Coursework Skill Reflection and Professional Development Report

This report provides a detailed reflection on the skills and knowledge acquired by a student during their university coursework. It highlights the development of key skills such as presentation skills, critical thinking, effective communication, reading comprehension, reflective thinking, graphical learning, academic writing, teamwork, and research skills. The report emphasizes how these skills contribute to personal and professional growth, enabling the student to handle academic challenges, improve decision-making, and enhance overall performance. It further explores how the student improved presentation skills, critical thinking abilities, and communication skills, leading to better academic performance and the ability to work effectively in teams. The report also discusses the importance of reading skills, reflective thinking, and graphical interpretation in academic success and professional development. By reflecting on these experiences, the student aims to leverage these skills for future academic endeavors and career advancement.

Knowledge and Creativity

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A portfolio of student is a compilation of academic work that has been done by the
student and other forms of evidences that are related to their education so that the quality of
coursework, progress of learning and academic achievement can be evaluated. Further it also
help in determining if the students have been able to meet learning standards or other
requirements of courses which can help the students in reflecting on their academic goals and
can also help them to progress as learners. This report is a reflection of student who is learning in
the coursework at university which will help in growing professionally and academically along
with developing knowledge and skills required for being successful at university. From this
report it can be said that during the coursework a student acquire various skills and knowledge
which helps in their personal and professional development. These skills help the person in
dealing with various problems that are faced during the academic career in the university. These
skills are also important as they help in developing the way in which students learn and acquire
knowledge which helps them in becoming more creative in their work so that they can complete
their studies by becoming better as a student which will help them in pursuing for higher studies
and will also help them in gaining desired jobs. The skills that are developed during the
coursework are presentation skills which help the person in influencing and persuading the
audience about the ideas and opinions of the person so that the audience can understand the
perspective of the student giving the presentation. Critical thinking also gets enhanced which
helps the students in evaluating a situation and drawing conclusions so that decisions can be
made which will help in their growth both personally and professionally. Communication skills
help the person in becoming a good learner and the things that are being taught in the class can
be well understood which will help them in scoring high marks so that they can be successful in
the university. Reading skills also become efficient which helps in understanding what is written
in the coursebooks so that the students can score high in their class. Reflective thinking also
becomes efficient which helps the students in reflecting better to the situations that are faced by
them so that their experience can be enhanced and they can become better at decision-making.
Graphical learning helps in making the interpretation skills of the students efficient so that they
can well understand the relation between one or more variables and can draw conclusions which
are important for carrying out the project in an efficient manner. Academic writing skills also
help the students in meeting the requirement of the projects that are assigned to them during the

coursework along with improving their team work skills so that they can coordinate better with
other team members and can reach to effective results. Along with this research skills help the
students in their analytical skills which will help them in getting future projects and help them to
grow in their career.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
SKILL REFLECTION.....................................................................................................................5
Presentation skills...................................................................................................................5
Critical thinking......................................................................................................................6
Effective communication skills applicable to academic and professional context................6
Reading skills.........................................................................................................................7
Reflective Thinking................................................................................................................7
Types of Graphs.....................................................................................................................8
Academic Writing..................................................................................................................8
Group and Team Skills...........................................................................................................9
Plagiarism...............................................................................................................................9
Referencing skill...................................................................................................................10
Research skills......................................................................................................................10
Research process and methodology......................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

SKILL REFLECTION
During my coursework at the university I was able to enhance my learning related to
various aspects which also helped me in using my skills and knowledge accurately so that
desired outcomes can be achieved. Some of these skills will help me in my personal development
whereas some other will help in boosting my career perspective. These skills and knowledge that
I have acquired will play an important role in my success at the university and also will help me
in developing my career. The knowledge and creativity has helped in enhancing my critical and
analytical abilities which will help me in making good decisions in the future in both my
personal life issues and issues faced while working at the workplace. The increase in my
performance and efficiency will also help me in being successful at various stages of my life.
The skills acquired by me during my coursework are explained as follows:
Presentation skills
These are the skills related to delivering effective and influential presentation to a variety
of audience who are interested in the presentation topic. It is the ability to make the audience
understand view points and opinions in the same context in which the person giving the
presentation wants so that the audience can be persuaded and influenced to behave in the same
way in which the person wants (Burner, 2014). The skills of giving a presentation includes
design of slides, information content, body language, tone and pitch of voice, effective
communication skills, clarity in voice etc. During the starting years of my college life I faced
problems in giving presentation to the audience as I lacked confidence, had stage fear, and also
lacked communication skills which distracted the audience and I could not gain their attention
towards my presentation. But through the years during my coursework I was able to enhance my
presentation skills by developing an understanding about how attention of people can be gained
during the presentation, how to design the slides, how to make the presentation both entertaining
and informative which could help in delivering the message in the way it is intended. Also I
learned many skills like making eye contact with the audience, maintaining a friendly tone of
voice, use of body language etc. so that engagement of people can be acquired which can help
me in making the presentation effective.

Critical thinking
It is the ability of analysing facts related to a situation and then making efficient decisions
after evaluating both the positive and negative impacts of the decision so that desired results are
achieved. The analysis must be done in an unbiased and rationale manner so that all the facts
related to a situation are considered which will help in making decisions which are beneficial in a
wider context. This skill will help me in developing both personally and professionally as I will
be able to make good decisions which will take me on the journey of growth and development. It
has also expanded my level of understanding various aspects and has increased my learning
skills which is useful in my success in at the university. Also this skill can help me become a
team leader as I can make good decisions all through the project which will also enhance the
quality of the project and it will get completed within the time-frame (Kim and Yazdian, 2014).
Effective communication skills applicable to academic and professional context
Communication skills are the abilities to transfer and receive different messages from
different sources so that they are interpreted in the same way in which the sender wants it to.
Effective communication skills help the students to listen and understand the view point of
teachers in the same manner in which the teacher wants so that the meaning of what teacher
wants to convey can be interpreted in an efficient manner. This will help in the learning process
of the students and they can become academically strong which will ultimately help them in their
personal and professional development. This also helps in building confidence in the students
and they can interact with teachers and other students in an efficient manner.
I have been able to develop my communication skills during the coursework in an
efficient manner which has helped in boosting my confidence and learning process. Also I have
become a fast learner as I listen carefully to the teachers so that I can catch all quickly all that is
being taught in the class. This will also help me in my career as my observation, speaking,
listening and empathizing skills have significantly enhanced during the coursework. My grades
has also improved as I can retain all that has been taught in the class which helps in performing
better in the class. Also I have become good at team work as I can efficiently collaborate with
other team members and coordinate with them which help in completing the task in an efficient

manner without indulging in conflicts with the team members. Also it has helped me in
socializing better with all the people around me and make good relations with people which is
important for my professional aspect (Chade, Lewis and Smith, 2014).
Reading skills
It is the ability to read, comprehend and interpret written documents, articles etc. so that
the meaning of what is written can be understood in the same context in which the writer wants
the reader to. This is an important skill which I have acquired as a student during my coursework
at the university which has helped me in being successful at the university. I can now interpret
the written documents in an efficient manner and can draw useful meaning from the information
that is given in the written format. This has helped me in reading the course books in a fast and
effective manner so that I can score good marks in my exams which will help me in my career
and I can get the jobs in the field in which I want. Also this skill is important in the professional
life so that the contractual paper and documents can be read and understood in an efficient
manner so that profitable deals can be signed by the company. This skill is also important so that
my performance as a student can improve and I can carry out research projects which will help in
generating beneficial results for the university.
Reflective Thinking
Reflective thinking is the notion of awareness of one's own knowledge, assumptions and
past experiences so that better response to similar situations can be given. It thus relates to first
experiencing something then thinking about what happened after which learning outcomes are
generated from the experience. It helps the person in becoming aware about themselves which
can help in self-improvement so that next time the person can respond in an effective manner
under the similar situations. During the coursework I was able to enhance my reflective thinking
skills through Kolb's learning cycle in which the person first experience something, then the
experiences are reviewed and reflected after which learning outcomes are generated which can

later be used to reflect better under same conditions. This has also enhanced the way in which I
reflected on various aspects related to learning during the coursework so that I can perform in a
better manner as a student and can solve issues related to academic learning. This skill will help
me in taking better decisions both in my personal and professional life so that I can grow and
develop and become successful and happy.
Types of Graphs
Graphs are the tools which help in representing the statistical information of two or more
related variables in a pictorial form so that the relation between these variables can be known and
efficient interpretations can be drawn from the graphical representation (Struyven, Blieck and De
Roeck, 2014). Graphs should be learned by the students as they help in making things simpler by
representing them in the way of a picture and also help in making better conclusions so that good
decisions can be made. During the coursework I was able to learn about various graphs and also
learnt about how to represent two or more variables effectively in the form of a picture which is
easier to understand. My graphical skills helped me in making my projects look more attractive
and more understandable which also improved my grades that will ultimately help me in my
career aspects. I was also able to read and understand the information contained in my
coursebooks which were important for me to enhance my knowledge and also could help me in
my career development.
Academic Writing
Academic writing relates to anything which is written in order to fulfil the criteria of a
college or a university so that coursework can be completed in the manner desired by the tutors
and teachers. This help the students in scoring well in the subjects they have chosen which will
ultimately help them in getting their dream, jobs or in pursuing higher studies. Thus academic
writing helps the student in growing and developing both personally and professionally.
Academic writing is usually done in a logical structure along with the use of formal language so

that the work can be supported with evidence which will prove the findings from authentic
sources. I learnt that there are four types of academic writing which are descriptive, analytical,
critical and persuasive and during my coursework I learnt all these types ODF writings so that I
could complete my projects in the manner that is desired by the teachers so that I could score
high in the projects.
Group and Team Skills
It is the ability of a person to efficiently work in a team or group by coordinating with all
the team members so that efficient results are achieved by the team within time. These skills are
important and helps the person in their career development as they can well coordinate and
cooperate with other team members so that the desired outcomes are achieved. During my
coursework I was able to learn about Belbin's theory of team development which states about the
importance of roles of each team members and how they work in the team so that team goals are
achieved. This skill helped in developing my personality and I was able to work better with other
classmates so that our team could perform better and score higher marks which would help in our
future projects.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a kind of an academic offence where the views and opinions of one person
are copied by other person under their own name. During my coursework I learnt that plagiarism
may have some serious consequences like failing grades, academic probation etc. which affects
negatively the academic profile of the student and also affects the future prospects of the student
like getting desired jobs. I also learnt that if the view point of another author is taken then their
name must be in-texted in the document so that importance to their work is given. This also help
in maintaining the originality of work by giving respect to the authors. Plagiarism must be
avoided while completing a project work so that the results can be drawn by the use of self-

knowledge and skills which also help in enhancing the creativity of students which ultimately
helps in their career development.
Referencing skill
It is the ability to evidence the work that is done by the writer so that the work can be
authenticated which means that the information that is contained in work has been taken from
accurate source and gives correct information. During my coursework I learnt that it is important
to provide references in the project works that is conducted by the students so that the relevance
of the projects can be proved through citations which is done by mentioning the name of the
author along with the year in which the author presented their opinions. This practice helped me
in avoiding the unethical crime of plagiarism which could affect my grade performance. I also
learnt various styles of referencing that can be used to refer the projects and give respect to the
authors who gave the theories and concepts which helped me in completing my project reports in
an efficient manner. This also proved the validity of my project along with its authentication so
that it can be further used to carry out research projects.
Research skills
It is the ability of a person to conduct investigation over a particular topic and critically
evaluating the information so that results can be drawn from the research work. These results can
be used in real life aspects under various circumstances so that positive outcomes can be
expected by applying the results of the research projects. I was able to develop my skills related
to research during the coursework and learnt various methods of conducting research, collection
of useful data and information, sampling, data interpretation and analysis, various tools and
technique that are used to efficiently carry out research etc. All these factors helped me in
conducting research in an efficient manner and also I was able to collect data effectively from
authentic sources which proved that I had worked hard on a project and that the results of the
project can be used for carrying out further research. It also helped me in raising my grade scores

which helped me academically. Research skills can also help me in my future as I can get various
research projects which will help me in making money and will develop my career prospects.
Research process and methodology
It relates to the use of tools and techniques while conducting research so that effective
results can be drawn from the research project. During the coursework I learned about using
various tools and techniques that helped me in performing effective research. Research process
and methodology used during the project defines the quality of a project and also determines the
way in which investigation can be carried out in an efficient manner so that the findings which
are drawn can be used in future projects. The process starts with finding a suitable topic on
which research can be conducted. After which aims and objectives of research are made so that
the goals of carrying out the research can be achieved on time. After this appropriate method
which will be used to carry out the research is chosen so that data and information can be
collected applying the selected method. The data thus collected is then interpreted in the form of
graphs or pie charts so that effective interpretation can be done. This helps in conducting the
research in an efficient manner.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Hutchings, P., Kinzie, J. and Kuh, G. D., 2015. Evidence of student learning. Using evidence of
student learning to improve higher education, pp.17-50.
Burner, T., 2014. The potential formative benefits of portfolio assessment in second and foreign
language writing contexts: A review of the literature. Studies in Educational Evaluation.
43. pp.139-149.
Kim, Y. and Yazdian, L. S., 2014. Portfolio assessment and quality teaching. Theory Into
Practice. 53(3). pp.220-227.
Chade, H., Lewis, G. and Smith, L., 2014. Student portfolios and the college admissions
problem. Review of Economic Studies. 81(3). pp.971-1002.
Struyven, K., Blieck, Y. and De Roeck, V., 2014. The electronic portfolio as a tool to develop
and assess pre-service student teaching competences: Challenges for quality. Studies in
Educational Evaluation. 43. pp.40-54.