marks correctly
 Understanding verbs that are commonly used in Assignments;
 Reflective writing
 Any other academic skill.
1 Academic Skill 1 Strong points
(advantages)
Weak points
(disadvantages)
Referencing Reliability Plagiarism
Good practice Lose marks
Allows readers to find the
source
Lose credibility
Benefit(s) of this skill to
me:
Referencing benefits, the reader to find the information,
it credits the original author and stop plagiarism
2 Academic Skill 2 Strong points
(advantages)
Weak points
(disadvantages)
Paraphrasing For achieving clarity, an
individual can use words
which is specially designed
for expressing meaning.
Unconsciously original
meaning gets changed

Save your time. Not enough citations.
An individual can learn in a
better way of writing Plagiarism can be created in
those situation where
changing few words in an
author sentence for use in
paper
Benefit(s) of this skill to
me:
Through paraphrasing skill I have learnt about saying
same thing in unique manner and support me in terms
of focusing on the project by utilising this tool.
3 Academic Skill 3 Strong points
(advantages)
Weak points
(disadvantages)
Data analysis Data analysis skill is helpful
in terms of creating different
types of job opportunities
This kind of skill does not
feel me valued at
organisational level
Through data analysis I can
develop my practical aspect
into positive manner
Sometimes the job role for
me becomes unrelated to the
task assigned
Data analysis also helps me
in terms of accomplishing
project into positive manner
Data analysis sometimes
reduces the communication
level as well
Benefit(s) of this skill to
me:
APPENDIX 9: Employability Skills:
No. Specific skill you’ve acquired
during lessons or workshops
How does it raise your chances of getting your
desired job?
1 Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills basically increases the
expression parameter and communication level
due to which it increases the chances of
getting a job
2 Negotiation skills This skill is helpful in terms of getting a
particular salary at the time of interview
3 CV writing This skill has helpful in this modern era and it is
a kind of communication to an organisation
about individual strength and key points so in
this way chances of getting a job has increased

APPENDIX 10: Notes on Reflection
Define the concept of “Reflection”; and provide details of your OBSERVATIONS,
EXPERIENCES and LESSONS learnt, and how these changed your
PERSPECTIVE on specific matters; and made you a better person.
Reflection means that it is the processing of feelings and thoughts about an
incident or a difficult day and also gives a chance to come to terms with their
thoughts and feelings about it. Reflection is the overall process of effectively and
efficiently understanding and identifying the experience an individual has after
completing a particular task successfully. The reflection allows an individual to
highlight what they have learned form their overall experience relative to the
activities performed by them and reflect upon their what they have learned during
the process. Through out this portfolio the various mini workshops allowed me to
gain knowledge relative to various topics and enhanced my overall skills along with
my performance in completing complex tasks. In addition to this the mini
workshops allowed my me develop in both personal and professional aspect. The
workshop allowed me to develop an effective personal development plan which
was crucial for my personal as well as professional development. Moreover, the
workshop enabled me to effectively understand my overall strengths as well as
weakness through utilization of personal SWOT analysis. It also allowed me to
identify the threats I can face along with various opportunities that I can use to gain
development in my personal growth.While I was learning, I have observed that
there are different aspects of a particular matter so it is necessary that to evaluate
each point into deeper manner. My perspective gets changed in those conditions
where I have learnt that every experience has their own pros and cons due to
which I can't say that experience can be bad for further growth and development of
an individual. My perspective also gets changed when I have observed that
learning can be done from any field and it can be anyone who gives you lesson
about further growth of an individual.

APPENDIX 11: Up-to-Date Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Name
Address | Number| Email| Website (Social media)
NAME:
Loredana Vitel
ADDRESS:
7 Tulla Court Bletchley Milton Keynes
Mk23ps
CONTACT DETAILS:
[e-mail]
07957911733
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:
An ambitious, energetic, and hard-working distribution operative with considerable
experience in a fast-paced logistical environment, demonstrating a talent for
effective organisation and prioritisation to ensure the smooth running of a
warehouse. A focused and proactive individual who has 6 years’ experience in the
UK with goods in, picking, packing and administrative functions and also further
experience with customer service.
EDUCATION (Name and year of Institution attended):
High school: Natural Sciences, 2009
Technological High School "Stefan Cel Mare si Sfant" - Botosani Romania
CORE QUALIFICATIONS:
Baccalaureate Degree AAB

WORK EXPERIENCE:
RETAIL WAREHOUSE OPERATIVE
Charles Tyrwhitt Distribution Centre, Milton Keynes
 ensure the safe and efficient receipt, storage and despatch of goods and
products to feed business operations and customer demand
 Accountable for consistent important levels of accuracy to deliver the
best in service to our customers
 Multi-skilled on a number of tasks including processing returns, put
away, stock consolidation, picking and packing.
 Identified as a colleague who can induct and train new starters.
 Supported an improvement project to redesign the layout on our
packing benches to maximise operational efficiency.
 To deliver procedural compliance with all tasks and think health and safety.
References
Available on request
APPENDIX 12: An Action Plan for achieving a specific academic or professional
goal of your choice.
Pick any goal from the following list and create an Action Plan for achieving it:
 Completing your studies (diploma or degree) within a record time.
 Completing your Research Report (e.g. IBL) within a specified period of time.
 Finding and completing on time a Work-Based Learning Placement within the
specified period of time.
 Seeking and finding employment (a job) at the end of your studies.
 Any other appropriate goal within the academic or employment environment.
Action For Achieving a Specific Goal
Date: Today’s date
My Name:
Course enrolled for: BA (Hons) Business Management with Foundation
Level of study: Foundation Year 3
GOAL to be accomplished: Employment
Actions I need to take in order
to accomplish my Goal:
I need to create a cover letter to go with my CV, I
need to fill out application forms, I need to work on
my interview skills and further develop my
interpersonal and negotiation skills
Resources / support / backup Research materials on how to create a cover letter

that I need:
Timeframe: Before the end of the academic year
Success criteria or indicators:
(How will you know when
you’ve achieved the goal)
Getting invited to interviews
Review / evaluation:
(Identify some benefits of
achieving your goal; as well as
some obstacles that hinder
your further progress)
The more interviews I am invited to the more I can
develop myself, if I am unsuccessful, I can take the
feedback to improve my CV, cover letter and my
interview skills for the future.
An obstacle would be that if I am unsuccessful, I
may feel disheartened, this might impact my self-
efficacy. I will try to keep a positive attitude and use
this as a growing opportunity.