LFBM101 Academic and Employability Skills: Reflective Learning

This reflective journal documents a student's learning journey in LFBM101 Academic and Employability Skills. It covers key skills such as communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, time management, research, and collaboration. The journal entries detail the student's understanding of each skill, challenges encountered, and strategies used to overcome difficulties. Specific examples include improving communication through active listening and non-verbal cues, utilizing a structured problem-solving strategy, enhancing critical thinking by continuous learning and considering diverse opinions, and employing the Pomodoro technique for time management. The reflection highlights the student's growth in both academic and employability skills, emphasizing the importance of these skills for personal and professional development.

LFBM101 ACADEMIC
AND EMPLOYABILITY
SKILLS (2021/22)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAINBODY....................................................................................................................................3
Week: 1............................................................................................................................................3
Communication skills:................................................................................................................3
Week: 2............................................................................................................................................4
Problem solving skills:................................................................................................................4
Week: 3............................................................................................................................................5
Critical thinking skills:................................................................................................................5
Week: 4............................................................................................................................................6
Time management:......................................................................................................................6
Week: 5............................................................................................................................................7
Research skills:............................................................................................................................7
Week: 6............................................................................................................................................7
Collaboration skills:....................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Academic and employability skills refers to set of capabilities that an individual has
which provide them assistance during and in completion of a particular task. These skills are
essential for an individual as they allow in the overall growth as well as development relative to
personal and professional development (Succi and Canovi., 2020). The following reflection will
consist of my various journal entries relative to my learning for the modules along with specific
skills I acquired. The reflection will also focus upon difficulties I encountered along with their
cause and how I was able to over come those difficulties through utilization of effective
strategies.
MAINBODY
Week: 1
Communication skills:
In this module I was able to effective understand the importance of effective
communication skills and how they provide assistance in overall personal and professional
development. Communication skills are really crucial for me as they allow an individual to
communicate their through and opinions to others in an effective manner and reduce the changes
of miscommunication of information (Crawford and Fink., 2019). Through this module I was
able to effective learn the difference between effective and ineffective communication and how it
will provide me assistance in employability as well. Although a faced issues in this module due
to lack of confidence in myself as I was not comfortable speaking to a group of individuals. This
caused hindrance in acquiring the skill of communication in an optimal manner. In order to over
come these issue of low confidence I focused on utilizing various strategies that will ensure I
gain the skill of communication and eliminate any hindrances. The first strategy I applied
focused upon being an active listener in order to understand what is other individual is trying to

convey. This allowed to to affectively deliver appropriate answers and enhance my
communication skills. In addition to this I paid emphasis on my non-verbal communication as
this strategic allowed me to understand non-verbal cues of individuals. This allowed me to alter
aspects such as tone of my voice according to he message or presentation I want to present
(Anderson and Tomlinson., 2021). Moreover, I utilized the strategic of feedback as it allowed me
to understand to perception of other such as my colleagues and peers. This was very effective as
I gained vital knowledge on how I can improve my communication skills in order to better
communicate my opinions to others and ensure that there is no gap relative to transmission of
information along with any miscommunication.
Week: 2
Problem solving skills:
The skill of problems solving is an essential skills to have as it provided an individual
with the ability to solve complex problems in an efficient manner. This skill also enables an
individual to analysis a difficult situation and develop unique as well as creative strategies to
over come the problems. This skill is provided me with immense advantage relative to
employability as this skill will allow me to be effective in my working and solve various
situations that I can face in an efficient manner(Batra., 2021). The problem solving skills allows
me to enhance my performance as well as productivity in completion of a task. I faced various
issues during the module due to me paying more emphasis on reaching a appropriate solution for
problems. This caused delay in completion of task as well as caused demotivation to address
problems. In order to overcome this issue I used a problem solving strategy that consist of five
steps and provided support during this module in developing my problem solving skills and
ensure that I motived and have positive approach when solving problems. The fist step of the
strategy involve me to define the problem and understand what I am trying to solve. The second
step consisted of brain storming creative and innovative solutions to address the issues and
develop suitable solution (Bridgstock and Tippett. eds., 2019). The third step required me to
decide on a solution that I think is appropriate and effective in solving the issue. The fourth and
fifth step consisted of implementing the solution and reviewing the results. This structured
format of problem solving allowed me to focuses on the solution rather than the issues and keep
myself motived in solving the problem through creative and innovative development of

solutions. This development of problem solving skill enhanced my academic and employability
skills in optimal manner.
Week: 3
Critical thinking skills:
The development and acquiring of critical skill were essential for me as they allowed in
making logical as well as informed decision that best suited a specific situation. This skills
allowed me to understand how I need to identify a particular situation and effectively analyse it
in order to come-up with a appropriate as well as a suitable decision. The skill of critical thinking
is extremely crucial in employability as it will allow me to work with others and understand
various situations to develop suitable solutions derived from logical reasoning. Although I faced
issues such as difficulty in understanding specify situations and developing suitable decisions
based on logical reasoning. These issues caused decreases in my overall productivity and ability
to deliver informed decision relative to task (Kugenthiran., 2018). In order to eliminate these
hindrances I utilized various strategies such as being a continuous learner and focused upon
developing my natural sense of curiosity about various aspects in order to widen my knowledge.
This strategy allowed me to understand situations from various perspectives and develop
multiple decisions. In addition to this I also focused upon considering unconventional opinions
in order to seek out new solutions for specific situation that will be productive in their intended
purpose. Furthermore, I focused upon avoiding analysis paralysis in order to avoid being stuck
in the decision making process and look at the big picture along with details of a situation
(Engelhard., 2019). This helped me to recognize situations in an effective manners and
understand the information provided in order to move forwards and adjust my decisions (Kumar
and Sharma., 2019). Moreover, I focused on the strategy of analysing myself as it allowed me to
have better reasoning and understand of situations and change my views accordingly. These
strategies allowed me to over the hindrances I encountered during this module and provided my
with effective skill of critical thinking.
Week: 4
Time management:
The skill of time management is vital for an individual as it allows them to accomplish
their task in an efficient manner. It allows them to be effective in their work and ensure that the

task is completed on time. The skill in this module allowed me to enhance and develop my time
management skills. This was important for me as I was able to improve upon my overall
performance and productivity relative to my work. The skill of time management allowed me to
understand the importance of completing task on time and understand how I can creates balance
between work and recreational time (Boshoff., 2018). In addition to this the skill of time
management allowed to to effectively identify how tasks need to be prioritized in a structured
and systematic format. Although I faced various issues due to procrastination during task that
caused hindrance in my productivity as well as performance during this module. In order to solve
the issue of procrastination I have utilized the technique of Pomodoro time management system.
This technique focused and encouraged me to work within a specific time frame rather than
against it. It promoted me to separate my work into 25- minutes along with five-minute breaks.
This technique allowed me to be motived relative to my work and stay focused for a longer
period of time (Pham and Saito., 2019). In addition to this, the Pomodoro technique was able to
help me in reducing the level of procrastination enabling me to enhance my overall performance
as well as productivity in the long run. Through implementation of this strategy I was able to
overcome the hindrances caused in the module relative to time management effectively and
attain a new skill that will assist me in my employability.
Week: 5
Research skills:
Research skills are the ability to answer to a question or solution to a problem. It refers to
the ability or skills that are requires to solve and bring out solutions to a problem, in other words
it is also called critical analysis skills. It was very crucial for me to have the research skill while
preparing my model. I learnt this skills while analysing, discovering and mapping pathways to
find solutions for the problems during preparation of the model. It is expected that everyone
should possess these skills to solve problems, analyse critically, and conceptual thinking that is
helpful in solving problems in the life (Durazzi, 2021). This skill is a compulsion as it is a
requirement for every individual, because everyone faces problems at every stage of their lives.
If people do not adapt and learn form those problems then they may fail at every stage of their
lives whether its academics or professional life. Problems such as, lack of funds, resources,
delays in work, etc. made me to develop critical thinking and problem solving. This skill will

help to analyse and discover problems, create maps for paths and solve these problems
accordingly. To avoid roadblocks and conquer any challenges a student needs to possess these
skills. I choose a clear set of actions to achieve the ability to solve the problems and conquer
over them. First of all, I focused towards my objective clearly to achieve the completion of the
model on time. Then, I explored the methods to compete the model then I noted down my
important findings and communicated regarding this to my tutor to get guidance. For this
purpose I used to communicate to experts on digital platforms and organised the data that give
me a sorted view to complete and solve the problems.
Week: 6
Collaboration skills:
It can be explained as the ability to manage, influence, inspire and organise self along
with the other people by enhancing collaboration and team efforts (Sakkaravarthi and Aravinthan,
2020). I learnt these skills during the preparation of the model that help me to bring people
together in order to accomplish certain predetermined task. For bringing any sort of success in
academic activities and further professional life a person needs to possess collaboration skill to
work with others. I learnt that collaboration is helpful to bring people together in order to get
things done swiftly and effectively. Teamwork and collaboration are although different terms but
each of them are complementary to each other. With better collaboration, team work can be
better and without better team work collaboration cannot be imagined. When collaboration and
team work are build on each other more powerful and high quality output can be achieved. Team
work and collaboration is important to improve work quality, generate new ideas, effective
communication, that is helpful in completing tasks effectively (Williams, Hutchings and Phelps,
2021). Initially, I faced troublesome situations to align the activities of people as well as I failed
to collaborate my efforts and our works go overlapping. Gradually, I determine to manage my
activities according to the people, and has successfully brought the link between our work. I
managed to bring in the idea of team work and collaboration among the members by showing my
collaborative efforts. Although the process of collaboration was not so simple as, I had to go
through the series of steps to bring in collaboration among all the members. I showed the team
what collaborative behaviour is like, invested in strengthening communication, set up clear roles

for each of the member, recognised each member's strengths and embrace changes. This helped
in collaborating team-work and bring maximum output.
CONCLUSION
From the above reflection it can be concluded that, various modules provided me with
crucial skills that a re necessary for my academic as well as employability. I faced various
challenges during the modules relative to skills. Although I was able to overcome these issues in
an effective manner by implementing various techniques and strategies that provided me
assistance. The overall skills acquired by me will enable me to be effective in my task along with
promoting my performance as well as productivity in completion of a task. In addition to this
these skills will provide me vital assistance in employability and personal development.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Anderson, V. and Tomlinson, M., 2021. Signaling standout graduate employability: The
employer perspective. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(3). pp.675-693.
Batra, A., 2021. Mind the Map: Understanding Stakeholder Perceptions of Key Employability
Skills Using Concept Mapping. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Boshoff, S. H., 2018. Strengthening Students’ Employability Skills: The Development and First
Evaluation of Multiple Approaches to Group Work. Groupwork, 28(2). pp.49-73.
Bridgstock, R. and Tippett, N. eds., 2019. Higher education and the future of graduate
employability. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Crawford, P. and Fink, W., 2019. Employability Skills and Students Critical Growth
Areas. NACTA Journal, 64(2). pp.122-131.
Durazzi, N., 2021. Opening universities’ doors for business? Marketization, the search for
differentiation and employability in England. Journal of Social Policy, 50(2). pp.386-405.
Engelhard, C., 2019. Shall we lead or follow: The elimination of “Soft Skills”. Journal of
Physical Therapy Education, 33(2). pp.85-86.
Kugenthiran, S., 2018. Employees’ expectation of the employability skills of management
graduates.
Kumar, G. and Sharma, V., 2019, October. Emotional intelligence through soft skills for
employability. In Proceedings of International Conference on Advancements in
Computing & Management (ICACM).
Pham, T. and Saito, E., 2019. Teaching towards graduate attributes: How much does this
approach help Australian graduates with employability?. In Innovate Higher Education to
Enhance Graduate Employability (pp. 109-121). Routledge.
Sakkaravarthi, K. and Aravinthan, M., 2020. Impact of Academic Libraries on Career
Development: An Evaluative Study. In Challenges and Opportunities of Open
Educational Resources Management (pp. 63-80). IGI Global.
Succi, C. and Canovi, M., 2020. Soft skills to enhance graduate employability: comparing
students and employers’ perceptions. Studies in Higher Education, 45(9). pp.1834-1847.
Williams, K. E., Hutchings, P. B. and Phelps, C., 2021. Beyond learning in higher education: an
evaluation of the ‘Life Design’initiative to improve student employability. Studies in
Higher Education. pp.1-15.