BMGT30460 Personal Development Portfolio

Academic Year 2022/2023

Over the past three or four years, and prior to that during your secondary education, you will have gained significant experience that will stand to you as you seek employment and begin to forge a career for yourself. Whether you realise it or not, you will have developed ‘soft’ skills and competences such as the ability to collaborate and be a team player, the arts of leadership, of influencing and conflict resolution, motivation and resilience and many others. These skills and competences are much sought after by employers and this module is designed to ensure that you are confident in your abilities and able to articulate them effectively. It will also help you to identify gaps in your competences and areas for further improvement and to formulate plans for future development and career planning.

In essence, the module requires you to audit your competences and skillset. It requires you to reflect on your current self, identify where you need to get to and develop a plan of how you will get there. To this end, the module will afford you the opportunity to meet with graduates of your programme who have now embarked on their career. We will also have input from industry experts and seasoned professionals who will share their knowledge and experience with you.

The module takes a self-directed approach to learning. We will provide you with resources such as reading material, talks and classroom activities and you will engage with and manage your own learning activities which will culminate in a deeper understanding of your future learning needs and a broad plan of how this might be achieved.

To ensure that students get the maximum benefit from this module at the time that they most need it, the content has been front loaded to the first seven weeks of term when students are attending careers fairs, applying for jobs and interviewing.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completing the PDP module, you are expected to be able to:
1. Recognise and articulate a sense of progressive development and integrated learning over the course of your Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Science degree, focusing not just on academic learning but on your personal and professional development.
2. Reflect on what you have experienced and learned, including feedback, and things that did not go according to plan.
3. Collect and select evidence as part of a personal audit that demonstrates your transferable skills, personal achievements, and career insights.
4. Plan and set goals for future development, informed by self-awareness and demonstrate a capacity to work on strengths, challenges and personal objectives.
5. Understand and reflect on contemporary career dynamics and identify personal strategies for seeking, continuing or changing employment or creating self-employment.

Indicative Module Content:

This modules requires you to reflect on your journey over the past 3 / 4 years and to understand and be able to demonstrate the soft skills you have acquired along the way. For example, leadership, conflict resolution, team working and influencing are just some of the skills you will have gained during your time at college. We will discover how best to articulate these to potential employers and we will identify gaps in these skill sets and how these gaps might be addressed.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

8

Small Group

16

Autonomous Student Learning

100

Total

124

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module has been designed to help prepare final year Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Science students as they prepare to embark on their careers. To ensure that students get the maximum benefit from this module at the time that they most need it, the content has been front loaded to the first seven weeks of term when students are attending careers fairs, applying for jobs and interviewing. Students are also invited to individual / self-selected small group meetings with the module coordinator / lecture to discuss areas of concern or topics of special interest to them. These meeting are intended to provide students with additional support, should they need it.

The seven weekly classes will be activity driven to provide a forum for reflection and learning. The final five weeks of the module have been reserved to accommodate individual or small self-selected group meetings, however, these meeting can also be arranged by appointment during weeks one to seven.

The underlying principle is that you take the responsibility for your learning while your module coordinator / lecturer supports and advises you in the process. Brightspace will serve as the main information and communication hub. Self-assessments tools, academic readings, video recordings and other materials will be posted on Brightspace weekly for your independent learning and preparation for class activities. Please ensure that you check it and your UCD email regularly.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

This module is core for the Bachelor of Commerce curriculum only and builds on stage 1 core module Effective Learning and Development (BMGT10190).

There are no elective places available on this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
SCI10040 - Prepare for Your Future Career

Equivalents:
Personal Development Portfolio (SBUS30070)


 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Group Project: Group activity with individual reflection Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No

40

Portfolio: A comprehensive, reflective, evidenced based narrative and self-audit / portfolio. Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

60


Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

General feedback will be given within 20 days of assignment submission. Individual feedback will be given on request.

Name Role
Assoc Professor Maeve Houlihan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Brona Russell Lecturer / Co-Lecturer