thomasetchells

[thomasetchells]

Thomas Etchells ePortfolio

ePortfolio Entry 1 - Starting Out

Considering that I applied for the Holmesglen Bachelor of Sports Media four days before the semester began, I missed O-Week. Therefore, my first week consisted of familiarising myself with different maps (Holmesglen campus, Google), timetables and schedules (class, train), and websites (Brightspace, Holmesglen library and databases). As the inaugural Kahoot Champion, the knowledge I gained throughout the week has me believe that I have set myself up well for success.

Artefact 1: A map of the Holmesglen Chadstone campus (Holmesglen Institute, 2024)

I have organised my time in a way that allows me to balance travelling, attending, studying, and working part time. Bartlett et al. (2021) states that flexible task management allows for a more balanced life, which leads to higher productivity and creativity.  I will approach this year by spending a lot of time studying in my spare time, something that I often struggled with during high school.

An organisational technique that I like to use is my notes app on my phone to keep myself on track with things like to-do-lists, essay thoughts, and summaries of information.

Artefact 2: Screenshot of my Notes app as of 10/03/2025 (Etchells, 2025)

One of my strengths that I’m looking to leverage this year is my leadership abilities in group assessments. A weakness that I’m looking to work on is battling procrastination and is something that I’m proud to admit that I succeeded against after week 1 and am hoping to review this throughout the year.

ePortfolio Entry 2 - Teamwork

For the second assessment, our group worked okay with some positives and negatives. Our planning and delegation was always good, utilising our class time to its best efficiency. We organised a shared word document and assigned responsibilities early in the assignment. The team could have improved its communication outside of class as all members were often not contactable, although there were channels made available on Stack TeamApp. The workloads of the team were very uneven, with time management and individual organisation affecting the progress of the team.

Artefact 3: Communication system on Stack TeamApp between group members (Etchells, 2025a)

I learned throughout the group assignment that I have good leadership and organisational skills. I enjoyed the academic research element of this assignment. I do feel like I potentially took too much control because of my high standards and expectations towards the end of the assessment.

One setback I identified with the team was creating a reference list. In 2023, I used a website called mybib.com which can be a shared document that you can cite your sources in APA7 formatting. The team used this website efficiently and was transferred to the final copy of the group report.

Artefact 4: A screenshot of the MyBib with our references (MyBib, 2025)

Chang and Kang (2016) broke online group work into 4 core pillars. These are commitment from team members, communication, structure, and leadership. Their findings identified that group work can

“degenerate into chaos” (Chang and Kang, 2016, p. 82)

if no one in group work steps up as a leader.

Analysing these pillars from our groups perspective, I would say the commitment from our group members was only fulfilled by 2 out of 4 members, communication 3 out of 4, structure 3 out of 4, and leadership was controlled by me, a dynamic I noticed the group needed upon the initial grouping.

When submitting the report, a teamwork survey was submitted critically reviewing the team’s performance.

Artefact 5: A screenshot of the teamwork survey (Etchells, 2025b)

We also held a peer review in class on the morning following the assignments due date, which we ensured was kept constructive with a positive outlook, rather than focusing on anything negative. In the future, I will try to learn team members strengths and weaknesses to know where I can help or be helped.

ePortfolio Entry 3 – Self Management

Managing my time between university and other aspects of my life have had its ups and downs. On the positive side, I have achieved high distinctions on all of my assignments thus far, however the problem I am beginning to face is the amount of time I’m spending on each assessment will not be sustainable for the rest of the semester.

Previously in entry 1, I mentioned my balance between life and university study. I am still balancing these well however I am struggling slightly with motivation on my days off.

To help balance my time, we created a calendar in class looking at assignment due dates. I refer to this regularly to prioritise assignments.

Artefact 6: Assessment calendar with due dates (Etchells, 2025)

The strategies I use are planning ahead and allocating time. If I don’t remain organised, I become very stressed out, with Huijser et al. (2021) highlighting that future preparation is a vital skill to succeed. Wednesday’s are my ‘lock in’ days where I effectively focus my entire day to assignment work. Other strategies I have adopted is working on the train, utilising nighttime when bored, changing working sceneries, and occasionally turning off the footy to get work done.

In the future I want to be able to work faster. There is a reason why I get high distinctions on my essays at university level and only scraped past English in High School. I wasn’t able to produce high level work in in a 2-hour period and am grateful to prove myself when given time. I don’t have a strategy for this, however, is something I am constantly conscious of.

ePortfolio Entry 4 – Feedback

In week 9, the class participated in reviewing other students ePortfolio entries thus far. Jasper reviewed my work, noting that I need more academic articles and a reference list for this assessment. I was aware of this, but it was pleasing to see Jasper conscious about what he was considering when reading my work. Jasper enjoyed the aesthetic design of my entries and loved the one academic source I had found so far.

Artefact 7: Photo of peer review noting positive feedback (Etchells, 2025a)

Artefact 8: Photo of peer review noting constructive feedback (Etchells, 2025a)

I have sought feedback on most of my assignments throughout the first semester. A specific example was for the first Public Relations assessment, which required developing a media release for the Rip Curl Bell’s Beach Pro. I presented my work to Davin 3 days prior to the due date to gauge the quality of my work. The feedback I received was that it is very readable, however some of my writing needed to be more active and some of my decision making needed to be supported in the critical analysis, which I did.

Artefact 9: Screenshots of my critical analysis following feedback (Etchells, 2025b)

This feedback enhanced my knowledge on the topic and resulted in a high distinction. Price et al. (2011, as cited in Gan et al., 2021) stated that the most crucial aspect of engaging in learning is internalising lecturer and peer feedback relative to an individual’s learning aspirations.

ePortfolio Entry 5 – Managing Assessments

I have managed my assessments well for the first 11 weeks of the semester, however the next 2-3 weeks are daunting as group work is often difficult when living so far away. I am extremely proud of my efforts thus far, achieving high distinctions on most of my work. I honestly do not know what more I can do to improve my work before submitting as my pre-submitting reflection process is already thorough.

Every assessment I have done to this point has been very enjoyable, providing me with joy that I have made the right decision to commit myself to studying. I look forward to finishing the semester on a positive note, ensuring that I continue to not procrastinate on my days off and to use my time effectively. Cross (2025) highlights that our brains are made to resist overwhelming tasks and that it is imperative to take small steps to achieve your goal. I will never leave an assignment until the last day, ensuring that I attack the task often at different times. A saying we have at McDonald’s is to cook less more often to maintain higher quality foods, and the same can be said for working on assignments.

I look forward to working with Jasper, Cooper, and Liam across some of the last assessments of the semester as I can recognise that their standards are at a high level. The following set of images are of my groups in the last assignments for the semester.

Artefact 10: Screenshots of my groups for the final assessments (Brightspace, 2025)

ePortfolio Entry 6 – Future Strategies

Looking back on the semester, most importantly I have surprised myself of my own ability, something that I am extremely proud of. The following three sections is an insight on my knowledge, skills, and behaviours:

Knowledge: I am pleased by how much I have learnt over the last 3 months. I love learning and this truly is the perfect course for my knowledge development. I can also say for the first time that my dual diploma in 2023 (leadership and business) has actually come in handy this year, providing me with knowledge I had not used since I completed the course. Examples of this is report writing, Microsoft Word skills, formatting, and most importantly leadership abilities in group work. Deng et al. (2022) exemplifies that operational and organisational success occurs from good leadership

Skills: I am proud of the leadership that I have represented myself with throughout all group assignments and am honoured that Simone selected me as the Student Council Representative earlier in the month. I have become an expert on Canva and really enjoy making presentations, however, presenting them is still daunting, something that I will continue to explore and familiarise myself with.

Artefact 11: A screenshot of a Canva presentation I designed from scratch (Etchells, 2025)

When reviewing the rubrics for each assessment, and it says, ‘critical thinking’, I always wondered, am I critically thinking here? Personally, I have recognised if I am weighing up if I’m critically thinking or not, I’m already critically thinking.

Artefact 12: Rubric feedback highlighting strong critical thinking (Holmesglen, 2025)

Behaviours: Procrastination was a considerable concern of mine throughout the early stages of the year, however, is a behaviour I have strengthened. I am writing this entry on a bus, and the last one a train. Utilising my time effectively is something I am also proud of. Showing up every single class is also a highlight of mine, considering I travel from so far away. I no longer resent group work as when working with competent individuals, it is very enjoyable.

This entry is about the future so I will touch on that slightly, looking at next semester. I will seek to continually impress myself. I will utilise my time efficiently and look to increase my knowledge at every opportunity. Enhancing my skills on Adobe software will be my next avenue, as it will be useful at university and is a very marketable skill.