Personal Development - Reflection

David Ho Ming Aun (0328394)

Personal Development

Reflection

I signed up for this module with the expectation of it being a boring MPU subject with lots of boring lectures and dreary group work, but I was pleasantly surprised when the lecturer mentioned that this module would involve a lot of interaction between students as well as activities. Most of the activities were quite enjoyable and beneficial in the sense that they forced the class to interact with people outside their social circle and schools. 

The self-reflective nature of the activities was quite helpful in principle, but I doubt the validity of some of the tests, especially the Canfield's Learning Style Inventory. Using a 1988 method of measuring learning 'styles' is completely irrelevant today, as learning methods have changed substantially! This is evidenced in the incongruencies between the results and actual learning preferences faced by my fellow peers in class, and the horrible layout of the form makes it a really annoying activity overall. In addition to that, The VAK (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) learning styles system taught has little to no evidence behind the theory, and only serves to divide students even more. A relook into the teaching materials can be done.

I enjoyed the hands-on approach facilitated by the lecturer, which made the classes more fun and provided a good break from all our other modules. I got to know my friends and myself a little better through the tutorial classes which provided us with various activities which were quite helpful. 

All in all, I would say that this module has been quite satisfactory and I am glad that it was not intrusive in nature in order for us to be able to work on our own course-specific subjects, while still learning a little bit about developing ourselves personally.