Report: Academic Skills and Personal Development Plan

This report delves into the concept and significance of personal and professional development (PDP), emphasizing its role in skill and knowledge enhancement. It highlights the importance of goal setting, including short, medium, and long-term objectives, as crucial components of career development. The report provides insights into the value of a structured PDP, illustrating how it aids in identifying skill gaps and formulating strategies to achieve professional goals. The discussion covers the development of essential skills such as communication, technical expertise, and management abilities, within the context of academic and professional life. The report concludes by underscoring the benefits of PDP in strengthening individual capabilities and facilitating successful career paths, supported by relevant references.

Academic Skills and PDP

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Concept of Personal and Professional Development...................................................................1
The value of short-term goals......................................................................................................1
The value of medium-term goals.................................................................................................1
The value of long-term goals.......................................................................................................2
The value of personal development plans...................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

Introduction
Personal and professional development plan plays an important role in life of an
individual, in terms of enhancement of skills and knowledge. For developing career in any field,
it becomes essential for each and every person to concern on developing abilities first (Roth and
et. al., 2019). This report is going to entail the concept and importance of personal and
professional development plan. Along with this, value of short, medium and long-term goals,
with some illustrations in career development also being described.
Concept of Personal and Professional Development
Personal and professional development plan defines as a set of traits and specific
characteristics that provides a framework, for identifying skills that need to be developed for
making career more bright (Infante-Moro, Infante-Moro and Gallardo-Pérez, 2019). In another
words, it provides a roadmap that contains skills, strategy and education requires for
development of career and achieve professional goals. Its primary purpose is to aid an individual
in reaching the short, medium and long-term career goals, with strengthen of current job
performance skills through a structured approach. With goal setting, professional development
plan aid in organizing the ideas into a cohesive plan which starts with short-term goals then
moves to mid and long-term goals.
The value of short-term goals
Setting goals is considered as one of the important concepts that helps in making a
framework to achieve career milestones (Ranieri, Giampaolo and Bruni, 2019). Short-term goals
provide vision to individuals of an ideal future and way to achieve long-term goals. It bridges the
gap where a person is right now and where to head in future. It also allows individuals to focus
on doing the essential things for achievement of something; see where to headed and what needs
to achieve; identify areas where progress need to be made for developing both personal and
professional skills (Infante-Moro, Infante-Moro and Gallardo-Pérez, 2019). For example –
Improvement in communication skills through taking some classes, numerical abilities and
project management skills are some short term goals which can be developed within three to four
months.
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The value of medium-term goals
After development and achievement of short-term goals, another main phase of career
development is to set medium term goals. By reviewing the progress in career development,
areas where more time need to be given are concerned then frame path accordingly to achieve
the same. It includes development of leadership skills where individual need to spend more time
on understanding this concept and how it helps in managing a large people of people, who are
working on same project (Ranieri, Giampaolo and Bruni, 2019). For this purpose, working under
guidance of seniors and observing their way of managing, aid in development of leadership
qualities. Similarly, technology knowledge like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Cloud
computing and more, is another main medium term goal in both academic and professional life
of an individual, which requires near about four to six months with special training. Furthermore,
in development of time management skills, an individual also need same durations. These types
of medium term goals help in moving ahead on achievement of long-term goals, that aid a person
to achieve successful career after academics.
The value of long-term goals
Long-term goals are defined as career objectives that need to be planned appropriately for
making a successful career in a specific field. It helps a person in identifying the ways through
which an individual can develop professionalism in knowledge (Infante-Moro, Infante-Moro and
Gallardo-Pérez, 2019). For example, business management skills, marketing abilities and
handling of complex business projects are some of the long term goals, that not only helps in
developing professionalism but also enhance personal skills.
The value of personal development plans
Setting goals, aid a person in achievement of career success within a reasonable timeframe and
keeping them motivated and more focused. For this purpose, it becomes essential for a person to
make personal development plans first (Roth and et. al., 2019). It helps in setting goals and
framing them in a proper duration with way to achieve same. This would can be understood by
following example of PDP plan to grow career for business management –
Skills Ways to develop Benefits Time duration
Communication skills By taking some
classes and engaging
in group activities
It helps in influencing
people to listen and
understand thoughts
1 to 3 months
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to follow a specific
path
Technical skills By taking classes and
training within expert
supervision
Through effective
technical skills, a
person can contribute
efforts in making
innovation in business
and smoothening the
entire operations
3 to 6 months
Management abilities By working under
guidance of seniors in
an organisation
Through effective
management skills
and working under
supervision of others,
aid a person to run a
business effectively in
future
More than a year
Conclusion
It has been concluded from all over the discussion about PDP that it not helps in
strengthening the capabilities of a person, but also in identifying the areas where progress needs
to be made. Through understanding this concept, an individual during academic, set professional
goals with specific paths to achieve the same, so that in future, successful career can be
developed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ranieri, M., Giampaolo, M. and Bruni, I., 2019. Exploring educators’ professional learning
ecologies in a blended learning environment. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 50(4), pp.1673-1686.
Infante-Moro, A., Infante-Moro, J. C. and Gallardo-Pérez, J., 2019. The Importance of ICTs for
Students as a Competence for their Future Professional Performance: the Case of the
Faculty of Business Studies and Tourism of the University of Huelva. Journal of New
Approaches in Educational Research (NAER Journal), 8(2), pp.201-213.
Roth, K. J., Wilson, C. D., Taylor, J. A., Stuhlsatz, M. A. and Hvidsten, C., 2019. Comparing the
effects of analysis-of-practice and content-based professional development on teacher
and student outcomes in science. American Educational Research Journal, 56(4),
pp.1217-1253.
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