UGB160 Essential Study and Employment Skills: Skills Audit & Personal Development Planning Report

UGB160 Essential Study and Employment Skills Skills Audit & Personal Development Planning Report Submission date: 12/01/20 1 Contents 1.0 Introduction - Importance of developing study and emp loyment skills at University3 1.1 Importance of Personal development planning3 1.2 Aims and purpose of this report..3 2.0 Skills Audit.4 2.1 Evaluation of key skills..4 2.2 Communication skills.5 2.3 Time management..7 2.4 Gibbs' Model of Reflection..8 3.0 Personal development research and planning..10 3.1 English for Academic Purposes and English for Business studies..11 3.2 Placements..13 3.3 The study skills14 4.0 Conclusions.14 Academic References.15 Non-Academic References16 Appendix A – Personal Development Plan.18 Appendix B – Gann Chart..22 Appendix C – Team Project Plan.24 Appendix D – Team task presentation.26 2 1.0 Introduction - Importance of developing study and employment skills at University. In addition to the obligation to listen and attend lectures, engage in exercises and do homework, a student of the university must also take care of his / her development through independent learning. During the study, the learner not only broadens his knowledge but also develops his skills, which we can divide into study and employment skills for the purpose of this report. The development of both of them at the university is very important. Study skills such as writing, critical thinking or research skills must be constantly improvedat each subsequent stage of education, more advanced and skilful work is required (Gallagher, 2016). The ability to find relevant information for written work, interpreting data and the ability to present research are the basic skills of every student. However, in the work environment, we are involved in similar processes. For instance, writing work reports, analysing sales data or conducting market research. This means that employment skills are strongly associated with study skills (Morgan, 2017). The development of study skills is the foundation for gaining strong employment skills. Taking care of them at the university stage is important because it makes the student more attractive in the labour market after graduation (Gallagher, 2016). 1.1 Importance of Personal development planning Personal development, which is related to the degree, is an investment in the future that brings measurable results. Students who set specific goals, improve their learning skills, and evaluate their learning abilities achieve better grades than other students (Garvalia and Gredler, 2002). Planning personal development not only increases academic performance but also prepares to function at work. Many organizations require to have and constantly update a professional development portfolio (CIPD, No date). 1.2 Aims and purpose of this report The report aims to illustrate the experience and evaluate my skills while participating in 'Take 25' which was aimed at collecting the maximum amount on a budget of 25£ within 4 weeks. The collected funds were transferred to The Children's Foundation which in cooperation with the University of Sunderland organized this challenge. The Children’s Foundation is a North East children's charity, set up in 1990, with the idea of improving the 3 health and wellbeing services for children and young people in the North East & North Cumbria (The Children's Foundation, No date). The report's task is also to reflect and evaluate my skills in the context of a management student. This work will focus on assessing my personal development during the first semester and planning it for the next 11-18 months. 2.0 Skills Audit Skills audit can be defined as "A systematic process which identifies the skills or competencies held by an individual or a group" (Hayton, 1991). It is a popular method in education for student self-evaluation. The skills audit is a simple but powerful tool. When an individual or group identify their abilities, the natural consequence is to evaluate them. This allows to identify strengths and weaknesses and helps set specific goals for further development. Continuous use of skills audits makes it easy to monitor your learning progress. Students who used this tool show greater confidence in identifying their own abilities (Kitchin, 2013). Skills audit also has an impact on students' future careers. The specific identification of own skills helps choose the right profession (Hayton, 1991). Parent (2010) notes that Electrical Engineering students from The San José State University rated the experience of skills audit as helpful for future job interviews. Undoubtedly, evaluating and identifying own abilities is extremely important for effective development at the education stage and has a real impact on a future career. 2.1 Evaluation of key skills During the formative team task, I had the opportunity to develop/demonstrate a number of skills relevant to a business student's degree. One of the most commonly used skills in this task was teamwork and communication (see table no.1). I recognized both of these abilities as my strengths and developed them even more during the task. The Take 25 challenge required form us to organize well, solve the problems we encountered, and use our time management skills (see table no.1). My skills in this area were below average at the beginning of the year, but during the challenge, they were developed satisfactorily. The fundraising event also gave me the opportunity to demonstrate my IT skills and creativity (see table no.1). In the next part of this report, I will analyse and evaluate my time management and communication skills within the context of the formative team task. Table no.1