University Academic Skills and PDP Report - Goals and Plans

This report delves into the critical aspects of personal and professional development, starting with an introduction to personal development plans and their significance in achieving individual goals. It outlines the value of short, medium, and long-term goals, emphasizing how they contribute to continuous growth. The report includes the identification of personal goals for each time frame and the creation of a personal development plan. Additionally, it discusses how factors such as author, reliability, purpose, and relevance affect the use of sources. The evaluation of eight sources used in the report is provided, followed by a comprehensive conclusion and references. The report aims to provide a practical guide for self-improvement and professional advancement.

Academic Skills and
PDP

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task One..........................................................................................................................................1
Define the concept of personal and professional development..............................................1
Describe and discuss the value of short term goals identifying at least three personal goals 1
Describe and discuss the value of medium term goals along with three personal short term
goals........................................................................................................................................2
Describe and discuss the value of long term goals along with identifying three personal long
term goals...............................................................................................................................3
Describe and discuss the value of a personal development plan and construct a personal
development plan using the identified personal goals............................................................3
Personal development plan.....................................................................................................3
Task Two.........................................................................................................................................5
Description and discuss how author, reliability, purpose and relevance affect the use of a
sources....................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of the eight sources I have used in the report plan...............................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References:.......................................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Personal development plan are very important in an individual career path. They will help the
individual in attaining the goals and objectives with utmost efficiency and effectiveness. The
short term goals of an individual are stepping stones for the long term goals. The personal
development plans will help in achieving skills and abilities that are essential for the growth I
personal as well as in professional lives of individual. They also help the individual in moving
towards the long term goals continuously and with motivation. In this report, an analysis of short
term, medium term and long term goals are given along with personal development plans and
personal goals.
Task One
Define the concept of personal and professional development
Personal development plan is a strategy that is made by an individual in order to make sure that
they are on the path of continuous development and is helpful for an individual in gaining skills
and knowledge that are essential for their personal as well as professional life. It is a never
ending process as their are numerous amount of skills and abilities that an individual can pursue
according to their needs. The personal development of an individual also depends up on the area
of interest of that individual (Fletcher Jr and et. al., 2018.). The personal development is for the
enhancement of the internal abilities of an individual. These can be related to the hobbies and
interest area of an individual that they are willing to learn in order to be satisfied it includes
leadership abilities, communication skills, problem solving skills, etc. On the other hand,
professional development is related to the abilities of an individual that is needed to be
developed in order to become successful in their professional life. These includes presentation
skills, technological skills, adaptability skills, etc. It will help the individual in getting success in
their professional life and will help the in getting the most suitable work for themselves.
Describe and discuss the value of short term goals identifying at least three personal goals
Short term goals are those goal which needed to be completed within 12 months of period. These
goals are for a short period of time and help in building confidence in the individual. These are
the goals that helps he individual in stepping towards long term goals and help in maintaining
motivation in the individual throughout the process. That is the reason why sometimes short term
goals are considered to be the stepping stones that can help in achieving long term goals. Short
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term goals are important initially as if an individual starts with long term goal then he will not be
able to handle the obstacles in the path and may also drop out because of lack of motivation.
When an individual completes their short term goal, the happiness will provide them motivation
for continuously working hard towards the goals (Longbottom, A., 2018.). These goals will help
the individual in finding the right path towards their ultimate long term goals. The short term
goals can be for personal development or for professional development.
The three personal goals that I want to achieve are:
I want to improve my presentation skill in order to make sure that I can present my work
effectively and efficiently.
I want to improve my time management skills in order to make sure that I have a proper balance
between my studies and my extracurricular activities.
I want to improve my self confidence in order to allow myself to take risks and to face
challenges.
Describe and discuss the value of medium term goals along with three personal short term goals
The medium term goals are generally for a time period of more than 12 months but less than 5
years. They are bigger stepping stones for long term goals and must be on the basis of SMART
model. SMART model is an acronym for Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
All the goals must be set on the basis of these acronyms in order to make sure that an individual
is able to achieve them (Lucas and et. al., 2018.). They are the half way journey of the ultimate
long term goal of an individual. These are only attainable when an individual has attained a
series of sort term goals. It will help the individual in deciding the correct path towards their long
term objectives and will also motivate them from time to time for better working and for the long
term goal vision that the individual have.
The three short term goals that I want to achieve are:
I want to improve my leadership skills so that wen the time comes I will be able to manage my
teams effectively and efficiently and will able to guide them by giving correct instructions.
My second goal is to achieve communication skills which can help me in communicating
effectively with my superiors and colleagues and will be able to avoid misunderstandings.
My third short term goal is to achieve technical skills that can help me in managing my work and
complete it on time as per the requirements of my profession.
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Describe and discuss the value of long term goals along with identifying three personal long term
goals
This refers to the ultimate goal that an individual wants to achieve in future. It can be desired
position in certain professing or desired financial income of an individual. These are futuristic
goals that are highly contingent and requires time period longer than short term as well as
medium term. All he goals that an individual has made is to make sure that they will pass the
hurdles and obstacles that can stop them from achieving their long term goals (Perin, D., 2018.).
The planning of long term goals and achievement of long term goals are a time consuming
process and requires effective as well as efficient planning. These are the goals that are the major
source of motivation in an individual as they continuously wants to move forwards so that they
can fulfill their long term goals.
My three long term goals are:
My first long term goal is to become an investment banker and give financial advises to co
operations.
My second goal is to become a good leader that can influence others and make sure that guide
the followers properly.
I want to make sure that all my decisions are based on my intellectual and analytical skills and be
able to help companies in decision making process.
Describe and discuss the value of a personal development plan and construct a personal
development plan using the identified personal goals.
It is an action plan that an individual makes for themselves in order to make sure that they are
able to achieve them. The personal development plans help an individual in achieving their short
term as well as long term goals step by step and within a specific period of time (Yan and et. al.,
2020, March.). Personal development plans will help an individual in having a path towards their
long term goals and will help in achieving the skills and abilities that can help an individual in
the future. These skills will be helpful for an individual in their personal, academic as well as
professional life. These are the most important aspects of an individual lives as they guide them
towards the path of their goals and success.
Personal development plan
Goals Reason to Ways to achieve Time bound Expected results
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achieve this this
Presentation
skills
This will help
me in
developing my
confidence and
be able to
present my view
point in front of
others
effectively and
efficiently.
soon I am going
to enroll for a
program which
will help me in
achieving
effective skills
that will help me
in giving
presentations.
3 months I will be able to
provide relevant
presentation of
the facts and
figures that I
have gathered
and be able to
present myself
confidently.
Time
management
skills
In order to make
sure that I assign
right time to
right task and
complete mys
given tasks on
time I have to
improve my time
management
skills.
Their is going to
be a conference
about effective
time
management
skills. Also I try
to assign time to
my daily routine
works so that I
can develop a
habit of time
management.
12 months I am expecting
that I will be
able to complete
my tasks within
time and without
any hassle.
Self confidence In order to make
sure that I have
confidence in
myself and in
order to make
correct decisions
for myself I
want to improve
By taking risks
and
accomplishing
best results I am
going to develop
my self
confidence.
24 months I will be able to
take risks and
will be able to
handle difficult
challenges
which can hinder
my growth.
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my self
confidence.
Task Two
Description and discuss how author, reliability, purpose and relevance affect the use of a sources
In order to do research preparation and programme of a project a student needs to collect
and review information collected from multiple sources such as journals, book, newspapers,
magazines, articles, websites, etc. While selecting information from these relevant sources it is
important for students to determine and find the reliability and attribute of information on the
basis of certain criteria such as author, reliability, purpose and relevance. Below mentioned is the
evaluation of sources made by me for the references used in the research report are as follows:
Evaluation of the eight sources I have used in the report plan
Sources Author Purpose Reliability Relevance
Journal Griffiths and et.
al., 2018.
The purpose of
the journal is to
provide effective
ways of
developing self
development
plans.
Information
provided by the
sources contains
proper citations
and credits.
Relevant
information
about self
development
plans.
Book Aliu, J.,
Aigbavboa, C.
and Thwala, W.,
2021.
The source
provides
framework for
effective
management of
PDP.
Proper usage of
highlights of
information and
proper citations.
Highly relevant
as talks about
framework for
effective
personal
development
plan.
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Article Lam and et. al.,
2019.
The purpose of
the article is to
provide
information
about academic
skills.
Effective usage
of social skills
and proper
credits.
Not so relevant
as it talks a little
about academic
skills.
Journal Mora and et. al.,
2020.
The purpose of
journal is to
provide
information
about skills for
long term
success.
Proper credibility
has been given.
Also proper
citations have
been mentioned.
The journal does
not meet the
expectations as
no knowledge
about long term
success.
Article Viberg, O.,
Mavroudi, A.
and Ma, Y.,
2020, September.
The article
provide
knowledge about
skills that are
essential for
growth.
Improper credits
and citations.
Irresponsible
nature of the
article.
Does not meet
the objectives of
the research.
Book Savicki, V. ed.,
2020
The books tells
about the ways in
which one can
have continuous
motivation.
Proper citations
and credits have
been mentioned.
Relevant
information
about
motivations and
its management.
Journal Azarenko and et.
al., 2018,
September.
The purpose of
the journal is to
provide
information
about soft skill
essential in
workplace.
Information is
highly reliable,
credible and
contains proper
citations.
Relevant
information
about soft skills
and skills
required on
workplace.
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Article Attri, R. and
Kushwaha, P.,
2018.
The article
provide
information
about trending
skills that can
help an
individual in
professional life.
Proper
representation of
information and
proper citations
as well.
Sources does not
describe any
trending skills
relevant for the
report or
research.
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Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that it is important for an individual to have proper plan for
the development of their skills and abilities in order to make sure that they will be able to achieve
their long term goals. Short term goals will unable the individual to reach towards their long term
goals effectively and efficiently.
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References:
Books and Journals
Fletcher Jr and et. al., 2018. Preparing high school students for a changing world: College,
career, and future ready learners. Career and Technical Education Research, 43(1),
pp.77-97.
Longbottom, A., 2018. Developing the Workforce Through the ‘Skills Escalator’and Agenda for
Change. In Career Planning for Everyone in the NHS (pp. 73-82). CRC Press.
Lucas and et. al., 2018. Leadership development programs at academic health centers: results of
a national survey. Academic Medicine, 93(2), pp.229-236.
Perin, D., 2018. Teaching academically underprepared students in community colleges.
In Understanding community colleges (pp. 135-158). Routledge.
Yan and et. al., 2020, March. An Exploratory Analysis of Required Soft Skills Towards Chinese
Workplace Today. In 2020 Joint International Conference on Digital Arts, Media and
Technology with ECTI Northern Section Conference on Electrical, Electronics,
Computer and Telecommunications Engineering (ECTI DAMT & NCON) (pp. 276-
281). IEEE.
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