Personal Development Plan - Essay Example

Lecturer PDP: My approaches to learning While considering the task of developing my Personal Development Plan I realized that in order to maximize my own potential I must first understand, assess and determine who I am, what type of person I am, why I study, how I learn and what my goals are. In other words I needed to reflect on different aspects of me as a person and me as a student. I started with a short 'Study Skills Assessment' questionnaire provided by the Cook Counseling Center, which is division of Student Affairs at Virginia Tech. The questionnaire provided questions aimed at determining whether or not I had good study skills. After completing the thirty two questions on line, I received feedback indicating that I should seek further assistance with time-management, concentration, note-taking skills, test preparation and test taking skills and writing skills. Thinking about this I wrote up a personal SWOT analysis with the aim of trying to find out exactly where I was falling short and where I needed to improve. I found a downloadable example from Bristol Business School, belonging to the University of Western England, which helped me with the questions I should ask myself. I found it very difficult to determine my strengths except that I think I am imaginative and very personable at a social level. My weaknesses however, were easier to determine. I know I have trouble with writing, especially long assignments or reports - this PDP assignment is not too difficult because it is broken into different parts. I am very disorganized and never seem to have enough time to finish my assignments on time or have enough time to review the day's or week's lessons. My performance in seminars is not good enough because I am not properly prepared nor positively alert or motivated. I also worry a lot about whether or not I can finish everything and whether or not I will pass. The main opportunities I could think of were gaining a good job in a good company after graduation and making my family happy by studying hard and graduating. Threats were easier to think about. The biggest threat, gaining a qualification, is obviously dependent solely on me and relates to my weaknesses. Only I can fix things but I believe I have the strength to overcome my weaknesses and prevent them from stopping me taking advantages of my opportunities. At least now I have thought about my strengths and weaknesses and understand that I need to develop in the following areas: time-management, applying myself to study by acquiring appropriate study habits and learning strategies and determining clear goals and objectives. Next I completed a simplified version of a learning approaches questionnaire (based on Approaches to Study Inventory (Tait & Entwistle 1996) and provided by Bristol Business School. Results indicated that I had a surface/passive approach to learning and that I tended to reproduce information and tried to memorize subject matter rather than delving further or seeking to extend that information; that I kept closely to the syllabus provided by the lecturers and did not follow up interest of my own, and that although I really tried and wanted to pass in order to gain a qualification, sometimes I did not do so well. At this point I wanted to know more, so because learning styles is one component of this PDP assignment, I decided to spend time researching learning styles and strategies. I wanted to take the first step in the challenge of changing from a surface learner (not questioning) to a deep learner, and find out more about what learning styles and strategies were, before determining which best suited me. (Refer to essay below on Learning Styles.) My second step was to find out more about time-management, not only because it was a component of this PDP assignment but also because I obviously needed to improve this skill. Again, I began with research in the area to acquire as much information as possible, from which I could then develop the most appropriate time-management strategies for my success. (Refer to essay below on Time Management.) My final step was to complete a 'Reflective Review' (Bailey ) on what I had learnt while devising my PDP, which included thinking about things such as whether I understand why I have not been performing to my best, and whether I now know how I can, and what changes I will need to make to do better. (744 words) Learning Styles Learning styles are the way that we learn. The way we learn can develop and alter over time as we gain knowledge and experience. Research indicates that there are many different categorizations of learning styles available today. For example, there is the 'impulsivity-reflectivity' dimension, the 'holist-serialist' dimension, the 'intuition-analysis' dimension, the 'wholist-analytical/verbaliser-imager' dimension, the field-dependence/field-independence dimension and the field-sensitivity/field-insensitivity dimension. (Cheng-Yi). Also, Chen-Yi tells us that the terms, learning styles and cognitive styles as well as other learning style terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Much of the research undertaken on learning styles since 1975 however, are based on Kolb's Learning Cycle and Learning Styles Inventory, which focuses on an experiential dimension. (Bailey "Learning Styles.") The reason learners may find difficulty in learning is sometimes due to a mismatch between the learning materials or teaching approach and the learner's learning styles, in which case the learner needs to adopt strategies which can help them learn better and overcome learning difficulties. In other words, they need to develop different learning strategies appropriate to their personal learning styles. Learning strategies therefore, unlike learning styles, are adopted or adapted by users and can be changed according to different tasks and learning contexts. (Cheng-Yi) With this new found knowledge of learning styles and strategies, I set about finding out about my own personal learning styles by firstly completing an on line 'Learning Style Inventory' with the University of South Dakota. This questionnaire looked at three types of learning styles - visual, auditory and tactile. My results suggested I was both a visual and a tactile learner. A visual learner means that I remember what I see rather than what I hear: I remember diagrams and pictures; I prefer to read and write rather than listen; I have trouble remembering verbal instructions; I like art more than music and sometimes I tune out when trying to pay attention. A tactile learner means that I often take notes or even draw pictures or doodle while I am listening; I remember best what I do; I memorize by moving around and I like 'hands on' activities and group interaction. I understand a little more now why I have problems with my study. If I remember things best by writing them down, I need to spend more time doing this. I need to take better notes in class and I need to write notes when I am reading. I do not do this, so now I must remember to do it. I found another type of questionnaire when searching the internet - the on line Learning Style Assessment offered by Bournemouth University. (Bailey) This assessment uses the concepts of deep, surface and strategic learning, which are not meant to describe me as a person, but rather my chosen approach to studying and what my motivations are for this. The questionnaire included thirty eight questions on how I learn and the approaches I use to learn and a deeper analysis of my answers. To my surprise, I found that results again pointed to my learning approach as surface oriented: relying on memory to learn and having difficulties making sense of things; finding it difficult to relate details or seeing the big picture and always worrying about not coping with my work load. Strategically, the questionnaire suggested I also fell short in that I lacked in effort, organization, time management, direction, academic self-confidence and that I had no real clear goals or aims. So what does all this mean for me I think it shows that I am not studying in the best way I can, so I need to find better ways of studying. I need to find some good strategies that will help me. Because I am a visual learner, I will try to take good written notes in class and perhaps use a highlighter to show the important points. I will pay attention to pictures in text books and study any diagrams or charts. I will draw mind maps to help me to organize my work so that I can use it to revise and visualize things to remember them better. Maybe I will put some mind maps on my wall so that I can see them all the time and remember them more easily. I need to take lots of study breaks too, when I am studying. (Words: 724) . Time Management Time management is the ability to manage time effectively. As students, better time management skills can improve our grades, help us maintain control of stress, and help us to be competitive in the careers we undertake following our college education (Poser. 1) It seems that every book, article or web site on time management starts off by asking us to keep a time-log for a day, sometimes for a week and at other times for a year. Poser (1) however, suggests a cyclical system that begins with setting goals and explains that this system involves five phases: goal setting, tracking time, plan making, taking action and finally, shifting and adjusting, which then goes back to goal setting and thus keeps circling. Goal setting involves writing down four or five goals that you want to achieve, so in doing this I considered a couple of my short term goals and a couple of my long term goals. My goals, especially my short term goals, will probably change but thinking about them will help me focus on what I need to do to achieve these goals. I had already learnt that I possessed poor time management skills from my learning style analysis and so set about doing this component of my assignment eager to find out how I could help myself. As part of this assignment I needed to develop a weekly time log and opted to write my own, rather than a proforma. A time log is a way of tracking time and is the same as Poser's phase two. I kept a record of all the activities I undertook each day over one week with the purpose of examining and identifying my own attitudes to time-management and to realize where I am spending and wasting my time. This was a useful device to help me examine my own attitudes to time-management, recognize the nonproductive areas of my time usage and evaluate the need for them to improve my academic and personal performance. Table 1: Personal Weekly Log Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 7:00 Woke up had a shower Woke up had a shower Slept Slept Slept Slept Slept 8:00 Breakfast Went to college Breakfast Went to college Woke up had a shower Slept Slept Slept Slept 9:00 Lecture Marketing Lecture Economic Breakfast Slept Slept Slept Slept 10:00 Seminar Marketing Seminar Economic Went to college Slept Slept Slept Slept 11:00 Seminar Marketing Seminar Economic Tutorial Woke up had a shower Woke up had a shower Woke up had a shower Slept 12:00 Had lunch Had lunch Had lunch Shopping Religion Watched TV Woke up had a shower 13:00 Lecture Accounting Lecture PDP Studied in Library Shopping Religion Went to the caf Watched TV 14:00 Lecture Accounting Lecture PDP Studied in Library Had lunch Had lunch with my friends Had lunch Had lunch 15:00 Stayed in Cafe with my friends Stayed in Cafe with my friends Stayed in cafe with my friends Stayed in Cafe with my friends Went to Leeds with my friends Went to city center Went to the caf 16:00 Back home Back home Back home Back home Went to city center Back home Back home 17:00 Watched TV Watched TV Watched TV Watched TV Went to cinema Went to the swimming pool Watched DVD 18:00 Relaxed Relaxed Relaxed Relaxed cinema Swimming pool Watched DVD 19:00 Had dinner Had dinner Had dinner Had dinner Went to restaurant Back home Studied 20:00 Gym Gym Gym Gym Restaurant for dinner Had shower Studied 21:00 Gym Gym Gym Gym Back home Went to cinema Had dinner 22:00 Read a story Read a story Reading story Back home Relaxed Cinema Had a shower 23:00 sleep sleep sleep Watched DVD Watched DVD Back home Went to bed Once I had written and looked over my log I realized immediately where my failings were. It was obvious that I was wasting a big portion of my time every day. Sometimes though, wasted time can be constructive because it helps me relax or reduce tension, so that I will not worry so much. Other times though, I know it was wasteful. Recognizing and managing my time wasters is an important key to using my time effectively. I need to ask myself what I gained from doing a particular thing and whether because I did this, do I have to work harder for the rest of the day. Some of my time wasters are because of me - because I am disorganized and need to be more self-disciplined. Other time wasters are because of other people, especially my friends. They sometimes really want me to spend time with them instead of studying and I am not strong enough to say no. I think in reality, I like the interruption and probably use them and other things around me as an excuse not to study. When I look at my log I can see that I do not spend very much time for study and if I did I probably would not have to spend so much time worrying about how I will get things done. I need to set priorities and organize my time better so that I have everything ready before deadlines. I need to develop a goals plan, which is the same as Poser's Phase 3. Objective: What am I going to achieve Action steps I will take to achieve it By when will I have achieved the objective How will I know when I have achieved it What resources/ support do I need to help me achieve it What barriers might I experience 1. Improve my time management Develop a time manage-ment plan By the end of the month I will have my assignments submitted on time and I will not be stressed My plan and constant checking on my part Spending too much time with friends and other distractions 2. Develop useful strategies for studying better Take better notes, develop mind maps and visuals for revising Start from now but really never end By learning more easily without a lot of stress and getting better grades Reference to learning strategies that suit me Laziness and procrastination 3. Graduate with a good result Everything in my PDP When I graduate When I receive my degree Everything in my PDP Not observing my PDP plans 4. Obtain a good job Everything in my PDP to obtain my degree As soon as possible after I graduate When I get a good job My degree and well written CV and good references Just me Adapted from My next step is to take action. Now I must do the tasks I have written down and try to keep focused on what I want to achieve and how to get it. I should not get upset or angry with myself if I am not able to keep to my plan completely and I understand that my plan will need to be changed as I go. The biggest problem for me will be to avoid distractions and keep my attention on my work. I think the main thing is to do my best to follow my plan and check my progress so that I can learn from my mistakes. Poser's fifth phase - time shifting and adjusting refers to changing and adjusting my plan and my time management habits. I should remember that some problems may not be in my control but I need to quickly get back to my plan if I can. Time management plans often fail because they are not realistic and many people, like me, do not start a time management plan until they are already having problems, but I think my plan will help me now if I stick to it. (Words 788 without tables) Works Cited Bailey, Sam. "Learning Styles Assessment." Bournemouth University. 21 November 2007. Bailey, Sam. "Academic Reflective Review." Bournemouth University. 22 November 2007. Read More