Academic Study Skills Module Reflection: Semester 1, 2024

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Academic Study Skills
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Reflection
Conclusion
Bibliography
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Introduction
The module Academic Study Skills is developed to help the students in equipping themselves
with all the essential tools that will help them too succeed both academically and within their
chosen career as well. This reflection report will be describing the depth of understanding and
knowledge that I gained during my course. Throughout the course, I was able to gain in-depth
insights into how to plan and complete the coursework and assessments on time effectively thus
achieving and showcasing my full potential. Through this course, I was able to develop my
analytical and academic skills which again further helped me in understanding the pattern of
studies in the higher education system. This reflection writing will be focusing on the learning
outcomes of the module through the framework of Terry Borton’s. Through this reflective report,
I will be discussing how the structure of the blade made me self-dependent, organised and
positive attitude towards analysing and identifying my own skills and potentials thus helping me
in overcoming my drawbacks. The framework that I am using to investigate my learning from
this course is Borton’s Development Framework which is a straightforward and practical
framework to implement my learnings about the course module. The reason behind choosing this
framework is that it allows the learner to assess, evaluate and apply the scholarships in a much
effective way. The structure was first developed in the 1970s. The framework primarily consists
of only three questions which make the structure so appealing to most learners.
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According to (Maiden, 2017), there are mainly three questions in the Borton's Development
Framework, “What, So What and Now What?”. Through the ‘What’ question, the reflector must
describe what exactly happened. For the current scenario, I as a learner must describe what
exactly happened in the course module, what is it that was taught during the course. The next
question is ‘So What', which basically involves the analysis of the reflection. As a learner, I must
analyse my potentials against the course teachings and identify what exactly and where exactly I
should improve upon. Finally, the last question is ‘Now What' which is the most critical stage as
this section focuses on what will the reflector do next. For the current scenario, I will be
reflecting on how I will be working towards developing my skills and potentials to overcome my
drawbacks.
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Reflection
For writing this reflection, I will be following the Borton's Development Framework which
allows the reflector to analyse their learning through mainly three divisions or three questions,
namely “What, So What and Now What?”. Through the first phase or subject, I will be
reflecting on what were the course module objectives which were intended for the learners. In
the second phase or matter, I will be analysing my potential skills against those learning
outcomes and identifying my drawbacks to working upon. The final step or the question
discusses how to work upon those recognised drawbacks and develop future strategies for
enhancing my potentials (Nicol and Dosser, 2016).
 What
This module intended to develop academic study skills among the learners so that they
can excel in higher education. Also, this module designed to make the learners
understand the importance of being organised and developing an optimistic attitude while
learning in the higher education system at the university. Also, this module intended to
enable all its learners to identify their skill sets and work upon it to enhance them.
Through this module also the learners were made to understand the effective study skills
as an essential element in achieving academic success. As a learner, during my course, I
was exposed to a lot of opportunities to work upon and develop my skills on how to
manage and improve my work organising skills along with effective time management.
This discussion made us as a learner to understand how to manage our time and problems
while working on the assessments and course study in order to get the most out of our
lectures and seminars. As reading is an essential part for succeeding in higher studies, this
module intended to develop effective reading skills in the learners by describing various
strategic approaches to reading along with developing critical evaluation skills while
summarising the academic articles. Also, not only reading, the module gave an insight
about the importance of effective writing by discussing the values of reflection, various
models and tools involved in the reflection in order to help the learner to incorporate
effective writing as part of their professional development.
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Through this semester, I have learnt a lot about teamwork or group work, including both
theoretical and practical knowledge. I became familiar with the teamwork theories, which
helped me to gain enough understanding of the aspect. I have worked with my team
members to complete our given academic tasks, for which collaboration and commitment
were required. Being in the team, I helped the other team members in the group to
complete the project with shared responsibility. I have understood the need for delivering
the effective presentation to the target audience, in order to ensure the success of the
performance and group work. In addition, I have also shaped my reasoning skills as well
as listening skills, while working with others on the team. I have understood that being an
active listener is crucial for teamwork, in order to achieve the shared objectives
successfully. In addition, I have developed knowledge related to academic writing.
 There is a massive difference within the informal writing and academic writing. Through
the semester, I have learnt how to develop academic journals or article, for which the
academic literature is crucial. While doing so, I revealed that the paraphrasing skill is
essential for extracting the secondary information from various resources, while avoiding
plagiarism issues in writing. Although it was tough for me to grab all the aspects related
to academic writing skills, I caught it with time and helped from my supervisor. In
regards to referencing, I failed to in – text accurately, using Harvard referencing initially.
Later, with the help from my mentor and teammates, I developed my expertise in this
area. I also took advice from the online search engines to understand the easy way to do
references. Through the semester, I have also learnt about reflective writing. I have
become familiar with some critical reflective tools or frameworks, like Gibb's intellectual
framework, Kolb's experiential learning and Borton’s thoughtful structure. With the help
of this reflective framework, I have understood the systematic way to reflect own practice
and their importance in both academic and professional career. However, in some cases, I
lacked significant reasoning.
 So What
During this module, I was very much involved in analysing my skills against each
learning outcomes of the blade. I identified that time management was a vital area which
I struggled while taking my course at the university. While undertaking this course
module, not only it helped me in developing the best time management plan for
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structuring my study hours but also helped me in gaining the most out of my lectures and
seminars. Also, along with this, I identified that I was lagging in concentrating while
reading the academic course materials leading to a little understanding of the course
concepts. Through this module, I was able to adapt the best strategic approach of reading
which was discussed that only helped in increasing my concentration powers but also
assisted in developing a more critical and analytical approach while summarising my
academic articles. This also helped me in relating the educational contents with the real-
world scenarios thus assisting in developing in me as a learner the capability to think out
of the box. Although my writing skills were good enough, while taking the course
module, I realised that it was not enough to be kind to excel in a competitive world.
Through this module, I used various reflective frameworks and tools which will be very
helpful for me in my future professional development.
The outcomes of the analysis on my own practices and learning on the semester, I
successfully identified my strengths and weaknesses, as well as the areas of improvement
for shaping my expertise. In addition, I have also identified my own learning style, which
is similar to a reflector. I have understood that communication skill is one of my biggest
strength. It is because, through communication skill, I have developed a strong, positive
interpersonal relationship with the team members, as well as my mentor and supervisor,
who helped me to shape my expertise and skills. I could be able to understand the From
the analysis, and I revealed that reflection is crucial for a both academic and professional
career, as this practice helps individual to understand own status and highlights the path
to achieving the personal and professional goals.
On the other hand, I have also revealed that reasoning skill is one of my significant
weaknesses, which I need to improve. Due to this reason, I have often undertaken wrong
decision. Therefore, it is crucial for me to build reasoning skill. In addition, I also need to
develop the time management skill, in order to shape my expertise. While working in the
team, I was late in completing my job once, which hindered timely submission of the
entire group project. Thus, there is significant scope for me to improve my time
management skill. Therefore, through the reflection of my own learning experience
through the semester, I have learnt that it is essential that every management student like
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me, to have good communication, reasoning and decision – making skill, along with
sufficient time management skill.
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 Now What
As I identified that I have drawbacks in both reading and writing skills along with time
management issues. To develop these areas for future development, I have decided to
divide my daily study routine in an adequate time plan and also to set daily goals to
achieve. Along with this, I will incorporate more reading of not only academic articles
and modules but also develop to read outside subjects which will help me more in
developing my analytical skills. Also, I plan to establish a goal of writing one current
affairs article relating to my course topic and writing a reflection on the subject using
various tools and linking it with my course content. Along with this, I plan to review my
daily articles with the lecturers and supervisors to get reviews on areas to develop.
Reflecting my own learning practice through the entire semester, I have revealed that
there are several areas, where I can improve, for shaping my own contribution to the
organisation. Therefore, now I need to identify the ways to mitigate the loopholes in my
practice. I have found out that brainstorming tools can significantly help me to improve
my reasoning skills and abstract thinking, which would further make me able to take
appropriate decisions. On the other hand, I could improve my time management skills by
improving my organisation skills. For this I can seek help from my seniors or mentor, to
identify the right tools that should be used.
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Conclusion
It can be interpreted from the above analysis that reflecting own practice is crucial for both
students and professionals, as it helps to identify the need as well as the ways to improve
individual performance in the academic or professional field. Here, it is also noteworthy that the
use of Borton’s reflective framework is justified, as it helped me to conduct the reflective
practice in a straightforward and concise manner. Unlike the other reflective structures, it helped
me to keep the procedure simple and to the point, eliminating difficulties. Through the reflective
practice, I revealed that I have a lot to learn from the semester syllabus, most of which I have
grabbed successfully. I have learned how to manage my own academic development. In addition,
I have gained knowledge about the areas, which I need to develop, to meet my short- and long-
term goals in my future career.
I have identified my own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, communication skill is my
major strength, which I would utilise in building my career. On the other hand, I revealed that
reasoning skill and decision-making skills are my weaknesses, where I need to improve.
Therefore, in my continuous personal and professional development plan, I would include
actions for improving these areas. Undergoing several brainstorming and challenging tasks in the
organisational context could help me to improve these areas.
On the other hand, I have also identified the needs for improving my time management skill. I
would work more in teams, which would strengthen my responsibilities for managing time. In
order to do so, I would keep to – do list or set my own deadlines for the job.
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Bibliography
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Gould, N. and Taylor, I., 2017. Reflective learning for social work: research, theory and
practice. Routledge.
Johns, C. ed., 2017. Becoming a reflective practitioner. John Wiley & Sons.
Maiden, G., 2017. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT. International
Practice Development Journal, 7(2).
Martin, K., 2017. The Ethical Graduate. In Graduate Attributes in Higher Education (pp. 127-
146). Routledge.
Mauroux, L., Zufferey, J.D., Rodondi, E., Cattaneo, A., Motta, E. and Gurtner, J.L., 2016.
Writing reflective learning journals: promoting the use of learning strategies and supporting the
development of professional skills. In Writing for professional development (pp. 107-128). Brill.
Nicol, J.S. and Dosser, I., 2016. Understanding reflective practice. Nursing Standard, 30(36).
Rolfe, G., 2014. Reach touch and teach Terry Borton. Nurse education today, 34(4), pp.488-489.
Schön, D.A., 2017. The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge.
Shum, S.B., Sándor, Á., Goldsmith, R., Wang, X., Bass, R. and McWilliams, M., 2016, April.
Reflecting on reflective writing analytics: Assessment challenges and iterative evaluation of a
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knowledge(pp. 213-222). ACM.
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