Conquering the final reflection

Volunteering - tick! Leadership - tick! Employability workshops - tick! You'll be feeling good. Just the final Edge reflection or Beyond interview to go and you'll have completed the award that you've put so much energy into. Bullseye!

Time to take a deep breath and reflect over what you've learned and how you may have changed through the award. Tip - this takes time. Typically, it can take from 2 to 8 hours to draft, refine, polish and complete. This may sound painful but if you get your head around the tips below, you’ll get it done in far less than 8 hours – so read on…..

How do you approach the final reflection?

First, you have to do a mandatory workshop where we will go over what is required and you can ask questions about this last step.

When you reach the final reflection, you’re at the point where we ask you to think about (reflect on) what has changed for you, professionally and personally, while you were doing the Edge or Beyond Award. You’ve already written a short summary of it for each experience, but now you take this a step further and provide in-depth examples and insights into three major personal learning experiences you have had over the period of the Award.

Personal learning experiences are – strangely enough – personal so they need to be written in the first person ( “I”).

Yep, that’s right, a reflection is NOT an academic essay. No third person please, no referencing! We want to hear what you thought, felt, loved and hated – "I thought…", "I believed…", "I felt…"

You are telling us about personal changes or new things you have learned about yourself personally and professionally while doing the award and showing us how your ideas and knowledge may have shifted because of the experiences.

Edge Awarders then present these in an essay, presentation or video (other suggestions, come ask us).

Beyond AUT students need to create a draft of their learning experiences to prepare for an interview about them.

Think about change

• What activities made a difference to how you view the workplace or the world and how you fit in that place?
• How have your thinking, attitudes, values or skills changed?
• What did you do that challenged you professionally or personally?
• What gave you a new perspective on work, study or your attitudes or values?
  
  Doing Toastmasters or learning how to put a CV together is not the learning experience but the catalyst for some personal or professional change for you.
  For example, if you try something new such as helping to organise an event or get involved in a volunteering activity, we would want to know what your thoughts were before you started. Then after doing it, how was it different from your expectations (if it was) and what you learned from that experience? Did your attitudes or values or perspective change? Maybe your communication or confidence improved because of it, or your ability to build relationships?
  We also want to know how you felt going through that experience, what you found challenging etc .

"Your learning experience is the change that occurred, not the activity you did!"

3 step process

• Start your learning experience by telling us how you initially felt or thought about what you decided to do for the Award. Was it that you didn’t see the point of volunteering because you weren’t getting paid? Was it that you thought a leader told people what to do? Or that you didn’t need to have a CV to get a job?
• Write/talk about what you did, including the challenges and hurdles you had to overcome. Often it is a challenge that changes your thinking or means you need to develop new skills.
• Then conclude by showing how you now think, see, act in that situation and how this has improved your understanding and how it might be helpful in job search or the workplace in the future.

Coaching helps

Many of you will end up in a couple of coaching sessions to help you fulfil the requirements of the Final Reflection. This simply means we discuss what you need to include to really reflect on what you've learned. You’ll be told if you need a coaching session after you have submitted your initial headings. These sessions can be hugely helpful so make the most of them.

I’ve coached students through both Edge and Beyond final reflections and I'm often impressed by the perseverance, determination and fun they've had over the award. I’ve always amazed at the range of volunteering and leadership activities students get involved in. I’ve also been moved by the ability of many of you to question quite fundamental values and reassess your place in the world. Just brilliant - sometimes tearful even.

Definite benefits for FB Intern

The reflection offered unexpected benefits to Jessica Tweed, an AUT Edge Award graduate who landed a 2019 internship for Facebook in New York.

"Reflecting on your activities may seem tedious at first, but it's actually the most rewarding part of the Edge Award because it really helps you organise and summarise your thinking," says Jess.

"It teaches you the value of being able to articulate your key experiences in an engaging way, which is incredibly important for employability.

For example, you may be asked about your Edge Award activities in a job interview or at a networking event, and the reflection sets you up for success in those situations. Knowing how to present information is an essential business skill so don't discount this opportunity!"

Final reflection workshop

Get started by signing up for a final reflection workshop through elab online. Let us know if you're struggling to get to any of the sessions scheduled.

Written by AUT Employability & Careers writer Angela McCarthy.

Photo of Crysallis by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash