Reflection FYS

Personal reflection is an important aspect as to acknowledgement of acquired knowledge, changed perspective on behavior and general outlook on life. This course has helped me to come in terms with the ways of learning skills that are useful for my educational journey. Therefore, it can be pointed out that the topics that have affected me most all center around ideas of self-fulfillment, professionalism and getting involved with the requirements of my educational field. The subject of proper outlook on the University’s communities and the importance of finding a personal voice has particularly stroke me as of value, helping to understand the specifics and the full spectrum of importance of socialization and community work. With that, I have noticed a development in my critical thinking skills, which helped me to approach carefully and prepared the tasks that are presented to me. Generally, the program was able to bring a diverse outlook on the act of education and its structure, bringing out a more challenging side in me that wants to pose questions to the system set into place and its standardized structure.

The type of learning that is most comfortable to me is set around idea of reflection. styles. This means that, while approaching educational material, I utilize my imagination, interest in people and their opinions and emotionality (Priester, 2015). I prefer to observe the situation and consider it from different angles in order to fully understand its entity, forming my opinion based on it. With sensitive and open-minded approach, I am good at gathering information from a variety of sources, and using my imaginative and cultural backgrounds to solve a problem. My optimal learning tools are centered around brainstorming, development of new concepts in a group with discussion and feedback on my tasks.

The learning style of reflection fits the multiple modalities presented in MCU. Fully online education is beneficial for me as it provides opportunity of self-evaluation and presenting personal desire for performing tasks. The organizational structure of online spaces with calendars, discussion boards, clear deadlines and open access to lectures with academic sources fulfils the strive for education and helps to set a clear goal of the week’s accomplishments. With that, in-person modality is more comfortable in its opportunities of watching, reacting and discussing. Face to face education is a valuable part of my educational journey as it is more comfortable to express and discuss ideas with others in real time, coming to a general conclusion as a community. Blended style of learning may be the most beneficial for me, serving as a middle ground for socializing and discoursing with the community, while at the same time having a clear defined structure of education, providing space for self-reflection over the academic materials that can later on be discussed analyzed and performed on practice in face to face modality.

My learning style and its application in educational sphere can therefore be analyzed in terms of academic strengths and weaknesses that it provides. For instance, I managed to acquire several, in my opinion, useful qualities that help me to more effectively solve urgent problems. One of them is time management, I have acquired this skill since my school days, when it was necessary to do a lot of things in a short period of time. Now this skill is particularly useful in University conditions. In addition, I can say that I am a very sociable person. I really don't have to bother asking an imperfect stranger for the answer to any question. This often helps me in my work. With that, the interest in researching and finding many other outlooks on specific issues helps me to construct a clear picture of carefully evaluated content, thus performing a great task in my ability of writing papers. I have always preferred to work in teams and have found my collective character to be one of my greatest strengths. The ability to quickly and effectively solve emerging problems is also of importance. I can see any situation from different angles and this is my unique trait for getting the job done even in difficult conditions. Another useful skill that I would like to highlight in myself is the ability to concentrate. Often I have to completely immerse myself in work and clearly perform the necessary actions. This requires great care. There are situations when it is necessary to solve many tasks at one moment and I successfully cope with them. Now I continue to improve my competencies. I have many weak qualities that I am trying to neutralize. For example, I often worry about trifles and this often prevents me from working most effectively. However, I hope that soon I will be able to correct mistakes and make weaknesses strong.

In University conditions, I plan to develop both my strong and weak sides, furthering my personal improvements. Therefore, I plan to concentrate on my anxiety aspect by participating more in social environments and bringing myself to the center stage. I would also like to focus on developing written and oral communication skills by employing my abilities in imposed tasks and utilizing the feedback for personal improvement. With that, I recognize the importance of evolving my stronger sides, which I plan to accomplish by making sure that I stay motivated and focused on my goals, consistently finding room for improvement. Thus, the space of educational environment as well as collective work will help me on my path of self-improvement.

Continuing the subject of the sense of community and its positive influence, it is therefore clear that collaborative teamwork is one of the most valuable aspects of educational experience. The ability to work in a team, to find an approach to the interlocutor even in difficult situations, to achieve connection, to establish friendly relations – all this is characteristic of a person who is inclined to productive interaction with other people, team members, to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with them. A team is a group of like-minded people who are brought together in order to achieve their common goals (Priester, 2015). As a result of such interaction, it becomes possible to achieve much better results in a fairly short period of time than working alone. In a well-functioning team, all responsibilities are clearly distributed among teammates: some generate ideas for further development, others are developing plans for expansion into areas not yet covered, still others are establishing contacts with potential partners, the fourth inspire workers to feats. Thus, complementing each other, people create a single balanced team in which everyone does what they do best, and where skill gaps are compensated for by collective effort.

Collaborative work on interprofessional teammates creates a team spirit in the entirety of group, involving all team members in formulating a team goal. It helps to create an atmosphere of creativity and initiative, acting as a mentor for other members, is an informal leader; has a well-deserved authority. Effective cooperative ties with all divisions of the team can therefore be achieved, constructing the most effective communication patterns. Flexibly applies a variety of communication styles; skillfully uses questions, bringing the interlocutor to their opinion. With all this in mind, collaborative opportunities provide the ability to analyze personal activities and outlooks on the subject by actively discoursing with other people the meaning of the work in question, thus supporting your own motivation and the motivation of others. It helps to develop emotional flexibility, thus the ability to change the way we approach our own emotions and the emotions of others. As it involves peacekeeping and conflict resolution, the ability to productively resolve conflicts at any level, overcoming contradictions, finding ways to coexist with people with different positions and different points of view are all the aspects that can get acquired with the help of team work, thus helping on a path of continuous self-improvement.