Personal Development Portfolio: Skills, Reflection, and Growth

This personal development portfolio provides evidence of skill development for personal and professional growth. It highlights the acquisition of academic skills like reading, note-taking, and communication, as well as professional skills relevant to Business Management, such as leadership and decision-making. The portfolio includes evidence related to reading and structuring assignments, effective habits, research and referencing skills using the CRAAP model, and teamwork skills through the Tuckman model. A reflective statement discusses the individual's effectiveness as a Business Management student, the impact of the module on future success, and the application of academic and personal development models to enhance learning. The portfolio demonstrates a commitment to continuous self-improvement and the development of skills necessary for future career success. Desklib provides access to similar portfolios and solved assignments to aid students in their academic journey.

Personal Development
Portfolio

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Portfolio Evidence (1).................................................................................................................3
Portfolio Evidence (2).................................................................................................................5
Portfolio Evidence (3).................................................................................................................6
Portfolio Evidence (4).................................................................................................................7
Reflective statement.........................................................................................................................8
Reflect on being an effective student of Business Management in higher education.................8
Reflect on how acquisition of skills through completion of this module would assist me to
achieve personal and future success............................................................................................9
Explanation of two models of academic and personal development and how this has improved
my learning..................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
For career development and personal growth, individuals learn various personal,
academic as well as professional skills to strengthen their knowledge, capabilities and self
improvement. At the academic level, students are able to develop their research oriented skills
such as basic skills like reading, note taking, communication, writing and reasoning skills. These
skills assist the individuals in their academic development to proceed further to learn the advance
and professional skills for promoting further growth. Professional skills include the advance
skills in particular specialised field of the individual such as Finance, law, Medicine, Economics
etc. (Boyle and et. al., 2021). After completing the graduation or academics, when students enter
new institution for pursuing any professional course such as Business management, they learn
many skills such as leadership skills, decision making skills that facilitate career oriented
development. The following report will cover the Portfolio evidence regarding development of
skills of the individuals for personal growth. It will cover the Reading and structure assignments,
Effective habits, Research and Referencing Skills through CAARK Model, Team and Group
working Skills through Tuckman Model. It will also cover the Reflective statement on the
development of these skills.
Main Body
Portfolio Evidence (1)
Reading and Structure assignments
Reading skills are very crucial for academic as well as professional development. These
skills are basically learnt at higher education or academic level, but assist the individuals
throughout their life in all fields of education. These skills help the individuals in improving their
respective languages and in learning new terminologies (Dekker. and Kim, 2022). When students
are given assignments at academic level to make report , they have to refer various articles
through online as well as offline modes, magazines and other sources of information to collect
the information regarding assignment. Students should be good at note taking to collect the
relevant content for the report assignment. At the same time, their Structure assignment skills
should also be effective. For example, to prepare the assignments, they need to form ideas to be
presented in the report and make structure of the report through grouping of paragraphs and
notes etc. The following are the ways to improve reading and structure assignment skills:

Reading Skills : To improve the reading skills, following are the essential skills to consider :
 Decoding : It refers to the ability of an individual to sound the word out. It focuses on
phonemic awareness that requires the ability to listen the sounds in words and connect
them to letters.
 Fluency : It refers to reading the content clearly with flow. It concentrates on the ability
to decode the terminologies quickly. it impacts the ability to comprehend the reading
material.
 Vocabulary : It refers to the ability of finding the meaning of terminologies used in the
content. Ability to interpret the meaning of terms used in the reading material helps in
improving reading comprehension.
 Inference : It means to connect the information of the content to the ideas and opinions
of the reader that helps in clearly understanding the information. It is required when
reader has to use its own logical thinking in understanding the texts.
 Retention : It refers to retaining the information we read. It helps in better review of the
information by retaining it in a summarised manner that helps in strengthening the
reading skills of the individual.
Structure Assignment : Individuals need to consider the following recommendations to
improve the assignment writing skills.
 Concept and Research : Read the essentials of the assignment to be included to make
notes on and collect the information about. Collect the authentic and relevant information
by effective research through online as well as offline sources. Individuals can refer
textbooks, articles or journals; google scholars to get the latest and updated information
for making the assignment appropriate.
 Critical thinking : It is required to measure and analyse the collected information
through various sources. It must be sorted and structured for making the better
presentation of assignment.
 Standardised Structure : Structure of the assignment should be made understandable to
provide easiness in reading, it should include proper introduction, paragraphs and
conclusion. It should not contain long sentences or paragraphs or any irrelevant
information (Earle, 2022).

 Rectification of errors : The assignment should be free from any grammatical errors in
writing to avoid wrong interpretation of the information contained. Individuals should use
outlines to organize the topics on a serial order.
Portfolio Evidence (2)
Effective Habits
Individuals need to improve their skills to excel in academic as well as professional
education. While pursuing business management, they need to face the challenges and develop
strong academic as well as professional skills to learn professionalism and become a good
manager. They should be able to develop the following effective habits for enhancing the skills
to achieve their goals :
 Time Management : In business schools, students are given assignments by different
professors that they have to complete and simultaneously they have to prepare
presentations to deliver, attend seminars and industrial visits conducted by institution, so
they should be able to develop the habit of managing the time effectively for completing
assignments (Knight, BuddBruehl, and Pan, 2021).
 Teamwork : When the individuals are given group projects, they have to conduct group
discussions and give their perspective on the related topic according to their specialised
field of knowledge such as Finance, Marketing etc. They need to develop interaction and
communication with the team members. So, they are required to develop effective and
collaborative efforts for better teamwork.
 Learn skills Proactively : Individuals should learn the skills proactively for the next
tasks or positions. They should be ready for the upcoming tasks and able to apply their
specific skills in completing that tasks. To impress the teachers or employers( as the case
may be),they should develop the effective habit of learning the skills proactively.
 Adaptability : Students should develop the habit of flexibility and be ready to adapt to
the new circumstances and uncertainties of the future. When students of business
management move to other cities or countries to pursue study, they need to adapt to the
new environment and culture of the institution. So they should develop the effective habit
of adaptability.

 Punctuality : Individuals should develop punctuality to complete their tasks on time and
impress their teachers. This facilitates effective career growth by enhancing the status of
the individual in the organization.
Portfolio Evidence (3)
Research and Referencing
Research refers to finding and collecting the relevant information to be used in preparing
the assignment. It includes searching of information through online as well as offline sources.
Referencing is a crucial part of academic writing. It states the context of the work and depicts
the research in depth. It shows the source of information used with citations (Lerner, Zbenovich,
and Kaneh-Shalit, 2021) . Individuals need to develop their skills to make effective research and
referencing in their assignment. While conducting research, they need to evaluate the sources of
information which can be done using CRAAP Test in following manner :
CRAAP Test
This test is conducted to identify the source of collected information to evaluate its
quality. It refers to Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. It provides the list of
questions to assist the individual in analysing the searched information. By identifying the
authenticity of sources with the suitability of their assignment, they can select the appropriate
source of information. It is described hereunder :
 Currency : It refers to the timeliness of the information. It states to check whether the
information has been updated or not, the date of publishing, its authenticity and the
functionality of its links. The information collected must not be outdated i.e. individuals
should collect the current information or revised information to make their assignment
authentic.
 Relevance : It refers to check whether the information is relevant for the assignment i.e.
appropriate and suitable for the assignment. Individuals should make research to select
the relevant source and collect the quality of information.
 Authority : It states the source of information i.e. the name of author or publisher or any
other source. The credentials and qualifications of the author are checked with their
contact information and email addresses. For any other source, its URL can be checked.

 Accuracy : It refers to the authenticity and correctness of the information. The collected
information should be supported by evidence and should not contain any spelling or
grammatical errors (Manzoor, Mohd-Isa, and Dollmat, 2021) .
 Purpose : It means the reason of the existence of information whether it is created to
inform, teach or for any other purpose. In this, the objective of information, facts and
biases are checked.
Portfolio Evidence (4)
Teamwork
It is a process of working together in a group to achieve a common goal in an
organisation. When the group of people work cooperatively by combining their strength to better
their overall performance is termed as teamwork. Cooperation enhance the ability to
communicate well and share their creative ideas which may help in getting the objectives of the
business.
Importance of teamwork
Teamwork plays an essential role in a company because it helps in finding better
solutions to the problems and enhance the productivity to attain the goals. In a team, the
employees share their ideas and knowledge that assist in learning new skills (Murphey and et. al.,
2021) . They also provide competence to one another so that they can maintain communication
and cooperation with others in order to facilitates the tasks. So, here are the importance which
are described as under:
Innovative ideas: When the employees work in a team so they are able to exchange their
innovative ideas which provide them assistance in learning new things and enhancing their skills.
Teamwork encourage the works to bring cognitive content which enable the company to increase
its reputation.
Solving problems: The collaboration help each employee in solving their problems
because they exchange their thoughts that can deal with different difficulties. They easily find
solution to the question through brainstorming while doing their work.
Efficient work: By working together, the employees give their best performance because
the difficult tasks are divided among the employees which facilitates faster working. Through
teamwork, people uses their specialised skills so that they can work better and faster.

Build morale: Then people among group have different perspectives that help others in
learning new skills and opinion. This leads to build morale of the employees because each
member has something special to offer that make them feel a strong sense of belongings and
deep commitment to each other.
Tuckman Model
This a model that focuses on the ways of handling task by the team members from the
beginning to the end of the project. The theory develops the maturity and ability among the
workers and establishes relationship of cooperation (Owino, Mwaniaand Asakhulu, 2021) . So
there are four phases which provide collaboration in a team that are depicted a under:
Forming: This is the first stage where the accumulation of team is done together and the
task is allocated to each of them. There is high dependence of members on the leader for the
guidance and direction because each of them want to be accepted in a group and avoid conflict.
Storming: This stage states that people share their creative ideas address to the task
which lead to conflict among them and broken of relationship. This phase has may problems in
which team has to make strong leadership to provide better solution.
Norming: This phase explains that the team has to create harmonious relationship to each
other by accepting various policies and regulations. They begin to trust one another where roles
and responsibilities are clearly accepted.
Performing: This is the last stage where the members of a team have to perform their
tasks to achieve the goal of an organisation. There is true independence in this for making
development of each member.
Reflective statement
Reflect on being an effective student of Business Management in higher education
By studying business management in higher education makes students to develop abroad
understanding about the business along with its specific areas or function which helps in
operating a business in proper manner. It also help students to increase their knowledge as well
as develop various skills in order to become an effective entrepreneur or business leader in future
(Reilly, 2021). I pursued my higher education on business management in order to develop
various abilities and capabilities which helps me to operate and manage my future business in
more efficient manner. This will create various opportunities for me in order to make my future

career more better. This will help me to improve my business knowledge and skills that helps me
to make effective decision for any critical situation which may arises in future. The studies of
business management provide leadership qualities which help me to lead my future team in more
efficient manner. Teamwork is an important skills which I develop from studying business
management which help me to understand how to unite my team members as well as influence
them to work together for achieving organisational goals and objectives. The other important
skills that I develop from this is marketing skills which is also a most essential skills for me that
helps me to develop various innovative marketing strategies in order to make me future business
to grow rapidly. While studying in higher education various programmes are organised which
also helps me to learn how to handle my future business in more efficient manner.
Reflect on how acquisition of skills through completion of this module would assist me to
achieve personal and future success
Pursuing business management in higher education help student to develop various
skills, capabilities and understanding in order to operate a business in more efficient manner.
From this I develop effective habits which helps me to manage me business in appropriate
manner as well as achieve goals in most effective manner. Effective habits makes me proactive
and synergise in order to understand my business properly as well as make effective strategies
and decisions which helps me to manage my future business successfully as well as improve my
career also. Research and referencing skills is an most effective skills for me because it provides
an ability to me in order to conduct research effectively which helps me to achieve my future
business success and make my future career more successful. The important skills that I develop
in studying business management in higher education is team and group working skills which
makes me effectual in order to manage my future team or employees effectively as well as
influence and motivate them to give their best in performance which helps in achieving the goals
and objectives of company and increase their growth in more expeditious manner. Reading and
structure assignment skills makes me to read any important document and information properly
which helps me to operate my future business in better manner as well as achieve its success
effectively.
Explanation of two models of academic and personal development and how this has improved
my learning
Model 1- VARK learning Style

This learning model was given by Neil Fleming for helping student to learn about their
preferences. It describes 4 learning styles that helps student improved their learning are visual,
read or write, auditory and kinesthetic (Silva, and et. al., 2021) . The application of this model
will support me in my personal and academic development. The explanation of various learning
style along with their role in my academic and personal development is explained below:
Visual learning: In visual learning style, student uses diagrams or graphs in order to
understand the information in appropriate manner. This learning style will help me improve my
academic presentations as I will be able to use visual knowledge to make academic presentations
more attractive. I need to improve my knowledge about creating and interpreting graphs and
charts so that my visual learning can improve.
Auditory learning: This learning style involves the usage of audio and class discussion to
understand a topic and retrain knowledge for longer time period (Sood, and Sarin, 2021). I will
be able to use auditory learning style to participate better in class and group discussion. This will
help me gain best of my educational experience and perform well in all academic areas. I need to
enhance my listening skills in order to build this leering style.
Reading and writing learning style: Textual knowledge is consumers in order to
facilitate learning under the reading and writing learning style. I will be able to prepare better for
written assessments and enhance my academic performance through this learning style. I need to
enhance my note taking skills to develop this leaning style.
Kinaesthetic learning style: Taking direct action and practical activities supports learning
under the kinaesthetic learning style. I will be able to enhance my soft skills needed for personal
and academic development with the help of this learning style.
Model 2- Personal Growth Model
The application of this model in context of my personal and academic development is
provided below:
Belief: This stage focuses on gaining motivation to attain personal growth objectives. I
will motivation theories to increase my personal motivation for achieving academic success.
Plan: This part of the model requires individuals to create detailed plan for attaining
decided objectives (Yeung, Carpenter and Corral, 2021). The development of SMART action
plan will help me attain personal development objectives.

Action: In this stage I will take systematized action to achieve various objectives and
utilize time management tools to ensure that objectives related to my personal growth and
academic growth.
Result: This stage involves observing the end result so that progress can be evaluated. I
will utilize KPI's to monitor my academic and personal growth. The KPI's will be related to
various skills such as communication skills so that results can be easily observed.
Review: The final stage involves evaluating progress. In this stage I will evaluate m
progress so that strengths and weaknesses can be determined and I can again follow the personal
growth model to work on the identified weaknesses.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that personal growth is essential
because it helps in career development. This improvement can be made though learning various
skills at academic level that assist in professional development. This report has stated how skills
can be improved for personal growth by reading and structuring the assignments. For individual
evolution, the effective habits are developed to be a good student where different skill are
learned. Further, it has also explained CAARK model in which the method of research and
referencing skill have stated. In addition to this, it has furnished the information about the
teamwork and their importance and also explained the Tuckman model in application to
teamwork.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Boyle, M., and et. al., 2021. Evaluating Cognitive-Linguistic Approaches to Interventions for
Aphasia Within the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System. Archives of physical
medicine and rehabilitation.
Dekker, H.D. and Kim, J.A., 2022. Mechanisms of Propagation and Factors Contributing to
Beliefs in Neuromyths. In Learning Styles, Classroom Instruction, and Student Achievement (pp.
21-37). Springer, Cham.
Earle, E., 2022. An impostor “among us”: Teaching group development and cohesion
online. Communication Teacher, 36(1), pp.5-9.
Knight, J.D., Budd, S., Bruehl, M. and Pan, D., 2021. A Paired Set of Biochemistry Writing
Assignments Combining Core Threshold Concepts, Information Literacy, and Real-World
Applications. Journal of Chemical Education, 98(12), pp.3758-3766.
Lerner, J., Zbenovich, C. and Kaneh-Shalit, T., 2021. Changing meanings of university teaching:
the emotionalisation of academic culture in Russia, Israel and the US. Emotions and
Society, 3(1), pp.73-93.
Manzoor, S.R., Mohd-Isa, W.N. and Dollmat, K.S., 2021. Post-pandemic e-learning: a pre-
protocol to assess the integration of mobile VR and its effect on VARK learning styles (preprint).
Murphey, T., and et. al., 2021. Group Dynamics in Psychology. The Routledge Handbook of the
Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching.
Owino, W.O., Mwania, J.M. and Asakhulu, N.M., 2021. Attachment styles as predictors of
substance use among secondary school students in Nairobi County, Kenya.
Reilly, C.A., 2021. Reading risk: Preparing students to develop critical digital literacies and
advocate for privacy in digital spaces. Computers and Composition, 61, p.102652.
Silva, J., and et. al., 2021. Model for predicting academic performance in virtual courses through
supervised learning. In Proceedings of International Conference on Recent Trends in Machine
Learning, IoT, Smart Cities and Applications (pp. 967-975). Springer, Singapore.
Sood, A. and Sarin, J., 2021. Learning Styles: An Overview. Indian Journal of Forensic
Medicine & Toxicology, 15(3).
Yeung, K.L., Carpenter, S.K. and Corral, D., 2021. A comprehensive review of educational
technology on objective learning outcomes in academic contexts. Educational Psychology
Review, 33(4), pp.1583-1630.