Evaluate the effectiveness and your usefulness of the learning experience.
Make judgments that are clearly connected to observations you have made. Answer the questions:
− What is your opinion about learning experience?
The learning experience I gained in the report work is about the advantages and disadvantages of the usage of social networks in simplifying the business activities. The topic is directly linked to the growth & developmental activities for an organization and hence, I believe, the review of the topic is very crucial to boosting the managerial capability. The growing business difficulties and challenges need a lot of marketing and promotional activities. The growing cost of traditional marketing techniques needs some alternative to minimize the cost of production thereby maximizing the profit. The technological arena has simplified this issue with the introduction of social media (Terkan, 2014). The topic of the report is supported by three topics, which are directly related to the significance of social network. The topics are- social networking & its effects on companies and its employees, the effectiveness of social media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology-enabled connections and finally the impacts of social media. In my opinion, the research study done on the topics will be helpful in applying the assumptions in practical business transactions.
− What is the value of this experience?
The experience gained through the learning of the topic is essential for students, managers, employees, and researchers to gain more knowledge. In this competitive market scenario, no business can exists without a proper marketing strategy. The usage of social media has become a crucial part in the modern marketing strategies, so the value of the learning experience proves its significance strongly (Neti, 2011). I gained the learning experience in a number of ways including the literature study, research study, discussion with peers and experts, and from the learning outcome derived. As in the 21st century, it has become a challenge for the business leaders to stabilize the business growth with the growing advertising costs. The usage of social media by the company has given positive result by minimizing the advertising cost in comparison to the past scenario. The value gained in the report got possible due to the careful and dedicated review of the topics. It is true that the disadvantages also have its place in the report, but the advantages kept its importance in the entire report to signify its value.
Explain how this learning process will be useful to you
Consider: In what ways might this learning experience serve you in:
− Course
− Program
− Future career
− Life generally
Answer the question: ‘How you will transfer or apply your new knowledge and insights in the future?’
The learning experience gained from the study of the topics facilitated me in various ways. It has strengthened my confidence and knowledge to utilize in different areas. I considered four vital areas which will be my present and future practical situations. The four vital areas are my study course, development programs to boost my personality & talent, future career and general life situations. My current study course is based on management subjects and the usage of social media in the business is directly related to it. A detailed literature review is done in the report in support of three articles primarily and other journal articles to support the topic secondarily, so it would be easy to strengthen my theoretical arguments. To develop my skill, knowledge, and ability; I would take a number of skill development programs in future. The online study platforms provide a number of distance skill development programs and the presence of these online study centres for the social media would make my study programs easy (Keengwe & Kidd, 2010). Due to the knowledge I gained through the learning of the topic, In the future, I could also use the social media effectively for personal usage. My future career will be associated with the corporate sector. As the current corporate sector is highly linked with the social media as the easiest way of the interaction, I would also follow the same path. In my general life situations, my interactions with my peers, subordinates, and superiors for personal or professional purpose would be easy due to the social media websites. Currently, there are a number of social media websites providing an effective interaction among the people. They are Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and twitter. There are also other platforms to enhance the interaction process (Barauah, 2012). There are many other usages of social media in business and personal purposes, which could help me in minimizing the individual as well as the organizational expenses for communication activities.
Describe objectively what happened in the learning process
Give the details of what happened in the learning process. Answer the question:
‘What you did, read, see, and hear?
To make the learning effective, I had prepared a number of stages to follow before commencing the report writing. Both the phases were followed by a systematic process. I mostly concentrated in collecting data, knowledge, and details about the topic from different sources. The sources include both primary and secondary. I wanted to make an effective literature review that would help the reader in gaining appropriate knowledge about the topic. Being an important topic of marketing management, the usage of social networks needs to be understood thoroughly to apply the assumptions in the practical business situations in tackling the challenges (Amedie, 2015). I discussed with many experts in the marketing field, business leaders and researchers doing their research on the same topic to note practical scenario of the topic chosen. After analyzing the primary research, I focused on making the literature reviews to complete my understanding of the topic in detail. All the three articles are first demonstrated separately by showing the advantages and disadvantages of the usage of social networks in the business situations. After the separate demonstration, a comparison study was done among the three articles to clear the doubts about the relatedness with each other. The entire explanation made in support of the three articles is fully based on the basic knowledge and current business scenario of the market. I also discussed with my tutors and instructors to clear my doubt on the subjective field. As I am new to the topic, my ability to understand was not up to mark but my dedication to accomplish a strong learning experience facilitated me in earning proper knowledge in time.
Evaluate what you learn
Make judgments connected to observations you have made in the Business Research. Answer the question: ‘How Business Research was useful for your Research Learning Process?’
My research process is done in two ways; primary and secondary. In the primary research, I did many direct observations and discussions whereas in the secondary research I mainly focused on studying and analyzing a number of journal articles and online articles. The total literature review is done in two parts. The first part was done on understanding the topic in support of three articles by following the study materials and classroom notes. After getting the basic knowledge about the topic, I forwarded my review to the second part. In the second part, I did the research work in two stages. In the first stage, I earned knowledge about the process of research activities and organized the activities for the report in sequence. I followed a nine steps process to understand the research methodologies. The steps are; understanding research approach, building research design, getting the idea about the research philosophy, preparing research strategy, data collection to assist the research activities, analyzing the methods by justifying it and analyzing the research limitations. After getting a detailed knowledge about the research approaches, I moved to perform the literature review. I thoroughly observed the explanations, findings, and theories based on the usage of social networks in business in the journal articles to provide a meaningful demonstration (Hermida, 2009). I have familiarized myself in observing the three articles. The literature review is done in four steps; they are identifying research problems, discussing research gaps among the articles related to the topic, preparing research questions to collect answers through primary research and the hypothesis study once a detailed knowledge is gained. The entire research process went systematically, so I didn’t face any hindrance to get a clear knowledge about the topic “usage of social networks in business.” As I conducted my research study successfully, the research report was also done in such a way that the reader would be comfortable to go through the learning process.
Explain your learning process:
New insights, connections with other learning, your feelings, hypotheses, Conclusions. Answer the questions:
‘What was the reason you did particular activities (Assignment 1, Assignment 2?)
I made the research report of the topic in two stages. In the first stage, the overall knowledge about the topic chosen has been demonstrated by relating with current business situations. The advantages and disadvantages of the usage of social networks were related with some of the examples to get the exact idea of the aim of the research (Resnik, 2013). If the examples and basic knowledge about the topic weren’t given in the first stage, it could have been difficult to get a clear knowledge. After getting a basic knowledge and selecting three articles to support the research review process, I made the second stage. In the second stage, I performed research activities to demonstrate the relatedness of the usage of social networks in business and its importance. The main purpose behind making two stages to prepare the report separately is to first get the basic knowledge and then to study it thoroughly.
Explain Plan how this learning you will be applied
Comment on its relevance to your research subject, your course, future profession, life…
Answer the question: ‘How might this learning apply in your future?’
In the modern business world, communication has become an essential part to conduct the day to day business activities. The interaction and communication are also needed to be effective in other professional and personal activities (Agarwal & Garg, 2012). The usage of social networks in the communication & interaction activities, placing advertisements, and using it for the purpose of entertainment has become the trend of the 21st century. I would utilize the learning experience in performing these activities in my future life including the career, profession and personal matters. It would help me in increasing my skills, knowledge, talent and shaping my life positively (Morreale et. al. 2000). As there are very few negative outcomes due to the usage of social networks, I would be comfortable to use them.
Reference List
Agarwal, S. & Garg, A. (2012). The Importance of Communication within Organizations: A Research on Two Hotels in Uttarakhand. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSRJBM), 3(2), 40-49. Retrieved from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/vol3-issue2/E0324049.pdf?id=5483.
Amedie, J. (2015). The Impact of Social Media on Society. Advanced Writing: Pop Culture Intersections. Retrieved from http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=engl_176.
Barauah, T. D. (2012). Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(5). Retrieved from http://www.ijsrp.org/research_paper_may2012/ijsrp-may-2012-24.pdf.
Besik, D. B. (2013). What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 1-9. Retrieved from http://courses.washington.edu/bethics/Homepage/What%20is%20Ethics%20in%20Research%20&%20Why%20is%20it%20Important_.pdf.
Hermida, J. (2009). The Importance of Teaching Academic Reading Skills in First-Year University Courses. The International Journal of Research and Review, 3, 20-30. Retrieved from http://www.mansfield.edu/fye/upload/Academic-Reading-Skills.pdf.
Keengwe, J. & Kidd, T. T. (2010). Towards Best Practices in Online Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(2), 533-541. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3494/998f1c80c7745998d969686f394aaddb6735.pdf.
Morreale, S. P., Osborn, M. M. & Pearson, J. C. (2012). Why Communication is Important: A Rationale for the Centrality of the Study of Communication. Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, 29, 1-25. Retrieved from http://dev.natcom.org/uploadedFiles/More_Scholarly_Resources/Chairs_Corner/Making_the_Case_for_and_Advancing_the_Discipline/PDF-ATD-JACA-Why_Communication_is_Important_%20Rationale_for_Centrality_of_the_Study_of_Communication.pdf.
Neti, S. (2011). SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS ROLE IN MARKETING. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems ting and Business Systems, 1(2). Retrieved from http://www.ijecbs.com/July2011/13.pdf.
Terkan, R. (2014). Importance of Creative Advertising and Marketing According to University Students’ Perspective. International Review of Management and Marketing, 4(3), 239-246. Retrieved from https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/irmm/article/viewFile/882/pdf.