This document provides instructions for Assignment 2, an individual reflective portfolio worth 60% of the module's grade. Students will critically reflect on their learning throughout the module, synthesizing information from activities and readings. The portfolio should include reflections on group work, seminar discussions, significant learning themes, and how the learning can be applied. It should demonstrate critical thinking, reference theories, and be 3,000 words. Students will be assessed on their use of literature, knowledge of theory, critical analysis, referencing, and writing skills. The portfolio must be submitted electronically by the due date listed on the announcements.

1. Assignment 2
Reflective Portfolio
Date of submission: Please refer to information placed on “announcements”.
Individual Reflective Portfolio (3,000 words)– 60%
In this assignment you will need to develop and produce an individual reflective
portfolio for yourself. In the course of preparing the materials for this portfolio
you will work with other members of your “learning set” but the final assignment
which is submitted must be entirely your own work.
This process will require you to synthesise and build upon much of the
information and many of the activities within the module. You will need to
critically reflect upon the module and your learning. This assignment will require
a high level of reflective, critical and creative thinking and input
Start working on this assignment from day one of the module. One of the
assessment criteria that we shall be using is based around how much you have
developed you thinking and understanding during the module.
The portfolio is built up from a variety of different materials:
 A critical reflection of your groups Literature Review process and
presentation.
 Discussion and reflection of Seminar activities.
 Discussion and reflection of your significant learning themes.
 Application and integration of your learning, how can you apply and integrate
this learning?
Apart from the above, what you put in the portfolio is up to you, but do
remember that you need to demonstrate achievement of the assessment
criteria.
You must ensure that your work contains reference to appropriate theories and
produces evidence of critical thinking and reflection on your own learning and
development. Your work must be free standing and self-explanatory to the
marking tutor.
This activity allows individuals to take a step back from an experience and create
inferences about it in order to more fully understand its significance and
meaning. By “pondering” about the learning and development going on,
reflection uncovers insight and learning themes, connects your learning and
performance, and yields more relevant feedback.
We all indulge in this process already, but generally at an unconscious or semi-
conscious level. Many organisations and businesses do it; keen to improve their
products by reflecting upon the experiences of their customers…….and keen to

2. improve their internal (production) processes by encouraging all employees to
reflect upon how they do their jobs and thus how their jobs can be improved!
In the same vein, all top sports people have to indulge in some sort of reflection
upon their performance….in order to learn how to improve. If they don’t do this,
they will not be at the top of their chosen sport for very long!
Practice is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for learning: there are
many examples of people repeating mistakes over and over again - we never
learn from our mistakes alone, we only learn from reflecting upon our
mistakes….and quite often the learning gained from our “mistakes” can be far
more powerful and meaningful than learning from success.
In order to capitalise on seminar/lecture experiences as learning/development
opportunities and to maximise any possible gain, it is necessary to take some
time to consider and reflect on what happened in the event and turn those
seminar/lecture experiences into learning/development. Kolb (1984) suggested
that people learn more effectively by reviewing each occasion in which learning
may take place. Schon (1987) used the phrase “reflection-in-action”.
Reflection is a key element in the learning process. It converts informal and
perhaps accidental opportunities into efficient learning.
It is a flexible method, which recognises that learning & development is a
personal and individual process.
There are a variety of models and frameworks to help explain, facilitate and
capture reflective learning (Kolb’s Learning Cycle, Honey & Mumford’s Learning
Styles).
Some Reflection Prompts.
 Have any intriguing ideas emerged from your seminar discussions?
 What ideas (from lectures, work experience, other related modules….?) stand
out in your mind as being particularly important/useful?
 How do these ideas relate to other similar ideas you have come across?
 How can you use these ideas in the future?
 Can you relate some of these ideas to the world of work?
 What made it easy or difficult for you to learn? What does that say about how
you prefer to learn?
 Are any general themes emerging?
 What actions do you plan to take based on what you learned?
Review the above list of reflection questions for each seminar/lecture and choose
a few to prompt your thinking rather than the entire list.
Do not be afraid to use drawings, diagrams, metaphors…..to push beyond a
mere surface evaluation or chronological description of what you did.
Rather than what you did, we want to read about the impact it has had
on your understanding, learning and development.

3. You are not expected to summarise and cover every lecture or seminar!
One approach may be to pursue and explore three themes from the
module, which may incorporate a mix of lectures or seminars or both?
It is essential you start working on this assignment early on in the module. It is
almost impossible to write reflectively about your experiences and learning
retrospectively. It will be important to capture it in the “here and now”.
It is always difficult to put a word limit on Portfolio's, they just don't lend
themselves to that type of approach. It is suggested that 3,000 words is
reasonable. We are more than happy to review your progress during specific
seminars which have been put aside for that.
Assessment Criteria
Students will be assessed against the following criteria:
 Use of literature, well referenced, builds argument (30%)
 Knowledge and use of relevant theory (30%).
 Critical analysis and evaluation (20%).
 Referencing and citation (10%)
 Presentation skills, grammar, spelling and written in an appropriate style.
(10%)
Assessment Submission
Tutors are unable to accept coursework directly. All assignments must be
submitted electronically through the “Submit Your Work” (Turnitin) button on
NILE. ALL STUDENTS MUST KEEP A COPY OF ASSIGNMENTS.
Reading List
 Burnes, B. (2009). Managing change (5th
ed). FT Prentice Hall.
 Carnall, C. (2007). Managing change in organisations (5th
ed). Financial
Times Prentice Hall.
 Grey, C. (2009). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap
book about studying organisations (2nd
ed). Sage
 Grieves, J. Organisational change: Themes and issues. Oxford
 Martin, G. (2006). Managing people and organisations in changing
contexts. Butterworth-Heinemann
 Myers, P. (2012). Organisational change: Perspectives on theory
and practice. Oxford
 Senior, B. and Swailes, S. (2010). Organisational change (4th
ed).
Financial Times Prentice Hall.

4. The two main text books are those shown in bold above. However, please note
that, the above is not an exhaustive list. During the module other sources may
be also be used. You are also encouraged to do your own research and include
other sources.