Learning Contract template Essay

We have provided this template to help you to build up and structure your learning contract. You will find an introduction to the learning contract in Activity 1.6 of the Study Guide and you will find detailed guidance in the Learning Contract Guidance. This will have been sent to you as a printed booklet and is also available on the Study Resources section of the Module web-site. For each of the five sections of this template there is a corresponding section in the Learning Contract Guidance (from page 10 onwards). You should work through and make notes on each section of the Learning Contract Guidance, to help you to develop your ideas, before you start to complete the relevant section of this template. We suggest you keep your initial notes and reflections on the activities in these sections of the Learning Contract Guidance in your Learning Journal; these will help you to develop your thinking about your learning contract and to decide what you want to write in each section. You can, of course, change the text you have written in this template document as often as you like. This is an important point because you are likely to find that your thinking changes as you work through the activities in the Learning Contract Guidance and that you will want to revise the content several times. For this reason, we suggest you to start drafting your learning contract well before week 10 when you will submit it as eTMA02. You may of course prefer not to use this template or to use it as a starting point and then to amend it – and this is fine. You are not confined to using exactly the structure we have suggested here, as long as you clearly cover each of the five elements. If you do use this template, you will find indicative word limits in each section which will help to give you a sense of how much you need to write – but you are free to alter these as long as you remain within the overall limit set out for eTma02 (1,600 words) . You will, of course, need to delete the instructions which are given in italics in each section before you submit it. This will leave you with the headings (in bold) and your own content. Template Section 1: Possible Learning Topics Read pages 10- 13 of the Learning Contract Guidance from the heading Section 1: Possible Learning Topics to the end of the section headed Pulling together your thoughts about Section 1. Make notes in your Learning Journal of your thoughts about the questions and illustrative cases in this section. When you are ready write here your thoughts about the topics you would like to study to make improvements in your performance at work. You will study these in the work-based learning inquiries which you will carry out from week 11 of this module. Remember that you are strongly advised to make one of your topics time management and to choose at least one of your topics from those covered in the Topic Guides (you will find further guidance on this in Activity 1.6 of the Study Guide). If you are a BUXS130 student one of your topics must be Customer care in the public sector. You should have two topics plus one reserve (in case either of the first two proves too difficult to study in practice). Explain briefly why you want to learn about these topics and why you want to make the changes to your working practices that you have identified. Suggested word count: approximately 200 words Section 2: You and Your Learning Context: Read pages 13-17 of the Learning Contract Guidance from the heading Section 2: You and Your Learning Context to the end of the section headed Pulling together your thoughts about Section 2. Make notes in your Learning Journal of your thoughts about the questions and illustrative cases in this section. When you are ready, use the notes you have made to write a short summary of how your learning experiences and work environment have influenced the choice of topics which you identified for your work-based learning inquiries in Section 1, and the way you will learn about each of them. Remember that your learning context includes your work environment and you will need to bear in mind how much freedom you will have to make changes to the way you carry out your work, as this will obviously influence the way you will be able to manage your learning. Suggested word count: approximately 200 words Section 3: Your Learning Objectives: Read pages 18-21 of the Learning Contract Guidance from the heading Section 3: Your Learning Objectives to the end of the section headed Pulling together your thoughts about Section 3. Make notes in your Learning Journal of your thoughts about the questions and activities in this section. When you are ready, use the notes you have made to help you to draw up one learning objective for each topic area that you identified for your work-based learning inquiries in Section 1 above. Remember to try to make each objective SMART (Specific, Measurable, Aspirational, Realistic, and Timely/Time-bound) as explained on pages 18-19 of the Learning Contract Guidance. You should also explain briefly why you have chosen each objective – this includes why you think the learning in each objective is important and how your work practice might be improved as a result. Remember to include your reserve objective (although you can comment on this more briefly than the other objectives). If you are a BUXS130 student, remember that one of your objectives must relate to Customer care in the public sector. Suggested word count: approximately 350 words Section 4: Learning Strategy and Resources: Read pages 21 -30 of the Learning Contract Guidance from the heading Section 4: Learning Strategy and Resources to the end of the section headed Pulling together your thoughts about Section 4. Make notes in your Learning Journal of your thoughts about the questions activities and illustrative cases in this section. When you are ready, use the notes you have made to help you to develop a plan for each of your learning objectives (again, you can do this more briefly for your reserve objective than for the first two). For each objective you should show: what steps you will take to carry out your work-based learning inquiry. This should include a plan of action which shows what you will be doing in each week from week 12 of this module. You may find it helpful to include some interim targets and/or a ‘table’ format to outline your strategy. an overview of the resources which are available to you and which you expect to use in carrying out your work-based learning inquiry. These might include Topic Guides, other online or printed articles and books, your mentor, your line managers and your colleagues. You should indicate your reasoning in selecting these resources and how you will choose, access, and make use of them. Where you identify people as a resource you should say what specific help will you seek from each of them, Suggested word count: approximately 500 words Section 5: Demonstrating Your Learning: Read pages 30 -40 of the Learning Contract Guidance from the heading Section 5: Demonstrating your learning to the end of the section headed Pulling together your thoughts about Section 5. Make notes of your thoughts about the questions, activities and illustrative case in this section in your Learning Journal. When you are ready, use the notes you have made to help you to explain how you will demonstrate your learning in relation to the objective you have decided on for each of your work-based learning inquiries. In each case you should explain: how you will show what you have learned about the topic which is the focus of your work-based learning inquiry (and which you identified in section 1 of your learning contract). how you will know whether you have achieved the objective you set for each work-based learning inquiry (and which you identified in section 3 of your learning contract). You should be able to identify measurable evidence or indicators for each objective. You should also be able to identify sources of evidence which will indicate that you are making progress at interim stages as well as evidence of achievement at the end of your work-based learning inquiry. As in previous section you should deal only briefly with your third objective. Suggested word count: approximately 350 words