Assignment: The Importance of Self-assessment and Reflection

Assignment: The Importance of Self-assessment and Reflection

Assignment: The Importance of Self-assessment and Reflection

every semester
In my critical thinking and writing course, I have students complete various writing assignments, including two essays: essay 1 (20%) and essay 2 (20%). (30 percent ).
Students submit a self-reflection of essay 1 in between these two essays; assigning this assignment after essay 1 is completed allows students to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work, as well as where they should make changes as they complete essay 2.

Completing a self-reflection provides students with several advantages; this practice, which is supported by research, allows students to make sense of and grow from an experience (Purdue University, 2020).
As a result, students are encouraged to think about what worked for them when they completed essay 1 and what changes they can make for essay 2.
Students can improve their skills by reflecting (The Open University, 2020).
For example, being asked to reflect on various aspects of an assignment, such as the steps taken to complete the assignment, can assist students in developing a better plan for the next assignment.

Guided self-reflections, in which students are given specific criteria to focus on or specific questions to answer, give students prompts to help them get started on the assignment.
The goal of my self-reflection assignment is for students to consider how they will use my feedback, what their strengths are, and how they will ensure that the next assignment is submitted by the due date.

Not all students read through my feedback on their written assignments.
I’ve discovered that the self-reflection assignment is an excellent way to encourage students to review my feedback so they don’t make the same mistakes on their next essay.
Furthermore, because they are asked to highlight a strength from their current essay, this assignment can help students regain confidence from essay 1, especially if their grade was not particularly high (see chart below).

Three questions serve as the basis for my self-reflection.
You are free to use any of these questions as you see fit or to modify them to fit your learning objectives.
In addition to having students respond to the three questions below, I provide additional guidelines (word count, paragraph format, topic sentence, and so on) that were assessed in essay 1 and will be assessed in essay 2.

*Note: While you may not be able to add a self-reflection to your course at this point in the semester, you might consider giving students the option of completing the self-reflection or answering one question for a bonus mark on the final exam/assignment.

Nursing homework
Details:

This assignment focuses on the importance of self-assessment and reflection.

Self-Assessment

For this assignment, you have the opportunity to take a variety of self-assessments to learn more about yourself and identify your assets and weaknesses as a leader. This will assist you in discovering how you can improve your own self-leadership skills. You will be asked to think critically about your results and submit a reflection as directed below.

Complete each of the following self-assessments. Be sure to document the results of each assessment to assist you in completing the reflection portion of the assignment below.

Emotional Intelligence Assessment: “Emotional Intelligence Test”: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3038
Personality Assessment: “Personality Traits Test”: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transfer?req=MnwyMjk2fDE5NTM1MTV8MXwxfDE=&refempt
Learning Styles Assessment: “The VARK Questionnaire: How Do I Learn Best?”: http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/
Values Assessment: “Values Profile”: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transfer?req=MnwzMzE5fDE5NTM1MTV8MXwxfDE=&refempt
Values Assessment: “Rokeach Values Survey”: http://faculty.wwu.edu/tyrank/Rokeach%20Value%20Survey.pdf
Diversity Assessment: “Cultural Competence Self-Test”: http://www.healthystartpinellas.org/pdf/Self_Assess_5.pdf
Self-Assessment Reflection

Becoming self-aware is an ongoing process requiring introspection. The more often people practice self-reflection, the more opportunities they have to understand their own behaviors and adapt their approaches to working with other people, which can improve both your own and other’s abilities to meet their professional goals.

In a 750-1,000 word reflective essay, address the following:

Briefly summarize the results of each self-assessment.
Identify the leadership style that closely aligns to your philosophy of care, and explain what appeals to you about that style.
Reflect on how you might incorporate elements of that particular style as you exercise leadership in a practice or health care organization setting.
Discuss any particular areas for improvement the assessments helped you identify and some steps for improving your leadership capabilities.
You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.