Reflective Portfolio: Skill Development from LinkedIn Learning Courses

This reflective portfolio examines the impact of LinkedIn Learning courses on skill development, focusing on Office 365, EndNote, Google Forms, and NVivo. The author reflects on the diverse learning experiences and the acquisition of critical software skills essential for professional environments. The portfolio details the practical applications of these skills in organizing work, managing data, creating presentations, and conducting research. Specific examples include using Excel for data analysis, EndNote for reference management, Google Forms for survey creation, and NVivo for qualitative data analysis. The author highlights the courses' benefits in enhancing research capabilities, saving time, and improving overall professional performance, ultimately demonstrating the value of these skills in academic and workplace settings. The portfolio concludes with suggestions for further course improvements and a strong emphasis on the advantages gained from the LinkedIn Learning platform.

Reflective portfolio on
LinkedIn learning
courses

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
This portfolio will focus on making a reflective report regarding the effects of taking LinkedIn
learning course which is a part of module. The portfolio will show the effects of learning through
the course and the skills development in the students which took the following courses (Van
Dyne and Braun (2014)). Moreover the process of skill growth within students will be discussed
with regard to the courses taken by the student. In this portfolio skill development from courses
of Office 365, EndNote, Google Forms and NVivo will be bought forward to observe the
usefulness of the courses to students, their learning and application of such skills in their final
project and professional career as well as workplace environment (Wulandari et al (2018)).
1. The learning process via LinkedIn was a diverse experience while gathering wide and
advance knowledge of Software which are critical in professional working environment.
The knowledge gained from the courses helped me in organizing and managing my daily
work while saving time and avoid confusion while working on many windows (Molina-
Azorin (2016)). With the Office 365 training I learned commands and various features
which were there known to me preceding the training. Office 365 is a multipurpose
software combining Excel, Word, Outlook, Power point and others, through which is
gained a hand on command and shortcut methods which are worth timesaving and also
effective. Like with the use of excel complex calculation and rows of data can be sorted
within seconds with use of certain command keys. Power point is a powerful software for
presentations, I learned the skills necessary to making attractive slides which will be
exponentially resourceful in professional life. Office 365 also contains Outlook which is
a tool to make organise mails with a sophisticated format which creates a professional
environment. Through the use of EndNote, now I can manage the journals and articles I
read with in a organised format with less time consumption and confusion there in.
EndNote helped me with my referencing and bibliography by adding those with easy
excess to the research scripts and work. In this training I learned to build and utilize
Google Forms, with its use I can generate complex surveys which can be shared as a link
via Emails, social media posts etc. I can make any kind of survey or form whose data will
be available to me in form of spreadsheet. Also, with use of excel I can sort out the
related data in accordance with then demand. I gained a useful skill set in operating
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NVivo, which is a software helpful in organizing and analysing qualitative data, through
the use of such I will enabled in making unbiased analysis of non numerical data with
acute precision.
2. The courses introduced by LinkedIn are highly helpful courses for any professional or
non professional individual. These courses combine a diverse knowledge and skill sets to
provide a exceptional advantage over individuals without such training. In my experience
through the whole course, I learnt various aspects of research, analysis and work related
skills. I gained knowledge of managing organising and developing with advanced skills
in Office 365, EndNote, Google Forms and Nvivo. Office 365 is a powerful tool for
preparing and creating documents, presentations and spreadsheets. For analysis rows of
data and making calculation excel is a fantastic software with tools and formulas to make
complex calculation with large data, use of ‘Freeze tool’ in excel facilitates s a user to
make calculations by freezing a cell and let other cells move. This a vastly helpful feature
of excel which makes very time consuming calculation within a blink of an eye and
thereby smooth the process for the user. Nvivo helps in analysing qualitative data with an
unbiased opinion by exterminating manipulative factors from the equation. I was of the
opinion that qualitative data cannot be analysed as it is not numeral and constant which
makes it easily manipulative in accordance with the view point of the person analysing
the data rather than being solid. But with the use of Nvivo such analysis of information is
possible as it filters any factor which is manipulating the result and helps in generating a
neutral result for the given situation. After learning such tools now I can use it to
scrutinize any piece of non numerical information to gain results which are not prejudice
and have factual grounds instead of personal effect of environment. While taking the
course I learnt the usage of Google Forms which is a widely valuable tool for developing
survey, the course gave a awareness of such which I can utilize to create surveys for my
research, the reach of Google Forms is its biggest positive as now I can not only create a
survey but also reach a higher audience through it. Thus this programme was resourceful
with application in professional and non professional life, knowledge of such software
have been useful. The videos and tutorials in the course makes easier to understand as
live working is experienced by visuals and software framework embedded in the course
lecture.
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3. Course by LinkedIn are based on the genre for enhancement of research skills in one’s
learning curve. It has enlarged my skill set regarding research and analysis by providing
with knowledge and training of such sort. The video tutorials given by LinkedIn were
facilitated learning by providing visual graphics for every information and by showing
the actual use of software which created familiarity for me regarding the features. The
course made me aware of EndNote which is extremely practical for managing and
organising the research and study materials for the research document, by using EndNote
I have been able to organise my findings with less confusion and efforts by adding them
to EndNote, such has reduced my time consumption by making my work more
professional and manageable. As such research is based on finding information through
primary and secondary sources. For primary findings survey is the most prominent tool
which provides fresh and genuine information helpful in getting the necessary results.
Making survey forms and distributing them is a large problem which I was able to
overcome by use of Google Forms, by generating survey forms through the platform I
was able to complete the survey with greater results helping me in my research outcome.
Analysing a big part of writing a paper, the skills acquired in Office 365 Excel and Nvivo
are necessary and critical part of my analysis handling. Tools of excel provide necessary
attributes to analyse large data spaces to generate results with wit and calculate such
numerical data with use of formula’s embedded in Excel. The skills and tools to use such
formula’s saves time and helps in getting reasonable results with complexity simplified. I
can use Nvivo to make complex analysis of information which is not numerical and
unstructured, that is qualitative information. Such information is generally perceptible to
manipulation and biased opinion hazards, but by using Nvivo I can analyse such
information without the manipulative and biased opinion affecting the choice made in the
results.
4. The learning curve of the LinkedIn course focused on developing skill sets to assist the
skills of learner in research and analysis. The module created and improved new skill sets
for enhancement in research capabilities and attributes of the students. I took the course
in for Office 365, EndNote, Google Form and Nvivo which enhanced overall attributes
and capabilities by learning being focused on these skills. These acquired attributes are a
big help in writing my final project. My final project demands a deep and comprehensive
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research approach to get to the final result. I will use the skills I acquired through this
course module and apply them on my project to find the desired result after examining
the research material. A inclusive study will be done of the research stuff and analysed to
find any evidences and information suiting the project topic. The research will be made
by using Google Forms to develop and start survey which will help in gathering the
desired and necessary information for the research. Such gathered information need to be
orgainsed and sorted to make sense to the user of the information, I will use Excel and
Word to carry out the sorting and organizing of the data to make relevant piece from the
information. I will search and read secondary sources of information before adding them
to EndNote in order to organise such sources. My research project needs intricate analysis
of the relevant data for which I can use formula’s and tools available in Excel to make
necessary calculations and developments to find information. As per the non numerical
data, I can perform analysis of such data by making utilization of Nvivo to classify and
read information to generate reasonable. Research project will be complete once all the
gathered information is analysed, made into organised piles to fill up the necessary file
closure. I will provide all these results into a file to accommodate the effect relevant to
research project.
5. The skills and qualities which I have gained from the LinkedIn program have provided
me with capabilities which will be of absolute use in a professional environment. The
knowledge and information from the learning module have added to my management
and improved my organising skills giving it a professional touch. Office 365 training
module involved in itself a to do list software which is a part of office 365, it is a self
organising tool which helps in setting up tasks for any period of time. I make use of the
software to time up my calendar throughout the month which organised my tasks and
help me complete them on time, such will help in me in my professionals career
immensely as it makes one particular as well as on time which are symbols to
professional abilities. Another skilful software which is enormously helpful in
management for a research professional, I learnt about EndNote whose utility is majorly
functional in professional environment as it allows user to add research papers, journals
and study materials to into a catalogue for any future reference or use. It has also been of
use to me for adding direct references to the papers as it carries features which form up
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references to by itself deducting my time consumption in forming references and in text
citations. The skills learnt in the course can be easily used in workplace environment as it
has added and developed attributes which are critical to research related work, I can use
these skills to manage my work at my future work place and develop projects with use of
skills acquired in research and analytics. This acquired skill set from the LinkedIn
courses will serve as a great advantage over other people with similar skills, I will be able
to gain greater potential and results as compared to colleagues with no such course
training.
6. In my view such a course has helped me in gaining future as well as present advantage.
Such course must be promoted which enable students in professional development via
skilled video tutorials and understanding of major concepts which help in excelling in
workplace environment. Moreover I suggest that the course should be more diverse in its
skill set development so that students can get rather varied advantage and abilities for
future. This training module was distinctive in its approach to generate research related
learning by inculcating Office 365 skills with EndNote, Nvivo will are rather great
programs for analytical skill development for me. Google Forms is a tool which improves
its modern survey tactics and helps in developing easy and excisable surveys.
CONCLUSION
From the above reflective portfolio it can be concluded that the LinkedIn learning courses are
helpful to students in developing certain skills regarding research and analysis. It also teaches
skills to students which help them in managing time by reducing the time consumption of the
students. Also with such skills students are able to gain advantage over other in professional and
personal capacity enabling them to excel in rather modes.
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REFERENCES
Carey, M. (2017). Qualitative research skills for social work: Theory and practice. Routledge.
Darling-Hammond, L., & Richardson, N. (2009). Research review/teacher learning: What
matters. Educational leadership, 66(5), 46-53.
Molina-Azorin, J. F. (2016). Mixed methods research: An opportunity to improve our studies
and our research skills.
Van Dyne, M., & Braun, J. (2014, March). Effectiveness of a computational thinking (cs0)
course on student analytical skills. In Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on
Computer science education (pp. 133-138).
Wulandari, I. G. A., Sa’dijah, C., As’ari, A. R., & Rahardjo, S. (2018, June). Modified guided
discovery model: a conceptual framework for designing learning model using guided discovery
to promote student’s analytical thinking skills. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol.
1028, No. 1, p. 012153). IOP Publishing
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APPENDIX
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