Week 11

This week's lecture was the first after the Christmas' holiday period. In Tuesday's lesson, two groups had a presentation concerning torrents and also how to format a computer respectively.Their projects were good and they did their best to present all their findings to the audience (which was the rest of the students in this particular situation). In my opinion the topics were interesting ones as someone could learn something new or enhance his/hers knowledge about them. The format project is something that everyone may face in sometime and it is good to have a simple knowledge of how to format a computer. The project was presented through many pictures and written tasks which could make the result more understandable.

The torrent project was also an interesting one even though i no longer use any torrent program in order to upload any file that i created in order for someone else to download it. They used many pictures accompanied by text which could help someone who didn't have any knowledge of this topic to learn more and see what happens in action.

On Thursday we had an extra class in order to have the last two presentations which were from our group and was in relation to Web Browsers and also from another one group which was in relation to setting up a router. Unfortunately, due to means of transportation strikes the web browsers project was set for next Tuesday's class and the router project remained as it was.

This week was the last week concerning the pdp assignments, blog listings and any other kind of assignment because next week will be the final week of lectures and also of this semester.

Final words to say concerning this module: it was an interesting one, all the lectures' slides were written in such a way that they provided many examples for someone to understand in a better way every week's lesson, and many of the topics that were mentioned in class would be used in other projects. It was something like an introduction to how a project structure will be or any other assignment in order for those students who weren't familiar with something similar to this, to understand it in a better way.

Week 9 + Week 10

Due to the fact that last week's class was cancelled because of strikes, last week's lecture and this week's one were done on Tuesday.
This Tuesday we talked about our upcoming projects that will be due on the first days of January.The topic of the group project is "Web browsers" and we made a choice of three well-known browsers which are "opera", "mozilla firefox", and "internet explorer." A conversation about what we have to give out as projects and if we have any kind of problems with the assignments were mentioned.

In this week's lecture we also had the chance to talk about our development so far in this lecture and also to write about the feedback that we've been given so far from all the modules. It was something unexpected as we weren't prepared as to what to write about but it was a good chance of thinking what we have so far achieved or want to achieve.

Until the next time....God Jul Och Ett Gott Nytt År or simply Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Week 8

In this week's lecture the conversation was about report and paper writing. A report has to do with: a) presenting all the information that you found concerning a topic and at the end of it you can also recommend something concerning this topic, for example: how this product can be better, or what you think that this company should change etc b) you write something and you present it for a specific reason and for a specific audience c) you write something in order to keep a record of it. (Cottrell)

We also talked about two (2) parts of writing which are the following ones:
a) the ones that take part before you start writing and b) the ones that take part in order to help you start writing about the topic that you have chosen.(Crouch)

The tasks that take part before you start the writing process are the following ones:
1) to define the purpose: understand the reason that you want to write this report, what do you want to do with this report? do you want to inform/persuade/entertain? there must be a reason!
2)know your audience: you need to have an understanding of your audience and ofcourse their knowledge!
3) preparation stage: in this step you start searching for your topic and you collect a variety of previous written works. at that time you also write an outline which is something like a guide in order to help you in the next process. (Crouch)
An outline is something like a miniature representation of your work but with keywords or fewer words that will help you remember what you want to write in the actual paper!

Then.... comes the writing process in which you have to write the actual paper. You paraphraze, quote, cite resources, re-arrange the structure of the paragraphs or maybe thinking of removing a resource. But... you may have to re-write this paper again as you may find later on that something is missing or that something you added recently isn't that relevant.(Cottrell)

This lecture was important as it showed the structure of a paper in various stages. Every step of it was presented in a very analytical and helpful manner. In my previous studies we used to write different kinds of papers in every semester and i have an understanding of how a project looks like but again it's been a year since I finished my studies so this lecture came as a reminder of a project's structure. During my previous studies in few classes and especially in the public speaking one we had to write outlines of our upcoming speeches(it was a class that outline was introduced) . Sometimes it was not that easy for me to make this outline as i didn't know at that time what i would possibly want to write at that specific paragraph...i thought that ok i may write something now but tomorrow i may change my mind and the bad thing was that we had to give to the instructor the outline so we had to follow everything we wrote there in the exact order. I used this method twice or three times and then i came back to what i always do, meaning that i collect information about my topic, then i see what is relevant and what's not and then i start by writing down about this topic but without having any pre-planned outline of my future project. Now during this week's discussion concerning outlines i realized that it is a good way to write better your project so i will give again a try of it in projects that require more work.

Week 7

First of all Guten Monat (in German) or else Good month since it's already December!

Yesterday's lesson concerned the presentation side of a project.  There are seven (7) parts that a presentation is divided which are the following ones: a)  we need to plan this presentation,  b) to get prepared concerning the presentation and also to have a knowledge of what kind of audience will be the one that you will have to talk to (children, adults, their knowledge base etc),  c) to find the message that you want to present to the audience- it can be like you want to persuade them about something to buy or to do or you may want to inform them about something in general,  d) the media that you will use for this kind of presentation ( you can use videos, pictures, sound clips, anything that you think that can probably make your presentation attractive to your audience and that will present most effectively the topic that you will talk about),  e) delivery of the presentation - it's good to be prepared as mentioned in point b concerning your presentation. You can be prepared by reading your speech either alone or in front of a trustworthy audience of your choice (for example a friend, a family member or any other person that you think that has a valuable word to say). In this delivery part there is also and the way that you try to say something to your audience, the tone of your voice (voice plays an important role in speech as it is the main tool for communication to your audience apart from the presentation slides so you need to speak clearly!), the eye contact with the audience (it is very important to look at your audience while presenting something). f) the conclusion: you can summarize what's been said in presentation and g) key points: emphasize the key points of your presentation.  (London Metropolitan University powerpoint slides) 

Personally, I've been through this whole  process that was mentioned above during my almost four (4) years of my previous degree and I have a knowledge of how it is to present a project and how you need to deliver it and everything that involves it. I remember that we emphasized this whole Presentation process in a module that was focused only on speeches and how you can deliver a speech to persuade someone about something, an informative one and so on. In this lesson we had to make eye contact (it was a vital part of it) and I can say that sometimes I felt a little bit of anxious concerning this because until then I didn't have to talk in front of a big audience about a topic and make eye contact. It wasn’t only the eye contact that was important but also and the body language (how you stand in front of an audience and what messages your body conveys to them).  

This lesson concerning the presentation side of the project was interesting as it reminded me of the presentation process and used effective examples and explanations. As a lesson was a vital one as it will  always be in use in  projects and probably depending later on in the job that I’ll choose (but again it depends on what job you’re looking for, but it is important to have knowledge of presentation of a project or even of presenting your thoughts later on).

 

Week 6

This week's lecture covered various topics. Firstly, we were introduced to the university's online libraries. We learnt about how to log in and search for various resources for our projects which could be either e-books or other online material or the hard copies of these books,magazines that exist in the university's official library. (London Metropolitan University)

Secondly, we were introduced to other online databases which could be accessed through the university's official library website under the find databases link. These online databases were either for specialized topics (ex. Arts related or Science related) or they could be general databases which focused on various subjects.(London Metropolitan University)

Thirdly, we learnt about Harvard Referencing. There were many examples concerning this style of referencing for books,website,journals and many more.(London Metropolitan University)

This week's lecture was important because it introduced us to the online library of the university which is a link to find any kind of online material that would be of use in the future projects and to the dissertation. There was also an introduction to the Harvard Referencing  Style. This style was something new to me since in my previous studies i used the MLA referencing style but it was presented in such a way that was easy and understandable. We also had  a conversation about our projects that will be due in January and which is a good way in order to introduce our topic to an audience who hasn't any previous knowledge about it.

Week 5

In Tuesday's class we had a conversation about learning through the use of different kinds of resources. There are four steps that someone will need to follow in order to complete a project which are 

1) to search for information and then select which you think that will be appropriate for your topic (Race, 1999),

2) the analysis of what you have found and also to explain with your own words the resources you selected(Race, 1999),

3) to write down what you have found considering your topic in an organized manner (Race, 1999),

4) to be able to communicate the topic that you wrote with different ways such as presentation of it or hard copy of it or any other way that you think that is relevant to communicate it. (Race, 1999)

There are two kinds of resources that we can use which are the: a) human resources and b) non-human resources. The human resources can be of asking your tutor's opinion about something, a librarian, other students, and the non-human resources are the Internet, books, the use of pictures or any other multimedia program that you may think is relevant to your topic, newspapers and many more. (Race, 1999). These resources are an example of the Resource-based learning which means that  the kinds of resources that mentioned above are used in such a manner that now someone can have access very quickly to different kinds of information that they'll be searching for.(Race, 1999)

This week's class  was an interesting one for me and also an important one because it is something that we see  everyday when for example we want to search for something for our own learning (like to learn how a program works or what is the meaning of something etc)  or for our job, or university etc. With the use of the Internet now the resources that exist are various in relation to years before where we had to read through books that would be time consuming, now we can access a web site and find all the information we are asking for through e-books, journals or any other type of document.So, this lecture was helpful in the way that i could see different examples of human and non-human resources that while  working at a specific project i may end up not thinking of this resource and at that time it would be a valuable one to use. 

  

Week 4

In this week's lecture we had a conversation again on plagiarism and on the academic misconducts that are related to the university rules (source: London Metropolitan University). More examples were provided, while in class's lecture, concerning plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting. This whole process was very helpful because it helped me (and i think and the others in class) to identify in a better way what is plagiarism, what is paraphrasing and what is quoting and how they are actually presented in an essay or any kind of a project. This lecture was important because it will help me and in future projects of this module and in other modules but also i think that apart from the university's rules, it will be helpful and in the future while working or maybe studying again but this time for a master's degree.

Apart from the academic misconduct of the university, the rest of the lesson focused on note-making and note taking. Now someone will think that it's funny or it is of non-sense to talk about note making and note taking but i personally found it very interesting and very helpful. If you try to think a little about note-making and note-taking you may find yourself confused a little in what is actually what but there is an answer to this. Note-making is focused on writing something with your own words in order to learn it better, understand it better, remember it better, to write the most important parts (the ones you believe as important) and also to help you in any kind of exams (Cottrell, 1999). Note-making is divided into two smaller categories the linear note making (which is about writing everything in a sequence) and the pattern one (which has to do with words joined together) (Race, 1999).

Note-taking is about listening to the words that someone says and then writing down the exact words of the speaker (Race, 1999).

This week's lecture was important because it helped me to identify in a better way what is note making and what is note taking, something that for so long i did without thinking of its actual name, but it is something that has helped me over a course of years and it still helps me. I personally use both techniques, the note-making and the note-taking, while the note-taking helps me more in-class where something new is presented and the note-making while reading something alone to summarize it or to use keywords in order to remember what's been written there.

References:

Cottrell, S. (1999). The study skills handbook. Macmillan Press

London Metropolitan University, 2010. Academic Regulations 2010-11.

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/academic-regulations/ [Accessed November 11,2010]

Race, P. (1999). How to get a good degree. Open University Press