PREPARING FOR SUCCESS AT UNIVERSITY: KNOWLEDGE AND CREATIVITY
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
The assignment consists of a reflective essay that enables with the acknowledgement of development that has taken place and the skills and knowledge that are enriched during the course. The essay reflects on the learning gained at the university. Also, the essay reflects the current learning style and approach in comparison with the earlier learning style. The reflection consists of reflecting upon the skills that are developed and the skills that are further improved. The last section of the essay reflects the advancements and the current state of self with enriched skills. The completion of the assignment is through applying the learning attained from module.
MAIN BODY
During this journey of mine at Oxford Business College, I am more pleased to acknowledge that I am experienced large scale advancements in my skill base. There are multiple areas in which I was having non knowledge and skills an only after being enrolled in the course and while its completion I came to acknowledge the importance of certain skills and the manner in which they can help me in advancing in personal and professional aspects. Also, this course helped me in recognizing the development in my learning style and the manner in which the same helped me with the completion of the course.
Concerning my learning style before this course, it was more of visual reading and writing. This is as I used to learn concepts through repeated readings and writings in order to retain the information for longer period of time. Though this facilitated me with the development of better and sustainable reading and writing skills but makes it unable to retain the information for longer period of time (Espinoza-Poves et al., 2019). Eventually it somehow leads to lowering the confidence and also my hard work was of no use at the end. After being enrolled with the course, my learning style was changed and now it consists of a mix of visual and kinesthetic learning styles. The visual learning style is of significant importance for me as it facilitated me to retain information for longer period of time that in turn boosted my confidence. Also, with long retaining the information, I was able to further develop my knowledge in a particular field knowing that I am able to recall what I have learned through visual learning (Espinoza-Poves et al., 2019). Still the issue I encountered with visual learning is the lack of experiencing and application of the theoretical knowledge gained. This compelled me to start applying the knowledge in physical contexts and real time circumstances. With this practice, I eventually stated learning things through engaging in physical application of theoretical knowledge. It was my teachers that guided me with the manner in which better learning can be attained. They guided me through informing that through applying your knowledge in practical situations; it eventually becomes your experiences and the outcomes of you physical activity will be your learning that will be with you for long period of time (Awang et al., 2017). This eventually helped me.
Concerning the change I experienced in my learning style, also I came to acknowledge that I developed problem solving skills as earlier I was not able to acknowledge the solution to my issues but as I changed my learning style I was able to expand my knowledge through reflecting on my experiences that eventually allowed me increasing my learning. Now with better problem solving skills I am more confident and eager to learn new things without having the fear of failure (?ncebacak and Ersoy, 2016). This eventually improves my academic efficiency.
Communication is one of my poor skills as though I have good knowledge of language as an outcome of mu earlier learning style i.e. reading and writing, but lack of interaction makes in unable to express my knowledge to others. With the change in learning style and being at this university, I started interacting with people and with teachers and this continuous process eventually helped me with the development of effective communication skills (Ellison, 2015). With better communication skills, I am able to better express my opinions and views that leads to productive discussions and eventually results in enhancing my knowledge. With better communication skills I am now a confident speaker and this is due to the multiple opportunities that university provided me through allowing and motivating me to engage in presentations and seminars (Hargie eta l., 2017).
Other skills that are developed during this course are the digital skills and presentation skills. As I developed visual learning style, I increasingly engaged in activities over internet in order to find more visual content regarding the topic. This eventually resulted in development of better search skills and digital skills (Iordache et al., 2017). Apart from digital skills, another skill is the presentation skill. As I started communicating my opinions and views, this eventually leads to development of self-confidence that in turn allowed me to present my views in front of students and crowd. Also, the course provided me with many opportunities to present my knowledge and this repeated chances motivated me to improve mi presentation skills more and more (Van Emden and Becker, 2016).
Eventually, these advancements that are better communication skills, evolved digital and search skills will helps in future professional development as these are considered to basic requirements in employment and specially being a digital marketing manager that is my chosen career. The visual and kinesthetic learning styles will enable me with continuous learning across my life and the knowledge gained will be retained for longer period. This will help me both in personal and professional aspects.
CONCLUSION
The overall experience I am having with this course was significantly productive as in enabled with the development of many essential skills that proves to be instrumental in making me a more confident, better presenter and a lifelong learner that in turn will help in both personal and professional developments.
REFERENCES
Awang, H., Abd Samad, N., Faiz, N.M., Roddin, R. and Kankia, J.D., 2017, August. Relationship between the learning styles preferences and academic achievement. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 226, No. 1, p. 012193). IOP Publishing.
Ellison, D., 2015. Communication skills. Nursing Clinics, 50(1), pp.45-57.
Espinoza-Poves, J.L., Miranda-Vilchez, W.A. and Chafloque-Céspedes, R., 2019. The Vark Learning Styles among University Students of Business Schools. Journal of Educational Psychology-Propositos y Representaciones, 7(2), pp.401-415.
Hargie, O., Dickson, D. and Tourish, D., 2017. Communication skills for effective management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
?ncebacak, B.B. and Ersoy, E., 2016. Problem solving skills of secondary school students. China-USA Business Review, 15(6), pp.275-285.
Iordache, C., Mariën, I. and Baelden, D., 2017. Developing digital skills and competences: A quick-scan analysis of 13 digital literacy models. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 9(1).
Van Emden, J. and Becker, L., 2016. Presentation skills for students. Macmillan International Higher Education.
