Academic & Personal Development: Skills and Goals Portfolio

This report presents a personal development portfolio analyzing existing skills and aligning them with a business management career path. It discusses the acquisition of skills like team-working, communication, time management, and presentation skills through academic experiences and a dedicated module. Evidences are provided to demonstrate skill development. A personal development plan is outlined to address weaknesses and improve specific skills. The report includes a SWOT analysis to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Short-term and long-term goals are identified along with strategies for attainment. The overall purpose is to analyze current skills, match them with career aspirations, and create a structured plan for personal and professional growth, with recommendations for achieving objectives.

Academic and personal
development
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Table of Contents
s
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Pieces of evidences.....................................................................................................................3
Personal development plan:......................................................................................................7
Evaluation of goals and objectives:..........................................................................................9
Models of academic and personal development......................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
The plans that are used to analyse all the perspectives of an individual is defined as personal
development plan. It includes evaluation of the skills and abilities as well as identifying the
weaknesses and taking actions to improve them. Personal development portfolio involves
strategic management skills such as goal settings, Situational analysis, planning, implementation,
review and their application to an individual. Within this report, some pieces of evidences are
going to be discussed related to acquiring the skills with the help of the existing module (Abugre
and Kpinpuo, 2017). After that a personal development plan will be explained to improve the
skills in which I am not good at. This development portfolio reflects the depths as well as quality
of involvement with the PDP module, rather than levels of personal achievements. The purpose
of this report is to analyse my existing skills and how they match with my career path of a
business management position within a reputable organisation. Various methods will be used to
analyse this like SWOT Analysis and tracing my key goals along with the objectives of short-
term as well as long-term and considering solutions to reach out to them. Some
recommendations are also going to be discussed in this report on the methods to make my goal
and objective attainable.
MAIN BODY
Pieces of evidences
In this portfolio 4 pieces of evidences are described as under in context to existing personal
development portfolio (Casanova, Zarza. and Orejudo, 2018). The acquisition of below
mentioned skills has enabled me to be an effective student of business management in higher
education:
Team-working skills: This type of skill has helped me in generating more new and
creative ideas by working together in a team that facilitated me in becoming an effective student
of business management in higher education. My morale as well as motivation has boosted by
working collaboratively and it inspired me to do more hard work within the team. In higher
education, university promotes the group work assignments and presentations. The evidence of
how I acquired team-working skills is explained as below:
In my academic learning, an assignment was given to me which was the group
assignment and to be completed by the members of the group. For doing the assignment, my
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teacher had made a group of 5 persons including me to complete the project. At the start of the
project, we all 5 had discussed that what should be done first to start this project, then one of my
friend suggested to divide the work among us. The work is then divided according to the abilities
and skills of the individual and now all were having their task (Crome and et.al, 2019). We also
had set some team rules and purpose as it gives a platform to communicate and share the things
along with this, it also helps in creating a healthy working environment. First of all, before
starting my task, I had a positive mindset regarding completion of my task as it was very
necessary to be positive while conducting it. By working in a team, I felt very problems
regarding the task as some of the topics were uncleared to me. So my friends had helped me in
understanding those topics in which I was facing problem. Within the team, all of us were
sharing enthusiasm and exercise together to accomplish the project which was our goal. In this
way, we had completed our assignment and felt so glad on its completion in a successful way.
By doing so, I had developed my team-working skills within me which also helped me in my
higher education and further future.
Communication skills: This skill has helped me in doing effective communication with
me colleagues and teachers. It also helped me in building strong relationships and made me
confident enough. Within the existing module, this skill has helped me in learning the things in a
much better way. I often called upon in classes of higher education to answer the questions that
are ranged from simple factual answers to those questions that involved putting thoughts and
opinions together as well as making arguments. Answer to such type of questions has made my
conversation skills more strong and effective as teachers easily assessed my thoughts and
knowledge. The evidence of how I acquired communication skills is described as below:
To develop this type of skill, I thought to write some content on any topic and for that, I
had started writing on various topic. When I started writing on a particular topic, I forced to think
on the ideas and concepts regarding the topic. And for that I formed opinions related to the topic
and made myself articulate (Dingyloudi and Strijbos, 2018). I had read the written topic aloud
many times that helped me in improving my vocabulary and also enhanced my ability to think on
my feet. Meanwhile writing on a certain topic, I had to think upon various concepts and aspects
that were related to the topic on which I was writing. To write upon the topics, I researched a lot
of things that made my researching as well as writing skills improved. When I got finished with
my writing, I read out it aloud 5 times that helped me in improving my pronunciations and
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vocabulary. I read out my writing in front of the mirror to know my body language at the time of
speaking. I found that there was a little requirement to improve my body language as facial
expressions so I put some extra efforts to made them improved. In this way, I had developed and
improved my communication skills along with the writing as well as researching skills and it
also helped me in my higher education and further in doing the communication with others in an
effective manner.
Time management skills: Effective time management skills helped me in completing
my tasks in less time as my attention is concentrated towards accomplishment of task rather
wasting time on distractions (Fang, Sun and Yuen, 2017). By having this type of skill, I got my
stress reduced and prioritise my time that helped me in higher education in completing my
assignments on time or before it. As a result, in my higher education I had more time to achieve
bigger as well as better results. With the help of this module, time management skills have
enabled me to be an effective student of business management. The evidence of how I acquired
time management skills is explained as under:
For developing and improving time management skills, I thought an idea to design a
timetable that would help me in managing my activities within a particular duration of time.
While preparing time table, I was nervous at the initial stage and felt that whether I would be
able to follow this timetable in a proper way or not. But when I prepared it, I observed that I can
follow this timetable in an appropriate manner. And for following it, I put a stopwatch aside by
me that indicated me the time for doing the particular task. Except timetable, I also manage my
time as well as activities by using alarms that gave me a sign of completing the activity in the set
duration of time. Another way, which I had adopted to develop my time management skills was
in such a way that before started doing the activity, I had set the time limits and prioritize the
activities to be done. I also organized a workplace where I could eliminate the distractions while
doing the activities or tasks. I also managed my time and activities by setting the goals for each
study sessions and also tried to complete my task before the set time (Mohamed Osama and
Gallagher, 2018). To develop and improve such type of skill, I also focussed on one task at a
time that helped me in doing each and every task in an effective manner. In this way, I acquired
time management skills with the help of this existing module and these types of skills also helped
me in my further studies and career.
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Presentation skills: This type of skill helps in creating and developing new as well as
innovative ideas when an individual come up along with the creative an interesting presentation
or imagination for expressing their thoughts, ideas, opinions and views. By making use of
creative ideas, one feels confident and is persuaded to do more creative and unique work.
Presentation skills not only consists of presenting the ideas, but also it contains important pillars
such as honesty, enthusiasm, concentration and any more. These pillars help personnel in making
its presentation more effective and impressive. The knowledge and experiences that I have
gained regarding the presentation skills within my university has helped me in becoming more
confident and it also created a spirit in me for doing the task in a more presentable and efficient
way (Roberts and Hilty, 2017). With the help of this module, I have acquired presentation skills
in the way which is described below as an evidence:
To acquire presentation skills, first of all I set the goals and asked myself that what I
wanted to achieve with my presentation and how it would going to benefit me. After that I
thought to present a topic in front of my relatives and friends where I had to express my thoughts
and opinions regarding the presentation. For good presentation, I collected better subject matter
that generated interest within me to present it in front my people. I prepared the presentation in
such a way that I felt as I was telling a story along with making interactions and eye-contact with
them. By presenting with full enthusiasm and concentration, my presentation had gone well and
my people also encouraged me to prepare more presentations. In this way, I have acquired
presentation skills within me that contains not only presenting the views but also involved
honesty, concentration in it.
This report will assist me in recognising those skills that will enable me to understand
how far I am from attaining my goals. For completing a specific job role, both hard as well as
soft skills are required and it gives me insight in what I need to achieve. For highlighting my
short term as well as long term goals, I am able to write a structured plan that helps me not only
in my personal development but also facilitates me in improving myself on a professional level.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
 I have good
communicatio
n skills that
 My time
management
skills are weak
 Developing
and improving
time
 Not being able
to structure
work between
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helps me in
doing effective
communicatio
n with
everyone. It
also helps me
in clearly
expressing my
views to
others.
 I am able to
manage my
work before
deadline by
managing the
work of my
university as
well as social
life.
because of
which I
difficulty in
managing my
activities
regarding what
to complete
first.
 I am not good
at working in
close teams
which makes
it difficult for
me when
delegating
tasks to
members of
the team.
management
skills within
me is an
opportunity for
me so that I
will be able to
manage my
activities as
well as time in
an effective
manner.
 It is an
opportunity for
me to work in
a team on a
frequent basis
such as PDP
presentation as
it will facilitate
me in
improving my
abilities to get
points across
in a way for
making
individuals
understood.
each other in
an efficient
way will be a
threat for me
and it will also
effect team-
working skills.
 Not finding a
method that
works for me
for carrying
out tasks, it is
significant to
be creative
when
presenting the
ideas,
thoughts,
opinions and
views.
Personal development plan:
Skills Priority Action plan Resources Timeframe
Organisational
skills
1 Organise work
so I am prepared
This can be
achieved by
Within 3
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and not leaving it
to last minute
creating a diary,
making notes,
creating Gantt
charts or critical
path analysis
weeks
Team-working
skills
2 Work in teams
and knowing the
roles and
behaviour of
each team
member. By
taking training
sessions, I can
improve my
team-working
skills.
Working in
campaigns with
other people,
training sessions,
teamwork
recognition
programs.
Within 2
weeks
Time-
management
skills
3 Working a
particular task
with deadline for
managing time,
prioritizing tasks,
scheduling tasks
and deadline.
Prepared time
audits, alarms,
stopwatches, using
right tools like
calendar, note-takin
g software, time
management
applications.
Within 1 weak
Communication
skills
4 Having more
group or social
meetings to
adapt to each
other’s learning
skills which will
help to speak
Reading books,
writing topics,
using
communication
apps like slack,
body language,
communication
Within 1 week
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more confidently
and get my point
across.
with others.
Evaluation of goals and objectives:
From above discussion, it is evaluated that there are 4 key areas that need to be improved.
Organising task as well as assignments in a proper way is crucial for me for attaining my long-
term goal. Using a diary and Gantt charts will be beneficial for me in the process of structuring
of tasks. Team-working skills are another important skill that will help me in working the tasks
or assignments in a team with an effective approach. Joining campaigns to work together in a
team will help me in improving such type of skill. Time management skills are very important in
academic as well as professional learning because it will help me in managing my time as well as
activities within a set duration and prevents me from wasting my energy and time.
Communication skills are essential within management in order to get success. It is significant to
be creative in the process of communication. Being a good communicator is one of the key skill
which is required in business management.
Models of academic and personal development
Gibb’s Reflective cycle:
This reflection cycle is a framework that encourages an individual to think in a systematic
way about the experiences it had during a specific situation, activity or an event. This model
helps a person in its overall development by expressing its each stage while performing a
particular task (Schlak, 2018) (Verplaetse, 2017). There are six stages within the model of
Gibb’s reflective Cycle and these stages are description, feelings, evaluation, analysis,
conclusion and action plan. While reaching out to each stage of this model, an individual learns
from his experiences on different stages. With the help of this model, persons can make sense of
situations at work that facilitates them in understanding what they did and what they could do
better in next time. In this way, this reflective model helps an individual in its academic and
personal development.
Personal Growth Model:
This development model is given by The Mind Elevator and shows five essential steps in
the personal development of an individual. These steps involve belief, plan, action, result as well
as review. These five steps help an individual in attaining the improvements in all aspects and
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also facilitates it in its academic and personal development. This model is more student-centred
and its main objective is to motivate the learners to read by selecting themes which are related to
their own personal experiences. With the help of personal growth model, a person can shape its
values, set its mind and identity that means the result will impact on how they perceive
themselves. This model helps in creating self-awareness and a sense of direction that helps an
individual in its academic as well as personal development.
Recommendations
From making an analysis of myself, I am able to highlight my strengths and weaknesses.
For me to obtain my desired grade of degree, time management is a skill that I need to improve
on. It can be enhanced by creating a schedule of assignments or activities for completion rather
than keeping it in my mind. With no structure, it will be difficult for me in future to perform the
role what to start first and when to complete it. For this, I plan to create a diary that will help me
in improving my organisation and ultimately, my time management skills. I hope to be in
business management but it requires time to be spent on learning the various perspectives of the
business.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the portfolio, it is concluded that personal development plan
helps in analysing the strengths and weaknesses and facilitates in taking actions regarding the
improvement along with a defined period. Within this report, personal development portfolio has
been conducted in which there are pieces of evidences in order to improve the skills. These
evidences have been described the way in which this existing module has helped in improving
the skills. This portfolio also consists of a personal analysis to identify the strengths as well as
weaknesses along with the opportunities and threats. With the help of this analysis, it has been
evaluated that there are opportunities to grow more. Along with it, personal development plan
has also been taken into consideration in this portfolio in regards with overall development.
Furthermore, evaluation of goals and objectives has also been described that states the areas the
need to be improved. The models of academic as well as personal development have also been
discussed in this respective portfolio such as Gibb’s reflective cycle and Personal growth model.
These types of models help an individual in learning from the gained experiences in order to do
better in future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abugre, J. B. and Kpinpuo, S. D., 2017. Determinants of academic mentoring in higher
education: Evidence from a research university. Educational Process: International
Journal. 6(2). p.20.
Casanova, O., Zarza, F. J. and Orejudo, S., 2018. Differences in performance anxiety levels
among advanced conservatory students in Spain, according to type of instrument and
academic year of enrolment. Music Education Research. 20(3). pp.377-389.
Crome and et.al, 2019. Improving engagement in an early career academic setting: can existing
models guide early career academic support strategies?. Higher Education Research &
Development. 38(4). pp.717-732.
Dingyloudi, F. and Strijbos, J. W., 2018. Just plain peers across social networks: Peer-feedback
networks nested in personal and academic networks in higher education. Learning,
Culture and Social Interaction. 18. pp.86-112.
Fang, L., Sun, R. C. and Yuen, M., 2017. “Be useful to society”: parental academic involvement
in rural to urban migrant children’s education in China. Asia Pacific Education
Review. 18(3). pp.361-371.
Mohamed Osama, O. and Gallagher, J. E., 2018. Role models and professional development in
dentistry: an important resource: the views of early career stage dentists at one academic
health science Centre in England. European Journal of Dental Educatio. 22(1). pp.e81-
e87.
Roberts, L. W. and Hilty, D. M. eds., 2017. Handbook of career development in academic
psychiatry and behavioral sciences. American Psychiatric Pub.
Schlak, T., 2018. Academic libraries and engagement: A critical contextualization of the library
discourse on engagement. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 44(1). pp.133-139.
Verplaetse, L. S., 2017. Developing academic language through an abundance of interaction.
In Inclusive pedagogy for English language learners: A handbook of research-informed
practices (pp. 167-180). Routledge.
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