Assignment 1.
The Business Professional
Reflective Report
By Ishaan Jadhav
Student ID: 19054587
In this report I’ll be reflecting to you my experiences during the learning of the module The
Business Professional at The University of Hertfordshire using Gibbs’(1988) Model.
It is the first time ever that I have travelled alone to a different country. I was really nervous at
the beginning on how things would work out at the University because every thing was so new
for me, but as days passed I was getting really comfortable with a new place. I was just worried
about one thing that I had joined the University a bit late and how would I cope up with the
studies that had already been done, I was fortunate enough to get an extension on my due
reports and started studying the module right away. As I progressed with the units I started to
analyse myself and asked whether I had these skills in me. Thanks to the module that it made
me pause and think about myself and the skills that I have learnt in the process. This was the
very first time that I was experiencing digital learning as the background I come from didn’t use
much of digital learning.
1.0 Time Management
The very first unit of the module was an introduction to digital learning and how to use the
resources provided by the University. I was surprised that there were so many skills and
strategies to take in account to be a Business Professional. The very first skill I came across
was Time Management, I have come across many experiences which had taught me Time
Management, when I was in high school we had been assigned a group project and we had a
lot to manage. I was really confused on what should I focus on. I had a lot of activities to carry
out at the same time. Then I thought to myself that I should allot time slots to each and every
activity that I have to carry out and tried to do it in the given time. That’s when I realised the
importance of time management and I can say that I have this skill in me and I’m trying my best
to keep it that way. Although it was really helpful to watch videos of students who shared us
their experiences and strategies to learn smart.
1.1 Harvard Referencing It
is the first time that I have come across the term Harvard Referencing. Here I learnt that all your
work needs to be evidenced witch proper referencing of the author and the theory you use. I
was really astounded that the University was really strict toward plagiarism but know that it is for
developing an individuality among the students and also to respect the authors that have
worked hard for their theories. I hope with practise and more exposure towards Harvard
Referencing I’ll master the use of references wherever necessary in the future.
1.2 Introduction to Excel
Before coming to the University I had no idea what were the applications for Excel. This module
introduced me with the basic functions as to what Excel can be used for. The CASE website
has really introduced a lot of academic skills that needs to be enhanced during my time at the
Business School. It really supports me to learn new things that I haven’t learned before. I learnt
how to create charts, carry out basic functions such as Sum, Average, Count, etc. It also
introduced me to some advanced functions such as VLookup, SumProduct, Matrix operation,
etc.
1.3 Introduction to Essay and Report
This Module also helped me understand the difference between An Essay and a Report. It
simplified the concept of essay writing and made it pretty clear on how to write a perfect essay.
The Wh questions you need to ask yourself to make your essay more elaborate and the use of
paragraphs in an essay. There was a time when I struggled writing an essay and couldn’t
elaborate much on the topic given. I’m surely going to use the tricks given in the module the
next time I write an essay. Although I’m familiar with writing an essay, writing a report is a
completely new thing to me and I’m still learning on how to write a report. I have read the format
on how to write a report given in the module but I’m still unsure if my first report is going to be a
better one. But I’ll still keep on working on it until I’m thorough with it.
1.4 Employability
The most interesting part of the module was the topic Employability. Here we were updated on
the preferred skills that the Employers look for when recruiting. I would love to brief my
experience on these 9 skills. The first one is Commercial Awareness which I was known to ,
from the time when I was in high school I was really keen on the things that were going around
the commercial word and the Businesses that were creating a revolution in the modern world.
The next one is Time management which I have talked about earlier. The next one is Emotional
Intelligence for which I was instructed to watch a video of a TedTalk. After watching the video I
was questioning myself whether I had ever thought of the term Emotional Intelligence and its
importance in the real world.I had never knew how to control my emotions but that video made
me stop and think that we should give importance to emotions. Not only ours but also
understanding the consequences of how our reaction would affect others and taking that into
consideration as well. Me being an extrovert in nature never really struggled with social skills
but I think I lack a little in empathy but I’m working on it to become a business professional. The
next skill was Problem Solving which according to me is the most necessary skill to have in an
individual. I’m yet to be exposed to such circumstances where I can take the role of a problem
solver. The next skill learned about was the ability to work as a team in collaboration with other
people, adaptability is the key factor here but I’m yet to experience teamwork although we did
some activities in which we were asked to make teams and discuss a particular topic and we
had to explain our point of view regarding the topic given to the tutor. Self Assessment is also a
major skill that was introduced to me, there were questions that were asked and I had to rate
myself on the skills that I have which made me realise what skills was I lacking in. I was also
told about how I could get the experience of a workplace i.e. by doing internships or taking a 3
day virtual placements, etc.
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