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COM10003 Personal development reflection

As an online university student with the goal of becoming a criminologist, this unit of COM1003 has given me a solid foundation that I have discovered to be invaluable. The purpose of this piece of writing is to reflect on my experience by highlighting my new-found skills and discussing the hurdles I had to overcome over the last Three months. The new learning skills I have developed throughout the course of this teaching period such as my understanding of the importance of using and evaluating online media correctly, quoting, paraphrasing and summarising as well as citing, referencing and plagiarism have all proven to be beneficial as I aim to complete my very first university degree.

At the beginning of this teaching period I had very little experience with tertiary level studies and was afraid of the academic level required for success in an online learning environment. I have found Metzger’s criteria for evaluating the credibility of online information by considering the accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage of online sources incredibly advantageous. (Metzger 2007). This newly developed skill of resourcing and referencing is truly essential to my current studies as well as my future career as anyone who views my work will expect it to be supported by credible evidence, boosting my reputation as a professional in my chosen field.

The most significant lesson of this unit for me was understanding the value of academic integrity. I have always found the thought of citing and referencing correctly to be quiet daunting, but the tools provided throughout this unit and the video from Sol Cornelius and the case files in week Two (Swinburne Online, 2018) helped me to understand the importance of honesty in academic writing and the weight of acknowledging other people’s work not only to avoid plagiarism but

COM10003 Personal development reflection also to give credit where it is due while developing my own insights. Using the work of others to help build an argument demonstrates to readers that we have done the required research before reaching a conclusion. (Swinburne Online, 2017) I hope that by the end of my online studies, my experience in this area only continues to flourish.

While all skills big or small are vital for success in study and in the workforce, the future skills literature helped me pin-point my strengths as well as areas that I need to develop. The report on future work skills analysed key drivers that will reshape the landscape of work and identified key work skills needed in the next Ten years. (Institute for the future, 2010) Through this literature, I found that social intelligence is a well-developed skill of mine. I have always been able to assess the emotion of people around me in order to adapt my words and actions, tones and gestures accordingly. As a future criminologist, this is a vital skill to have as building trusted relationships in all types of settings will assist me in being successful in my career. My sense-making ability is another skill I have found to be quite comfortable with that will help me in the future. Higher and deeper level thinking that help create unique insights that are critical to decision making (Institute for the future, 2010) are important to me as a student and as a future criminologist.

I have come a very long way since the beginning of this unit with a lot more confidence about learning in the digital age. In week Six, I discovered metacognition which refers to having the awareness and understanding of one’s own thought process or “thinking about thinking”. (Livingston, 1997) Metacognition has helped me use strategies for my own learning such as selfassessing my work, solving problems and evaluating my progress towards completing a required task. Having to juggle my day job with my other life commitments, metacognition has helped me

COM10003 Personal development reflection stay on track to be a more productive and efficient learner. Metacognition plays a critical role in successful learning. (Livingston, 1997).

Developing my PowerPoint presentation was something I felt very anxious about as I have very limited skills in how to use the program. Getting out of my comfort zone and creating a series of informative slides that allowed me to incorporate images, tables and charts that were visually appealing has now given me the confidence to take on new educational challenges. It has also helped me to understand and evaluate the credibility of online sources by assisting me with the development of my academic voice. I am now beginning to learn and to expand my knowledge in the area of identifying and screening potential sources by being more critical in the selection process.

When thinking about the implications or hurdles I will have to overcome in my academic endeavours, an area of my learning which I struggle with and hope to get a lot better at is my contribution to the discussion boards. My e- Leaning Advisor (ELA) has often stressed the importance of these online discussions and how it greatly benefits all those who take part in them. Often enough, a lot of the questions that I have had to research the answer myself have been discussed thoroughly on these threads. In education, these online discussion boards allow for collaborative learning to be included and group members can communicate when it is convenient for them. It also provides the bonus of having a permanent record of all communication. (Kear, 2010 pp.30)

COM10003 Personal development reflection Essay planning and structuring is also an area I wish to further develop my skills in, it has been over Twenty years since I have last written an essay. The essay planning structure guide found in the student portal discusses in detail the importance of using TEEL in all my academic writing. It explains word limits, topic introductions, paragraph formatting and conclusions. I found this hamburger style structure guide extremely helpful to get me started as it took away my anxiety of writing a university level paper.

An eye-opening highlight of this unit for me was watching a TED talk in Module 4.3 (Information literacy) which discussed ways of separating fact from fiction. The presentation was given by a journalist Marham Nolan who explained the importance of evaluating the information we find on the internet before accepting it as truth. He talked about the many available tools that help us to carefully sift through information we find online and how to thoroughly research sources before we use it in our work. With the internet running like a torrent, there is an inundation of information out there that is becoming increasingly difficult to sift through and filter out the truth. (TED, 2012) Truth seeking is a uniquely human trait and no matter how quick we get with computers, they can only do so much as the truth seeking comes down to us humans. (TED, 2012). Since watching this short clip, I am becoming a lot more aware of the trickery that goes on in the online environment, and I have a stronger guard when choosing my sources. This unit has given me the right tools and the right skills to help sort the credible and reliable sources from the fake and damaging ones. I am excited for the road ahead and confident that I will have what it takes to uphold my academic integrity.

COM10003 Personal development reflection For me to be a successful student, I hope to become more proficient in understanding the assessment rubrics. It will help me to judge the quality of my work by identifying and rectifying problem areas, and it will give me a clear indication of what is required and measured by providing a basis in the criteria. My knowledge in this area will only grow as I work my way through the study units and teaching periods.

The past Twelve weeks have just flown by, and I have absorbed an ocean full of valuable information, there were times where I thought I didn’t have what it takes to get through this unit, let alone this degree. However, I have reached a point in my life where I won’t tolerate any excuse and will not let any hurdle get in the way of achieving my dream. I may not be the most intelligent person, but I am persistent and refuse to quit. This unit of COM1003 has helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses, has taught me incredible skills and has highlighted areas of development that I will focus on as I push my way to completing my degree and becoming a criminologist.

COM10003 Personal development reflection

Reference List

Institute for the Future. (2010). Future work skills 2020. Retrieved from http://www.iftf.org/uploads/media/SR1382A_UPRI_future_work_skills_sm.pdf (Links to an external site.)

Livingston (1997). Metacognition: an overview… page 2

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er4Col l abor at i onv i aonl i nedi s c uss i onf or ums :i ss uesand Kear Chapt Kear2012,pp.30–33) . appr oaches( PDF609KB) Li nkst oanext er nals i t e.(

Metzger, M.J. (2007). Making sense of credibility on the web: Models for evaluating online information and recommendations for future research. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 58(13), 2078-2091.

(TED, 2012). Markham Nolan: How to separate fact and fiction online. Retrieved from

COM10003 Personal development reflection Swinburne Online (2018). Week 2: Academic Integrity: Activity: The Centre for Academic Integrity [Discussion thread in Canvas]. Retrieved from https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/groups/7615/discussion_topics/144789

Swinburne Online (2017) Academic integrity infographic (PDF 900 KB)...