Reflective Essay: Personal Learning and Growth in University Module

This reflective essay details a student's learning journey within the 'Preparing for Success at University: Knowledge and Creativity' module. The essay explores the student's experiences, including giving a presentation, and highlights the development of skills such as teamwork and communication. It identifies areas for improvement, particularly in research skills and confidence, and outlines steps taken to address these weaknesses through seminars and practice. The student reflects on the overall impact of the module, emphasizing its contribution to both academic and professional growth and development of skills. The essay also references academic sources to support the student's reflections.

Reflective Essay

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Reflective Essay is defined as an essay or an analytical practice in which events and
experiences in life are described by writer. Here, the writer first thinks of an event and
then write about those exploring the way he or she has changed grow or develop from
those experiences (Naber, and Wyatt, 2014). This report is based on a reflective essay
in which a reflection is provided on my own learning during the module.
MAIN BODY
Reflection is about expressing own feelings and thoughts regarding a particular
experience or event. It makes an individual aware of one’s thinking processes and
enable to express those to others. It helps in developing emotional self-awareness and
gaining better understanding of own strengths, weaknesses and other areas. Reflecting
on own learning process will provides an opportunity to a person to identify the weak
areas and improve them (Allan and Driscoll, 2014). I am a student studying in the
University and undertaking module named as ‘Preparing for Success at University:
Knowledge and Creativity’. I am reflecting on the experience and learning that I gain
during the module. While studying in the module, my tutor assigned me with some tasks
and activities to perform. I learnt so many things in module that are applicable to both,
academic as well as professional context. At the time when I undertake this module, my
tutor asks me to give presentation in class. This was the very new to me as I never
prepare and give presentation before. I felt very nervous at that time and thought about
what I need to do. But, I required to give that presentation in group which is the positive
point for me. I was assigned with a topic on which I need to gather information and
prepare presentation. As this activity needs to done in group, me and my group
members divided the work and stated preparing the presentation. My role is to collect
information on topic and present information on it in class. At the time of researching the
information, I got to know that my research skills are not good and I found difficulties in
gathering content. I haven’t any knowledge about which source is authentic or which is
not. But then, one among my group member helped me in gathering information on
topic. I learnt about from which source I can get authentic information on topic
(Pasternak and Rigoni, 2015).
.

During the module, I identified that I possess some weak skills on which I need to
work and improve. But, apart from the weak skills, I have some strong areas also which
helps me in performing the assigned task in an appropriate way. I have good team
working skills which helped me in working in group while undertaking the module. This
helped me in working in coordination and cooperation with team members and
performing each and every task assigned to me in an effective way. This also helped
me and my group to complete the assigned task on specified period of time. in addition
to this, I have good communication skills which also helped me in performing task
effectively. This helped me in interacting with group members effectively and
communicating all the information clearly. I was able to clearly express my views and
other people was also able to understand clearly what I want to say. But, instead of my
good communication skills, I was not able to give presentation effectively in front of
class due to lack of confidence level (Bassot, 2016). When I was stand in front of class,
I lack confidence and not able to present information on the topic in class. I felt nervous
and my voice was shivering. Due to this, I felt very bad as all my team members
performed effectively, and I was not able to do so because of lack of confidence. But
then, my teacher and group members insist me to continue the presentation and
motivate me which slightly improved my confidence at that time and I finished the
presentation.
The overall experience that I gained in this module was good and I learnt so many new
things by undertaking this module. I was able to determine some of my strong areas
which will help me in my future career growth. The learning and experiences that I
gained are helping me in both, academic and professional context. But, besides strong
areas, there are some weak areas also on which I personally feel that I need to work
upon. Improving the weak areas will help in my personal as well as professional
development. I identified that my research skill was not good. So, for improving this skill
I undertake a seminar on improving research skill. Moreover, I also work hard and will
start to research more online. These actions will help in improving my research skills
and enable me to gather information more effectively and quickly in future. In addition to
this, my confidence level is also low which I need to improve so that I am able to
perform assigned tasks effectively in future. For improving my confidence level, I started

to take participation in public speaking, group discussions etc. which will help in
improving my confidence level and enable me to speak confidently in front of others
(Ross, 2014). All this learning that I gained from module highly contributes in my
personal and professional growth.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that reflecting on own
experience and learning provides an opportunity to individual to review the events and
reflect on them. This helps in identifying strong points and work upon weak areas to
improve them and enable to perform effectively.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Naber, J. and Wyatt, T.H., 2014. The effect of reflective writing interventions on the
critical thinking skills and dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse
Education Today, 34(1), pp.67-72.
Allan, E.G. and Driscoll, D.L., 2014. The three-fold benefit of reflective writing:
Improving program assessment, student learning, and faculty professional
development. Assessing Writing, 21, pp.37-55.
Pasternak, D.L. and Rigoni, K.K., 2015. Teaching reflective writing: thoughts on
developing a reflective writing framework to support teacher
candidates. Teaching/Writing: the journal of writing teacher education, 4(1), p.5.
Bassot, B., 2016. The reflective journal. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Ross, J., 2014. Performing the reflective self: audience awareness in high-stakes
reflection. Studies in Higher Education, 39(2), pp.219-232.