LSST FY026 Preparing for Success: Portfolio and Reflective Summary

This assignment presents a portfolio and a reflective summary created by a student for the FY026 module, 'Preparing for Success at University: Knowledge and Creativity' at LSST. The portfolio comprises at least 10 artifacts generated from project classes and independent study, demonstrating the student's learning and development throughout the module. A 500-word reflective summary analyzes how these materials supported the enhancement of employability skills, including communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management. The student evaluates their strengths and weaknesses through SWOT analysis and discusses how various activities, such as presentations, blog creation, and job description exercises, contributed to skill development. The document references key academic sources and reflects on the student's progress towards career readiness. The student highlights areas for future improvement, such as problem-solving and ICT skills.

Portfolio and reflective
summary

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reflective summary......................................................................................................................3
References.....................................................................................................................................5

Reflective summary
This essay is a reflective summary on the learning and development that I have
generated during the entire course in the university through the use of various materials,
lectures and projects. I have gained a lot of experience and aimed at enhancing my
employability skills during the entire course with development of knowledge and
creativity (Johnston, 2017). University has been a main source for the improvement and
of skills and understanding how to prepare myself for my personal and career
development. I can define employability skills as those core skills that are needed
across all the jobs in my domain of study and can be deemed as the basis for getting
hired and become successful at the workplace. All the materials and individual artefacts
that were used in the classes helped in increasing the employability skills such as
communication and interpersonal skills, initiative and motivation, team work,
adaptability, patience, conflict resolution, problem solving and time management
(Suleman, 2018). The artefacts such as photos, samples of work produced in the
duration of lessons, webinars, workshops and self-study sessions have helped me in
utilising my observational and interpersonal skills, which I can rate as moderate and
need improvements through speaking and debating more, listening to others with higher
levels of patience. The creation of a personal swot analysis and personal development
plan has helped me in identifying the areas where I need improvements and where I
lack. I can describe myself good at time management, self-management as I used to
finish all the given assignments in the entire course of the study on time and very
efficiently. The major area as per the swot analysis where I lack is the problem-solving
skills as I don’t have any employment experience, and I need to understand at what
level I might face problems in the workplace in future and how to provide a good
solution for it. Both the modules of resources for job hunting have improved my
research skills and enhanced my knowledge of sources and requirements for
employability (Rowe and Zegwaard, 2017). The generation of job description for my job
profile has helped me in understanding how I will apply and sit in recruitments in future,
the generic and technical skills that I will need. The creation of blogs on future job
market have helped me in understanding how the business world has become dynamic
and what improvement is needed, such as increasing my ICT skills and becoming more
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technical in nature. The generation of a poster helped in utilisation of the mS word
software and becoming acquainted to its various features and lean Harvard referencing
(Suleman, 2018). Other academic sources and reading log help me in improving my
organising skills. From undertaking various presentations, I have developed my
speaking skills to some extent, although I still need to improve my language and
interpersonal proficiency. The major leaning was the team work, where in all the group
projects I was able to efficiently and productively mange working with team members. In
conclusion, the academic courses have covered majority of the most needed
employability skills in which I needed further improvements as they are crucial for
advancing growth (Johnston, 2017).
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References
Books and Journals
Johnston, C., 2017. Reflective practice. Teaching Business & Economics, 21(1), pp.19-
21.
Rowe, A.D. and Zegwaard, K.E., 2017. Developing graduate employability skills and
attributes: Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning.
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2),
pp.263-278.
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