MPD Class- 22nd October 2010: Skill Audit and SMART Targets

In this session we were asked to interview our colleague and present a report on the same. I worked in a group of three which were myself, Necla and Thanusha. I had interviewed Thanusha while she interviewed Necla and Necla interviewed me. In this session we were asked to inquire about our colleague’s career and personal targets and how are they willing to achieve those targets on the basis of following three categories:  Academic goals, personal life goals and career goals. After interviewing, we had to present a report of our colleague and upload it onto our portfolio.

This interview session actually formed the base of our task sheets which were required to be completed along with this coursework.

In task sheet 8, we had to mention about our personal skills and interest. While doing this task sheet I realised a few of my weakness which now I have to work on so that they do not obstruct my future career. I also came across my strengths as well which I need to keep improving over time. This has helped me in drawing down my career goals and being more specific to it.

In task sheet 9, we were asked to project and supplement information for 5 years from now. I had imagined myself having a very settled career as an Accounts Manager in a Company and having high responsibilities and how I can put an extra effort to progress in the Company. It has made me realise the fact of how important team work is when working in an organisation. Also, it has pointed out my management skills which I will tend to improve and build over time.

In task sheet 10, we were asked to derive our motivation towards our current academic and what future qualifications we want to achieve. I have also realised the importance of few subjects of my current academic which will be of prime importance in my future career.

After doing these three task sheet, I have started making plans of how to organise my career and what steps I need to take to achieve my career goals.  This assignment has made me realise as to what exactly I need to focus on and how to build a successful and good future.

MPD Class- 15th October 2010: My Learning Style

In this session, we were introduced to various forms of learning and how can we identify which learning style best matches to us. We were asked to perform a task sheet in order to identify which learning style suits us and which we can implement and develop so that we become more effective and our level of understanding can be improved.

On completing this questionnaire, I was informed that I am an Aural Learner. An Aural learner is the one who absorbs information by way of listening to lectures or talks. However, the concept of these different learning styles was unclear to me, for which I had to research on them and had to understand the concept of these various learning styles. I had referred the below mentioned websites to clear my concepts regarding the same.

Websites referred:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_learning
• http://www.open2.net/survey/learningstyles/
• http://www.ehow.com/about_5472528_aural-learning-style.html
• http://www.classroom-management-success.org/auditory-learning.html

After understanding the styles, I realised that I am not only an Aural Learner but also a Visual Learner. There have been instances when just by looking at a diagram/graph and a brief explanation of the same has made me understand the entire logic/concept of the topic in discussion. It is my regular habit to be an active listener during lectures and take notes which I can later refer and remember the discussion made on those notes. After identifying my learning style, I have planned to work on organising and maintaining specific approach to learning to improve my understanding and grasp information at a faster rate.

MPD Class – 08 October 2010: Knowing what you have to offer and what you have now

In this session, I learned about what business employers actually look at. For instance, our qualification, work experience, other interest and also what strength and weakness we possess?

In this session, we were asked to complete task sheet 2 till task sheet 6 which were based on analysing the above points by our self, in short, self assessment. By doing this, I learned many things about myself. This has pointed many of my strengths which I need to keep intact and use them from time to time as and when required. Also, I was able to identify my weakness and now I can plan and work on overcoming them. I have to put an extra effort in improving my professional skills and become more presentable and professional.

 I need to start implementing my work experience to my study and vice versa which will help me understand the basics and my academic level and also improve my working skills and help me progress in my current and future work environment. This will also help me in getting good references into my CV.

 This session has highlighted my weaknesses and skills which I need to develop at an early stage on which I will put an extra effort so that I am well prepared from the early stages of this course.

MPD class: 1st October-Introduction

On Friday 1st October was my first session in Managing Professional Development. I personally had a brief idea about the module but was very eagerly to learn about this module. So I attended this session where we were asked to create a blog, something that I didn’t know about it. So each of us created a blog, which is said to be online diary. After doing that we had to create an online portfolio to store our work and to share relevant link with our tutor where we can keep our work up to date in the selected folders.

At the end of the session we were told to complete a personal skill audit task sheet. In this we had the sub heading of communication skills, IT skills, personal effectiveness skills and numeracy skills. In these we had to select five weaknesses in which we feel we are weakest in those. I noticed my weakest skill is written English under communication skills. I thought this was a really good task sheet to do as we came to know our weakness and also how to overcome our weakness through out the module.

After this task, I have starting working on my weaknesses and trying to put an extra effort to overcome them and improve my skills to a professional level.

Session 1

Welcome to my blog.