Project Portfolio

Project Portfolio
Contents
Task 1a: Week 1 Reflection - critical incident.......................................................................................2
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................2
Incident..............................................................................................................................................2
Reflection..........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................6
Task 1b: Reflective report of 10 weeks.................................................................................................7
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................7
Professional Development.................................................................................................................7
Reflection..........................................................................................................................................7
Knowledge......................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................12
Task 2: Career and Personal Development Plan..................................................................................12
2a. Personal Analysis.......................................................................................................................12
2b. SMART Goals...........................................................................................................................13
2c. Personal Objectives....................................................................................................................14
References...........................................................................................................................................17
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Project Portfolio
Task 1a: Week 1 Reflection - critical incident
Introduction
A reflection is the mental process of exploring an issue that has no obvious answer where a
student uses deliberate thinking to arrive at a solution. The student explores the meanings as
well as makes connections to do this. This section covers the reflection of the first week of
learning in which students were introduced to the concept of reflective writing, were given
few activities, and recommended some readings from the books.
Incident
A major incident that happened during the first week of learning was the discussion in which
students were asked to spare five minutes discussing their future as professionals. We had to
reflect upon our experiences through cognitions and reflexivity by looking back and looking
forward. A number of different models of reflection are available that can be used here such
as Bass’s holistic reflection, Atkin’s and Murphy’s model, John’s model, and Gibb’s model.
Holistic model of reflection defines reflection is a cyclic process which begins with self-
awareness and then is followed by description, reflection, influences, evaluation, learning,
and addition to the awareness based upon it (Bass, et al., 2017). Atkin’s and Murphy’s model
suggests beginning of the process of reflection with awareness of the feeling of discomfort
and is followed by its description, analyse if feelings, evaluation of knowledge, and
identifying learning scope based on which an awareness is improved. John’s model offers
some cues to the student to learn from experience and using these cues, the student can build
some interpretations from the experiences of learning. These cues can be related to
description, reflection, influencing factors, and learning. Gibb’s model defines reflection is a
cyclic process which begins with description of problem and then is followed by observing
feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, action planning, and addition to the description
based upon it. Each model presents a clear view of how learning can be achieved through
experience and the choice of a specific model could be difficult at this stage. For the
evaluation of the current incident in the first week of learning, the Gibb’s model was used for
it gives a clear methodology and easy application of learning theory to practice. The model
was found to be widely used and was also opted for by several other students which is why I
also chose the same model for reflecting upon my own learning experience. Since, more
people were also using the same model, I could gain more from discussions and would find it
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easy to reflect upon and applying the model through mutual efforts. Thus, I used the Gibb’s
model of reflection to reflect upon my first week of learning.
Reflection
This reflection is based on the Gibb’s mode of learning. The model begins with the
identification of a problem and then is followed by other stages of feeling, evaluation,
analysis, conclusion and planning.
Date: Experience
In the first week of learning, students were asked to reflect upon the present
and think of how we felt about the experience and how we foresee the future.
We had to analyse what we were enjoying currently, how we saw our future
and if we feel that it would be enjoyable based on the current learning. The
process involved fellow students who had mutual discussions in the
classroom. There were a few activities like discussion in which students were
asked to use the reflective models for their own learning. They were to
reflect upon their current experiences as well as imagine a future scenario in
which the learning they are gaining from current experience would also
affect the future.
The most important part of the exercise was development of an
understanding of how a reflection model can be applied to a real activity to
gain more experiential learning. It could not just help in reflecting upon the
current experience but also foresee the future.
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Reflection
While going through the experience of reflecting upon the present as well as
visualizing future, I felt quite energized as I was enjoying the current
learning and was having a feeling that it would help me build my future well.
One thing which I found was bad about the expense was my inability to put
forth my views among the group that was kind of dominating me and I was
unable to express myself so easily. I felt scared thinking of the future
situation in which I would be working in a company and would be a part of a
meeting where I can fail for many inabilities to express myself. While in a
school curriculum, even if I am unable to really contribute in discussions, I
can still get away with it but if I am unable to do this in employment then I
may have to face bad consequences. I may lose my credibility at work and
people would not be looking up to me or rather would dominate me. I could
find myself in a situation in future that would not be very productive for me.
This revealed my weakness in communications that also bothered me as it
concerned my future. However, I did contribute to certain extent which was
positive. I realized that if I was more confident in talking to people, I could
have expressed myself more easily in the group. I need to develop more
before I take a up professional association in an organization so that I can
improve upon my capability to communicate.
After the discussion on the future in this module, I had a change of attitude
towards how I saw teams and meetings. I could foresee my future as troubled
if I failed to express myself. Till then, I have been very selective in
communication and thought that I can choose to remain quite or express
myself whenever I wanted. However, from this experience I understood that
I could face a big problem with the attitude I had and I should have amore
open attitude towards learning and contribution. I should be learning about
how teams work and how I can work in teams.
By applying the Gibbs model to learning experience, I could describe the
problem of communication from my experience. I could analyse my
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