Reflection Report

Bestandsnaam: Reflection Report Auteur: walenkampwalenkamp Versie nr.: 1

Datum 31 mei 2012 1

Reflection Report

To keep you on track with the acquisition of your international competencies you are advised to work on your reflection report every week. Generally you can distinguish three phases in your foreign adventure:

Start-up phase: settling in, what strikes you, challenges, loneliness,

Middle phase: What has changed in your original goals, challenges and tasks, how are your expectations being met in reality, are you able to analyze and understand your experiences.

Final phase: Finalize your reflection report, prepare for ‘culture shock’ upon return, focus on competencies acquired and capitalization.

So you know what to do: acquire international competencies, and you will know what to produce to show what you have acquired (Reflection Report). The question now is: how are you going to consciously and purposefully acquire these competencies. The Vademecum will guide you.

Contents

1. Experiences: keep track of experiences, and how they help you acquiring international

competencies.

a. What was the experience that made the biggest impression on you. What effect did it

have on you?

b. What was your best/worst experience?

c. What are the most important things you learned?

d. Go back to the challenges you anticipated before your departure , and to the

competencies you thought you would need to cope with them. How do they correspond

with your real experiences. Discuss what happened.

e. What challenges did you meet and did you cope with them?

f. Which competencies did you acquire, to what extent and how did you acquire them?

2. Prepare for your return: what do you expect, how are you going to handle that?

3. Capitalize on your study or internship abroad.

a. Explain what you have experienced and how your expectations were met, or not.

b. List the challenges you expected and the ones you actually encountered, and explain how

you coped with them

c. Discuss the international (professional, academic, linguistic, intercultural and personal)

competencies you acquired and how they are of use in your future career.

d. Explain what makes you a better candidate for a job than someone who did not go abroad.

4. Feedback on preparation module. We would like to hear from you what you found useful and

what not, what you have missed and should be included. What can be done better and how.