ED677 PGD Educational Leadership & Management: Reflective Assignment

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:

1. Critically review the literature relating to leadership knowledge and skill development.
2. Become aware of how their behaviours and attitude influence leadership outcomes.
3. Understand the role of values and ethics in their personal/professional development.
4. Demonstrate an enhanced capacity for both self-reflection and continuous professional growth.
5. Produce evidence-informed decisions about the future of their personal and career development.

Part 1: Biographical Reflective Assignment

Assignment Brief

The second part of the assessment for the module will be a Reflective Essay which will contain written extracts that summarise and reflect on the experiences of the taught sessions and the candidate’s leadership journey to-date.

The portfolio should be 3000 words (+/- 10%) in length.

The portfolio must include the following:

1. Evidence-based Leadership Reflection – This section provides an opportunity for you to summarise how the content of the module helped you develop new leadership knowledge and skills. Select 3-5 topics discussed during the lectures, and critically review the core and additional literature you have read in relation to them, as well as any assessment you have carried out from the workbook. Using one of the reflection models, please reflect on each topic, its application to you as a person and professional, and ways in which you can develop your knowledge and skills in these leadership topics in the future. (2000 words approx.)
2. Leadership learning issue(s) – A short summary of a key issue or series of issues that significantly enhanced your leadership learning. These may include positive or negative experiences, which provided strong opportunities for professional development. When writing about such issues, reflect on the ways that they prompted new skill development, provided enhanced understanding of course material or encouraged you to broaden your understanding of leadership. (800 words approx.)
3. Future personal – professional development – following on from the module, what other skills, qualities and knowledge are you hoping to develop in the future? (200 words approx.)

In the compilation of your assignment, particular attention should be given to the following areas:

• Critical/analytical observations – Although the content of the portfolio may contain more personal insights than some other assignments, the same level of critical analysis is necessary.
• Reflective writing – Personal experiences, reflections, and deliberations need to be linked to the academic literature. This should be done in a meaningful way in order to generalise its relevance beyond the domain of the personal.
• Ethical awareness – It is imperative that ethical due diligence is observed in your work at all times.
• Based in experience – Don’t be afraid to reveal your strengths along with areas for development. Writing about your professional insecurities can demonstrate to the reader how much you have developed throughout your course. It also enables you to reflect on theories and methods that will benefit you in your future learning.

Note: All specific queries/questions relating to this assignment should be directed to the forum on MOODLE page ED677 or by e-mail to Course Leader: Anthony.Malone@mu.ie. Questions should not be directed to presenters in this regard.

Please upload a PDF copy of your finished assignment to MOODLE page ED677 by 12 midnight on 9th April 2025. Please include a copy of the cover signed with signed declaration (see Appendix 1).

Part 2: Audio-visual Presentation

In this part of the assignment, course participants will be formally assessed by means of a self-recorded audio-visual MP3/MP4 presentation. The presentation should be between 9-11 minutes (minimum/maximum) in duration and must not exceed 11 minutes.

The self-recorded presentation should:

1. Present, in detail, your conceptual understanding of educational leadership and show how this has progressively developed over the course of the PGD ELM programme.
2. Identify and treat salient learning and insights gained through critical reading of relevant educational leadership texts and engagement with PGD ELM programme modules.
3. Show how you have applied personal and professional insights (noted in 1 and 2 above) to your current professional setting (school, support service, etc.).

You should also identify and treat significant professional learning moments in school, outside school, during the course, in other professional settings that prompted you to reflect more deeply on educational leadership. These significant insights may have surfaced through conversations with others, through events, etc. You may find it useful to keep a log of significant professional moments and journal on these in a personal reflective diary.

Note: You must upload your recording as an MP3/MP4 file however, in your presentation you are free to decide the format of the presentation. For example, you may choose to speak to a set of prepared PowerPoint slides, or an artefact or a set of images, etc.

In this assignment, you must show evidence of detailed engagement with the assignment task (with due attention to 1, 2, and 3 listed above). The presentation should be clear, well-structured, coherent and comprehensive. There should be evidence of insights gained following engagement with the PGD ELM programme and these insights should be supported through detailed engagement with relevant educational theory, literature, policy and/or practice. You are expected to present a coherent and articulate presentation and show competence in the use of digital resource(s). 9-11 minutes (minimum-maximum) has been allocated for this self-recorded presentation and you are expected to keep within this.

Summary of assessment criteria:

In your self-recorded audio-visual assignment, you should:

1. Show evidence of detailed engagement with the assignment task (with due attention to 1, 2, and 3 listed above).
2. The presentation should be clear, well-structured, coherent and comprehensive.
3. Provide evidence of insights gained following engagement with the PGD ELM programme and these insights should be supported through detailed engagement with relevant educational theory, literature, policy and/or practice.
4. Show competence in the use of digital resource(s).
5. Keep within the 9-11 minutes that has been allocated for this self-recorded presentation.

Note: All specific queries/questions relating to this assignment should be directed to the forum on MOODLE page ED677 or by e-mail to Course Leader: Anthony.Malone@mu.ie.

Please upload an MP3 / MP4 copy of your finished assignment to MOODLE page ED677 on or before 9pm on 4th June 2025.

Appendix 1: Declaration of Authenticity

You must complete and sign both parts of this form and include a signed copy in your Biographical Reflective Assignment (Part 1).

Part 1: Plagiarism

Plagiarism involves an attempt to use an element of another person’s work, without appropriate acknowledgement in order to gain academic credit. It may include the unacknowledged verbatim reproduction of material, unsanctioned collusion, but is not limited to these matters; it may also include the unacknowledged adoption of an argumentative structure, or the unacknowledged use of a source or of research materials, including computer code or elements of mathematical formulae in an inappropriate manner.

Maynooth University considers plagiarism to be a serious academic misconduct, deserving of academic penalties. This document sets out the procedures for dealing with cases of plagiarism or suspected plagiarism in taught programmes of the University. This includes use of unacknowledged sources in essays, assignments, take home exams or remote examinations, or any other form of assessment. It also includes cases of personation, or of procurement or purchase of essays or other material written by others. Cases of plagiarism or suspected plagiarism in research degrees are dealt with under the Research Integrity Policy.

I hereby declare that this Biographical Reflective Assignment, which I now submit in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the PGD ELM is entirely my own work; that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. I further acknowledge that by typing my name and student number below that I am signing this declaration.

Signed: ______________________ (Student No. ….)

Date:

Part 2: Generative AI Use

Maynooth University policy states a breach of academic integrity relating to GenAI involves using:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools or other computer-generated material to complete all or part of an assessment without acknowledgement and outside the terms of Departmental policies or requirements for individual assignments.

Please tick all boxes that apply:

If you ticked boxes b, c, and/or d then you must in the box below provide a detailed account of:

1. Which GenAI tool(s) was used, including date and version of model(s).
2. The web address(es), if applicable.
3. The prompt(s) you used when accessing the AI tool(s).
4. The date the GenAI tool(s) was used.
5. Any other information you deem valid, e.g., extent of use, etc.

I acknowledge that by typing my name and student number below that I am signing this declaration.

Signed: ______________________ (Student No. ….)

Date:

Appendix 2: How to schedule and record a meeting in TEAMS

(Please note you must upload an MP3/MP4 file only – no other formats are supported).

1. Log onto Teams.
2. How to schedule a calendar meeting with yourself:
   • Select Calendar in Teams.
   • Select New meeting.
   • Add meeting name and time (no need to add attendees).
   • Select Send.
   • Go to your Calendar Event.
   • Select start or join the meeting.
   • Select Share in your meeting controls.
   • Choose to present your entire screen, a window, a PowerPoint file.
   • In your meeting controls, select More actions > Record and transcribe > Start recording.
   • When you have completed your presentation.
   • In your meeting controls, select More actions > Record and transcribe > Stop recording.
3. The meeting recording shows up in the meeting chat.
4. Open the recording.
5. Beneath the video, select the expiration countdown.
6. Change the expiration by selecting a timeframe from the dropdown menu. You can also choose No expiration if you don’t want it to be deleted.
7. Click on play the video and open in Stream.
8. You can edit the video if you wish in Stream: Trim Videos in Microsoft Stream.
9. Once you have finalised your video, click on the 3 dots and select download.
10. You can then upload your video file (filename.mp4) to your Moodle submission space.

Appendix 3: University Marks and Standards