Self-Audit and PD (refelective)

Managing Professional Development (MPD) Assignment 1 (formative i.e. non-assessed)
This is the first piece of work which you are required to do on the Managing Professional Development module. You are required to complete a self-audit of your skills and a personal development plan for the duration of the first year of your Masters’ study.
It is formative in nature i.e. although you will be given feedback but you will not be given a mark. However, please note that you are required to complete this piece of work as it is an essential building block for Assignment 3 which is a critical self-reflection on your development to date (as well as a personal branding portfolio). If you do not complete then you will not be able to complete Assignment 3 effectively.
Personal Audit & Development Plan
You are to produce a personal audit and development plan so that you reflect on your skills as you start your masters’ course and set yourself some personal objectives and concrete goals about what you want to achieve.
There is no set format for this report and there is no word count. It is really up to you to decide how you wish to set this out for yourself. However, you are advised to keep it succinct e.g. 1,000 words. You can use appendices to provide further evidence and a record of where you are at now (e.g. work/character references, your personal statement from you application).
Although it is a very personal document, you are expected to complete a personal skills audit using some or all of the theoretical skills audit frameworks which are provided for your consideration on the MPD Blackboard (BB) site. You may wish to use others which you find to be of value. You may wish to triangulate your personal analysis with the views of others (e.g. friends, work colleagues, family). Focus on the results and what they mean to you. Do not include copies of your audits, just a summary of the results.
You are advised to produce a personal SWOT analysis as a result of this audit (again make sure your research into this and thoroughly understand the SWOT model) as well as a force-field analysis so that you are very clear about how you see yourself at this point in your professional development.
You must also produce a personal professional development plan where set yourself some very clear SMART personal objectives as a result of your analysis. Here you should think holistically as your all elements of your life will ultimately impact on your professional development (paid work, academic study, personal life, health and well-being) and you may need to plan for all these as you embark on your Master’s course. Again there is no set design for this but you are advised to research contemporary advice on effective personal development planning. Remember that at the end of the module you will be reflecting back on your progress against your objectives and so your aims and action plans need to be clear, realistic and tangible.
Note that you are advised to keep a reflective journal each week whereby you reflect on critical incidents (what happened, what have you learnt, what learning will you take forward). You should research different academic models of self-reflection and use these to underpin your reflection.
Remember, the more you put into this assignment the more that you will get out of it. The idea is that you reflect on where you are now, where you want to go and plan for how you are going to get there. This will provide a strong foundation for your reflection on yourself, yourself in relation to team work and your personal branding.
Submission
You should submit your audit and PDP via Turnitin according to the schedule which you have been given (see the MPD Blackboard site).
Please use the standard front cover sheet for the assignment which you will find on the MPD Blackboard site.
Remember that you can submit assignments to Turnitin to check your own plagiarism score up until the deadline but you need to leave 24 hours between submissions to allow time for the Turnitin process. If, for any reason, you have submitted a practice assignment and then experience extenuating circumstances which mean you are unable to submit your final piece of work you should notify your module tutor.
Where an assignment is formally assessed, you should contact Treforest Campus Advice and copy in MPD your tutor if you are experiencing any difficulties which you feel might affect your ability to complete your work on time as once you submit it you invoke the “fit to sit” regulation. However, as this assignment is not assessed simply contact your MPD tutor if it is going to be late due to unforeseen extenuating circumstances.

Formative Assessment
you will be given feedback but not a grade
Essential that you complete this
as it is forms the bedrock for Assignment 3 which is assessed
assignment 3 critically reflects on progress to date
Who am I now? Where am I now?
Self audit of your skills and talents NOW
SWOT analysis and Force Field Analysis
Where do I want to go and how will I get there?
Personal Development Plan PDP (which will be reviewed in Assignment 3)

No word limit but keep it succinct (e.g. around 1,000 words)
Be creative in use of appendices to provide further illustration (e.g. photographs, references, summary of self-audits)
Use appendices appropriately
all essential information should be in the body of the text (you cannot rely on your reader to read appendices)
Do not put all of your raw data in the appendices – just summaries
Provide academic references
use USW Harvard referencing conventions
Don’t forget where you need to provide a citation (e.g. for every audit used)

Different self-audits provided in Blackboard e.g. QAA Business and Management Skills, Team roles, learning styles etc
Self-completion
Triangulation?
You should present a summary of each audit and what this means theoretically and to you as an individual
Better students will do a meta-analysis whereby they link the results of the different audits examining what they mean to you as an individual
Undertake a SWOT (read up on how to do a SWOT properly) and make this comparative (i.e. what are you particularly good at, need to develop etc)
Complete a Force-field analysis to look at factors supporting you or driving against you

You need to develop a personal development plan which is SMART in nature i.e. specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time based for the first year of your masters:
What are you objectives?
How will you achieve this objective (action plans)
When will you achieve these actions by?
How will you measure success of these actions?
You will review this for assignment 3 in late February
Focus on what is significant to you – you cannot plan for everything
Focus on what is achievable – you should put realistic action plans in place (not the emphasis on action)
Be holistic in your approach (student, professional, social, well-being)

You are strongly advised to keep a reflective journal (weekly) so that you reflect on your personal development journey (which you will be formally be required to reflect on in Assignment 3)
There is no set format for this journal – read up on academic models for reflection but a simple pro-forma is What, So What, What next?

You are advised to check your originality score by submitting it to Turnitin as you go along
You are required to submit this via Turnitin before 5 pm on 24.10.15
You will be given feedback but no grade for this work

note. this assignment related to another assignment which will allocated soon around 3000 words