1.4 Study skills, other skills You will find many references to ‘skills’ in this unit. Before we explain how we will be using this word, we would like you to think about what you understand is meant by ‘skills’. 1.3 Learning through activities The unit has been designed to actively involve you in your own learning. One of the most important aspects of this are the activities that you are asked to do. For each activity, there is a suggested time, for example, ‘Allow about 10 minutes for this activity’. These estimates are intended to give you a sense of the amount of effort required. However, you may find that you spend longer on each activity. That is fine, so long as you feel you are learning. If you come across ideas th 1.1 Welcome Learning to change is a unit for people who are interested in learning about making changes in their lives. We think that you will find the unit interesting and that it will give you ideas that are useful for bringing about personal change. The aims of this section are to: Acknowledgements All materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. 1. Join the 200,000 students currently studying with The Open University. 1.2.5 Coping when things go wrong Personal computing is not a mature technology. It is changing so fast and becoming so complex that it never gets a chance to settle down and become really reliable. You need to learn ways of coping with this unreliability, to learn to laugh at the frustrations you will encounter and find ways of minimising the damage. There are various ways of coping with computing problems: Save your work often – every few minutes, not every few hours. 1.2.3 Computing with confidence When it comes to learning about computers and gadgets, have you noticed the apparent ease with which children learn to use these tools? This may be because they are more likely to use the activist learning style. They try out and investigate rather than follow instructions rigidly or ponder the different approaches to a problem. In this unit we want to encourage you to be an activist when learning how to use computers. We want you to explore technological problems in the same way as a c 1.2.1 Your learning style Imagine you are going to learn a new task. It could be laying a laminate floor, following a new recipe or learning to use a new TV remote control. How do you approach the task?
Approach 1 Do you sit down with the instructions and read them through before trying?
Approach 2 Do you get stuck in to the task straight away? Do you ask others for help and then move on to a new task as soon as this one is complete? 1.1.1 How to do it In this unit we aim to give you some first-hand experience of learning online. You will carry out some activities during which we hope you will learn some useful skills. 11 Conclusion Just as we have advised earlier, we are not going to introduce any new ideas in this concluding section. We are using it to reinforce what we think our main points are. Writing essays or reports can be time-consuming; individual assignments tend to focus in depth on specific topics rather than fostering a wider sense of the whole course. However, three or four or more assignments will bring benefits as linkages start to become apparent and the total programme of written work help 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. 6.3.1 Stage 1 Brainstorm To begin your planning, you need to generate ideas or brainstorm. At this stage, you are including everything that you think may be relevant. Nothing should be dismissed yet; this part is about gathering your resources and your thoughts. For instance, using the essay title ‘There are advantages to studying as a mature student. Do you agree?’, we tried to brainstorm for ideas and produced this list (but, of course, it wasn't this tidy): 6.1.2 Essay planning Carefully read the following short essay. Try to identify its strengths and weaknesses in terms of planning. Take your time, but don't think you need to be familiar with the content, you are trying to find what provides the writing's framework. Then try to answer the questions that follow in Activity 13. 6.1.1 Report planning Table 2 highlights the elements of a science or technology report, though the same general principles apply in other disciplines too.
Activity 2 What’s in a word – skills?
Positive indicators
Negative indicators
It is word-processed or clearly and neatly hand-written.
The assignment is written on paper t
There are advantages to stu
Table 2 The main elements of a science or technology report