Appendix 2: Assessment Guidance and Template for the Reflective Report • All Induction Activities must be completed before starting the Reflective Report, as they form the basis for the Study Skills assessment. • Please read all the guidance/information very carefully before starting work on your Reflective Report. • Use only Appendix 2 for this element of the assessment - ensure all guidance/information is removed before submitting work. Personal Development Planning (PDP) is defined as: “…a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development” (The Higher Education Academy, 2012, unpaginated). Completing a PDP facilitates the process of self-analysis, personal reflection and an honest appraisal of professional and academic strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to consider your transferable skills, evaluate your starting point and consider your development throughout the degree programme. Thus, the PDP helps you evaluate personal development as you reflect upon your recent experiences and focus on the next stage of development. Creating your PDP forms a part of the assessment and must be included within this Template as an Annex of approximately 500 words. The personal SWOT analysis is designed to analyse your strengths and weaknesses. You will be able to draw upon your career and any other training/qualifications undertaken. These should be supplemented by the perceived opportunities that have been derived from your experiences and any threats to your academic and professional success. 1. Setting Aims. This stage involves setting out your personal aims which will link to your objectives at Stage Three. Your aims should focus on your academic studies and your personal and professional development. 2. Setting Objectives. This involves setting clearly definable goals which are measurable (SMART Objectives) to help you achieve your Personal Aims. You need to consider objectives to successfully complete your degree programme and consider your professional aspirations. When you have completed all four Induction Activities, submit the Assessment Template with the completed PDP to your Tutor. Whilst waiting for feedback, re-read the Assessment Brief for the Reflective Report, ensure you are clear what is required of you and engage in appropriate academic research on relevant topics. You need to include evidence of academic research, properly sourced, throughout the Reflective Report. Aim to contextualise the research by considering the implications of what you have written, rather than simply relating it. Use sub-headings to plan a draft of your 1500 word report. Take care with the resources you use and be guided by the Reading List. Be aware that many websites use information produced by a single person which is then published online: the information may not be correct and suggestions unfounded. A lot of websites fall into this category and are not considered appropriate research to underpin academic assessments. To avoid this, you should draw primarily on academic text books, as well as looking at the journal databases through the library website, as these are all credible sources and offer a deeper insight for your research. Having carefully edited your work (to enhance it), proofread and spellcheck your work several times (to detect/correct all errors), then submit the first draft of your Reflective Report to your Tutor - you may submit 3 drafts for formative feedback. When submitting draft work, leave the previous comments in your work so your Tutor can see how/if you have responded to the feedback. This helps to ensure you are adopting the correct approach to this module in particular and your academic studies in general. However, all feedback comments must be removed from the final piece of work prior to uploading it to Blackboard. Prior to uploading the assessment, the work should be submitted to Turnitin and you should review the originality report. When you have implemented all feedback comments and consider the work is fully complete, edit, proofread and spellcheck it again. Then submit your final work via Blackboard on or before the deadline date, emailing your Tutor to advise you have uploaded the work. The work will be marked and feedback made available to you within 15 working days. It is important to reflect upon the feedback so you can action it within subsequent assessments. Remember to remove all info/guidance when submitting work to your Tutor. Module One: Study Skills Student Name: Student ID: Degree: Module: Module One: Study Skills Reflective Report Module Tutor: Date of Submission: Word Count:   Assessment Brief for the Reflective Report 1500 words (plus PDP of 500 words) The Reflective Report accounts for 50% of the Study Skills module assessment. The Reflective Report enables you to demonstrate the reflective practice skills which are needed throughout your programme of study. As it is a consideration of your thoughts and feelings, the Reflective Report must be written in first person, but there are times you will need to write objectivity ie when considering academic underpinning. The title for the Reflective Report is: What impact has the initial induction activities had on the development and content of your Personal Development Plan (PDP)? Presentation of work: Your work must be presented professionally, within this Assessment Template and in the following format: Font: Arial Font size: 11 Margins: Fully justified (as on this page: left and right margins are blocked) Line spacing: 1½ line spacing, with a clear line space in between paragraphs. (The PDP may be presented in single line spacing). Title page: The Title Page provided in this Assessment Template should be completed and form the first page of your assessment. Note that a Submission Sheet must be completed and uploaded with your assessment as a separate document. Content of work: The Reflective Report should be 1500 words (plus/minus 10%) and focus on the induction activities, considering the topics of the four Induction Activities, ie: Referencing (including plagiarism), Academic Writing (including ethics), Reflection, and PDP. The structure of the Reflective Report should be: Introduction (approx. 10% of word count) • Outline the aim, objective and scope of the report, with reference to the literature to demonstrate the academic support and basis of your work. You might want to briefly acknowledge the importance/relevance of reflection and personal development planning. Main Body (approx. 80% of word count) • Note that whilst the Induction Activities form the focus for the assessment, there is no need to address them in that order: for example, as it is a Reflective Report, you may wish to introduce/consider reflection early in the main body of the work. • As it is a report, the work should have appropriate sub-headings: when devising your sub-headings, ensure the report has a logical structure. • Ensure the work is focused and makes clear and specific linkage to your PDP in the Annex. • Reflect on the importance of the Induction Activities and consider how mastering these skill sets may impact upon your overall success in your academic studies. • Reflect on your current transferable skills and consider how these may need to be developed to enable you to achieve success in your degree programme. • Ensure that you include appropriate and sufficient reflective theory or frameworks within your report, and that they are properly sourced (use the Harvard Referencing Guide). Conclusion (approx. 10% of word count) • Aim to answer the question set in the title. Do not introduce any new material in the conclusion. • Provide your underpinned and supported final opinion based on the body of the report - include academic references where appropriate to gain credibility for your assertions and arguments. • If appropriate, make a final statement to illustrate your final learning and understanding.   Reference List • Please check the correct format of the Reference List in the Harvard Referencing Handbook and ensure all sources referenced in your assessment are correctly listed here. • Include only sources that you have referenced in the work – any additional research that you undertook should go in a Bibliography. • It is very important to use appropriate academic books/e-books and journals/e-journals as the basis for your research. • Whilst you may use the internet, take great care to ensure that the sites are valid and appropriate for academic purposes – sites such as Wikipedia, Businessballs.com, MindTools.com etc are inappropriate for academic research.   Stage One - Personal SWOT Analysis The focus of the personal SWOT should be your personal development in relation to your academic studies and career aspirations. Consider: • your strengths and weaknesses • any external opportunities and threats that might impact upon your personal development Strengths (internal factors) Weaknesses (internal factors) Opportunities (external factors) Threats (external factors)   Stage Two - Setting Aims (these should link to your objectives at Stage Three) Focus on your academic aims (ie completion of your Degree), and include personal and professional aims where relevant, for example, opportunities available to you as a result of your academic studies. Short Term Aims (next 12 months) Medium Term Aims (1-4 years) Long Term Aims (5 years +)   Stage Three - Setting Objectives (link to your identified aims at Stage 2 and focus on academic studies and your personal and professional development.) What are my development objectives? Priority Delete as applicable What activities do I need to undertake to achieve my objectives? What support/resources do I need to achieve my objectives Target date for achieving objectives Actual date of achieving objectives High Medium Low High Medium Low High Medium Low High Medium Low High Medium Low High Medium Low High Medium Low Indicate below the dates you will review your progress during your WBDL degree Review Dates: