Reflection Report: Course on Digital Literacy and Academic Skills

This report is a reflective analysis of a professional development course, detailing the student's experiences and learning outcomes. The course covered a range of skills including digital literacy, technology, academic writing, and research methodologies. Each week focused on a specific skill, with sessions incorporating theoretical concepts and practical applications. The student reflects on their engagement, identifying areas of strength and weakness, and suggesting improvements for future course iterations. The report highlights the acquisition of new knowledge, the development of reflective skills, and the overall impact of the course on the student's confidence and ability to navigate the digital world. The student also discusses the importance of hands-on practice and the integration of practical knowledge alongside theoretical concepts to enhance the learning experience. The report concludes with a summary of the skills gained and their impact on the student's personal and professional growth.

REFLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Reflection or reflective writing is basically an analytical practice where the writer is
supposed to describe the real events, scenes or interactions or the imaginary events by adding
personal opinions to it (Cheng, 2017). In this report, the reflection is done regarding my course
in which I was taught about various skills like digital literacy skills, technological skills, reading
skills and many more. I will share my experience about every week where I learnt so many
things and also mentioned that how the institution can bring improvements in the teaching and
the improvements which I can bring in gaining the knowledge.
REFLECTION
In the first week, I was introduced about the degree and the module. This helped in knowing
about the need of the webinar and also helped in knowing about my colleagues who were the
part of webinar just like me. The main purpose of this was to enhance the skills of the students
who have the skills and to develop in those who don’t have such as digital literacy skills,
technology skills, reading skills, academic writing skills, research skills and many more. The
skills were segregated according to the weeks. The overall purpose of this was to make the
students more skilled so that they can compete in this competitive world in terms of technology,
communication etc.
In the second week, the classes of digital literacy and technology skills was arranged. As we
know, in this digital world, it is most important for every person to be aware of all the digital
platforms and the advanced technologies which helps in the development of the individual and
helps in coping up with this emerging and digitalized world. In this session, various external
tutors were hired in order to guide and teach us (Tsingos-Lucas and et.al., 2017). I realized that I
know something about social networking sites as I am updated on them but there are lot more
things I needed to learn such as e-commerce websites, applications etc. So, this week was
completely innovative one in which I got to know about so many new online platforms where I
can engage myself and develop my skills. I showed much interest in this as I like to learn new
things and internet is the area of my interest. This also taught me about how I can use my mobile
phone to develop my personality instead of using it as a source of entertainment and fun
(Newcomb, Burton and Edwards, 2018). This session if held in upcoming time must also involve
the hands on practice regarding the use of internet and phones instead of teaching only the
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theoretical concepts. This will make the session more interacting and also the students like me
can practically implement the knowledge gained.
In the third week, I was taught about the academic writing skills. During the session, I realized
that I am much good at writing about any topic but I need to improve my vocabulary as I faced
difficulty in making new words and sentences. I was much active during this session as I was
aware of some of the things and need to learn new things. Other students also showed much
interest in the same. We were forced to write the content on our laptops because as the
technology is becoming advanced day by day, we must know about how to write everything on
PCs rather than on paper with pen. This increased our writing skills as well as we come to know
about various issues we face when we write on the laptops rather than writing in notebooks
(Karnieli-Miller and et.al., 2020). The tutors can improve this session if held in the upcoming
time by taking the tests in which our writing skills can be evaluated and examined so that we
come to know about the weaker areas where we need to improve ourselves and can express our
views through writing in much better way.
In the fourth week, we were told to write the reflection in order to enhance our reflective skills
which I can use in sharing my experience. I realized that I am much good at the content but I
lacked at express my opinions so this session improved my reflective skills and the good thing
was that at the end of each day we were told to express our regular experience of the whole day.
The tutors can improve these sessions by forcing us to share our childhood experiences and some
moments which taught us various lessons that can be implemented in our lives.
In the fourth week, we were taught about the research skills. I realized that I lack these skills as I
faced much problems when I was told to search for certain topics. The skills taught in these
session helped me in locating, extracting, organising, evaluating and presenting the information
which is relevant to the topic. After this session, I was able to search and find the information
about any topic which were given to me after the completion of the session (Karnieli-Miller,
2020). The overall experience in the whole session was good but can be better by integrating
practical knowledge along with teaching the theoretical concepts. In the upcoming sessions, I
must engage myself more so that I will be able to grasp everything much quicker and will get
time to implement those and can analyse my weaker areas and also can improve by consulting
with the respective tutors.
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CONCLUSION
The report above was a reflective writing in which I shared my experience of a course in
which I got an opportunity to develop and enhance my skills. The complete course was divided
in certain weeks in which every week we were taught about different skills which increased the
effectiveness of every session. The skills I came to learn includes the research skills, writing and
reading skills, digital literacy skills and many more. This session provided me an inner
confidence and trust in myself and I came to know about my weaker areas which must be
improved which can help me in gaining success in all the fields.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cheng, G., 2017. The impact of online automated feedback on students' reflective journal writing
in an EFL course. The Internet and Higher Education. 34. pp.18-27.
Karnieli-Miller, O. and et.al., 2020. The associations between reflective ability and
communication skills among medical students. Patient education and counseling.
Karnieli-Miller, O., 2020. Reflective practice in the teaching of communication skills. Patient
education and counselling. 103(10). pp.2166-2172.
Newcomb, M., Burton, J. and Edwards, N., 2018. Pretending to be authentic: challenges for
students when reflective writing about their childhood for assessment. Reflective
Practice. 19(3). pp.333-344.
Tsingos-Lucas, C. and et.al., 2017. Using reflective writing as a predictor of academic success in
different assessment formats. American journal of pharmaceutical education. 81(1).
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