4
Creating a Skill Development Plan
ASSIGNMENT: Throughout the course, you have had opportunities to reflect on your skills and life goals and how the
10 Skills have helped you reach certain accomplishments. In this assignment, you will complete a skill development plan for your future where you will identify one skill that you would like to strengthen. You might choose a skill that you are already strong in but would like to sharpen. Or you might choose a skill that you are weak in but would like to improve. This assignment will give you a starting plan for personal and professional development that you can review with your career coach.
For this assignment, you will reflect on your strengths, opportunities for improvement, and ways in which you have demonstrated the 10 Skills, identify self-reflection as a valuable process for learning and development, draft elements of a career plan which include strategies for developing the 10 Skills for advancing in college, work, and life, and discuss how the 10 Skills connect to your overall goals.
This assignment has four parts:
· In part 1, you will choose one of the 10 employability skills you would like to improve. You will list your strengths and weaknesses pertaining to the skill and then develop a positive goal statement that describes the outcomes you plan to achieve.
· In part 2, you will recall strategies you learned in this course that you can use to boost your targeted skill. You will create an action plan for improvement and identify potential barriers to overcome along the way.
· In part 3, you will identify people in your personal and professional network who can help you with your skill development plan. They can check your progress and periodically give you feedback.
· In part 4, you will explain the connection between your skill development plan and your larger personal, academic, or career goals as you look toward the future.
Download the template below, which further breaks down the steps involved in this assignment, and return the completed template as your Touchstone submission.
In order to foster learning and growth, all work you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review
Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review
Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
Step 1. Review
Before you start, review the
Touchstone 4 Sample for guidance during this assignment.
Step 2. Fill out the Action Plan Template
Using the
Touchstone 4 Template, complete the steps in each of the four parts.
· Part 1. Target a Skill Choose one of the 10 employability skills you would like to improve. You will list your strengths and weaknesses pertaining to the skill and then develop a positive goal statement that describes the outcomes you plan to achieve. For this part, complete steps 1—5 in the template below using 50 words or fewer for each step.
· Part 2. Develop an Action Plan Recall strategies you learned in this course that you can use to boost your targeted skill. You will create an action plan for improvement and identify potential barriers to overcome along the way. With your goals in mind, complete steps 6—8 in the template below using 100 words or fewer for each step.
· Part 3. Leverage Your Support System Identify people in your personal and professional network who can help you with your skill development plan. They can check your progress and periodically give you feedback. With your action plan in mind, complete step 9 in the template below using 50 words or fewer.
· Part 4. Reconnect to Your Life Goals Explain the connection between your skill development plan and your larger personal, academic, or career goals as you look toward the future. If needed, reflect on how you see yourself in terms of your values, aspirations, key qualities, goals, strengths, and areas of growth. With your larger goals in mind, complete step 10 in a paragraph using 150 words or fewer.
Step 3: Submission
Once you have filled out the template, it is time to submit your touchstone.
Refer to the checklist below throughout the Touchstone process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
1. Target a Skill
❒ Have you described at least one strength and one opportunity for your targeted skill?
❒ Have you made it clear whether your targeted skill applies to your academics, personal life, or career?
❒ Have you written a goal statement that is concise and actionable?
❒ Have you included sufficient detail in your answers?
2. Develop an Action Plan
❒ Have you selected at least two strategies that will help you strengthen your targeted skill?
❒ Have you developed at least three tasks that will guide your action plan?
❒ Have you described the challenges you might face and how you will overcome them?
❒ Have you included sufficient detail in your answers?
3. Leverage Your Support System
❒ Have you identified at least one personal or professional contact who you can delegate as your supporter?
❒ Have you obtained their contact information?
❒ Have you described in detail how your supporters can help you?
4. Reconnect to Your Life Goals
❒ Have you made a strong connection between your targeted skill and your overall life goals?
❒ Have you made it clear whether your targeted skill applies to your academics, personal life, or career?
❒ Have you given evidence to support the connections you’ve made?
❒ Have you compared your work to the example that was provided?
