Reflective Essay on Professional Development Module, Regent College

This reflective essay, submitted by a student at Regent College London, examines the impact of a professional development module on their employability skills and career goals. The essay covers key aspects such as CV writing, referencing, interview preparation, and email etiquette. The student reflects on their learning experience, utilizing Gibbs' Reflective Model to analyze their feelings, evaluations, and action plans. The essay highlights the challenges faced, including time management and external factors, while also acknowledging the support received from classmates and lecturers. It concludes with a discussion of the skills developed, including communication, research, and IT proficiency, and outlines future plans for continuous improvement and adapting to future challenges. The essay references relevant academic sources to support its arguments.

CW1: Reflective Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Main aim of this module was to improve employability skills so that career goals could
be accomplished. It provides opportunity to individuals to reconsider thoughts and events from a
fresh perspective which is experienced by them earlier (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2016). Main
aim of this module is to develop the employability skills for attainment of career opportunities in
future. This essay is based upon personal learning which is focused with CV writing,
referencing, preparation for interviews formal and informal emails. Along with this, topics such
as How and Why, Challenges faced, Learning during the module etc. are also covered in it. The
skills which are used to provide reflection are reflective, critical analysis etc.
MAIN BODY
There are various things which were taught by the tutor to us in order to develop
knowledge of me and other people who studying. These are preparation of power point
presentation, structuring the work, providing personal reflection, CV, Cover letter, Personal
statement writing along with notes for interview etc. While attending the classes I felt that this
learning experience will help me to achieve my career goals in future as it will help me to
enhance my basics about different elements. My high level of dedication has helped me to get
positive results and developed learning of all the study material taught in classroom. In order to
enhance my experience of getting same chance in future I am required to develop my quality of
time management so that I can reach to all the classes on time. In order to make sure that I will
act differently next time I will analyse old experience of mine and try to resolve the issues which
are affected me previously.
There are various challenges which were faced by me while completing this module. The
thing which didn't went well for me is distance between my house and university which
sometimes affect my reaching time to the classes. In this situations my fellow classmates has
helped me by providing me notes. Causes of these things which didn't went well are
transportation, climate change etc. In order to learn effectively I also searched online which
helped me to gather additional information about all the elements which are taught in the classes
(Asch, 2017). The future challenge for me is lack of awareness about information technology. I
am expecting that this problem gets resolved properly with the help of taking proper classes for it
and I will deal with it by focusing upon the courses available in the market.
1

I have developed my learning throughout the module and I have analysed that for all the
individuals it is very important to adapt all the knowledge which is provided by lecturers in
university. I am currently studying in Regent College London and I am pursuing Bachelor's
Degree. In order to provide reflection on development of my learning I have selected Gibbs
Reflective Model. With the help of it individuals can share their personal experience with others.
There are six different stages of it which are: description, feeling, evaluation, analysis,
conclusion and action plan (Gibbs reflective cycle, 2019).
The first stage is description I which details about the event is provides. While studying
in the college I got opportunity to study the module of preparing for success: knowledge and
creativity.
Second stage of the model is feeling where people can share their personal feelings with
others (Easterling and Johnson, 2015). While learning different elements from the lecturers in
university I felt very excited because it was a great opportunity for me to enhance my skills such
as English, IT, presentation, essay writing etc.
The third stage is about evaluation where good and bad experience is evaluated. The
things which went well for me is my learning experience because the module helped me to
develop my skills and enhance knowledge. For the purpose of the development I have attended
all the classes regularly so that I don't miss a single lecture.
Next stage is related to the analysis of the bad and good things experienced while the
module. Reason behind my good learning experience is support of my lecturers and classmates
who have guided and helped me through out the module.
The fifth stage is related to providing conclusions to the whole event. The learning
experience of the module has helped me to develop different skills of mine. These are
communication, reading, reflective, researching, IT, presentation, evaluating and citing
authenticate sources etc.
The last stage of the module is action plan which is based upon future planning. If I get
the chance of learning in future again then I will make sure that I manage my time effectively
and be aware of external factors which may affect my learning. The required skills will be
developed by me by getting proper guidance from tutor and other experienced people of
university.
2

I will approach future challenges and expectations of university course with the help of it
because it has helped me to develop some of my key skills. While pursuing a course in future I
will use all the knowledge and skills which are acquired by me this time (Martin, 2017). Main
purpose of using them is to reduce the possibility of issues such as lack of knowledge about a
specific topic or lack of a skill which is required to develop learning experience. In order to
approach the future challenges I will brush up my skills by practising continuously and
reviewing the present learning. With the help of it I will be able to find my strengths and
weaknesses. By analysing them I can find the best suitable ways to attempt the goals which are
set by me for future. Present experience of mine for this module is very good and all the
learnings will be used by me to fulfil all the expectations of a university course in future .
CONCLUSION
This paragraph shows conclusion of my learning. During the module I have faced
challenges and also learned various things. The skills which were developed by me during the
module are CV writing, referencing, preparation for interviews formal and informal emails etc.
The challenge which was faced by me is distance between my house and university.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Asch, A., (2017). Critical race theory, feminism, and disability: Reflections on social justice and
personal identity. In Disability and Equality Law (pp. 143-176). Routledge.
Easterling, B. A. and Johnson, E. I., (2015). Conducting Qualitative Research on Parental
Incarceration: Personal Reflections on Challenges and Contributions. Qualitative
Report. 20(10).
Jones, P., Hillier, D. and Comfort, D., (2016). Sustainability in the hospitality industry: Some
personal reflections on corporate challenges and research agendas. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(1). pp.36-67.
Martin, I., (2017). Whither adult education in the learning paradigm? Some personal
reflections. Concept. 8(2). p.23.
Online
Gibbs reflective cycle. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.eln.io/blog/gibbs-reflective-cycle-model-1988>
4