Reflection on the development of academic and professional skill in year one

Syer and Connolly 1996 believe that team members need to develop awareness of themselves and each other, and of their differences, through giving descriptive feedback. This allows appreciation of differences, good contact and improved communication. Trust, respect, team spirit and synergy may emerge. The notion of a cycle more easily depicts the kind of continuous process that teams go through and need to revisit as members are introduced or move on. The cycle suggests that skill and attention are required from the manager and from team members.

Learning style is an individual 's unique approach to learning based on strengths, weaknesses, and, preferences. Learning styles explains the concept that every person learns differently. Assessments of learning style typically ask individuals to evaluate what sort of information presentation they prefer, and, what kind of mental activity they find most engaging, and, attractive for them. Theories about learning styles agree that all people can be classified according to their style of learning. In this paper different theories about learning styles are reviewed briefly. At the end, Gendlin experiential theory is reviewed in detail.

David Kolb has published his learning styles model in 1984. The learning styles model has two terms. Kolb has two theories the first one is an experimental learning theory (ELT) and the second one is Kolb’s learning styles inventory ( LSI). His book “experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development «was published in 1984 and acknowledge by

David Kolb’s theory of learning styles is one of the best known and widely applied and it suggest that learning is a cyclic process which involves an individual proceeding through each of the following four stages and will eventually prefer and rely upon one style more than the others. The four styles are: Divergers, Convergers, Accommodators and Assimilators.

Syer & Connolly (1996) describes a “team system” as a group of people who constitute a system of interrelated entities and whose members share a common goal. They argue that team members need to develop awareness of themselves and each other, and of their differences, through giving descriptive feedback. This allows appreciation of differences, good contact and improved communication. Trust, respect, team spirit and synergy may then emerge. Consequently this leads to a highly developed awareness. The notion of a cycle more easily suggests the kind of continuous process that teams go through and need to revisit as new members

The features of effective team performance are set out in Brian Tuckman’s phases of team development theory, ‘Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing.’ This outlines the phases that a team will go through in order to become effective and reach maturity. At the ‘Forming’ stage of team development individual roles and responsibilities are unclear and each member of the team is concerned to avoid conflict with each other. From this point the team will go through the ‘Storming’ phase which is when they start to conflict as individuals put forward ideas which will be challenged by others in a bid to gain power and position over others. After this the ‘Norming’ phase follows and it is at this point that individual roles are defined and accepted

This fable was a great way to promote the importance of a team and its functions. This book had many highlights throughout the context and I would highly recommend it to leaders of a corporation or of that of a team like setting. This book offered many great implications of the model and how to use it in many diverse settings when trying to build and manage successful teams.

The five stages of team development were first introduced by Bruce Wayne Tuckman in 1965. His research into the way teams function and coordinate provided reoccurring trends towards very specific points in the life of a team, which became the premises of each of the first four “Tuckman’s Stages.” The fifth stage was co-created by Mary Ann Jensen over a decade later. The five stages discussed in this essay are as follows: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.

Sadler-Smith, Eugene and Carol Evans. Learning styles in education and training. 2nd. Bradford, England: Emerald Group Publication, 2012.

Learning styles and barriers to learning can be by the VARK to give a profile of learning preferences of how a person takes in and gives out information or Tidwell and Rodgers Practical learning styles Questionnaire. The VARK learning styles determines if the person learns by being a theorist, reflector, activist and/or pragmatist. The practical learning styles questionnaire looks at how people learn by their orientation, whether they are a realistic or creative, by their interaction, are they a doer or a thinker, by how they represent things, either by words or pictures, and how they process information, whether they are a surface or deep processor. There are many other

The topic under discussion within this paper is that of learning styles and how each individual has a dominant way of learning. There are many types of ,learning styles which are being discussed throughtout the paper and the succussfulness of these theories. There is also a reflective account to the learning styles presentation and how effective this was within a group, presented through kolbs learning style cycle.

Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266-271. doi:10.1177/0098628315589505

This issue is a controversy. The reason learning styles are such a controversial issue because learning styles theories have been criticized by many due to the lack of evidence to support this topic on the idea that people are somehow a particular type of learner (Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004). Moreover, several psychologists and neuroscientists questioned the scientific basis on which learning theories is established. Also, several educational psychologists believe that there is little to no evidence to support the efficacy of most learning style models because the models often rest on dubious theoretical grounds (Curry, 1990). Even though there is more evidence to support the lack of evidence on this topic that

5.0 Different roles within a team and the impact of..... personality types on a team.........................................8

I knew right from the start of the degree that I would need to approach the degree with a proper plan. Time management was crucial – therefore, I drew up a schedule to finalise all study related work well in advance. This allowed me to work overtime occasionally, even in this demanding phase, for any unexpected emergencies at work. Derrick Herbst – 21034113 30 June 2013 Personal Development 1 Assignment Page 2