Personal Professional Development: Planning and Managing Your Growth

Evaluation of Learning Needs

Personal professional development is critical to an individual’s ongoing career progression. Learning is not complete when formal education is completed. As a professional, it is necessary to seek opportunities to grow and develop, both as an individual and as a working professional. It is important to remember that being a healthy, happy and rounded individual is important in many ways. You should always consider ways in which your personal development may also enhance your ability and enjoyment of your professional activities, and vice versa.

In this unit, you are asked to plan and manage your own personal development. This may be in relation toyour employment or related to a specific project in your studies. The aim is to develop skills and methods to allow you to continue your personal and professional development throughout your education and professional life.

For the assessment of this unit you are asked to prepare a Reflective Development Report. This will act as a record of your work for the unit and a plan for your own future. Your report should contain the following:

1.Evaluation of your personal learning needs, based on:

a.analysis of your prior learning

b.employment or project operations

c.skills audit.

2.Personal Development Plan, considering:

a.short-term development goals

b.long-term development goals

c.personal goals versus employer/project goals.

3.Record of development progress, which is:

a.a ‘logbook’ of activities undertaken

b.reflection on the effectiveness/success of development activities.

4.Reflection on development/learning journey, including: HNC/HND Construction and the Built Environment 3

a.a record of 360-degree feedback with employer/tutor

b.areas of good practice or areas for improvement, identified through reflection and analysis

c.future development goals comprising an update of ‘long-term’ goals based on reflection.

1. Examine your learning style using the two options provided on line, compare the results and from this sort out how you learn new material.

2. Consider how you have learned new skills or information recently probably with a new telephone or I pad or similar. At what point did you give up and read the instructions?

3. Comment on how useful you have found the instructions, this might need you to look again at your evaluation of your own learning methods.

4. Visit the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personal Development) web site (CIPD.co.uk and go into the section for cpd Continual Personal Development). Examine how you have added to your skills and knowledge during your work. Relate this back to your learning styles and briefly outline what would be the most effective way for you to learn new methods, technologies, legal and commercial requirements.

5. Discuss and analyse training and development needs of your employer or potential employer

1. Undertake the competency test given above

2. What do you already know and what evidence do you have to show that you have this knowledge. Here you should show your qualifications and just as important your work history to show what skills and experience you have. The skills may include “soft skills” like good communicator, good team worker even quick learner so that you can readily adapt as new skills are needed.

3. What would like to know and how can you get this information? Look particularly at your current employer and any training that they would encourage you to take. For example, health and safety, first aid, BIM training, use of CAD etc.

4. From this you can develop a personal development plan for the next 3 years. This is your first attempt to do this.

5. Compare this (4) with the additional skills and knowledge your employer (or potential employer) needs at present and might need in the near future? Is there a way that you could acquire such skills? This should now be added to your personal development plan, however you may also consider that other potential employers may need additional skills beyond your present level and that might also be part of your further personal development plan

6. Once you have developed your Personal Development Plan in full. This will form the main part of your report for assignment 2 and should be discussed with your tutor and the training supervisor at work and justify your choice of career path..

This is very simple just prepare a plan for future development based on all the information you have put into the first two parts of the assignment. Compare the expectations that you yourself have with those indicated by your tutor and employer or potential employer). Suggested length 1000 words

The Final section should be a reflection of your learning during the course and should be the conclusion to your report. It could include an evaluation of your career goals and discuss in difference between these and the needs of your employer (or potential employer). Finally critically assess your own learning and development and show where things have gone well or where you need to change your approach