From the moment I started my academic education from high school to the period when I finished College successfully, I have acquired variety of academic skills and learnt new skills on the way. That in turn means that I have learnt and picked up skills through experience, which has shown me where my strengths and weaknesses lie and type of learning styles I have and that suits me. I also carried out my two self-evaluation test on what type of leaner I am that showed to me that I am a “Auditory learner” and SWOT Analysis that pointed out to me that time management, get distracted, not keeping up the schedule and Prioritizing my work according to deadline are my weaknesses, which came as no surprise. For example at the start of university I made my self a timetable, which I couldn’t keep up as I had hoped. The Essential Study Skills Booklet also points under “Things to think about” that we should make lists and prioritise tasks, assignment timetable, use time effectively and set goal”.
The task given to us, meant that I had to present with my group a presentation on “Should UK join Euro?” This meant the dynamics of group working came into practice, which is very different from independent study and requires different academic skills. The five key academic skills involved in-group work will include research, organising, communication and good presentation skills that will include IT skills. Like how to use PowerPoint. That I felt had good knowledge and experience in and as my self-evaluation of type of leaner I am, showed that I am “Audioraty learner” and group work is about communication, researching and taking ideas and conducting in a professional manner.
My experience in group work has showed that there are many problem that accompany group work that is” people don’t pull there weight and one person who don’t turn up leaving other person to complete the task”. There are problem’s with time management as some people might not attend time set because of other commitment and lack of commitment towards the task resulting in people not doing what was given to them, this is a big de-motivation factor in group as it pulls the whole group down and effects work.
The moment we were handed the assignment I knew the problems that might be faced in the group work like I have mentioned above so I decide to join those I thought were hard working and committed and who I knew very well, to accomplish the task at hand. It was positive start we all decided to set up an appropriate time and date suitable for everyone to meet up and discuss the topic. This boosted my motivation to get the work done.
The day we were given assignment we had strategy that involved first gathering all information using research skills like using reputable sources from the Internet, newspaper and articles bring it to the first meeting that was arranged for Wednesday of each week. This gave us the feel of the topic “Should UK join Euro?” On the first of three meeting we covered what topics will be relevant of Euro and how would we structure the presentation and had a discussing on whether we should join or not and came to a consensus that we should not join Euro and for the following week we set our self to find out what the public think about joining the euro.
The following week we gathered our research together and highlighted the important and relevant information and set our specific points for each person to cover and what to research, we also began our PowerPoint presentation. My point was to find out “what impact exchange rate and conversation cost” will have on the UK economy if we join.
On the final week we brought in our final version on what each of us would cover and finalised the presentation and practice our presentation and corrected each other if there were any faults and gave inputs to each other on how they improve it even further.
What I learnt in group work with my colleagues while preparing for presentation that people who have good decision making skills will set a vision of what need to accomplished and setting a structure of how should we aim to achieve it. This part involves being good at making decisions, as it is very crucial part in-group work and a good academic skill to have. This motivates other to decisions rather then leaving it to the end, as it help’s set a goal to aim for. There are also couple of skills that are crucial they include setting prioritise, communicating between colleague and inter personal skills. For example giving constructive criticism like our group did when we were carrying out presentation to each other.
The topic provided insight provided people thought joining Euro is bad for our country because of the cost involved. The effect will have on our economy and what sterling means to the British people, which is a sign of pride and taking that away is like taking a piece of you. So we came to the conclusion after intensive research that we as a group are against UK join the Euro as risk out way the benefits.
Bibliography
Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfiled, Essential Study Skills, Second Edition
Internet
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Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfiled, Essential Study Skills, Second Edition,Pg 86
Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfiled, Essential Study Skills, Second Edition ,Pg 68.
Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfiled, Essential Study Skills, Second Edition ,Pg 101