MANAGEMENT ESSAY
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Management Essay
Since I have moved to the United Kingdom, I was always looking at how I can improve my language and skills. As a beginner, I started working in low-income jobs to pay my bills and live from payday to payday. As my aspirations were bigger than that, I have started to look for better-paying jobs and opportunities. Also, I have successfully managed to apply for university, and then 2020 came. The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on my experience as a student covering seven weeks of the PSKC module using Driscoll’s Model of Reflection. At the beginning of the module, I was ready to be a full-time student, full of energy, passion, and desire to get a better job, career, and life. Unfortunately, 2020 had different plans.
To better understand my experience, it is significant to define reflection; all the time, we reflect on situations of our daily lives. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2019), reflection is defined as a consideration of ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Simply, it helps in offering more clarity and a deeper understanding of a situation by gaining more insights that cannot be taught. Commonly referred to as ”experimental learning”, the reflective model, according to Kolb, systematically analyzes reflection in two levels, where it first examines the four stages of learning and then addresses four separate styles of learning. The combination of the two helps in creating a student’s internal cognitive processes that have the ability to an understanding of abstract concepts and apply them flexibly in different situations. The four learning styles are assimilating, diverging, converging, and accommodating. The four concepts in the learning cycle are concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Dennison, 2010). Also, reflection was defined by Schon as the practices that professionals do to have an awareness of learning from their experience and their implicit knowledge base, where he presents the elements of ”reflection on action” and reflection in action”. There are two types of reflection based on Schon’s model, one after an event or activity and another during (Schon, 1991). More so, John Driscoll came with a reflective framework that is founded on the significant questions by Terry Boston; so what? What? and now what? (Plack et al., 2005). To offer a deeper reflection of my experience, I will apply the Driscoll model in evaluating my experience.
In my learning experience on the PSKC module, I will apply the Driscoll reflective model. Following the government policy of staying at home to minimize physical contact with other people, most of the learning that I attended at the London School of Science and Technology were online through the Webinar app and from the tutorials handed out from school. To access my assignment briefs and other learning materials, I used the LSST connect. For the few times that I had to attend the classes physically, it was scary that I would interact with other students and the tutors; however, I followed the Covid-19 safety guidelines such as using hand sanitizers, maintaining social distance by sitting two meters from other students and wearing a mask. Despite these being initiatives to protect ourselves, it made the learning experience very challenging and stressful. Other students felt the same way, and the situation was demotivating at certain times. Through the application of the Driscoll model, I will reflect on my experience in the next paragraph.
To better understand and reflect on my experience, I will apply the second question in the Driscoll model, so what? It will in analyzing the event by examining certain aspects such as my reaction, why I reacted in a certain way, and many others. With the motivation to get good grades at the end of the module, I was really excited to begin it; however, I was slightly distressed when I started learning about PSKC because I came across ideas, concepts, and models that were new to me. Currently, due to the assignment brief, I feel more confident in approaching it. When I got stuck and needed help, I would reach out to my fellow students and my lecturer. Also, the lecturer’s feedback helped in reflecting on my skills, knowledge, abilities, and understanding. Through the reflection of my experience, I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses that can be used to inform my future practices.
More so, for a thorough analysis of my experience, I will apply the third question of the Driscoll model; now what? In order to inform future practices, this question requires that actions must be recognized. With some challenges encountered during the PSKC module, I will, therefore, use my experience to examine my feelings so that they cannot negatively affect the other students. Also, I will use my experience to seek help from the relevant departments as a student in my professional and personal development. More so, to further improve my skills and abilities, I will seek one-on-one appointments, seek help from the lecturer and Academic Support, and seminars conducted by the Academic Support. Through this experience, it will be easier to address similar challenges in the future.
In my PSKC module, reflection has offered a deeper insight. It also helped in inquiring about my thoughts, feelings, and knowledge as a student. As a result, I have been able to make sense of challenging, complicated, and meaningful situations so that I can learn from the experience and apply it in similar situations in the future.
Bibliography
Dennison, P. (2010). Reflective practice: The enduring influence of Kolb’s experiential learning theory. Compass: The Journal of Learning and Teaching at the University of Greenwich, 9(1), 23-28.
Dictionary, O. E., (2019). Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved February, 4, 2019.
Plack, M. M., Driscoll, M., Blissett, S., McKenna, R., & Plack, T. P. (2005). A method for assessing reflective journal writing. Journal of allied health, 34(4), 199-208.
Schön, D. A. (Ed.). (1991). The reflective turn: Case studies in and on educational practice. New York: Teachers College Press.