2024 S2 Reading Effectively and Creatively

General information Skills Portfolio 1 will help you to develop two skills, respectively, from the Think and Engage core skills categories in the BA Transferable Skills Framework: Reflective thinking Self and Social Responsibility Length: 500 words (+/- 10% = 550 maximum) Weight: 40% Deadline: 23:55pm 28th August 2024 (Week 6, Wednesday) Background You are asked to complete a 500-word Critical Reflection on an event, incident or activity that has helped you to develop your Engage skills. It must be an event or incident that matters to you and that you are willing to invest time to reflect on. Some examples of events/incidents include: an incident when you witnessed some form of discrimination (e.g., gender discrimination, racial discrimination, ageism etc). an activity that you had to undertake due to a controversial law or policy, which you may think is legal but not just. an activity that you completed as part of your studies (in this unit or in other units), which taught you something meaningful about society or ethics. a news item, a piece of writing, a film, TV, or radio show that made you pause and think about ethics, privilege, or power. A Critical Reflection is a process of identifying, questioning, and assessing our deeply-held assumptions – about our knowledge, the way we perceive events and issues, our beliefs, feelings, and actions. When you reflect critically, you use course materials from this unit or others you have taken (lectures, readings, discussions, etc) and/or readings from other sources (journal papers, chapters etc) to examine your biases, compare theories with actions, search for causes and triggers, and identify problems at their core. Critical reflection is not a reading assignment, a summary of an activity, or an emotional outlet. Rather, the goal is to change your thinking about a subject, and thus change your behaviour. Steps Step 1 Choose an event or incident to reflect on. Step 2 Write an initial draft. In your draft, analyse the event by asking the following questions: “what?”, “why?”, “how?”, “so what?” and “now what?”. Step 3 In the second phase, articulate your Critical Reflection for your reader (i.e. your marker). You can structure your reflection by including a paragraph on: background/context key argument your previous position your current position a conclusion/action plan Please note: you only submit the final draft of the reflection, not earlier drafts. References In this assignment, you should aim to reference a minimum of 2 sources from course materials or other sources to support your evaluation of the topic under reflection. When referring to the Engage skills, you should cite the BA Hub (please see the FAQ for a recommended BA Hub citation) You may use any referencing style you wish (e.g., APA style, Harvard style etc), but you must use it consistently and accurately. Format Please submit your assignment as a Word document or in pdf format via Turnitin. Skills Portfolio 1: Rubric Outstanding Advanced Proficient Functional Developing (F: 0-49%) Engage (20 marks) How well did the student demonstrate their ENGAGE skills? High quality evidence of ENGAGE skills. The event may demonstrate more than one type of ENGAGE skill. The submission refers to the BA Hub. Solid evidence of ENGAGE skills. The event clearly demonstrates one or more types of the ENGAGE skills. The submission refers to the BA Hub. Some quality in the evidence of ENGAGE skills. The event demonstrates one type of ENGAGE skill. The submission may refer to the BA Hub. Quality of evidence of ENGAGE skills is limited. The link between the event and the ENGAGE skills is not clear or has not been properly explained. The submission may not refer to the BA Hub. Little evidence of ENGAGE skills. The link between the event and the ENGAGE skills may be unclear or absent. The submission may not refer to the BA Hub. Connections (20 marks) How well did the student connect the learning material to their developing Engage skills? The reflection draws clear and insightful connections between the event under scrutiny and learning material. At least two references are made to learning resources or other sources. The reflection draws connections between the event under scrutiny and learning material. One or more references are made to learning resources or other sources. The reflection draws some connections between the event under scrutiny and learning material. There may be one (or more) references to learning resources or other sources but they may not be clear or insightful. Limited or weak connections between the event and the learning material. There may be no specific reference to learning resources or other sources. No connection between the event and learning material. No reference to learning resources or other sources. Reflection (20 marks) How well did the student critically reflect on the experience? Highly reflective and highly personalised account that is non-defensive and relates emotions to experience. Consistently demonstrates awareness of student’s own biases and assumptions. Reflective and personalised account that is non-defensive relating some emotions to experience and that demonstrates some awareness of student’s own biases and assumptions. Somewhat reflective personalised account that relates some emotions to experience and that demonstrates awareness of student’s own biases and assumptions. Shows some ability to be reflective but does not relate emotions to experience and/or may not demonstrate awareness of own biases and assumptions. Little evidence of being reflective. Does not show evidence of a personalised account that relates some emotions to experience. Shows little to no awareness of student’s own biases and assumptions. Action Plan (20 marks) How well did the student outline their action plan? There is a clear, detailed, specific action plan. There is a clear and specific action plan. The action plan is solid, but could be formulated more clearly. The action plan is underdeveloped or unclear. There is no action plan. Writing (20 marks) How well did the student express themselves in writing? Shows high level of sophistication in the use of language. Correct use of English grammar and spelling throughout and clear expression. Keeps within the required word length. All sources are referenced consistently. Language used is clearly understandable, with evidence of sophistication. Correct use of English grammar and spelling. Keeps within required word-length. All sources are referenced, but there are occasional minor errors. The meaning of language used clear. Largely correct use of English grammar. There may be spelling and typographical errors. A good attempt has been made to keep within required word length. All sources are referenced, but there are occasional major errors. Meaning of expression is clear and English grammar correct for the most part but there may be some expression problems and/or some spelling and typographical errors. May be over or under required word length. Some sources are not referenced and/or there are significant referencing errors. Serious problems with grammar and expression, making the ideas difficult or impossible to understand sometimes. Little to no coherence between ideas, facts, and reflections. May be over or under the required word length. There may be no references provided.