In your reflection you do not need to include the step headings or graduate attribute definitions, these are here to help guide you whilst writing your reflection.
Graduate Attributes included in this domain:
K1 Well-informed individuals with discipline-specific expertise and industry knowledge relevant to their profession or area of study.
K2 Critical, creative, thinkers who can integrate and apply knowledge and relevant skills, including research and digital literacy skills, to analyse and evaluate ideas, concepts, theories and problems, and offer insights, innovative approaches and solutions.
Step 1: Setting the scene. Describing your context, problem or challenge. What did this experience involve? Was there a trigger?
I am an animal rights advocate and three years ago I joined a not-for-profit animal rescue group. Initially on roster once a month. For the last year I have been volunteering every second weekend. In this time, I have noticed a high turnover of volunteers with funding being a constant pressure for the group. I decided to speak with the manager to gauge their receptiveness to addressing these areas. This took some time to arrange due to rosters and availability of manager.
Step 2: Identify your existing skills and what needs to occur to fix the problem. This could be informal learning, non-formal sessions or independent research. Pathway to a solution. What existing knowledge did you use to identify your problem?
I suggested to the manager that we introduce a buddy system within the specific animal areas. This allowed the newer members of the group to have a buddy that has volunteered for a long period of time. They can then rotate through different animal areas to learn new skills. This allowed for stronger retention of staff as they felt valued and a part of a bigger team. To address the funding pressure, I suggested that we run open day sessions to the public where the volunteers could do mini tours and increase public awareness. This required program to be developed for the tours.
Step 3: What pathway did you take? What did you do to resolve your problem or challenge? What initiatives have you implemented?
These suggestions were trialled initially with the volunteers and their families with great success with a local piece published in the paper (insert link to evidence in portfolio). This further promoted the profile of the non for profit and this led me to focus on our social media presence on Facebook (Link to page).
Step 4: Drawing conclusions and developing future practice. What impact did your action make? Was this successful or unsuccessful? What do you plan to do from here? What were your feelings, ideas and questions about the experience?
The open tours are in high demand and the public must book one month in advance. The staff turnover decreased, and the overall moral of staff is happier. This experience has allowed me to further my digital literacy skills, critical thinking and increased my confidence to be innovative and to take a risk. Since then I have been innovative in the role of xyz (refer to CV, Portfolio) where I was recognized with a staff award for (xyz). I realise that innovation is a strong skill I hold and have developed over xx years in a range of roles.
Evidence to verify claims made in reflection:
example: position descriptions, letters or testimonials from employers, social media links, examples of work (reports, presentations etc)
