A Reflective Essay on the Learning Process in Higher Education

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A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
Name of Student
Name of University
Learner's Note

A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
Introduction
In a learning process, it is never enough to just perform a task. Rather, to assess and evaluate that
task also has the same level of importance. This type of learning is known as reflective learning,
and it shows the various success and failures of the learner during performing the task, and
possible improvements that can be adopted by the learner in the future to do it more efficiently
and effectively (Ghanizadeh, 2017).
Learning this module has greatly helped me as a student, as it has allowed me to gain expertise in
academic writing, which is much more standardised than regular writings. Moreover, going
through this module has significantly changed my learning style into reflective learning,
essentially allowing me to analyse any new learning material and reach a deeper understanding
of it. This has also allowed me to develop a critical style of thinking process, essentially letting
me understand the various positive and negative sides of any particular viewpoint.
Discussing about the hard skills and technical knowledges that I learned during this module may
not be viable. Hence, this essay will cover the soft skills and general techniques that I have
learned from this module, especially the ways to use the referencing style of Harvard to prevent
plagiarism in academic writings, the methods to write precise academic report, the methods for
effectively paraphrase an existing writing, identifying authentic information source and
incorporate reflective thinking in my learning process.
Task 1: How and why you have developed as a learner during this module
Plagiarism
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A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
This module has allowed me to understand the implications of plagiarism in academic writing,
and the ways to avoid it. Before I only knew about the definitions of plagiarism, but its
significances in academic writing was beyond my knowledge. During this module, our class
teacher specifically emphasised on properly referencing our academic writings with
bibliographic and in-text citations. Our class teacher also told us in detail about the consequences
if plagiarism is found in an academic writing. However, despite this, the tendencies of plagiarism
is quite high in the world, as research shows that more than 45,000 research papers and academic
assignments had more plagiarism than an acceptable limit (Heckler and Forde, 2015).
This lesson made me understand that plagiarism is essentially the inclusion of other people's
original writing in my own writing without giving that person his or her due credit. I also
understood that while importing the original works of other persons in my academic writing is
essential to maintain its quality, I have to give those persons their due credit and properly
acknowledge the presence of their works in my writings. However, I also learned that one of the
best ways to avoid plagiarism is to summarise the original works before including them in my
writings. Making summaries of a piece of writing is all about identifying the key points in that
writing, and rewriting those texts as per my understanding of it (Steck et al., 2018). Not only this
allows me to express my own thoughts, but I believe this skill will also help me in my
advancement towards level 4.
Information sourcing
In any academic writing, the accuracy of information is very important (Kim and Chai, 2017).
Naturally, to ensure the accuracy of information used in an academic writing, it has to be ensured
that the information is gathered form a credible source. This is even more true in the modern
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A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
digital age, where distorted and baseless information can easily be designed to look reliable and
posted over internet for anyone to see (Gruber, Cheyer and Pitschel, 2016). After going through
this module, my approach of gathering or sourcing information has significantly changed. Unlike
before, when I used to incorporate information from any sources in my writings, now I judge the
credibility of any information very deeply before using it. This has also helped to enhance my
capability of critical thinking, and I believe it will help me in my future studies and career
pursuit.
Task 2: Further reflections on how to approach future challenges and expectation of
university course
Further reflection
From my experience of my academic career, I have understood that unlike school level study,
university-level academic study requires showing much more responsibility and initiative from
my side. In other words, I have to clear my own misunderstandings by consulting with my
professors and researching information provided by experts, essentially developing a self-
dependent approach regarding the study.
However, going through this module has significantly boosted my confidence level, although I
realise that I still have some shortcomings, such as my discomfort in communicating to multiple
people. In my career of academic studies, often I have to deliver PowerPoint presentations in
front of a group of people. However, with my inability to fluently speak in front of people, it will
certainly prevent the success of my presentations (Bridges and Luks, 2016). This is why I have
taken admission in Happysoftskills Ltd., which is a private coaching institute that provides
various trainings to sharpen the soft skills of its clients. After this, my mass communication skills
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A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
have significantly improved, although It has yet to become perfect. This is an example of me
deciding to confront one of my shortcomings and try to cure it, as I plan to continue doing the
same in future.
Conclusion
After the completion of this module, I feel that I have managed to develop several new skills
which have increased my confidence level. For instance, I have fully understood the concept of
plagiarism, and its negative impact on the quality of an academic writing. I have also managed to
gain skills like making summary and paraphrasing, which are often the best to avoid plagiarism
and point out my own understanding at the same time. Now I do not have to make exact copies
of the class lectures. Rather, I note down the key points and create a summary of the entire
lecture, making it easier for me to learn and remember. Above all, I have learned to better judge
the credibility of an information source, and managed to enhance my critical and reflective
thinking style.
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A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON LEARNING PROCESS
References
Bridges, T.M. and Luks, A.M., 2016. How to Give a Great PowerPoint Presentation.
In Handbook of Clinical Teaching(pp. 63-75). Springer, Cham.
Ghanizadeh, A., 2017. The interplay between reflective thinking, critical thinking, self-
monitoring, and academic achievement in higher education. Higher Education, 74(1), pp.101-
114.
Gruber, T.R., Cheyer, A.J. and Pitschel, D.W., Apple Inc, 2016. Crowd sourcing information to
fulfill user requests. U.S. Patent 9,280,610.
Heckler, N.C. and Forde, D.R., 2015. The role of cultural values in plagiarism in higher
education. Journal of Academic Ethics, 13(1), pp.61-75.
Kim, M. and Chai, S., 2017. The impact of supplier innovativeness, information sharing and
strategic sourcing on improving supply chain agility: Global supply chain
perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 187, pp.42-52.
Steck, F., Lewis, M., Richter, T., Deane, P., Roth, A., Litz, A. and Goswami, V., 2018.
Behavioral Differences Between Retyping, Drafting, and Editing: A Writing Process Analysis.
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