Reflective Learning Journal: Engineering Workplace, Semester 1

This reflective learning journal documents a mechanical engineering student's experiences and reflections on various aspects of their education and preparation for the workplace. The journal covers compulsory topics such as effective team membership and leadership, analyzing personal experiences within group projects and critical incidents, and the importance of safety, diversity, and inclusivity in engineering workplaces. It also includes elective topics like internship market analysis, where the student reflects on the job search process and the challenges of finding suitable internship opportunities. The journal entries demonstrate the student's ability to critically analyze situations, learn from experiences, and connect these experiences to theoretical concepts. The student explores their personal beliefs, challenges, and growth, providing insights into their developing skills in leadership, communication, and adaptability within a professional engineering context.

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Reflective learning journal
Student’s Name
University

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Reflective learning journal
a) Compulsory topics:
Effective team membership and leadership
The experience that I had was working on a project that had been assigned to a group of
five people. We were to work on a project in groups of five people where each group was
assigned a task. The work was done effectively since we distributed the tasks out to each other
based on the different capabilities that the members had. From the experience of working in the
group, I believe that I did well since we managed to effectively complete the required task. Here
the focus was ensuring that I show my ability and group ability. In this case, the role of the team
was to allow each member of the group to function by playing a role that was supposed to be part
of the larger group. This required good communication skills, coordination and teamwork
elements of work. My personal believes when working on the task was based on the challenges
of group dynamics which can affect the success of a team. In most cases, group dynamics have
been regarded as influencing team performance in different ways. This means that the best way
to learn from the team is to look at the importance of team leadership and how it shapes the
performance of the team. Although I had a feeling that I was going to have difficulties managing
team performance, I think the experience of this group was different as compared to what I have
witnessed and experienced in the past.
My personal beliefs when working with the team was based on the view that teams are
not effective and cannot lead to the intended outcomes. This belief was wrong since working
with the team taught me how to reap the benefits of teamwork. Here I learned that team members
have different abilities that come into play when they relate well with others. However, the
biggest challenge here was effective leadership and communication since it has been described

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as the pillar of successful teams. The role of leadership is to provide direction, distribute roles
within teams and create a team culture that will define the way members engage with each other.
This aspect was addressed by having rotational team leaders so that each member was allowed to
lead. This led to a strong and cohesion between the team members thus leading to the easy
achievement of the required objectives. Hendrawan (2018, P. 5) suggests that to achieve
effective team performance there need to be clear communication plans between team members
to ensure that they can adequately communicate within the team environment. From this
experience, I learned that communication and leadership are important elements of teamwork.
Leadership leads to an organized team that is focused on meeting the required team needs. On
the other hand, communication is an element of coordination of tasks within the team
environment that allows team members to work together (Fapohunda 2013, p.4). This implies
that the effectiveness of a team is based on the ability of the team leader to create an environment
that allows members to thrive.
Reflection on a critical incident
One critical incident that I participated in when I was given the team leader role when
working on a five-day project. In this case, my role was to ensure that the tasks set out in the
team were achieved as required. I was supposed to ensure that tasks are allocated to each of the
members on an equal basis. I also was supposed to ensure that the deliverables for the project
that we were working on are achieved as required. In this case, leadership in a team setting was
challenging and required both communication, leadership and decision making skills (Duygulu
& Ciraklar, 2018, p.4). My feeling from this exercise was that I did not have the best qualities to
lead the group and achieve the required outcomes. This is because I believed that leadership
required competencies that were not in me. However, my personal belief is that I was always a

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team player and could work well with other people. What I did not understand was how I could
transform my team player abilities to leadership competencies that can yield better results. The
biggest difficulty when working as a team leader is how to deal with the inclusion of all
members and ensuring that the team members share the responsibilities equally. In most cases,
team dynamics affect the way people behave in teams and even how they react to situations. In
this case, it implies that the role of the leader is to understand the dynamics within the team so
that an environment can be created that allows all team members to thrive. In a situation where
members come from different backgrounds and have varying levels of ability, the leader is
charged with the role of understanding the dynamics within the team and creating an
environment that best reflects the needs of the members.
What I learned from this role is the fact that leadership is not only based on natural traits
but rather, one can learn and develop the attributes of a good leader. In this case, I realized that
the situational leadership approach was the best since it reflects the leadership style that changes
continually based on the situations that present themselves (Ghazzawi, et al., 2017, p.104). In
this case, all I needed to do as a leader is to understand the leadership attributes that are required
and then apply them differently based on the situations that I was in. This led to my better
understanding of leadership skills and the weaker areas of my ability that I have to address. For
example, I realized that I had challenges in communication which made me understand that to
communicate well, I needed to work on my communication skills so that I can exercise
leadership authority.
Safety, diversity, and inclusivity in engineering workplaces in the student’s field of practice
(engineering major

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Work environments require people to work together based on the different needs and
requirements of the team. In one situation we were working together with different groups of
people within the work environment. This entailed working with people of both genders, from
different cultural backgrounds and even specializations. This means that the focus of the
members was to ensure that all those who participated were able to have their needs by creating
an environment that meets all their needs. To finish the task well we start by appraising the
abilities of each of the members based on the roles that we had developed. This ensured that
every member of the team was able to understand what is needed and focus on the task at hand.
From the work, I feel that we did not work well with all the people and we did not create proper
safety and diverse environments for all the people that we were working. For example, in one
situation, we had a physically disabled member where we were forced to leave him out in some
situations that were seen as compromising to his health (Patrick & Kumar, 2012, p.4). This
means that we denied him the opportunity to participate in a team activity. My personal believes
were based on the fact that individual ability entails different components that define the way
individuals participate in work environments. In this case, I believed that despite the need to
create diverse work environments, the diversity created can be limited thus not all work can
allow the use of diversity.
Patrick & Kumar (2012, P.6) suggest that the role of diversity is to allow different
members within the team to thrive. This means that the focus should be on ensuring that
diversity is used as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. In this case, the role of diversity is
to create an environment that reflects the needs of the organization. In most cases, diversity is an
attribute of working with people that allows the abilities and unique skills of members of the
team to be seen. This implies that when working with different people diversity needs to be

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reflected in the level of inclusivity in all activities to represent the nature of diversity in the team
(Samuel & Odor, 2018, p.47). However, safety is supposed to be defined based on the
composition of those involved. In this case, the focus is on creating a diverse, inclusive and safe
environment that accommodates the various needs of the members of the team Personal beliefs.
What I have learned from the concept of diversity, inclusivity, and safety is that different
members have varying values and beliefs which have to be met. This implies that the work
environment is supposed to be inclusive and reflect the varying needs of the members of the
team. By applying diversity, inclusivity allows the members to work together in an environment
that appreciates the varying needs and differences that exist within the team (Eboh, et al., 2018,
p.39). Therefore the role of diversity is to ensure that the advantages of having a diverse team are
realized within the organization. In this case, it means that diversity and inclusivity are supposed
to have the required safety measures to create an environment that meets the varying needs of the
members of the team.
b) Elective topics
Internship Job Market Analysis
The internship market analysis was to understand the market and determining some of the
business organizations that I can work in. In this case, the focus was to look at the internship
openings that exist within the local market and determining whether they have an opportunity for
people with skills like mine (Sparreboom, 2013, p.265). As an engineering major, my focus was
to look for organizations that are into making equipment using modern technology. My feeling
here was that I will be able to come up with a long list of organizations and assess the benefits
that each of the organization presents. This was based on weighing the benefits that I was to reap
from the internship experience. My personal belief was that there were many organizations in the

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country and getting an internship is not a big deal. To my surprise, I was not even able to receive
an invitation for an interview from the organization that I was planning to get an internship in.
My focus was to get a chance The Yield which is a data analytics company that deals with
information that is collected from different sources to solve crop-specific and commercial
challenges in agriculture. This forced me to explore other options and pick among the choices
that I received. Among the organizations that I applied for, I was able to get a chance for an
interview with Cropin which is one of the firms offering digital solutions to the farming
industry.
From the internship market analysis, I learned that the job market is difficult and not easy
to get an opportunity that reflects the specific needs that people have. When students join
college, they have high expectations of getting an internship and even work in organizations of
their choice. This means that the expectations of students may not always be fulfilled in all
situations. The market analysis made me understand that organizations have different
opportunities that they offer and one cannot get everything in a single organization. From here, I
learned that being in college is different from stepping out in the world to look for opportunities.
In college, the focus is working hard to get the best grades while in the job market, the focus is to
compete with fellow professionals through professing the skills that one has. This means that the
market is competitive and only requires people who can show that they have the best skills to
bring to the organization (Azmi, et al., 2018, p. 520). Thus the organization can only employ
professionals that they believe are going to add value. This means that as a student, I have to
align and package myself with the best skills to reflect the market requirements of organizations.
Building professional reputation and getting connected with industry

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Professional reputation is based on the standards and definitions that are defined within a
certain profession. This means that as a profession, one needs to understand the high esteem that
exists within the discipline. This means that individuals within a certain profession are supposed
to place themselves at a certain point to make them acceptable. As an engineering major, I had a
feeling that my professional standards had not been achieved since I needed to work more and
develop competencies that will reflect the requirements of the discipline. As an engineer,
standards are important components of any field since they determine the best way that one can
meet the requirements of the profession (Standards Australia, 2020). My personal belief is that
engineers are supposed to be approved and have the highest level of professional standards. This
is because the environments that they work entail dealing with clients who may not understand
everything that is needed. In this case, it means that engineers need to be approved only once
they prove that they have attained the required standards.
From here, I have realized that the most difficult thing is developing the required
standard competencies and at the same time maintaining them when at work. This is because
work situations vary and create different situations that challenge the ability of the individual to
maintain high levels of standards. This is the reason why engineering bodies exist to protect the
public while at the same time ensure that engineers maintain the highest level of standards. These
standards describe the components of a product, service or system covering different issues that
need to be achieved within the field of practice. In Australia, engineers are guided by Engineers
Australia which values and supports the development of Standards by Standards Australia for
most processes, materials, developments, and products in Australia. These standards underpin
the industry and define how the products are supposed to look like. Thus the role of the body is
to create an environment that defines the way different engineers work and how they uphold

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professionalism. Greenwood, et al. (2017, p.668) suggests that the role of proffesional bodies is
to allows proffesionals to develop a career profile through undertanding the issues within the
industr that relate to them. This means that I will need to join proffesional bodies to improve my
skills and develop the competencies required in the prooffesion. Therefore, what I have learned
here is the fact that a professional reputation is supposed to revolve around the requirements of
the profession. This is because it defines how I carry and portray myself as a professional
engineer. This implies that as a person with an engineering major, my focus should be meeting
the needs of the profession and developing a professional reputation that reflects the
requirements of the industry.
Workplace learning
Workplace learning is defined by an organized and structured system that allows
employees to improve and develop their capabilities. This approach sees the organization as
having different functions including the development of employees. In this case, employees are
supposed to acquire knowledge and skills through both formal and informal means. I feel that
workplace learning is based on the benefits that people derive when they work together (Billett,
2015, p.24). This means that people interact when at work and exchange information which in
turn leads to their professional development. Before I started this course, I thought that
workplace learning was a difficult and challenging concept. This is because different employee
needs vary from one employee to another. In this case, it means that when the organization has
diverse employees, they create diverse needs that cannot be met from a one fits all approach.
However, I have learned that it is all about the organization creating an environment that allows
employees to expand their abilities. My personal beliefs are based on the fact that a learning
organization should be defined by informal elements of the organization rather than formal ones.

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This means that structures need to be in place to create an environment that allows employees to
learn from each other. However, the difficulty in workplace learning is the different learning
habits of employees and the level of training that is employed in the organization. Cacciattolo
(2015, p.246) suggests that diversity is the biggest challenge in developing a learning
organization. This is because diversity creates a wide array of learning needs which makes it
difficult to meet all of them. This is because developing a tailored learning workplace that
reflects the varying needs of employees can be challenging. What I have learned here is the fact
workplace learning should be based on the needs of the organization which are supposed to
reflect the diversity in the workplace. This leads to the development of an environment that can
accommodate the varying needs of the employees. Learning organizations are the ones that
reflect the diverse needs of the employees and create both formal and informal work situations
that allow employee development. This means that management needs to understand the
diversity issues within the organization so that the learning can reflect the diverse nature of the
organization.
3. A brief summative reflection on the subject as a whole and how the student has met the
Subject Learning Objectives
This subject was based on preparing students with the relevant skills to participate in
workplace learning and demonstrating the capabilities that they have developed throughout the
course. This means that learners are supposed to be prepared with the best skills that will
empower them with the abilities that can make them fit within organizational settings. Ullmann
(2017, p.163) suggests that the role of reflection is to analyse the learning enviornment and
underand the areas that need to be addressed. This reflection has thus shown me the areas that I
have done well and the ones that I need to work more based on the six reflection areas above.

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This course has been of great importance since it has improved my ability to understand the
issues that are beyond coursework. When I started this course, I was expecting to develop the
best competencies that will allow me to develop competencies that can make me a professional
engineer. In this case, I was supposed to understand the requirements of the engineering field and
the standards of different types of engineering activities. However, my personal belief in this
subject was to develop competencies that were supposed to enable me to get a better
understanding of the engineering major. Here I have realized that even in an engineering
environment, professionals need life and social skills that define the way we interact with other
people. However, the difficulty in this subject was based on the fact that different regulations
seem to be defined by the nature of the industry that one works (Standards Australia, 2020, pp.3).
This means that as an individual, I am supposed to understand the work environment and
develop the required competencies to work with people. This means that I am supposed to
understand how to communicate with others and at the same time work in a team environment.
This is supposed to be measured in active participation, shared responsibility and identity within
the team. This means that as an individual, the competencies that I have are supposed to be
defined by the changing nature of the organization and the varying needs of employees.
From this course, I have learned the importance of personal skills like teamwork,
leadership and communication skills in a work environment. Regardless of the profession, we
work with other people and thus we need to develop the best skills that can allow us to work well
with others. I have also learned that in work environment diversity needs to be taken seriously by
creating an inclusive environment that defines the way people relate with others. This will lead to
a safe environment that allows different types of employees to thrive. In this case, management,

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teams, and individual employees are supposed to develop competencies that best reflect these
workplace requirements.