Task Summary

This assessment task requires you to reflect on your experiences in MIS500 this trimester by following a four-step process to gain insights into the work you have done and how it relates to your own career and life more broadly. In doing so, you will need to produce a weekly journal to record your learning and then as the trimester comes to a close reflect on these experiences and submit a final reflection of 1500 words (+/- 10%) that will include the weekly journal as an appendices.

Context

This is an individual assignment that tracks your growth as a student of Information Systems over the trimester. It is scaffolded around your weekly learning activities. Completing the activities and seeking input from your peers and the learning facilitator is essential for you to achieve a positive result in this subject. Before you start this assessment, be sure that you have completed the learning activities in all of the modules. This reflective report gives you the opportunity to communicate your understanding of how information systems relate to your career and future.

Task Instructions

1. During Module 1 – 5, you were ask to produce a weekly journal to record your learnings each week. Based on these weekly journals, please write a 1500 word reflective report about your experience focussing on how this will support developing and planning your future career.
2. You are required to follow the four steps of Kolb’s learning cycle when writing the reflective report.

You will keep a learning journal throughout the trimester. Each week as you complete the learning activities you record your experience in spreadsheet or word document.

A suggested format for the learning journal is as follows:

Table 1: Learning Journal

For each day in your learning journey, write the date and then the learning activity you engaged in. Detail what impact the learning had on you and then include any evidence you might like to keep for use later on. This journal should be appended to this assessment when you submit it.

Figure 1 – Kolb’s Learning Cycle

(Source: Kolb DA, 1984, Experiential Learning experience as a source of learning and development, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.)

Step 1

Concrete experience – Keep a learning journal

The first step is to keep a learning journal for the trimester (Modules 1.1 through to 5.2 as described above. You should have already completed this step by now.

Step 2

Reflective observation – Summarise what happened

You should now be able to comment on your experiences this trimester. This exercise is not a list of what you have done but rather an observation of what you have learned – were there any themes that arose from your journal? The point of a learning journal is to start a discussion on what the key concepts and skills you have learned and acquired during the course of this subject on how this will support developing and planning your future career. This is because we often don’t stop to think and reflect on what we have learned and apply it to how we will use it to keep developing as an individual and applying it to planning our future career.

Step 3

Abstract conceptualization – Analyse what this means

The next step is to analyse what you have found. Reflective practice is a process of thinking about new experiences with a view of learning. It is a form of personal response to new experiences, situations, events or information. What new knowledge have you gained in response to this exercise? And what does this information mean? You are expected to reflect at a deep level here. This means that it is not just about explaining what you have done in this subject rather it requires you to think about your personal beliefs, your background and the way you perceive the world around you. Did you learn anything in this subject that challenged you or change the way you thought about information systems or business? How will what you learned be used by you in planning your future career, what have you identified as possible career directions that you had not considered before?

Step 4

Active experimentation – New action

The final step is to discuss what you plan to do with this new knowledge. These new insights may lead to a change of thinking or behaviour. In what ways? Set yourself some specific goals for your future studies or career. You can develop a plan that identifies the steps you might take to assist you in reaching your goals.

1. You are required to write this assessment in a report format using the following headings:
2. Introduction
3. Reflective Observation – Summarise what happened.
4. Abstract conceptualization – Analyse what this means for you and your career.
5. Active experimentation – What new action do you need to take to develop yourself and your career using the things you learned through your MIS 500 studies.
6. Conclusion
7. Appendix of learning journal (with evidence)