Reflective Learning

Reflection is really a process that begins with looking back on a situation, pondering over it, learning from it and then using the new knowledge to help me in future similar situations. Reflection, which is learning through experience, is not a new concept. As humans, we naturally reflect on our surroundings and experiences. As a student I will be constantly introduced to different theoretical knowledge and new practise experiences. Reflection is one way of helping me to link the theory and practice experience and to integrate my learning.

Reflection as a learning tool

• Reflection is the process that we consciously undertake to gain further understanding and add meaning to our daily lives.
• Reflection is associated with learning that has occurred through experience and is an activity that helps me make sense of and learn from situations.
• Reflection therefore is a means of assisting me to think, to explore my thoughts and feelings and to work through an experience, in an attempt to gain new understandings, fresh insights and self-awareness.
• It is the active consideration of, and learning from my thoughts and actions, together with the further use of these thoughts and actions as a means of developing reflective thinking.
• The most important aspect of engaging in reflection for my on-going personal and professional learning is that I am able to demonstrate my progression towards achievement.

Study Groups

 

When we started the course in September and we’ve seen how confusing the assignments are, we have agreed that it would be a great idea to hold study group sessions every Wednesday. The reason of holding a study group was for us to share information, go through the assignments together make sure we understand what we are doing and help each other if any of us are stuck. Having a study group has helped me to understand what is going on in class. Having to rephrase things in my own words and also helped me to engage with the material of learning. 

We have a lot of group work in Business law lesson, so study group is ideal thing for us to meet up share our work and work together towards the deadline. Last study group that we’ve had was today and it really made me feel better, knowing that we’re going well with our work, and I know what is left for me to do to have the task completed. 

Time Management

Developing time management skills is a journey, and its a skill that every student should take in to account. 

When managing study time I have realised that it is very important to get the most urgent and important stuff out of the way and then concentrate on the least important stuff.

Pressure

Typically at this time of the year the pressure starts to build for me – from assignments and meeting their deadlines, so as presenting presentations and of course with Christmas coming up all the pressure builds up on me. Coping well with a high workload depends on a structural and methodical approach. What I was supposed to do at the beginning of the year was to plan out my time effectively and don’t leave it too late.

During this year I have faced a multiplicity of problems – health, personal and family problems. And any time off that I had, it has affected my studies, I missed important lessons and couldn’t catch up as quickly.

 

Assignment Writing

 

In week 8 in PDP lesson we have talked about assignment writing. It was useful going through the slide show, but it didn’t really clicked on in my mind, as all we did was just read through the slides, there wasn’t much discussion and the understanding of it all. All thought I did learned something: to complete the assignment first of all I needed to know the purpose of the assignment, plan the assignment, structure the assignment and then write the assignment. 

Best thing is that I have experience in writing an assignment from college, so I know the basic stuff like the front page, content page, the assignment body and structure of it, conclusion and bibliography. 

Harvard Conventions

 

During week 6 in PDP lesson, we have gone through citations, referencing and bibliography. During college years I have only used bibliography. Citations and referencing was something new to me and I can’t get my way round it.

Right where do I start? When it comes down to referencing I always think, where shall I put the reference bit? What shall I include in the reference? Am I doing right? What if my work gets scanned through a software and it still comes out as plagiarism? When I first heard about it, I told myself not to worry, because by the time deadlines come, I will learn the referencing guides, but it turned out to be much harder than that. All I know is that referencing is used to acknowledge of someone else, to demonstrate the body of knowledge on which I have based my work and to enable my lecturers to trace my source and lead them to the further information. All I know about citation is that I need to put someone else words in direct or non-direct quotes and mention the author. I need to develop this skill ASAP as this is essential to my work, and obviously affects my work grading. 

Why can’t I be extra smart 😀 😀 😀 😀 

Fear of presenting and meeting deadlines

Doing presentations is probably the thing that I fear most. I have to create two presentations, one of them is for Business law and the other one is for PDP, the worst thing is that I haven’t made a start on them yet, this is because I have lost my USB drive which had my work stored and it wasn’t backed up. This has caused me to fall behind on coursework. Because of this, I have started stressing about failing the module. Though, I have learned, how important it is to stick to “Standard ways of working” rules and backing my work up. I am now trying to work as much as I can on my assignments to get them completed on time and to the level I know I am capable of.

I am totally petrified for the next two coming weeks as this is when I will have to meet my deadlines and present the presentations.

I have a really low self-esteem when it comes down to talking in front of the group, and I know this because, I have done a presentation before in the college and it all went wrong, the presentation was supposed to be 10 minutes long but I have rushed it all through it and did it in 5, all I did was read my notes, couldn’t properly move was all tensed up, didn’t use good body language and of course thought negative of my self. 

Presenting in front of people is an acquired skill, and i feel afraid of standing up and talking to a group. I am scared of being judged on my appearance, quality and delivery of presentation or even on my voice and accent. But of course presenting is a skill that can be learned by anyone, including me (at least I hope so). It takes practice and courage to get over the first few hurdles. I will research my topic of discussion thoroughly which will give me the confidence to present accurate information even if I be nervous. – I am going to put a lot of effort into researching my topic, looking at different sources of information. This should then give me confidence and allow me to deliver interesting and accurate presentation, while also bringing the nervousness down. I will try and keep my presentations simple and easy to understand and focus on a few main points. I will try my best at staying calm and focused, and hope that this will help me with my fear of speaking against a group of people.

I need a big luck!!! 🙂   

The skills that employers are looking for

It is important to know what skills employers seek of graduates today. I am really concerned about me graduating and not being able to deliver what employers are expecting of me, so I have looked at the main skills that employers are looking for and there have been a number of surveys on this topic over the last ten years, and the skills most cited by employers are communication, team working, problem solving, information technology and numerical ability.
Writing skills: most graduate’s jobs involve written works: reports, memos, letters, project proposals etc. the ability to summarise the ideas clearly and succinctly is an essential skill today.
Social skills: social skills are those I use to work effectively and co-operatively with others. In my case are the students form the business group and my work involved with them is completing tasks as a group and communicating between each other and coming to a decision that suits the situation the best.
Verbal skills: this connects with social skills and is about getting my message or point across effectively to others. Verbal skills are necessary both in informal situations at work, and on more formal occasions, such as business meetings or presentations.
Information technology skills: most employers need graduates who can input and access information to and from computer, and who can produce reports and other documents efficiently and quickly on a word processor.
Analytical/Problem solving skill: these involve making logical and factual connections between events or information. Employers often need graduates who can think and act quickly to solve problem and deal with a fast changing situations, act quickly as well as independently on solving the problem. Not only that, but also adapting to the changes in the environment quickly
Numerical skills – many graduate jobs involve basic arithmetic and the ability to interpret information in numerical form, particularly tables, graphs, charts and diagrams.
Knowing which skills will be needed more after graduation helps me to concentrate on those specific ones more.

Skills4study Campus

Skills4study campus is a fully interactive e-learning resource designed to help students develop the study skills they need to succeed.

I have completed skills4study test assessment to see my personal study skills. This has allowed me to see the skills gap that I have. I have completed 5 test assessments:

After completing the sections of statement for each module, based on my responses I gave during the diagnostic test, there have been recommendations arranged in order of priority which could include:

Highly recommended: There appear to be some gaps in my study skills for this topic.

Useful: There are lots of things I feel confident about within this topic.

Worth a look: I feel confident about my skills in this area

Referencing and plagiarism

• Referencing – Useful
• Plagiarism – Useful

Reading and note-taking

• Making notes during lectures – Useful
• Reading effectively – Useful
• Making notes while reading – Useful

Getting ready for academic study

• Studying effectively – Useful
• Strategies for learning – Useful
• What to expect – Worth a look

Critical thinking skills

• What is critical thinking? – Useful
• Critical reading and writing – Useful
• Evaluating evidence – Useful

Writing skills

• Academic writing – Useful
• Planning and writing – Useful
• Developing my writing – Useful
• Writing for different subjects – Useful
• Improving my writing – Worth a look

These are the recommendations that have been suggested to me, know I can see what I need to improve regarding my academic skills.