University Module: Academic and Employability Skills Report

This report reflects on the development of academic and employability skills acquired through a university module. It explores key areas such as time management, cover letter writing, reflective writing, and critical/analytical thinking. The report details the importance of these skills in enhancing employability and achieving career goals. It examines the learning process, including in-class activities, feedback received, and areas for improvement. The author reflects on personal experiences, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and discusses how these skills contribute to overall personal and professional development. The report also references reflective models like Gibb's and Kolb's cycles, highlighting their application in self-assessment and continuous learning. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of continuous reflection and skill development for improved employability.

Academic and
Employability Skills

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
In order to develop academic and employability skills it is important that reflection of
work done and lessons learnt are done continuously which can help in reflecting on the decisions
made and skills used so that self-efficiency can be analysed. Through reflection self assessment
becomes easier which help in analysing the ability of a person in dealing with situations in an
effective manner and also in identifying the strong and weak areas (Ceyhan and Mugaloglu,
2016). This help in making improvements in the weaker areas so that overall personal and
professional development can take place which can help in making a person more employable. In
this report I have reflected upon certain skills so that I can analyse my employability skills and
make efficient improvements which can help in ,y effective growth and development. Also
through analysing the feedbacks received by me on these areas can help me in understanding the
ways in which I can make improvements and ensure continuous development.
Main Body
During learning a module students learn and develop various skills and abilities which
help them in becoming capable for being employed in their desired jobs so that they can become
successful in their lives and help in contributing towards development of society. While learning
module at the university I learnt about a variety of topics that has helped me in developing my
skills so that i could score better marks in class making me confident about my capabilities so
that I can become employable. Through these topics I can apply for my desired job profile in my
preferred company so that I can become successful in my life by solving problems effectively
and using my skills effectively so that I can achieve my personal goals and objectives in an
efficient manner. The topics which have helped me in becoming highly employable are time
management, cover letter writing, reflective writing, analytical and critical thinking etc. These
topics are essential in developing my overall employability in market so that i can be hired in my
desired company for my desired position. During the module i learnt about the topic related to
time management which is important as it help in managing time in an efficient manner so that
all the activities can be completed on time and highly effective results can be achieved. I already
knew about the importance of time management as it helps in managing all the work so that it
can be completed within deadline (Rinkesh .2020). While learning about the topic i developed
my efficiency in managing time so that I could finish work given to me on time like projects,

assignments, preparation for exams etc. The module included various aspects about time
management like delegation of tasks, prioritising work, creating a schedule, setting up deadlines
or milestones etc. All these activities are important so that work can be efficiently managed
within time.
Time management has helped me in achieving my targets on time and in the manner
desired so that better results can be obtained. My earlier experiences and the module have helped
me in learning about how to delegate tasks based on their priority level along with effectively
dealing with stress levels so that I could complete work calmly and reach to desired results
(Graham and Walton, 2018). During the in-class activities I however received feedback
regarding delegating enough time to various activities which can help in improving the quality
with which they can be completed. For this I need to work on effective delegation of work by
analysing the time that will be required in completion of each activity so that appropriate time
can be distributed among activities. This can help me in becoming more employable as I will be
able to allocate appropriate time in business activities so that high quality and efficient results
can be achieved. The other topic which was taught to us during the module is cover letter writing
which is a document that help in convincing the hiring manager of a company related with the
competency of applicant by outlining the job seeker's history, professional skills and personal
interest so that the manger can get an overview about the applicant (Mark .2020). This can help
them in making decisions regarding hiring the candidates for job so that they can be able to
perform all the roles and responsibilities related with the job role so that the targets of company
can be achieved on time. While learning this module I learnt about the importance of cover letter
and how it can be made attractive so that the hiring managers can become convinced about my
capabilities. This topic is useful for me as it will help in enhancing my employability and also in
acquiring the job role in my desired company which can help me in becoming successful and
highly job satisfied. Before learning this topic i had a general idea regarding how a cover letter is
written and during the course i learnt more about this topic. Also with the help of feedbacks
received from teachers in class I have analysed my skills regarding cover letter writing and learnt
about the areas where I need to make improvement like giving correct details regarding my
experience and professional skills, making the language attractive, framing of the letter etc. This
learning can help me in creating an attractive cover letter so that my employability can increase
in market.

Further the topic which I learnt was about critical and analytical thinking which aare
essential in analysing a situation in a better manner so that interpretation can be done and based
on critical thinking effective decisions can be made. From this topic I learnt that critical thinking
is related with effectively analysing the situation and determining both positive and negative
impacts of decisions which can be made in dealing with the situation so that effective decision
making can take place (Miller, 2017). I knew about the importance of critical thinking from my
past experience and learnt about improving this skill during this module so that I can become
more employable and get my desired job in my desired company. I also learnt that while taking
decisions the situations must be analysed so that most effective decision can be made thereby
making the situation easy to deal with. In the classroom i learnt about this topic so that i could
learn about effective analysis of a situation with respect to various dimensions so that effective
decisions can be made. It has also helped in my continuous personal and professional
development by improving my decision making in similar situations so that they can be handled
in an efficient manner thereby desired results within desired time.
Also during the module I learnt about the topic related to reflective writing which helps
in doing self-assessment so that personal skills can be analysed along with the effectiveness of
decisions made in various situations. I learnt from this topic that reflective writing is important as
it help in continuous development by identifying the areas where work needs to be done so that
improvement can be made in those areas. Also it helps in developing a habit on reflecting on self
efficiency which is important for continuous learning so that highly effective results can be
achieved. During learning the module I learnt about various models of reflection that can be used
in effectively reflecting on the work done which is Gibb’s reflective cycle, Kolb's reflective
cycle etc. I can use these models so that I can reflect on my learning of the module effectively
and develop the areas which need improvement. These models can make my reflection more
effective so that self actions and decisions made by me can be analysed and evaluated.
I can use Gibb’s model in evaluating my learning process during the module by following
the stages so that the areas of improvement can be analysed and efficient changes can be made.
During the module i learnt about various topics like time management, cover letter writing,
reflective writing, analytical and critical thinking etc. which helped me in learning about various
skills that can help me in becoming employable in the market. While learning i felt that i am
developing a variety of my skills which also made me confident and helped in improving my

efficiency of dealing with various situations. The positive impact of these topics will be that they
will improve my abilities along with making me competitive in market so that i can be hired in
my desired company. The negative impacts during the module was that i felt stressed and had to
manage a lot of topics at once which affected the quality of my work. The overall learning has
helped in my growth along with identifying my weak areas like delegation of time among
activities, improving cover letter writing, analysing situations effectively etc. I can make
improvements in the areas so identified by paying attention in class along with increasing my
participation in class activities which can help in my continuous development by learning these
topics. Also i can revise these topics regularly so that i can make improvement in dealing with
situations in an efficient manner.
Kolb's reflective cycle can also be used by me which I learned during the module so that I
can reflect on the situations following the four stages mentioned in this cycle which are writing
about the concrete experience, reflecting or reviewing the experience, concluding or learning
from the experience and finally the stage of active experimentation. During learning various
topics in the module and doing all the activities in class I had a good experience as this helped
me in improving my skills and capabilities. I have learnt about the topics so that deep knowledge
can be gained by me related with the topics so that my employability can be increased. I was able
to identify various areas where I can make improvements so that I can effectively deal with
situations in future and fulfil my responsibilities efficiently. The learning experience helped me
in enhancing my abilities so that I can become better in future along with improving the
effectiveness with which I can deal with similar situations in future.
All the topics that I learnt during learning the module can help me in performing my job
role in an efficient manner so that my personal goals and objectives can be achieved on time and
in desired manner. Reflection is thus an important activity which help in analysing the self skills
and abilities so that the areas which need to be improved can be determined and effective actions
can be taken so that these skills can be made better thereby improving my capabilities. I thus
need to continuously reflect on my work and decisions so that better results can be achieved and
situations can be dealt with in an effective manner.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that reflection plays an important role in the
continuous development of a person as it help in making improvements in various areas so that

employability of a person can be improved. While learning it is important that all the skills and
abilities learnt during the module are analysed so that these can be effectively applied so that
work can be completed in an efficient manner.

References
Books and Journals
Ceyhan, G. and Mugaloglu, E.Z., 2016. Teachers’ ideas about the benefits and challenges of
teaching climate change through evidence-based thinking. ICEMST, Muğla, Türkiye.
Graham, E. and Walton, H., 2018. Theological reflection: methods. scm Press.
Lutzke, L., Drummond, C., Slovic, P. and Árvai, J., 2019. Priming critical thinking: Simple
interventions limit the influence of fake news about climate change on Facebook.
Global Environmental Change, 58, p.101964.
Miller, C.L., 2017. CAREER ACTION PLAN: Applying Analytical Thinking Skills in an Online
Career Development Course. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal, 33(1).
Park, J., Kang, J.H., Kim, S.J., Liu, X. and Brongersma, M.L., 2017. Dynamic reflection phase
and polarization control in metasurfaces. Nano letters, 17(1), pp.407-413.
Stige, B., 2017. Where music helps: Community music therapy in action and reflection.
Routledge.
Von Colln-Appling, C. and Giuliano, D., 2017. A concept analysis of critical thinking: A guide
for nurse educators. Nurse education today, 49, pp.106-109.
Online
Rinkesh .2020. Time management skills [Online] Available through:
<https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-ways-improve-your-time-
management-skills.html>
Mark .2020. Cover letter for job application [Online] Available through:
<https://resumegenius.com/blog/cover-letter-help/how-to-write-a-cover-letter>
Gibbs reflective model .2020. [Online] Available through:
<https://latrobe.libguides.com/reflectivepractice/models>