Learning outcomes After studying this Unit you should: feel more confident about studying understand any grades you are given and how to improve them be able to overcome problems with reading and writing be able to make the most of the opportunities a higher education course provides for developing your skills
2.4.5 Reflecting on communication skills Communication can be approached in terms of the skills needed to get a hoped-for response. By seeing communication in terms of skills, it is easier to focus on what skills you already have and use. Once you have a reasonably clear picture about this, it is much easier to see where you might want to act to increase your communication strengths and decrease any weaknesses. It can be useful to try assessing what you see as someone else’s communication skills before you think about your o
1.1.9 Managing files Another important skill when working electronically is being able to find files that you saved on your computer's hard disk. Here are some tips for overcoming problems with file management: Give your files meaningful names: ‘notes on studying online.doc’ rather than ‘notes.doc' Use folders to organise your files. For example, I created the following folders for this unit. In My Documents I created a folder
8.1.1 Achieving a good polish Here is a list of indicators you can use to judge your polishing techniques. Most guidance notes given to students include these points, but they are not always followed. 6.2 Turning the spotlight on your work Having established some general principles, try now to subject your own work to the same scrutiny. Take one of your most recent essays or reports and ask yourself, ‘What does it look like?’ That is, describe its physi 5.2.2 Opening up ideas: analysing the question What do you need to know about your assignment? Most importantly, what it's about (i.e. the topic). Once you have worked this out, you are in a better position to gauge how much you already know and how much you will need to find out. 5.2.1 When to look at the question At what stage do you look at the title of your next assignment? Note down what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of looking at the title before and after starting to work through the relevant section of your c 1 Good practice in writing This unit is a general guide and will introduce you to the principles of good practice that can be applied to all writing. If you work on developing these, you will have strong basic (or ‘core’) skills to apply in any writing situation. For assistance with specific aspects of any course you are to study, always refer to any guidance notes or handbooks that have been provided. This unit won't solve all your difficulties immediately; developing your writing skills is an ongoing proces 8.4 Carrying out research During this stage you get down to the business of analysing and interpreting the meanings of all your primary and secondary source material (documents, reports, newspaper accounts, books and articles), in the ways outlined in the previous sections of this unit. As you do so you will be making notes towards your project report. In this connection, it is very important to write down full references for all the material you use as you read each item. Then you can easily find partic 8.3 Planning your enquiry I am grateful to Tony Coulson, Liaison Librarian (Arts) at The Open University, for his help with this section; also to Magnus John, Information Services Manager, International Centre for Distance Learning. At this stage, you will be deciding what methods of enquiry to use and the scale of investigation to attempt. Will examining company papers, government reports and newspapers provide enough of the right kind of information? Or, since independent broadcasting comp 2.1 Reading Before you begin your interrogation of a text, though, you have to get to know it in a general way. In a sense, you can ‘see’ visual texts (such as paintings, sculptures and buildings) all at once; there they are before you. You can move around them, looking at them from different angles. But with written, aural and moving image texts – in which words, sounds or images follow on from one another – you cannot become familiar with the whole thing until 1.3.2 Texts We can think of all the ‘objects’ that we study in the arts and humanities as, broadly speaking, texts. They may be literary, historical, legal or philosophical written texts; visual texts such as paintings, buildings, artefacts, plays-in-performance and films; aural texts, as in the performance of music and in spoken languages; or symbolic texts, for example religious ceremonies, maps, architectural plans and music scores. These things are all ‘textsâ Introduction Much of what is most important about management is interpersonal, how we deal with others. Awareness of our own and others’ interpersonal skills can help us enormously in dealing with the work tasks we are responsible for. This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Understanding management (Y159) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in 9.5 Monitoring progress Monitoring progress is about keeping track of how the work with others is going, making sure you are ‘on task’ and ‘on time’. You need to know how to monitor progress in managing a group activity and being a team member. This will involve considering the relationships within the group and managing the quality of the work by using the checkpoints to review the progress towards your goals and outcomes. Monitoring progress in working with others involves you considering your progre 9.3.3 Identify relevant sources of information Exploring and identifying sources of information is about finding out what you don't know as well as using and adapting what you do know. Group projects and assignments frequently require you to carry out research and this will involve identifying specific resources you may need. For example, think about the materials and equipment that might be needed and whether the group needs to get specific expert advice and support and, if so, where you can obtain this. It is also important to spe 8.6.1 Monitor and critically reflect on your use of problem-solving skills As you use problem-solving skills in your work, refer back to the outcomes you hope to achieve and the goals you have set yourself. Ask yourself questions such as: am I on track to achieve my outcomes? what difficulties in using problem-solving techniques have I experienced and what have I done about them? how have the choices and decisions I made impacted on me and on others? do I need to make any ch 8.3.4 Research information from other sources Spend some time finding out about what you will need to help you complete your problem-solving work successfully and who you need to consult. You may need to arrange access to a library, the Internet, databases on CD-ROM or online, or specialist training or publications. If you need to learn more about tools or techniques (for example concept maps, critical-path diagrams or flowcharts), then look first at your course material, and then at study guides or notes aimed at your area of interest ( 8.3 Developing a strategy In developing a strategy for improving your problem-solving skills you are aiming to: identify the opportunities you can use to develop and practise your problem-solving skills; establish the outcomes you hope to achieve and targets for achieving them; identify the resources you might use for developing your skills, including people who might be able to help you as well as sources of data, books, study guides, tutoria 7.6 Evaluating strategy and presenting outcomes This stage of the framework focuses on identifying what you have achieved and how well you have achieved it. It involves you in evaluating your overall strategy and presenting the outcomes of your work. As you evaluate and assess your strategy, identify aspects of your number skills that you want to develop further. At the end of this stage, use the records in your Skills File to complete the activity ‘Evaluating your use of number strategy and presenting outcomes’ and pull together this 2.10 Summary This section has introduced the key skills approach to learning and emphasised the need for a flexible framework which supports you in thinking about how you are learning as well as what you are learning. A three-stage approach to key skills development underpins this unit. The stages involve developing a strategy for improving your skills and learning, monitoring your progress as your skills develop, and evaluating the effectiveness of you
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