Personal and Professional Development (PPD) through University Learning: A Reflective Journal

This reflective journal highlights the importance of continuous professional development through university learning and the acquisition of transferable skills such as communication, research, ICT, teamwork, time management, and problem-solving skills. The report also includes the use of Gibbs reflective cycle and an action plan for personal improvement.

Personal and
Professional
Development (PPD)

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
The modern job market requires people to possess multiple complex skill sets which allows
them to multi task and be good at various job roles in order to obtain lucrative and rewarding job
roles. To succeed at getting one’s desired job at the company of their choice, it is very important
to undergo continuous professional development which is a cyclic process to undergo personal
growth in regards to personality and various academic, professional and transferable skills.
University is one of the major academic places wherein the process of attaining complex skills
and undergoing continuous professional development happens in a holistic and consistent
manner (Evans and et.al., 2020). This report will highlight the way in which university stay and
learning helps learn valuable skills such as communication skills using models of reflection such
as Gibbs reflective cycle and will also identify areas for personal improvement and design a plan
to overcome the same to have a chance at paving a decent career pathway in the future.
MAIN BODY
The learning which is imparted to students in the University is of prime importance as this
place harbours numerous opportunities to undertake holistic studies resulting in development of
competent and academically proficient individuals. There are many skills which I have
developed and worked upon during my stay at the university and through the study of such
modules which are listed herein in detail and all hold major importance towards defining my
future and helping me obtain success in my chosen career path.
Communication skills, verbal and written
These skills are one of the most important part of each individual’s skillset and are one of
the most transferable skills that somebody can possess as they help achieve success in each and
every career pathway regardless of the technical skills required. Without proper communication
skills of both verbal and written variety, it is very difficult for students to express themselves and
to flourish in a corporate environment (Faulkner and et.al., 2019). The communication skills
which were learned by me during my stay at the university and through the learnings of this
module were quite practical and holistic as I mainly learned how to remain confident in front of a
live audience and by participating in debates and live events through hosting and anchoring, I
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learned and became proficient in public speaking. Apart from public speaking and verbal
communication, written communication skills are also extremely crucial as knowing how to draft
and write proper documentation is an important criterion of many job roles. The module helped
me learn about proper punctuation, grammar and tense usage and figures of speech which are all
very important skills needed to ensure the quality of writing of an individual remains top notch
both in professional and personal forms of documentation.
Research skills
The amount of information that a student gets exposed to during their stint at the university
and by studying such modules is quite extensive and knowing proper research skills to gather,
filter and structure information to reach decision conclusions is very important. My university
conducted many sessions, seminars and exercise which helped build an array of research specific
skills in me which is a major boost to my academic and professional capacity. The importance of
these skills have skyrocketed with the increase in modern technology which has enabled
businesses to put forth more effort in conducting market research using big data analytics. Some
of the major skills which are needed in the research department is knowing how to draft the
proper objectives pertaining to the topic, forming suitable aims along with maintaining a solid
hypothesis (Fincham, Smith and Purath,2021). I obtained thorough knowledge regarding all
these skills by undertaking practical research projects which helped me gain familiarity with the
field of research which will add a lot of professionalism and weightage to my resume and
increase my chances of job selection. I also learned various skills regarding how to avoid
plagiarism in my research and how to properly credit the work of other researchers via
referencing which are also very important professional’s skills for one to attain.
The use of ICT’s
The way in which modern business technology has advanced has made it very easy for
business to operate in both international and domestic arenas. This has also made the
requirement of ICT skills almost a prerequisite for people if they want to get hired in prestigious
companies at lucrative hierarchical positions. ICT skills are mainly related to the smooth
knowledge regarding the practical and technical knowledge of computer and digital systems
which are the backbone of modern world economy. During my stay at the university and through
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this module, I have learned various things about ICT skills which are sure to help me further my
career but I faced quite a few hurdles as getting exposed to such advanced technologies can be
quite daunting during its onset. One of the most major skills which I learned was learning how to
operate MS Office which contains various very important software’s for day to day business use.
These practical assignments helped me build a robust understanding of the software’s and
applications such as MS word and MS Excel where I learned about both data collection, editing,
report wring along with spreadsheet processing which are all very important skills to have as
they result in a candidate having a technical edge over the competition.
Teamwork and networking
The university is a place where one can build many important connections which helps one
to raise their social and academic profile along with gathering avenues for career building
opportunities and learning advanced skills and such skills which help maintain interpersonal
connections are known as networking skills. I learned the importance of such skills during the
study of this module as such skills helps keep one socially relevant and up to date regarding the
happenings in the world (Hill and Wang, 2018). I also learned how these skills help approach
specialists to take advantage of increased industry exposure and eventually landing a good job.
Teamwork skills are also very important for an individual to possess as most of the high paying
job roles and all major industries which hire people make them work on particular objectives
within a group. I learned about the importance of team dynamics by learning about various
models such as Belbin’s team roles which helps classify individual behaviour along with
Tuckman’s 5 stages of team development which helps guide teams and people through efficient
working. I also undertook various team exercises during my stay at the university which helped
improve the way I function within groups although I faced some difficulty as I am not used to
being a team player.
Time and self-management
One of the most important skills that are need by any student or professional in all major or
minor walks in life is proper time management as competing tasks on time is very important as
the corporate world ands and all major governmental institutions prioritize getting work done on
time. My stay at the university and the amount of learning that I managed to attain there I respect
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of learning how to properly manage my time has boosted my employability level and chances by
a considerable margin. I not only learned how to properly allocate tasks and divide my time
accordingly but I also managed to get a decent hold of multitasking different types of works at
the same time which is a very valuable skill to have especially in the demanding job roles of the
modern business world. I also learned about the importance of self-management skills which are
competencies associated with being more productive in the workplace such as problem solving,
resisting stress and building a robust memory and capacity to learn. The module taught various
ways to become more productive and efficient in the long run and this will eventually benefit me
a lot when I go for a job after I am done with my university (Ibrahim, 2018).
Problem solving skills
The employability of an individual depends upon their ability to solve complex problems for
the benefit of any company or firm they are associated with or hired by. Problem solving skills
help boost one’s employability to an extent where they are liable for exceeding at tough and
higher level job roles. The module based learning during the course which I attended in the
university helped inculcate various degrees of problem solving skills in my personal
development portfolio which also helped boost my employability in the process. I learned about
data analysis, drawing inferences from any given data, undertaking reasoning and critical
thinking exercises and also gained the skills needed to undertake professional and academic
research which is also a major component used in complex problem solving (Markkanen, and
et.al.2020).
Gibbs reflective cycle
This is one of the most popular models of reflection used to reflect on one’s experiences in a
cyclic manner consisting of 6 major stages which have been described herein.
 Description – The main description of the experience which happened to me at the
university has been quite holistic as I gained multiple opportunities to capitalize on
continuous professional development. I learned about various interesting skill-sets which
helped boost my chances of being highly employable in the future such as
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communication skills, research skills and use of ICT skills which are in high demand in
the current job market (Vancell, 2019).
 Feelings – I felt quite confident initially regarding my skills and my ability to learn
which came quit handy during my stay at the university and I got to learn various skills
such as communication skills and I got quite proficient in both verbal and written skills as
I completed many tough written assignments and took part in public speaking. However,
I also felt under confident and was also stressed as I was unable to complete most of my
work on time and I was also having problem’s in learning ICT skills.
 Evaluation – The overall experience of gaining skills needed for undergoing personal
and professional development was quite positive from my personal point of view as
everything that I leaner d had some merit and future benefit in regards to my personal life
and potential employability. Learning about both written and verbal communication
along with mastering research skills was a successful endeavour while ICT skills gave me
a lot of problem due to my limited exposure and lack of interest in learning about new
technologies.
 Analysis – I think my overall struggle during the course of learning about ICT skills
happened due to my lack of exposure towards computer technologies and applications
which resulted in difficulties in grabbing practical concepts being taught via the module.
My problems with personal time management can also be attributed to not knowing to
multi-task and this needs alleviation via undertaking practical exercises and learning how
to delegate time accordingly
 Conclusion – The major learning that I undertook during this entire time spent
understanding about key developmental skills from the module and university is that the
modern job requirements such as use of ICT skills and problem solving skills are very
important to learn via practical exposure and assignments. I also got to know that time
management is complementary to all skills learned and one must be good at managing
time to succeed in life. My learning experience is concluded with acknowledging that my
time management and ICT skills need urgent improvement (Love and et.al, 2020).
 Action plan – In order to have a much better learning experience next time over the
course of undertaking personal and professional development, I would like to prepare
about the subject beforehand to prevent nervousness and remove initial exposure
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problems. In order to improve my time management skills, I will undertake practical
tasks and time myself using a stop watch until I reach optimum speed. As far as my
problems with ICT skills are concerned, I will take practical assignments and enrol in
paid courses to get my efficiency up with using computer applications.
CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the various skills which are learned during the
stay at University which are directly related to boosting one’s employability and developing their
personal, academic and professional competencies to benefit their future career pathway. Various
important skills were highlighted in this report which are very important for the sake of career
building and future pathways such as communication skills, problem solving skills, research
skills and proper use of ICT skills. This report also contained use of reflective skills using
models such as Gibb’s reflective cycle and it was concluded from this report that in order to
boost one’s employability, it is very important to undergo continuous professional development
by attaining key transferable skills.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Evans and et.al., 2020. Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a
university. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(4), pp.643-656.
Faulkner and et.al., 2019. continuous professional development. In Examining the Phenomenon
of “Teaching Out-of-field” (pp. 269-308). Springer, Singapore.
Fincham SJ, Smith T, Purath J. 2021 Implementation of an educational program to improve
precepting skills. Journal of the American Association of Practitioners. Apr 1;33(4):331-
7.
Hill, L.M. and Wang, D., 2018. Integrating sustainability learning outcomes into a university
curriculum: A case study of institutional dynamics. International Journal of
Sustainability in Higher Education.
Ibrahim, A., 2018. Let’s try reflection using Gibbs reflective cycle
Love, and et.al. , 2020. Professional development to increase capacity for the use of new
technologies. Intervention in School and Clinic, 56(2), pp.115-118.
Markkanen, and et.al. , 2020. A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a
school setting. Educational Research, 62(1), pp.46-62.
Vancell, J., 2019. AN EFFECTIVE EVALUATION FOR BASIC SKILLS E-LEARNING
PROGRAMMES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICAL PROCESS.
In INTED2019 Proceedings (pp. 9311-9318). IATED.
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