Work Based Learning: Lessons Learned and Workplace Skills Acquired

This reflective essay discusses the lessons learned from a work based learning module, workplace skills acquired, and action plans for the future. Topics covered include stress management, learning styles, employability skills, personal and career development plan, CV writing, and effective communication.

Work based learning

CONTENTS
1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE MODULE................................................................1
2. SPECIFIC WORKPLACE SKILLS BEING ACQUIRED................................................4
3. PLANNING OF OTHER SKILLS AGAINST FUTURE JOB ROLE..............................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE MODULE
The present reflective essay will going to exhibit strengths as well as weaknesses of
the overall experience and lastly, will pay attention on the action plans that should be adopted
by me in same kind of situations coming across in the near future. Gibbs reflective cycle is
being chosen by me for entailing my experience of learning on this module above other
reflective models because I think that Gibbs model is very effective as it includes different
stages of the cycle which complements both the structure of the reflective essay along with
the style of writing. Furthermore, this reflective process will allow me to think in regards
with the positives aspects within myself along with the areas that needs to be improved for
my better future (Bolton, 2016). Thus, it can be said that such kind of critical thinking in the
form of reflection is the cornerstone for any practice. During the course of this module,
different topics were being covered such as stress management, comprehending the theories
of stress, learning styles, different ways of learning, work based learning, employability
skills, personal and career development plan, methods of writing an effective CV and
effective communication. On the basis of that comprehension, below is the personal
reflection report in regards with my experience and learning on this module in which I have
utilized very significant tool known as Gibbs reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988).
Throughout this module I have learned many things. The very first lecture was
concerned with stress management that focused on what is stress at the workplace, the
manner of handling stress, theories related to stress management and understanding about the
wok life balance. Stress is something which is required to be dealt by each and every one. I
have learned that stress can appear from different sources be it may be environmental,
individual differences, organizational and experienced stress. However, its impact is every
dangerous and it might leads to psychological symptoms and problems. Thus, this module
has supported me in learning how to manage stress through scheduling, prioritization and
implementation. Seeking help from this technique I was able to deal with my stress
effectively. Moving further, the next lecture was related with work based learning wherein I
have gained familiarity in regards with different types of learning style. Seeking help from
this, I also got a chance to understand my style of learning. I determined that my learning
style was reflector as defined by Honey & Mumford (1986) because I also acquire things
from reflecting on my experience and not by learning from experience.
It is supporting and useful to understand thoughts and feelings of oneself during the
whole process of this module along with appreciating emotions that might have impacted my
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activities later. A lot of feelings, thought processes and opinions were running in my mind
when the lecturer has initiated giving their lecture for the first time, at the time of allotment of
tasks and assignments and having a discussion with the whole classroom. During whole
lecturers, I was very curious in regards with learning new things, topics and subjects. I was
really excited about the topics which have been covered in this module as all these topics
being learned are very useful for my career growth and future job roles. I have never been in
touch with personal and professional development, however with this module I got a chance
to learn this which is overwhelming for me. In addition to the feeling of curiosity and
excitement, I was also little bit afraid and scared as I might not be able to follow and consider
what my lecturer was asking to do from me. Consequently, due to this feeling in my mind,
most of time in my lectures I was attentive and concentrated more towards topics and subject
areas. Other than this, at the time of allotments of assignments as well, I was very anxious in
regards with the things I am required to perform and what will happen at the time of final
submission (Johnson and Johnson, 2017). Nevertheless, my feeling was actually mixed
because I was happy at the same point of time that I will utilize my knowledge and abilities
which I have gained from my lecturer during lectures for carrying out same work. Focusing
in relation with the discussion section, it was very interesting section due to the fact that all
the students in the class participated in that and different answers were popped up from that
which again supported me in acquiring different concepts, thinking and skills. Meantime,
during the discussion session in the module, I was very nervous as well in some questions as
they were too hard and I was not able to answer the same when lecturer pointed on me. My
feeling was totally altered after the end of the module. I started feeling confident as I gained
lot of knowledge and comprehension about work based learning. I am quite pleased that I
have learnt something new from this module which will help me in my future employment.
This is again significant step in the Gibbs cycle as here I will going to entail about the
things that went well and that went wrong. Personally, I think that this module had a positive
influence on me as it was quite informative along with enriching especially I came across
with the topics in the module which had a direct association with my career path.
Furthermore, at the time of discussing about personal and individual development plan, what
stood out very clear to me is that action planning for developing the skillset in which I am
lacking is complex and for me to completely appreciate its impact I might need a good
amount of time, abilities and efforts. This comprehension has resulted me in determining
assortment of positives in the module. For example, I now understand different techniques of
managing stress, I am now capable of understanding different style of learning, and I can
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write effective CV. However, in my future job and career path I will require to dig deeper to
make sure that I truly justify my job and the workplace. Some of the other good experiences
throughout the course of work based learning was that I enhanced my communication skills
as I got the chance of having interaction with my lecturers, group members, professionals and
other fellow students. I got full support from my lecturers throughout this course which
supported me gaining knowledge and concepts effectively and easily. Nonetheless, there
were some bad experiences as well during this course. Sometimes I felt that the lecture was
uninteresting and I was not able to bring up my will again towards study. Even sometimes my
time management was really very poor which I think was a bad experience for me as it
wasted my valuable time along with efforts and ended up learning nothing throughout that
week. Other than this, due to my own behaviour in the classroom, there were some negative
instances happened which distracted my concentration and wasted my own time and energy.
Eventually I came to realize that whatever I have done is wrong and extravagant and thus, I
have altered my behaviour and get myself back to the track.
Speaking in relation with the analysis stage of Gibbs reflective model, this is the
phase in which an individual gets an answer along with responses of all the queries. It also
includes the main reason behind the happening of things and why the things went wrong and
right. Understanding in relation with the word why will give me a sense of the situation or
involvement. Inclusively, I feel that this module was very effective as it helped me in
learning many new things and developed knowledge in different areas related to work based
learning. I also realized that I have an immense interest on personal and individual
development plan and stress management. This is due to the fact that it helped me in building
up the most significant thing that is my level of confidence, learning skills, personal and
professional development and courage. Every single lecture in the module was very
interesting and useful for me and there are many things which I have learned through this
which will going to help me in my future career growth. In addition to this, I believe that one
of the topic of the module called stress management had the most valuable influence on me. I
am now convinced that management of stress is very important as it can impact the
performance of an individual and can set him or her back in the career path. I learned
different techniques of managing stress and this knowledge has helped me in overcoming
stress and supported me in performing my tasks and activities effectively.
This is the second last stage of the reflective model and as it is being suggested by the
name itself this is the phase where I will going to conclude my feelings and thoughts and will
going to accumulate lessons which I have learnt from attending different sessions of the
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module and will pay attention on some positive actions being considered (Bassot, 2016).
Overall, it can be said that the experience of module was very positive in several aspects and
at any point of time I don’t think that this module can inform me better than I am currently if
it was taught in a varied way. Furthermore, by learning stress management techniques,
different learning styles and employability skills will play a significant role in my personal,
professional and interpersonal development during the course of my career life (Driscoll,
2016). In addition to this, the module also helped me in recognizing my own strengths as well
as weaknesses and the important areas which needs to be improved and enhanced for my
future development. Furthermore, I also learned that it is always good to revise the lecture or
chapter prior giving out by lecturer because with this I will have a better idea and
understanding of the chapter. This will not only help me in gaining prior knowledge about the
topic rather it will also speed up the process of learning in myself. Therefore, to conclude it
can be attributed that the vast array of knowledge, information and resources which I have
accumulated throughout this module has been valuable in enhancing my level of confidence
and employability skills. This will help me in my career growth and future hob role as this
module was all about work based learning. The module has motivated me to think in regards
with the areas, problems and topics which I never really taken into account because of non-
existence of opportunities to experience them earlier and even on practice. Additionally, I
also think that overall this module has made me to continue making optimistic alteration or
modification in my own life. Nevertheless, it was sometimes difficult for me to cop up with
the situation at the time of submitting and carrying out assignment because some of the topics
of the module were very demanding which has been slightly difficult to balance. The module
concerning work based learning was huge and included several other aspects pf curricular
area and there is so much to learn. It has been a stressful process to complete this assignment
however with the supportive teachers and group mates, I was able to acquire different
learnings and was able to complete this module qualitatively. Lastly, for the action plan I
fashioned a small task list in order to make myself updated. I also initiated reading books for
improving my communication skills.
2. SPECIFIC WORKPLACE SKILLS BEING ACQUIRED
With this module I have gained different workplace and employability skills. There
were different topics being covered in this module and these topics were instrumental in
developing along with enhancing my comprehension of the manner I can assimilate within
them, skills like communication, writing, coordination, problem solving, conflict
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management, negotiating and planning and organizing were among others. I also gained
knowledge in regards with personal and career development plan which helped me getting
prepared for the skills that I need to acquire in the coming future. This module also supported
me gaining different workplace or employability skills as discussed above such as problem-
solving, communication, negotiating, and positive mental attitude and planning & organizing
(Fallows and Steven, 2018). I have learned about the manner of expressing myself in front of
other and listening to other calmly and effectively. I am also now capable of solving problem
and making an informed decision. With this module, I got an opportunity of augmenting my
planning different activities which in turn has enhanced my organization skills. In addition to
this, this module as a whole as enabled me to understand what reflection writing is and with
its help, today I am writing my own learning experience on this module. I understood about
ways of writing effective curriculum vitae which will definitely going to help me in my
future career growth and job.
Throughout, the module I also learned about effective time management and making
use of present time more effectively. Thus, it can be said that in my module I got learn about
different employability skills which will definitely going to help me in my future workplace.
At the time of seeking potential job, these are the skillset which the employers will look for
when skimming through the job applications. Thus, these employability skills which I have
learned such as problem-solving, communication, negotiating, and positive mental attitude
and planning & organizing will support me gaining important job position in the market.
Furthermore, I think that some of the workplace skills such as communication, problem
solving, conflict management if not possessed by an individual can actually become an
obstacle in effective work performance and can also impact my capabilities of developing
associations with my team mates or class mates. In fact, the work based learning was also
very stimulating as I got to know about its significance in my career path. Thus, overall, I can
be said that the knowledge and understanding which I have gained from this module will
definitely going to support me in comprehending different aspects of real life work
experience and becoming successful throughout the global market of job in my coming
future. Moving further, I believe I have learnt as well as gained different knowledge from my
lecturer as well. I have learnt the manner of doing everything effectively whether it is
submitting assignments, conducting group tasks or learning new concepts. Moreover, this
module also helped me understanding more in regards with the significance of personal and
individual skills along with teamwork. Besides that I also realized that effective training and
improvements are being required for the purpose of making me more concentrated in
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particular time. This is due to the fact that even sometimes the classes are not interesting, I
should not distract myself and disturb the class. All this will going to help me in my future
job role. Seeking help from this course and module, I now know my strength and weaknesses
and definitely I will enhance and develop skills which I am lacking.
3. PLANNING OF OTHER SKILLS AGAINST FUTURE JOB ROLE
Here I will think in regards with different ways of working on my weaknesses and my
skills which I found through this module and for improving my skills and abilities for my
future job role I have created an action plan for meeting out my short term as well as long
term goals using a SMART model and it has been elaborated in the subsequent section
(Capsi, Roberts and Shiner, 2015).
Goals Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound
Improvement
in time
management
skills
Cutting time
of doing
tasks
through
executing
enhanced
work routine
Tracking the
time spend
on each
activity on
excel data
I will access
excel e-
books that
will support
me
becoming
more
efficient
I spend time
too much
time on
completing
one activity
and cutting
time will
make sure
that I will
have more
time to finish
my other
activities
I want to
achieve this
in 3 months
Improvement
in decision
making skills
I am lacking
in quick
decision
making and
evaluating
the decision
Observing
the higher
authorities,
teachers and
professionals
and
consulting
them
Making
contribution
towards
planning
activities and
tasks in my
future job
I spend too
much time
taking
decisions
and I want to
make
decisions
quickly so
Within 2
months
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effectively that I can
pursue on
that on time
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bassot, B., 2016. The Reflective Journal: Capturing your Learning for Personal and
Professional Development. Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bolton, G., 2016. Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development. 4thed. London:
SAGE Publications.
Capsi, A., Roberts, B.W. and Shiner, R.L., 2015. Personality development: Stability and
change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, pp.453-484.
Driscoll, M.P., 2016. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. 2nd ed. Needham Heights, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.
Fallows, S. and Steven, C., 2018. Building Employability Skills into the Higher Education
Curriculum: A University-wide Initiative. Education& Training, 42(2), pp.75-83.
Gibbs, G., 1988. Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford,
Further Education Unit Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.
Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, F.P., 2017. Joining together: group theory and group skills.
12thed. New York: Pearson.
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