Personal Development Plan

Personal Development Plan

            Creating a personal development plan is essential since it helps an individual to set his or her goals and working hard to achieve the goals. Also, development plans have helped many people to improve their learning and achieve their goals. Typically, a development plan is a valuable tool that entails more than just what one aspires to make because one has to be prepared for the procedures. For instance, self-awareness is essential when designing the personal development plan since one has to focus on his strengths. Also, the self-assessment tools are imperative since they guide students towards independence since they encourage them to reflect more on what they learn and how to improve their skills. Moreover, the tools help students to become critical thinkers since it motivates an individual to focus on their career interests. Learning styles have also changed, and people mainly focus on technology to improve their learning styles (Gurung and Rutledge 2014). Therefore, self-assessment tools in universities have helped many students to achieve academically. For instance, many students have used the online digital notebook to enhance their soft skills in the digital world. Using the self-assessment tool has also helped me to gain vital skills that I can use to advance my learning skills and achieve my goals.

Importance of Using Self-assessment Tools and Developing a Personal Development Plan

Self-assessment tools have helped me to focus on my strengths and weaknesses and work towards achieving my goals.  Also, I can easily monitor my progress towards my set goals and put more effort into meeting my target. The tools have also helped me to gain the requisite skills during my studies, which I can utilize in the work field. On the other hand, the tools have been used to ensure that students are fully prepared when entering in various competitive industries (Besnoy 2007). Also, the tools have helped me to develop and experience a range of soft skills that I can practice and utilize in the future.  The self-assessment tools have also been used by various students to learn about the approaches of studying and the concepts of learning (Swain and Hammond 2011).  For instance, the use of course material has been one of the critical factors that have helped many students to achieve their goals. Also, the course materials have crucial information that allows students to advance their learning skills. Typically, the academic environment affects the productivity of the students (Perez, Herrero, Sanchez, and Robles, 2005). Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the academic environment is favorable. In this case, the educational environment has helped me to study effectively and focus on my development plan. Also, personality influences the success and development of learners. For instance, many learners who are determined and willing to achieve better are likely to achieve their goals with ease.

On the other hand, personality influences the thinking styles of individuals. In most cases, students are likely to develop argentic processing or reflective processing, depending on their character. However, motivating and guiding the students on how to improve their learning style is essential (Richardson 2011). For example, students can be taught how to develop the appropriate study methods that entail deep processing, and this can help them to grow. In this case, I have focused on my development plan to ensure that I gain a stronger ability to analyze information critically. Also, I have focused on being more conscientious and intellectually open for me to achieve my goals. Being extraverted is also essential since it helps in deep processing and improves one able to understand the various learning styles (Khatibi and Khormaei 2016). The assessment tool has also helped me to gain more confidence when working on my projects since I can gather adequate information and use it to develop my plans. Moreover, the tools have helped me to reflect on my past assessment process and learn how I have advanced and how my assessments have changed. Also, I have experienced emotional growth and development after focusing on my development plan since it has encouraged me to explore more to gain detailed information.

Social Development

Social development has also been one of my significant parts of the personal development plan since I lacked soft skills about other learners. Therefore, I focused on soft skills since they are substantial in workplaces since they help an individual to avoid mismatch in the workplace (Assessment 2010). Interacting with other people is also essential, and one should ensure that he or she can interact with others well and learn from other people (Stringer and Cheloha2003). Therefore, my development plan also entails improving how I interact with other people. Typically, interacting well with other people helps an individual to gain new product ideas that can be utilized in the various field (Merckaert et al., 2015). Therefore, I changed how I interact with other people and ensure that I have enough time to interact and learn from the people. Furthermore, anyone who aspires to be a leader should ensure that he or she can interact with others well (Municipality 2002). Also, having excellent communication skills is vital since it helps an individual to interact with others with ease (Boud and Soler2016). Therefore, I focused on learning more about having excellent communication skills and how to communicate with other people effectively. Also, I have learned to become a good listener since it is one of the factors of having excellent communication skills.

Time Management

Poor time management is one of the issues that many people face. Time management helps individuals to attend to various tasks effectively (Beausaert, Segers, M. and Gijselaers, 2011). Therefore, I planned on how to ensure that I manage my time effectively and attend to all my tasks on time. Also, I ensured that I had a weekly schedule of what to do. I had challenges trying to achieve my target; however, I gradually adopted and learned how to manage my time effectively. Reading many books have also helped me to learn more about proper time management. The assessment tools have been of significant consideration to me since I have been able to improve my ability to focus manage my time well (Farids 2014). Also, my development plan has enabled me to improve on my performance level.

Major Areas that will be included in the Personal Development Plan

The plan will also integrate my academic development with personal development. On the other hand, focusing on own learning skills will be essential since it will help one to acquire crucial information about various topics (Gould 2017). In this case, I will focus on dedicating my time in the library and conducting research. Also, I will focus on group discussions to ensure that I improve on my weaknesses. The study will also entail learning about developmental changes and various ways that can be utilized to ensure that I grow the overall wellbeing of my career predictions. Also, I will focus on being involved in social activities that will help me to develop confidence. In this case, I will ensure that I will be attending social events more frequently. Learning habits will also become one of the significant parts of the personal development plan since learning is my primary objective. Also, I will be able to read more books to gain more knowledge of various sectors. Furthermore, reading more books will help an individual to improve my reading habits (Beausaert, Segers, Fouarge, and Gijselaers, 2013). Also, I will focus on identifying my weaknesses to ensure that I work on them and turn them into strengths. Achieving financial goals is also essential, and I will focus on delivering the business goals to ensure that grow financially. In this case, I will focus on business management to ensure that I change my spending habits and focus on spending on necessary things. The personal development plan will also entail fostering self-directness as a process. Stress management is also one of the essential skills that I will focus on achieving. Typically, stress affects the performance of an individual in various ways (Karnes and Shaunessy2004). Therefore, I will ensure that I manage my stress effectively by engaging in extra-curricular activities. For instance, I will ensure that I participate in music and other sports that will help me to relieve my stress. Moreover, I will ensure that I participate in social groups to provide that I deal with stress more effectively and also live a more productive life.

PERSONAL SWOT ANALYSIS:

Conclusion

To conclude, an individual needs to create an effective personal development plan. In many cases, the own development plan helps people to set their goals and invent new ways that can help to achieve their goals. Moreover, a Personal development plan helps an individual to develop an excellent strategic plan that can be applied to meet the targets. Also, self-assessment tools are essential since they help learners to focus on developing their skills and inventing new ways that can be used to achieve those goals. Learners should also be encouraged to focus on their goals and using the self-assessment tool to determine whether there are making any progress. Moreover, learners should be encouraged to read more books to gain more information about various issues. In essence, a personal development plan is vital for learners and should be encouraged in learning institutions.

References

Assessment, C., 2010. Personalize your career development plan.

Beausaert, S., Segers, M. and Gijselaers, W., 2011. The Personal Development Plan Practice         Questionnaire: the development and validation of an instrument to assess the employee’s         perception of personal development plan practice. International Journal of Training and          Development, 15(4), pp.249-270.

Beausaert, S., Segers, M., Fouarge, D. and Gijselaers, W., 2013. Effect of using a personal            development plan on learning and development. Journal of Workplace Learning.

Besnoy, K., 2007. Creating a personal technology improvement plan for teachers of the     gifted. Gifted Child Today, 30(4), pp.44-49.

Boud, D. and Soler, R., 2016. Sustainable assessment revisited. Assessment & Evaluation in         Higher Education, 41(3), pp.400-413.

Farid, A., 2014. Student Online Readiness Assessment Tools: A Systematic Review          Approach. Electronic             Journal of e-Learning, 12(4), pp.375-382.

Gould, J., 2017. Career development: A plan for action. Nature, 548(7668), pp.489-490.

Gurung, B. and Rutledge, D., 2014. Digital learners and the overlapping of their personal and      educational digital engagement. Computers & Education, 77, pp.91-100.

Karnes, F.A. and Shaunessy, E., 2004. The application of an individual professional          development plan to             gifted education. Gifted Child Today, 27(3), pp.60-64.

Khatibi, M. and Khormaei, F., 2016. Learning and personality: A review. Journal of Educational and Management Studies, 6(4), pp.89-97.

Merckaert, I., Delevallez, F., Gibon, A.S., Liénard, A., Libert, Y., Delvaux, N., Marchal, S.,         Etienne, A.M., Bragard, I., Reynaert, C. and Slachmuylder, J.L., 2015. Transfer of             communication skills to the workplace: impact of a 38-hour communication skills      training program designed for radiotherapy teams. J Clin Oncol, 33(8), pp.901-9.

Municipality, U.D., 2002. Integrated development plan (p. 11). Umgungundlovu District   Municipality.

Perez, M.S., Herrero, P., Sanchez, F.M. and Robles, V., 2005. Are web self-assessment tools        useful for training?. IEEE Transactions on Education, 48(4), pp.757-763.

Richardson, J.T., 2011. Approaches to studying, conceptions of learning and learning styles in      higher             education. Learning and Individual differences, 21(3), pp.288-293.

Stringer, R.A. and Cheloha, R.S., 2003. The power of a development plan. People and      Strategy, 26(4), p.10.

Swain, J. and Hammond, C., 2011. The motivations and outcomes of studying for part-time         mature students in higher education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 30(5),           pp.591-612.