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There are three pieces of accessed work - Reflective E-portfolio - The Project - Academic Report
Reflective E-portfolio
The Personal Development System (PDSystem) is a web application that supports your Personal Development Planning. It will enable you to reflect upon, record and evaluate your personal, academic and career development learning while on the BEI Programme.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT SKILLS – Reflective E-portfolio
The Reflective E-portfolio covers the whole of your BEI experience and must be completed using the PDSystem, a final printed version will be retained by: Seamus McConomy, Work Experience Development Officer
HOW TO LOG IN
Visit http://pds.ulster.ac.uk and follow the simple login instructions on the page. All you need is your student registration number and WebCT or computer lab password to login. Your Reflective E-portfolio will be made up of the following elements:
- My Skills Self Assessment
- Goals – Hopes and Expectations
- My Action Plan
- Journal entry – First Impressions
- Journal entry – First Semester Reflection
- Journal entry – Second Semester Reflection
- My Skills Self Assessment Review
- Journal entry – Taking Stock
These elements are described in more detail below, firstly – get familiar with the PDSystem.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
You will find a “First time user trail” on the homepage of the PDSystem:
Assessment Criteria
a) Completeness Your Learning Log should be complete, with a reasonable amount of detail appropriate to each of the sections. 20% (of 10%)
b) Clarity and Appearance Your Learning Log should be easy to read, the content expressed and laid out logically and carefully. 20% (of 10%)
c) Evidence of Development and Achievement Your Learning Log should contain evidence of analytical skills when describing what you learnt from the experience and what actions you intend to take. You should show an insight into your own competencies and be able to recognise how you could use these in a future career. 60% (of 10%)
Assessed contribution of the e portfolio to DAS 10% Submission date: 30 June 2008
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The Project requires you to examine how the business knowledge and expertise you gain in the USA might be beneficial to the development of your career, or in a more general way to Northern Ireland.
Agree proposal and suggested data collection methods with UU Supervisor by 1 December 2007
Begin work on project December 2007
Interim Report
Normally two sides of A4 to UU supervisor by 1 March 2008
Final Report
Final report typed and spiral bound to UU Supervisor by 30 June 2008
Nature of the Project
The project should be related, where possible, to the business/management modules being studied in your US university/college. Ideally, you should examine a business problem or development within the industry or community of the local area in America. If an internship is available at your university/college, it may be beneficial to relate your project to this experience. The project should be problem solving rather than descriptive in nature. It is expected that you will evaluate your findings and recommend realistic solutions to the problem area identified. It would be useful if you were to present examples of best practice within the given topic area and highlight any lessons that can be learnt which would benefit the business environment in Ireland.
The project will be written in report format, fully referenced with a bibliography and appropriate appendices. It should be a minimum of 3000 words and a maximum of 5000 words.
Assessment of Project
Your project will be assessed under the following criteria:
(a) Definition of Problem/Topic Area
- Clear definition and development of problem/topic
- Clearly established project objectives
- Relevance of subject/topic area to chosen industry or community in local area.
(b) Reading and Background Research
-Evaluation of background to problem/topic
- Variety and relevance of published information used
(c) Research Method
- Appropriateness of chosen data collection technique(s) used
- Clear explanation of research technique(s) used
(d) Evaluation of Data Collected
- Sufficient relevant data collected to satisfy project objectives
- Content more than a summary of others work
- Evidence of appropriate conclusions and/or recommendations
(e) Presentation and Style
- Clear, concise and grammatically correct content
- Presentation of information in a coherent and readable form
- Well structured and organised information
Assessed contributionof the project to DAS 45% Submission date: 30 June 2008
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Academic Report Your American University/College will forward this initially to BEI and then to the University.
Assessed contribution of the academic report to DAS 45%
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The pass mark is 50%. An overall mark of 50% must be achieved for a student to be eligible for the award. Failure in one element may be condoned by performance in the other element provided that the mark is not less than 30% and an overall mark of 40% has been achieved.
Students who achieve an overall mark of 40% may proceed to the next stage of the course, but will not be eligible for the award of DAS/CAS.
Example Project Titles
• An examination of the Convention Industry in the Chicago area.
• Elder Care Management in the US - A Strategy for Ireland
• Quality Management in Engineering Companies in the US
• Issues in Recruitment and Selection in US Accountancy Firms
• A Critical Evaluation of the Marketing Mix of a US Based Company
• Impact of Technology on Business or Community
• Environmental Issues in Business
• A Comparison of US and UK SME's: Lesson to be Learnt
• Inward Investment Strategies in US
• US Investment Strategies in Europe with particular reference to Northern Ireland
• Arts Marketing
• Approaches to Sports Management in US
• Ethical Issues in American Companies
• Not-for-Profit Marketing/Business: US Experiences (Charities, Community Groups, etc)
• Advertising Strategies in American Companies
