Assessment 3: Personal and Professional Development Reflection

Task Summary

This assignment provides an opportunity to identify, assess and synthesise the impact your learning has had on your personal and professional development.

Task Rationale

This course provides students with multiple opportunities to challenge themselves and increase their current skills or develop new ones. This is a comparatively safe environment in which to stretch and grow, particularly in areas that will enhance career prospects. The reflection recommends students plan from the beginning to experiment and work on areas they wish to improve in. This task also mimics career development methodologies used in the workplace and the expected format of a presentation video provides practice for preparing for interviews.
The task gives students a chance to reflect, to gain a sense of progress and to set next steps to ensure ongoing personal and professional development.
Relevance to other assessment tasks
This is a summative reflection piece. You should draw upon what you have learnt across your other assessment tasks and from COMM5030 to complete this task.

The task requirements

This assessment is a 4-minute video reflection where you’ll explore your personal and professional growth throughout COMM5030. By synthesizing key learning experiences, you’ll reflect how this course has contributed to your personal and professional development as a future social entrepreneur, manager, innovator or change maker. You also reflect how you’ll leverage these skills in future business endeavours.
Students are required to address the following themes of development when presenting the Reflection. • Identify an experience within the course (for example, client project, teamwork, etc.) that fostered your soft skill(s) (for instance, communication, collaboration, leadership, etc.). Explain the impact it had on your personal and/or professional development and how you will use these skills going forward.
Highlight an experience within the course (such as, a class discussion, a theory/framework or other course content, etc.) that deepened your knowledge about social entrepreneurship. Explain how you applied this knowledge and the resulting professional and/or personal development you gained.
NOTE: make sure you understand the difference between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ business skills. For an explainer see: https://credentials.deakin.edu.au/soft-skills-and-hard-skills-whats-the-difference/

Preparation prior to compiling your Personal and Professional Development Reflection
Planning for this reflection piece should begin at the start of the term, not the end. You are recommended to maintain a weekly diary to record key experiences from the course, such as learnings from the client project, readings, group work, or applying course concepts. You can also reflect on emotions, reasons behind them, any challenges you faced, the steps taken to overcome them and key takeaways from each experience.

Suggested Structure/ Elements

The structure of the reflection may vary and can be personalized. The following guideline is provided to help you organize your thoughts and cover the key elements. You can adapt the suggested structure to better align with your unique experiences and presentation style.

Introduction
Briefly introduce yourself.
Provide an overview of what the reflection will cover; for example, mention concisely the key themes you will reflect (soft skills development, knowledge deepening about social entrepreneurship).
Soft Skill Development
Highlight a specific experience from the course (e.g., client project, teamwork activity) and explain the soft skill(s) you enhanced through this experience
Reflect on the impact this experience had on your personal and/or professional development Explain how you plan to utilize these skills in future endeavors.
Knowledge Deepening/ Application of course content
- Introduce a specific instance where the course content deepened your knowledge of social entrepreneurship (e.g., class discussion on a particular theory or other course material).
- Explain the key concept or framework or content you learned.
- Share how you applied this knowledge in a practical context.
- Describe the resulting professional and/or personal development you gained as a result of this application.
Overall Reflection and Insights
- Reflect on the overall journey and the insights gained. Discuss the significance of these insights on your development as a future social entrepreneur, manager, innovator, or change-maker.
Conclusion
Highlight the most significant takeaways.
End with a forward-looking statement about future applications.
Thank the audience for watching.
Assessment Criteria

A rubric detailing the range of levels of performance for each criterion is provided on the next page. You will be awarded an overall grade for this component of your assessment.
- A learning experience for soft skill development.
- Application and integration of course content
- Future application of skills and knowledge
- Communication and form