1.5 Getting started After you have worked through Sections 1 and 2, the place to start is the key skill of improving your own learning and performance. As you began to read through these materials, you were probably not surprised to see that we had included as key skills such things as communication, numeracy and information technology. These are certainly essential operational tools for students – indeed, many would say that they are also essential tools for most occupations. However, including â€
7.1 Evidence required This part is about showing you can develop a strategy for using and improving your skills in working with others, that you can monitor your progress and can evaluate your overall performance and strategy. The evidence you present must show what you have done as you worked through the processes of planning strategically, monitoring, evaluating and presenting your work. Part A must relate directly to the work you have selected for Part B. You must present evidence to show you can:<
2 Sources of help This assessment unit is designed to be self-contained. However you might like to access the following sources for support and guidance if you need it. These sources include:
Key skills – making a difference This OpenLearn unit is designed to complement the assessment units. It provides detailed guidance and activities to help you work on your
Learning outcomes Having studied this unit you should be able to: develop a strategy for using skills in problem solving over an extended period of time; monitor progress and adapt your strategy as necessary, to achieve the quality of outcomes required when tackling a complex problem; evaluate your overall strategy and present the outcomes from your work using a variety or methods.
9 Notes to help you complete your assessment To complete your portfolio you must include a contents page indicating how your reflective commentary in Part A and your evidence in Part B are related. An example of a suitable format for the contents page is shown in Figure 1 below. Figure 1 (PDF, 1 page, 0.1MB) 8 Part B: Evidencing your IT skills This Part requires you to present a portfolio of your work to demonstrate that you have used and integrated your IT skills within your study or work activities to achieve the standard required. For example, you might include learning about new software for a particular task, using databases and other resources more effectively in searching for information, setting up and using different ways of communicating and sharing information, setting up and using computer-based models to predict, expla 7.1 Evidence required This Part is about showing you can develop a strategy for using and improving your IT skills, that you can monitor your progress and can evaluate your overall performance and strategy. The evidence you present must show what you have done as you worked through the processes of planning strategically, monitoring, evaluating, and presenting your work. Part A must relate directly to the work you have selected for Part B. You must present evidence to show you can: 1 Information and communication This Key Skills Assessment Unit offers an opportunity for you to select and prepare work that demonstrates your key skills in the area of communication. This unit provides you with advice and information on how to go about presenting your key skills work as a portfolio. In presenting work that demonstrates your key skills you are taking the initiative to show that you can develop and improve a particular set of skills, and are able to use your skills more generally in your studie 1.1.7 Using the memory buttons Calculations involving several operations can also be carried out in stages. One way to do this is to use the ‘=’ key part way through the calculation. You can also use the calculator's memory. The Windows calculator has a number of memory buttons, shown in Figure 2, to hel 1.1.3 Keeping the calculator running on your Windows desktop When performing a number of calculations whilst using other programs on your computer, it's convenient to keep the calculator running in the background. To do this click on the ‘Minimise’ button of the calculator's window (the leftmost button in the top right corner). When you are ready to start working with the calculator again, click the ‘Calculator’ button in the Windows taskbar. (The taskbar is usually at the bottom of the screen; it contains the ‘Start’ button.) 5.1.4 How do I draw a bar chart? First, you need to decide what it is you want your chart to illustrate. This may be governed by the data you have access to or you might need to collect the data yourself. Then the process is as below. Decide on a clear title. The title should be a brief description of the data that you want to show. Identify how many bars are needed. The bars correspond to the number of categories you have. For instance, if you are look 7.2 Brushing up on your computer skills If you want to brush up on your computer skills, you may find the following websites useful. The OpenLearn Web Guide (accessed 8 November 2006) offers a brief guide to making effective use of the web.
SAFARI (Skills in accessing, finding and reviewing information) (accessed 8 November 2006) is an online course provided by the Open University and aims to help you improve your information skills. The Absolute Beginners' Guide to Using Your Computer (acces 3.2 Email Email involves sending an electronic message from your private mailbox to one or more named individuals. You can do this from any computer, whether you're at home or elsewhere. While it's quick and easy to send an email, don't expect an immediate reply. Although some people have constant access to their email, many others log in occasionally. Email is often a convenient way to contact your tutor, so be sure to add their address to your electronic address book! 4 Where do you go from here? This unit has given you a good many tips about what is useful and what things to avoid. These tips are just the beginning of the practical ‘know-how’ you'll develop once you've begun your MST study. Some of the skills you'll learn will be specific to the particular subjects you're studying – biologists have different diagrammatic ‘tools of the trade’ from mathematicians, computer enthusiasts and physicists. Other, more general skills will be central to actually studying and to refle 5.1.10 Philosophy
Flew, A. (ed.) (1979) A Dictionary of Philosophy, London, Pan Books.
Bunnin, N., and Tsui-James, E.P.> (eds) (1996) The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Oxford, Blackwell. 3.7 Writing clearly A final point that emerged from our analysis of Philip's and Hansa's essays was that a good essay is easy to read. Grand-sounding phrases and elaborate sentences do not make an essay impressive. Clarity and economy are what count. Such ease of reading is achieved at several levels. References 1.3 Active reading Whatever the specific objective of reading, as a student you will always need to read in an active way. Active reading involves reading with a purpose; that is reading in order to grasp definitions and meanings, understand debates, and identify and interpret evidence. It requires you to engage in reading and thinking at one and the same time in order to: identify key ideas extract the information you want from the text 5.2 The effects of brain damage Before the advent of ‘brain mapping’, such as by fMRI, it was nevertheless possible to discover something of the part played by different regions of the brain, by observing the problems resulting from brain damage (such as following a stroke). One such area was mentioned in Section 3.2 – the parietal lobe. Damage to a single lobe (there is one on 2.4 Rapid serial visual presentation It has been known for a long time that backward masking can act in one of two ways: integration and interruption (Turvey, 1973). When the SOA between target and mask is very short, integration occurs; that is, the two items are perceived as one, with the result that the target is difficult to report, just as when one word is written over another. Of more interest is masking by interruption, which is the type we have been considering in the previous section. It occurs at longer S
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