Task 1. Final Learning Plan (20% out of 45%): No word limit

Update the personal learning plan developed in Assessment 1. This update will include:

• Additional barriers, strategies and resources that emerged during the session (written in a different colour).
• A fourth column that includes a review and reflection on the goals listed in Assessment 1 – updated at least once a week (written in a different colour).
• Changes based on feedback received in Assessment 1 (written in a different colour)

Task 2. Reflective report (25% out of 45%)

Write a reflective report on your learning experiences in this unit with recommendations about your future learning in your discipline.

Introduction

Self-management is the basis for human empowerment as well as success in the knowledge economy. This would ensure an individual's lifelong commitment to learn in order to achieve ones goals (Nadinloyi et al. 2013). It helps to develop personal productivity through skill management, especially enhancing time commitments. One of the key features is its ability to build on personal networks that assist in solving complex problems. This allows an individual to embrace change and critically think to meet new opportunities. The questions arises however is whether we are born with these skills or they are honed on practice and experience (Bradbury, Nick Frost & Zukas (eds.) 2012). This report reflects my personal journey as I pursue the unit on 'Language and Learning in you Discipline'. University education has offered an opportunity to hone my skills required for professional development (Zeegers, Deller-Evans & Klinger 2011). As part of it, I have developed a learning plan to determine four major goals – to improve my academic writing skills, to enhance time management, to maintain academic integrity and to use Harvard referencing style correctly. I also identified various barriers that hinder my achievement of these goals and the strategies and resources to overcome it. In this report, I have further reviewed how I am successful in reaching my set goals.  This report provides an opportunity to showcase my skills development to become a successful accounting professional.

To Improve My Academic Writing Skills

During this unit, I learnt that academic writing is one of the essential components of the study. Though I have written assignments in the past, the level of effort required to read and integrate my ideas to develop a own work is entirely new to me.  The first thing I learnt was that there are different genres of academic writing. I found that there are different genres such as reports, essays, blogs and wikis which follow different structure. One of my key steps in achieving this goal was to develop my ability to carry out a critical review of the list of readings suggested in the BlackBoard.  For this purpose, I identified the topic to be worked on and did a background data collection through various research articles which are already available in databases like Google Scholar. I have developed critical reading skills to understand the principles applied in the literature (Kurland 2000) and (Turner et al. 2011, pp. 1-16). I found that this literature review skill is essential to convey my ideas clearly in academic write ups. The major barrier I encountered was the delay in internet connections which is rectified with a faster broadband connection. Accessing certain research articles was difficult, so I resorted to the assistance of eLibrary option available with the university.

Then comes the actual writing part in which I faced difficulty as English is not my native language. As a result, I felt isolated as English is a primary medium of written communication in Australia. Improving my vocabulary was the best option and knowing the spelling of words would be an added advantage. Therefore, I kept on reading different English articles available as part of the course. The main barrier I faced was my readings are mostly related to the subject. Completing crossword puzzles has become one of my favourite leisure activities as it has helped me in expanding my vocabulary. This played a favourable part during my writing assignments as I was able to convey my ideas in a concise and understandable manner. I have planned to make vocabulary learning as part of daily routine to ensure continuous learning.

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)