Assessment 2 Reflective Journal
Aim of the Assessment
The aim of this assessment task is to enable students to:
(i) identify areas for improvement and development in their future professional practice, and
(ii) explore and develop their capabilities for reflection in management, especially in the context of their future professional practice, including (but not limited to) their management skills and emotional competence, working in syndicate teams and in the context of the sustainability of business.
Details
Students must keep the reflective journal by posting eight weekly entries, of 300 words each, to their confidential vUWS site. Separate entries must be posted in each of the eight weeks, before the start of class in Weeks 4-11 (inclusive of Week 9 Semester break). The Week 11 submission is the Denouement. The reflective journal must include two mandatory topics: you will be required to reflect on your future professional practice in relation to (i) emotional competence, and (ii) culture and diversity (Please note that this reflection will support CLO 5). The weekly reflections in other weeks can be on any topic of relevance to your future professional practice, including (but not limited to) topics such as your management and leadership skills, working in syndicate teams, interview experiences and the sustainability of business.
There are seven weekly reflections, and a reflective Denouement of 300 words (Week 11), totaling eight reflections . The Denouement will represent the last entry in the reflective journal, but it should not be framed as a simple summary of the weekly reflections. Instead, the Denouement is a reflection about the process and significance of reflection, in the context of your future professional practice. By concluding the reflective journal, the Denouement may take the form of a reflection in which the predominant issues, ideas or matters raised in the weekly entries are reflected upon or resolved to bring the reflective journal to a close.
Each student’s confidential reflective journal is located in vUWS under the “Reflective Journal” tabn on the left hand side menu – no student has access to, or can view, any other student’s reflective journal.
No attachments are to be submitted to the Reflective Journal tab.
The reflections should focus on your self-awareness, your insights or your learning about your future professional practice in management or your capacity to address obstacles to your future practice. The reflections should identify areas for improvement and in your professional practice. In preparing their reflections, students can draw attention to a wide range of issues, ideas or matters that bear on their own awareness of self, including their attitudes, performance or experiences of some relevance to professional practice. There should be some relevance to the matters covered in this unit or to the students’ activities in this unit.
The reflections can be prompted by anything that triggers your imagination or captures your attention from any of the Workshops, the class discussions, the readings, the team work, your engagement activities with relevant businesses or any associations you can make with any of these. With connections to the past, the present and the future, each reflection should take the following format:
- Descriptionof a situation, event or occurrence: this is a very brief description of something that happened in the past that might have triggered your reflection. (This has a focus on the past).
- Critical explanation or analysis: this is your explanation or analysis of the past event or occurrence in the context of your awareness of your own individual management practice or your learning about yourself. (This connects the past event with your current thoughts about it.)
- Reflection: this is your reflection about how your insights about the past event or occurrence can contribute to your future professional practice. You should focus on how your own individual characteristics will influence your future professional practice: what are the areas for improvement or development, and how will you address them? Here are some questions that might assist you to develop your reflection: What have you learnt about yourself and your attitudes to or capacity for management in the future? Will you need to change in any way? How? How will you implement the change? Are there any obstacles or pitfalls? How can you use your new knowledge or ideas in your future professional practice? How might your new knowledge or ideas about yourself impact you or your professional practice? What do you need to do differently? Is that possible? How do you need to change? Is that likely or possible? How? In what ways can you apply the things you have learned from the past situation, to your future professional practice? How should you manage the situation or event in the future? (This has a focus on your future professional practice.)
The entries in your reflective journal (including your reflective denouement) will relate to your own experiences, thoughts, feelings, impressions, intuitions, expectations and concerns, and the entries should therefore be written in the first person, using words such as “I”, “me” and “my”. Do not write your reflections in the third person: for example, do not reflect on what “managers should do”. Write about yourself, and your future professional practice.
Submission Requirements
– The reflective journal should be 1,200 words in length incorporating three weekly reflections of 300 words each and must include the two mandatory topics (Culture and Diversity and Emotional Competence) plus one other reflection of your choosing, as well as the reflective Denouement of 300
– Submit the word document to Turnitin through the link below. No hard copy submission needed.
Useful resources for your reflections:
WSU Study Smart PDF’s
https://westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1082686/Reflective_writing_Purpose.pdf
https://westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1082779/Reflective_writing_Structure.pdf
https://westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1082783/Reflective_writing_Tone.pdf
Other Resources
Watch – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoI67VeE3ds Hull University, UK
Watch – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntBj0FIApw The University of Melbourne
