PART 1: Development records & Continuing Professional Development Action Plan (about anyone or anything)

Note: This part of your portfolio should contain three elements:

1. A summary record of your key development activities over the last 6 to 12 months (the choice of timescale is yours)
2. A continuing professional development action plan for the 12 months following completion of this module
3. A commentary on the development experiences summarised and the challenges you will face in undertaking your professional development plan.

In your summary of your development records (1.1), you are not required to provide a comprehensive record of all your development in that period. You are expected to summarise significant development activities undertaken during the period. These may link to activities on your studies, that programme itself and activities in your working or personal life. For each activity you are required to provide:

• A brief record/explanation of the development activity.
• Evidence (in an appendix) that supports and substantiates the development undertaken.

In identifying evidence to substantiate your development this should ideally draw from multiple sources. Examples include (but are not limited to):

• Self-assessments and evaluation of the same
• Notes from lectures and tutorials
• Peer-evaluation from group exercises and other activities
• Your appraisal/performance review (or extracts from the same)
• Records of reading done (including notes on the book/source considered)
• Records of attendance/certificates of achievement.

Your evidence should be submitted as an appendix to your assessment with all the evidence included referenced within the assessment.

Your continuing professional development action plan (1.2) should focus on the specific areas of development that you want to address. You are responsible for identifying the area of focus for your action plan. It is recommended, however, that your plan should, fall into ONE of three broad areas for development:

• PERSONAL SKILLS aimed at improving self-awareness, self-reliance and personal effectiveness; for example, managing time or stress, creativity, emotional intelligence, presentation skills, foreign language skills.
• PEOPLE SKILLS focused on building effective working relationships; for example, handling conflict, leadership, coaching, cross-cultural skills, team working, negotiation, feedback.
• CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS for maximising opportunities arising from the changing environment and job marketplace, taking responsibility for your career and managing the relationship with work and learning throughout your career; for example, CV development, interviews, networking, assessment centre preparation.

This action plan should include the following features:

• It needs to express your purpose and intended outcomes; there is a strong link between your motivation and the likelihood of success.
• It should include both progress goals, which act as milestones, and outcome goals, to achieve your ultimate purpose. Progress goals may be priority sub-skills. For example, you could identify voice projection as a skill which contributes to the overall goal of improved presentation skills.
• An indication of how you would monitor each activity or progress goal and ensure it contributes to the final outcome stated.
• It should not rely solely upon one course of action. If you have a range of options available, you will be less likely to be deterred by unexpected challenges or obstacles.
• It needs to be written in precise terms, following a rigorous and systematic analysis.

It is expected that your development record and action plan will be presented as a table and as such will not contribute to the word count of the assignment.

Your commentary (1.3) is expected to discuss the impact of and lessons learned from the activities in your development record and the challenges and barriers you might face (personally and professionally) in undertaking your action plan and identify how these may be minimised. The focus throughout should be on critical consideration of your development activities and the learning from these.

PART 2: Reflective Account (about anyone or anything)

Note: This should address the experience of studying on your MSc in general, this module and the business simulation in particular. The intention is to consider your experiences of engaging in this developmental activity. The reflective account is your opportunity to demonstrate your ability to learn from experience through analysis and look ahead to consider how it may be useful to you in the future. This should be a personal account and therefore written in the first person (I). A good reflective account will link to the content of Part 1 of this assessment in a considered and detailed way.