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During my first year at Writtle University college, I have completed the module introduction to professional skills. This module took place fore the whole year as it was 30 credits and had an assignment that was to be completed throughout the whole year. We also took part in weekly lectures and occasional tutorials to clear up any grey areas with the work.

 From the start we have been asked to reflect on the modules and how we have found them. I found this particularly helpful as it allowed me to go back and see where I needed to improve in future situations that may be similar. It also allowed me to see what I have found helpful, for example, particular ways that lecturers have taught me, and I have found useful to learn key information for that module. Another reason I found the reflections helpful, is that I can see how much I have progressed in modules. For instance, my canine handling reflection and OSPE reflection has allowed me to see how far I have come since I wrote those reflections. This boosts m confidence in the course as I can see the progression that I am making. These modules allowed me to see where I was going wrong in the past with my handling experience, and know what is and isn’t acceptable in the work place. This will enable me to be more equipped for future endeavours in the industry.

My skills have developed greatly throughout this module. I have consolidated skills that weren’t very strong when I first came to university. For example, we have had lectures on academic skills such as essay writing and referencing. After these lectures clarified these skills for me, I have felt extremely more confident, when writing my assignments, that I can complete the task to a higher standard. I have always struggled to understand these key elements and I feel as though they are vital in the coming years studying canine therapy. Furthermore, the resources provided on Moodle have helped me greatly with any grey areas. They are readily available at any point which is fantastic when completing work out of university scheduled hours. It also has extra resources for academic skills, so if anything is still unclear, I can go back and revisit it. For example, when I missed a couple of slides or was unsure of what had been said, I was able to pull up the lecture during or after the session and make sure that I was caught up with all of the work. I found this particularly helpful as I find lectures to be fast pace at times and I struggle to keep up. (Genie Tutors, 2019)

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One thing that I did not find helpful is that some of the lectures did not provide information that I needed or found useful. For instance, if I already knew the information or I had already looked at the material previously, perhaps at college. For example, we had lecture on setting up our own business. Whilst this is valid information, I feel as though it should be included later on in the degree. This is due to being in first year and being at this stage in my degree, I am not really thinking about things like that yet. I would rather we focused on things that are more relevant and helped me with m y writing and current studies. I still think this information is valid, and I could be argued that it is important to have a base knowledge of, I think the majority of the information could be touched on in second or third year, even though this is something I could possibly want to pursue in the future. In future, I think it would be more beneficial to me and my peers if we could be given that material on moodle for it to be optional to look at if we are interested, but a whole lecture on this matter felt unnecessary.

Personally, I think that creating the e-portfolio was a really positive learning experience for me. I used the website creator WIX which gave me the tools to create my own website. These skills will enable me to create my own website in the future, which I can advertise myself as a canine therapist or my own business. Providing online services such as online booking and contacting is vital in todays media-heavy world. However, the e-porfolio has allowed me to show all of my reflections and people can comment on these with relevant, constructive feedback for me to improve my website. In future I would like to commit more time to my e-porfolio as I think it has the potential to be better. For example, including the extra artefacts and the layout could look more professional.

Following on from this project, I will continue to keep records of my work and write review to keep receiving the same benefits as I am now from reflecting on my work. I will also keep working on my website going forward to demonstrate my whole journey at writtle university college and show how I developed, not only s a student and therapist but also as a person.

Overall, I have found the professional skills module a very helpful module as it has enabled me to continue to work on my skills needed for the workplace and my future studies. I have learned a lot of new skills that I will use forever in my day to day life in my future career and found it very valuable. The module has helped me alongside my other modules with the nitty gritty details that I wouldn’t not have known otherwise. (Ryan, 2011)

To conclude, I have really enjoyed the professional skills module and would definitely say that it has been my saving grace for my first year of university, proving every building block I needed to ensure that I worked to my fullest potential. My new and developed skills will carry me through my career which I am sure will be very useful to me progressing forward.

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Genie Tutors. (2019). The Importance of Revision. [online] Available at: https://www.genietutors.co.uk/the-importance-of-revision/ [Accessed 10 May 2019].

Ryan, M. (2011). Improving reflective writing in higher education: a social semiotic perspective. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), pp.99-111.

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