Academic Skills Development and Reflection: A University Perspective

This reflective paper examines the crucial role of academic skills in achieving success within a university environment. The author emphasizes the importance of skills such as effective communication, decision-making, and critical thinking, highlighting their impact on improved grades and overall academic performance. The reflection also explores the use of SMART goals to facilitate personal growth and development, including setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound objectives. The paper draws on research to support the claims and provides a framework for students to enhance their academic capabilities and achieve desired goals. This assignment is a valuable resource for students seeking to refine their academic skills and improve their university experience. Desklib offers a range of past papers and solved assignments to support students in their studies.

REFLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
It is important for an individual to have a good set of academic skills in order to perform
better and achieve desired set of goals. The below reflection explores the development of
academic skills and its requirement in university environment.
MAIN BODY
Development of academic skills is essential in order to achieve growth and development
for an individual. In order to be an effective university student I have understood that an
individual needs to have skills such as good communication, decision making, critical thinking,
writing, leadership etc. in order to stand as an academic expert. During the time while I was
developing my academic skills, I have found out that skills such as effective communication and
decision making played a major role in my own academic development. Effective
communication allowed me to converse with my team members and classmates properly. Also, it
helped me in ensuring that I am sharing my ideas and opinions with my classmates as well as my
seniors without facing difficulties in managing proper communication (Rabiner, Godwin and
Dodge, 2016). Good set of communication skills developed confidence in me, now I feel more
confident and dedicated while I am speaking to an individual and sharing my views and
opinions.
This helped me to improve my grades and understanding lectures and presentations
easily. Also, It allowed me to be a better university student during the time of my study.
Development of skills such as decision making and critical thinking allowed me to make
required decisions and analyse the situations properly. It helped me in improving my ability to
make required decisions while group study and working with a team. Also, I started growing as
a better team member and an individual in the university. Critical thinking helped me in making
me a better thinker and allowed me to think in depth about the topics and analyse and evaluate
important situations. This made a skilled academic student and my grades started improving as
well (Votruba‐Drzal, Miller and Coley, 2016).
Developing my academic skills in the form of SMART goals required me set specific
goals to achieve the growth that I desired. At time when I was setting up specific goals, I created
deadlines to achieve the goals in a set time period. This made me achieve the desired growth in
the time period I wanted. In the next step, I set up measurable goals. This measured that the goals
1

which I have set such as to improve my communication and decision making is track-able, or I
am tracking my growth properly or not (Bassok and Latham, 2017).
In the third step I set attainable goals. This required me to understand that the goals
which I have set in the due course are attainable or not. If they were attainable then I moved
forward with them, if they were not then I eliminated them. Later, I made realistic judgements as
per my goals and achievements. This required me to understand that the set goals tie into my key
responsibilities, and are aligned with objectives.
At last, I set up time bound goals, this step required me to set target dates and by when
my goal will be successfully achieved (Ogbeiwi, 2017). These SMART objectives helped me to
ensure proper growth as a university student and develop a good set of skills.
CONCLUSION
The above report showcases the importance of development of academic skills in order to
be an effective university student. The report provides an understanding on why it is important to
have a such set of skills that can ensure growth and development for a university student. Also,
the report provides a brief reflection on the requirements of developing the academic skills in the
form of SMART goals.
2

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bassok, D. and Latham, S., 2017. Kids today: The rise in children’s academic skills at
kindergarten entry. Educational Researcher. 46(1). pp.7-20.
Ogbeiwi, O., 2017. Why written objectives need to be really SMART. British Journal of
Healthcare Management. 23(7). pp.324-336.
Rabiner, D. L., Godwin, J. and Dodge, K. A., 2016. Predicting academic achievement and
attainment: the contribution of early academic skills, attention difficulties, and social
competence. School Psychology Review. 45(2). pp.250-267.
Votruba‐Drzal, E., Miller, P. and Coley, R. L., 2016. Poverty, urbanicity, and children's
development of early academic skills. Child Development Perspectives. 10(1), pp.3-9.
3