Another area I was keen to improve on was personal and career development. In this area we were aided by learning to write a CV and learning to write a report (such as this one). Before this course started, I had no previous experience of writing either a CV or a report and have found lectures and tutorials a great help. Both a CV and a report were completed for assignment 1 and since further reports have been written to accompany other assignments. Each time I have felt that my report writing is becoming stronger.
The opportunity to take a work placement on the second year of the course is also a good opportunity to gain experience in a professional business environment and would be a valuable aid in career development.
Working With and Relating to Others
I have always felt comfortable working in a group that was familiar to me. The only difficulty I had with working in groups previously was when I did not know people in the group. In situations like these I would tend to take a back seat in group decisions until I was more familiar with the people I was working with.
For our second assignment in this module, we were required to prepare a group report and presentation. When the assignment was set, we were able to choose who we worked with and so I ended up in a group of people who I already knew and was already comfortable working with. However, I had not worked on such a large task as part of a group before and I believe I gained valuable experience in working as a part of that team.
Prior to the setting of the assignment, we were given lectures and tutorials on how to work more effectively as part of a team. This included advice on how to delegate tasks, how to make decisions as a group and how to help each other and offer new ideas. All of the advice we were given was very helpful and I believe the whole group benefited greatly from adopting many of the ideas put forward in the tutorials. I believe that my own approach to group work has changed as a result.
As a team, I felt our approach was much more structured with regular team meetings and a much more organised approach in general. In future I think I will use a similar approach and will feel much more confident in how to approach group assignments.
Communicating
As with group work, I feel less comfortable when communicating with people I do not know. I often find it difficult to think of what to say and am generally nervous when talking to people I do not know. I also feel uncomfortable when having to make presentations and talking to people rather than with them (appendix 1).
Again it was the group assignment (assignment 2) that benefited me the most in this area. As part of the assignment we were required to make a presentation to the rest of our tutorial group on our report for the same assignment. Although the group was small, and I was familiar with the people in it, I still found making the presentation very difficult and nerve-wracking.
I feel that I will be better prepared to make further presentations in the future but I don’t really feel any more comfortable about having to make one. However, I believe that any future presentations I make will benefit from the experience I gained in making taking part in the group presentation.
Managing Tasks and Solving Problems
I feel that I have always been fairly good at solving problems, particularly involving numbers or logic so this was not a common skill that was high on the list for improvements. However, over the course of the academic year, I feel that the way I approach problems has improved.
The assessment sheet (appendix 1) identifies the use of information sources as a way of solving problems and it is here that I feel that I have made the biggest improvement. I have found that the resources available at the university have been much greater than I have had available in the past. Although I don’t always use the facilities as much as I should, I feel that I am now using a wider range of information to help me to study. I now approach work differently as well. I feel that I am putting in more research before I start to solve a problem, rather than diving in head-first to something I may not understand fully.
When managing tasks, I will usually deal with the more routine tasks first. Anything I find more difficult usually gets put off for too long and as a result, is completed in a bit of a rush and not given the time it should. Unfortunately this is still the case.
Applying Numeracy
Applying numeracy has never really been a problem as mathematics is one of my stronger subjects. As a result I find numerical problems fairly easy and feel very confident in tackling them. What I am less familiar with, is applying numeracy in other subjects from mathematics.
I have found that my strength with numbers has been a great benefit, especially when using programming languages. I think it has made it easier to see the logic behind many of the calculations being made in a computer program. This in turn, has been a great help when designing programs of my own as again, numeracy and logic is required in many of the processes and calculations being made in a computer program.
I have also found the maths tutorials fairly easy to understand and pick up. Overall I don’t think my understandings of mathematics has improved a great deal. What I have learned to do, is apply mathematics in other areas that I would not have necessarily done before. As maths is one of my stronger subjects, I have found that by applying it in other areas, I can complete tasks with greater efficiency while also improving the work I have applied it to. Use of numeracy has also aided my problem solving as well.
Applying Technology
As a computing student, the application of technology is something that I am comfortable with and is something that I do frequently. What I have learned over the course so far is how to use the equipment available more effectively.
I have also been introduced to several programs that I was unfamiliar with before and so the range of technology that I now use is far greater than it was before I started the course. I feel that the resources I can use with confidence has greatly increased and this can only benefit work that I do in the future.
Through different modules I have learned how to use programs such as BlueJ, Rational Rose, Powerpoint and MySQL. I have also improved my ability in various programs that I am already familiar with. I have gained a greater knowledge of how to use programs like Work and Access more effectively. This enables me to carry out a much wider range of tasks using the technology available to me in the university. Again this can only help to improve the quality of my work.
Applying Design and Creativity
I like being creative but sometimes find it quite difficult to put ideas onto paper. (appendix 1).
I still feel that this is true although I think I am starting to be more creative. I feel this is partly down to how I have developed in the other six common skills, particularly the use of numeracy, the use of technology, communicating and managing tasks/solving problems.
My improvements in these areas have made me feel more comfortable in solving tasks and handling problems. In turn, I feel that this has allowed me to be more creative and more expressive when approaching my work. The improvements in my communicating skills and group working skills mean that I also feel more comfortable in sharing ideas with other people and taking in the ideas that other people have to offer. I feel that this has also enabled me to be more creative when working as part of a group, not only working by myself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I feel that I have benefited greatly throughout the year in several of the common skills. I feel more comfortable when working in a group and when I am communicating with other people, such as in making a presentation. I feel more confident when using the technology that is available. I am now able to use a greater range of programs to carry out a greater range of tasks and have improved my understanding of several programs that I am already familiar with.
This has changed the way that I approach my work. I feel that I can approach work in a more methodical way now and can put more time into preparing and thinking about work before I start it. I also feel that this has enabled me to be more creative in my approach to work.
The one area where I feel that I have failed to make any significant improvement is in time management and organisation. I still leave work until the last minute and unfortunately, this does affect the quality of a lot of my work. Although drawing up study and revision plans did help for a while, I now very rarely use them and am still just as unorganised as I was before.
Overall though, I have found that identifying and targeting skills for improvement has been a great benefit to me and has helped greatly in how I approach and carry out my work.
Bibliography
WOLFSON, S (2001) Study Skills for the Digital Environment. Module Resource Book.
Appendices