MODULE REFLECTION
INTRODUCTION.
From Learning and Academic Skills, I had no expectations regarding what I would be
learning. I was new to the module, however, I suspected that it would be teaching
about how to become a proper academic student. From the IVC module, I had
anticipated that it would be related to the Commerce subject I did in high school. I
expected to advance my knowledge on topics like Entrepreneurship, forms of
businesses and how a business is start up and run. In ICT and Learning Resources,
my expectations from the module, were to learn the significance of computing and
internet to the accounting profession.
The LAS and ICT and Learning Resources modules have taught me a lot about
myself. Topics like Emotional Intelligence, Group Formation, Learning Styles and
Critical Thinking in LAS has helped me to adapt learning mechanisms that I believe
will help me throughout the Accounting and Finance major. I have always had the
belief that studying early and studying on daily basis does not work for me since I
cannot retain the information I studied for in my mind for a long period. As such I
have always studied a week before an exam, and it worked for me. Contrary to that
belief, my experience in college has shown me that I need to study well in advance
at the beginning of the semester, so that I am able to retain information effectively. It
has also helped me because, I can just browse through my notes and be able to
remember most of the stuff I learnt.
The topic of Group formation has taught me that working in groups is better than
working alone. In high school, I preferred studying alone because most of the subject
only required memorizing what I learnt in order to pass exams. (Cram. Pass. Forget).
However, in college I find that studying alone is not helpful mainly because the
modules require critical thinking and are much more technical and practical, which is
where group discussions step in. Group discussions are very efficient because
different perspectives come into play, and I was able to get different methods of
approaching questions from my colleagues. At the beginning of the semester, I got
into a group. Our group was not very functional at the beginning; however, learning
how to manage and use our emotions and that of others wisely, like exercising
empathy, kindness, and self-awareness helped us to work well with each other.
GROUP CHATS
I have always known that public speaking is difficult for me. On our first presentation
on LAS about Emotional Intelligence, I did not do so well as I got stage fright and
forgot the part, I was supposed to make a presentation on. However, having realized
such weakness in me, I failed to take the necessary steps that would have made me
a better presenter, like joining a debate club in order to improve my self-confidence
and public speaking, as our lecture had suggested. The failure to make an
improvement on my public speaking resulted in me struggling to deliver a stellar
presentation on the ICT group assignment. As usual, I got stage fright and forgot the
part I was to make a presentation on. In this regard, as my action plan to improve my
presentation skills, I have started watching videos on YouTube that talk about the
strategies of dealing with stage fright and methods of delivering a good presentation
Infront of many people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthbZPxM-do&t=487s
The topic on Note Taking on LAS module has taught me the strategic ways of
mapping and organizing my notes on a clear and understandable manner. Note
taking was described as jotting down the most important points when being taught.
This skill has been beneficial because I was able to refer to my short notes when
studying. I understood them better than the lecture’s notes since I paraphrased them
to my own understanding. I already had this skill from high school., so I reinforced it
by learning about mind mapping which has helped me to properly organize my
notes. For example, I mainly used this skill on the IVC lessons because it had so
many detailed long notes. So, during the lessons, I would pay attention to the most
important details and jot them down in a mind map, using different color pens.
A MIND MAP
On the ICT and LAS module, I also learned about proper academic writing and
reporting. The understanding I have acquired about the appropriate academic writing
is that the sources of information used as reference should be pee-reviewed. That
means the information should be reliable, credible and should have been produced
and reviewed by professional within the same field. On the assignment of the
literature review, I used peer-reviewed sources like journals and books from the BAC
library to support the arguments I made on my report. As regards to citations and
referencing, I have learnt that it is ethically and academically right to acknowledge
the original authors of the information I used on my reports. I learnt how to use the
6th APA style of referencing on my academic reports. For in-text citations, the last
name of the author and the year on which the material was published should be
clearly stated. For example, for the literature review, I read a journal article from the
Journal of Accountancy entitled How to Become a Great CFO and it was written by
Sabine Vollmer in 2017. So, in order to acknowledge Sabine Vollmer, I inserted an
in-text citation as per the APA style of referencing standards as (Vollmer, 2017). This
source also appeared on the reference list as; Vollmer, S. (2017). How to become a
great CFO. Journal of Accountancy. 36-38. Proper paraphrasing, referencing, and
citing has helped me to score lower plagiarism scores across my assignments. In
LAS literature review, my plagiarism score was 3% and on the ICT essay, it was 9%.
For the IVC module, I had anticipated that I would be reinforcing my knowledge on
topis like business startup and entrepreneurship because it sounded like a module
related to Commerce, which I did as a subject in high school. In order to learn the
module properly, I intended on erasing everything I knew regarding those topics so
that I learn afresh and be able to comprehend the topics as they are taught in
college. I failed to do so and ended up getting bored most of the time in lessons.
However, on the new topics like the Business Environment, I learnt a lot as my
judgment was not clouded by my past knowledge and there were no contradictions.
In high school, teachers always kept track of our school so that we manage our time
well and do not miss deadlines. This helped to manage my time well. However,
lectures do not follow anyone around to submit assignments and this has made so
much freedom that I failed to manage my time well. I submitted all my assignments a
few hours before the deadline, which shows that I procrastinated and worked on
assignments late. As a way forward I have made a timetable for the next semester
that will help me manage my time better.
TIMETABLE
CONCLUSION
I have learnt a lot about myself from all the modules this semester. LAS has taught
me Critical Thinking, where I learnt that every statement should be analyzed and be
evaluated to avoid biasness. In ICT I have learnt that establishing a clear
communication channel among people promotes good relationships and teamwork.
The IVC module has reinforced my knowledge on entrepreneurship. The overall
experience on college has inspired me to be more self-disciplined and learn time
management because no lecture is not going to follow me around me to complete
my assignments.