Higher Education Skills and Competencies Module Report: UGB003

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Contents
Title........................................................................................................................................................2
Aim........................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Reflection..............................................................................................................................................3
Higher education and school environment...........................................................................................3
Reflection on group work......................................................................................................................3
Critical thinking and reading..................................................................................................................4
Appropriate information.......................................................................................................................4
Progress.................................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................4
Appendices............................................................................................................................................5

Title
A comprehensive report of my progress in enhancing the overall knowledge and skill in the
higher education for UGB003 Higher Education Skills and Competencies module
Aim
To state the overall development of skills and competencies in higher education
Introduction
To begin with, I found that some skills were easier to develop like my reading habit.
However, I noted that the major difference between the school education and higher
education is the overall importance of self-managed study. The main challenges which were
faced is to manage the study through self management. I need to allocate the time for the
current subject and also to enrich my knowledge on the subjects which will come in the
future. I always love management but it needs lot of knowledge to correlate and analyse. For
example, there are many theories in motivation which I need to read and relate appropriately.
In order to remember various theories I tend to take some learning notes which has helped me
to quickly relate the concepts to the given case study and apply them effectively.
Furthermore, I also loaned a copy of Cottrells book from the library to understand the
importance of learning in the higher education system. Furthermore, in the school
environment I intend to study on my own, to my class assignments individually and submit it.
However, in the higher education system there are group exercises, role plays, assignments
which needs to be made in groups etc. this was challenging as I’m more introvert and doesn’t
open up very quickly.
This is still my problem in dealing with large members in the group while analysing the case
study etc. I don’t take any lead during my last case study exercise, my team members assign
me a task and I tend to complete them and give it to my team members, however, I’m now
working on my way to lead the team and began coordinate with the members effectively.
The problems which i’m currently facing is to lead the team, be more extrovert and express
my thoughts and ideas to the team while making group work or presentation. I’m a good team
player but I have never taken a major lead in the team or took overall responsibility. I’m
looking to inculcate the habit of communicating effectively among the team members and
ensure that we are all progressing in achieving the group goals.
I’m managing my time to read late in the evening, I tend to attend all classes without missing
any sessions. Also ensure that I complete my assignments and course works are done
appropriately and submit before the time. If in case of group presentation, we tend to meet in
the college library or any comfortable place were we proceed with our ideas and thoughts.
Late night, I tend to develop myself through online learning, I have enrolled for some free
online courses on leadership, managing the teams, communicating effectively etc. which will
help me in enhancing my communication skills, group presentation skills.

Reflection
Higher education and school environment
The major distinction between school environment and higher education is that the school
environment provides a closed and controlled environment of learning, each activities of the
student is monitored, the tutors provides the needed output for an assignment, class test etc.
there will be no major presentation in the class or group assessment or case study which
needs to be done through group work.
However in the higher education the student were given the course work at the beginning and
they may have to work in groups, this was very new to me. Because I used to work in silo, I
sometime check with my class mate on the overall output or presentation of the assignments,
I never worked in groups for preparing assignments. I’m a introvert and don’t speak
immediately in a group or to strangers. In the group work I tend to join the group which is
more comfortable to me and I accept the work which the team members allocate and work as
per the requirements. I normally don’t take any major lead in the group, I will present my part
of the work in a detailed manner and I will sometime get nervous during presentation in the
class.
Also, in the class environment we are always prepared for class test and individual
assignments, I have never came across the presentation of case study presentation, however
in the higher education I need to analyse and present the case study which was a new activity
for me. Also, I need to work in multiple assignments like course works, group assignments,
developing my personal abilities etc. so I need to do multi taking with the given amount of
time, so I’m trying to prepare a clear time chart of the activities to be performed in a daily
and weekly activities.
Reflection on group work
When presented with the case study I need to read several documents pertaining to the case
study, the tutor has given the main case but in order to analyse the case I have to get the
relevant documents like the origin of the case, the aftermath and other needed documents for
the case. Sometimes I get data which is not relevant so tend to employ the strategies of
searching them in the online library through a clear search tags, one of my friend has given
me some ideas on how to shortlist the relevant documents through appropriate tags in the
search engines like keyword etc. this has helped me to refine the search in a better manner.
One of the critical thing which I faced is to work in groups, the group leader has helped in
organising the groups and let everyone introduce among ourselves this has helped in
understanding the areas of expertise etc. we met at the library and began to read the case
study and then took points about the case study, the background of the case, requirements etc.
Also, the major problems faced is that we tend to analyse the case study individually but it
didn’t get the needed results, therefore, we tend to collate our knowledge and ideas together,
so we met as a group each day to understand the background of the case and analyse them in
a better manner. I tend to use various search engines and other online library tools in order to
collect the data and information in a better manner, we tend to use keywords in getting the

relevant data and information for the case study, after getting the data the team members tend
to highlight the key points of the case in a sperate sheet and then used appropriate
referencing.
Sometimes, we tend to go out of the relevant topic so the group leader and the notes keeper
will read through and state that they may be irrelevant at the circumstances and then we move
on. So, there needs a direction and leadership in the team to get the case study completed in a
better manner.
Critical thinking and reading
The higher education has put me in a situation were I need to think and analyse critically
various concepts, I cannot just read and present my thoughts, but need to analye the concepts
in a more critical manner. I tend to enhance my problem solving ability so that I can be more
productive during the case study solving problems etc. Furthermore, I’m a average reader and
with the requirement in the higher education is that to read more topics with less time and
then remember them is a challenge, hence I began to take short notes of the topics which I
read and then use those notes and refer them for analysing the case study. Moreover, the team
members tend to assist me in enhancing my skills and competencies in a better manner.
Appropriate information
I tend to locate the appropriate information through online library, college library and also
through search engines, I began to read various business magazines, news papers etc. I tend
to use notes to get recollect and use the appropriate notes for my personal benefit and also
provide them during the team discussion in analysing the case study.
Progress
I have enhanced my communication skills in the module, but I need to open up among the
team members, increase the critical thinking aspects, involve in clear problem solving
techniques etc. I need to enhance my leadership and problem solving skills which will able to
enhance
Conclusion
Thus from the above it is noted that I tend to understand the basic difference school and
higher education environment, provide a clear reflection report on my abilities in enhancing
the tools which is required for the
References
Bryk, (Anthony. (2015). Learning To Improve: How America's Schools Can Get Better at
Getting Better. Harvard Educational Publishing Group
Cottrell, Stella. (2011). Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and
Argument. Palgrave Macmillan; Second edition
Rallis, (Sharon). (2012). The Research Journey: Introduction to Inquiry. Guilford Press; 1
edition

Schwartz, David. (2012). The Magic of thinking Big
Appendices
From To Activities
06:00 07:00 Daily routines and jogging
07:00 08:00 Reading news paper and getting ready to college
08:00 09:00 Preparation for the given day and reaching college
09:00 04:00 Attending classes and work
04:00 07:00
Reading at college library / meeting with the group to discuss on
work
07:00 08:00 Reaching home and finishing dinner
08:00 10:00 Preparing for next day class / working on class assignments
10:00 11:00
Self development like leadership courses / problem solving courses
etc
S. No
Team
member Roles / activities
1 1 Group leader and notes keeper
2 2 Collecting the data for the case study
3 3 Preparation in PPT format
4 Me collection of information and penning down in word file