Reflective Essay: Foundation Year Learning and Growth

This reflective essay offers a detailed account of a student's experiences during their foundation year at university. The essay explores the skills acquired, including online research, classroom presentations, and group work, highlighting the positive impacts on communication and teamwork. It also acknowledges areas for improvement, such as essay writing, listening skills, and homework habits. The student reflects on these challenges and outlines a plan for future development, including seeking additional resources and adopting strategies to enhance their skills and performance. The essay concludes with a strong emphasis on the importance of continuous learning and self-improvement to achieve higher grades and better career prospects. The essay references various academic sources to support the student's reflections.

REFLECTIVE
ESSAY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Entering into university is a challenging phase which is full of learning new things and
concepts that would help an individual succeed in future. My foundation year experience has
been very helpful in shaping up my career. The concepts learnt in university could enhance skills
of individuals and make them competent to face tough scenarios in the most appropriate way
(Biggs, 2011). In university, I have learnt how to develop and execute a class room presentation.
Presentations help students to develop their communication and public speaking skills which
would be essential to enhance their performance at their workplace in future (Živković, 2014). I
learnt how to work in groups. This made me realise the importance of teamwork. Group works
help the learners in gathering knowledge about each other's ideas and how to best use each
other's experiences to attain the goals (Cohen and Lotan, 2014). I also learnt how to perform my
own reflection. Through evaluation of personal skills, strengths and weaknesses, it has helped me
in enhancing my abilities and give my full potential in activities at college. The agenda of
university in teaching reflection was to develop better understanding of the proper use of
grammar, better essay writing skills and proper sentence structure (Murdoch-Eaton and Sandars,
2014). University taught me how to effectively gain knowledge online. It was aimed towards
enhancing the research abilities in the students.
TASK 1
With so much to learn and ways in which students could enhance their capabilities, the
foundation year in the university was quite enriching for me. I learnt quite a few skills during
that time. I even learnt how to conduct the research online. It has made me more competent as I
could now conduct a systematic and timely research. Moreover, online learning has helped me in
focusing on only the relevant information online and not the irrelevant one. Despite of presence
of abundant inappropriate data, I can now derive relevant information about the research topic.
Another thing that went right was group work. I developed an appropriate understanding of my
group members which has now made me able to keep the people surround me satisfied and
productive. Through group work, I have learnt how to indulge in constructive conflicts, respect
each other in terms of knowledge and skills, how to be patient at hard times and lastly be
collaborative and supportive towards team members. My class room presentation also have
improved from the past. By indulging myself more in these presentations, I have gained

knowledge and ability about the most appropriate manner in which opinions and knowledge
about a specific concept should be presented in public. I am now competent and productive
during such presentations and I have gained proper knowledge about how to respectfully and
effectively contradict irrelevant concepts that seem unfit for general scenarios. It has helped me
enhance my verbal communication skills. Such enhanced communication skills help individuals
in their career development.
TASK 2
However, not every aspect of this learning was fruitful for me. I have failed to improvise
in few crucial concepts which are essential to build a competent image in public. I'm still
ineffective inexpressive and ineffective in developing reports as my essay writing skills have
been weak despite of indulging in sessions in university. I fail to frame proper sentences during
reports and elongate a single sentence more than it is actually required. In addition to this, I fail
to properly use sentences which makes my reports ambiguous and vague. I'm still quite
ineffective in using grammar in sentences which leads to presence of various grammatical errors
in the report. My writing skills are still ineffective that continue to hinder my performance. I am
still incompetent in properly using punctuations in sentences which sometimes change the
complete context of my sentence. Even in class room presentations, though my verbal skills are
very good, but I am not an effective listener. During presentation of fellow students, I usually
divert my focus from what is being said. Effective listening would help individuals in enhancing
communication practices which is essential in enhancing efficiency (Caspersz and Stasinska,
2015). My home work also fail to create an impact on the professors. This is because I don't tend
to focus on important concepts while working at home which is essential for the grades as well
as personal knowledge. I lack in developing proper focus on the content I write as there is no
monitoring of my work and research at home. Moreover, my home work usually lack uniformity.
Be it font sizes or effective use of references, there are major errors in my home work
assignments.
CONCLUSION
In case I get a second chance, I would really work towards enhancing these skills and
increasing my efficiencies. I would take extra sessions in college and would spend more time in
university library to gain knowledge on how to increase my essay writing skills. I would even

produce sample essays on various topics that will be evaluated by my professors. This would
allow me to gradually increase these skills and perfect my reports. To develop effective listening,
I would attend more seminars that happen in the university. I would also try to take notes on
things that are being said which would develop my concentration on the speakers. To enhance
my home work skills, I would indulge in various courses that would help me develop my focus
while working. I would learn how to use appropriate references in the assignments, how to
regulate the flow of information, how to be specific in selecting the relevant information and
appropriate font that could easily be understood by the professors. I would emphasize even on
precision, which would allow me to involve only relevant information in the assignments.
Moreover, it would help me develop my writing skills too which is essential in making a report
effective. Taking these measures would be an opportunity for me to enhance my capabilities and
perform at the best way possible. Moreover, it would help me achieve higher grades and better
remarks from my professors which will be very beneficial for my career development.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Biggs, J.B., 2011. Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does. McGraw-
Hill Education (UK).
Caspersz, D. and Stasinska, A., 2015. Can we teach effective listening? An exploratory study.
Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice. 12(4). p.2.
Cohen, E.G. and Lotan, R.A., 2014. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous
Classroom Third Edition. Teachers College Press.
Murdoch-Eaton, D. and Sandars, J., 2014. Reflection: moving from a mandatory ritual to
meaningful professional development. Archives of disease in childhood. 99(3). pp.279-
283.
Živković, S., 2014. The importance of oral presentations for university students. Mediterranean
Journal of Social Sciences. 5(19). p.468.