4.3.3 Communicate relevant information A main outcome of this key skill is that you will be able to communicate complex information orally, visually and through writing. Complex subjects are those that include a number of ideas, some of which may be abstract, very detailed, difficult to follow or require you to deal with sensitive issues or the interpretation of others’ viewpoints. Communicating information at this level may involve using technical vocabulary, carefully structuring what you say and/or write, and using diag
3.10 Drawing ideas together This key skill has used a three-stage framework for developing your skills. By developing a strategy, monitoring your progress and evaluating your overall approach, you take an active role in your own learning. But learning does not necessarily follow a path of steady improvement, it involves change: revisiting ideas, seeing things from different perspectives, tackling things in different ways. You are unlikely to be able to complete your work by working through it from beginning to end
3.8 Evaluating strategy and presenting outcomes By now you will have found out about and sampled different resources for learning and used different ways to learn. But the structured approach used in this section is one of the main resources for developing and improving your other key skills. So how do you know if you have learned? How do you know if you have improved? How do you know if you are meeting the standard for improving your own learning and performance expected of someone doing a course in higher education or using higher
3.4.2 Using different ways and approaches to learn Always aim to select the way of learning that fits with what you intend to learn. If your goal is to improve your presentation skills, you need to prepare and practise presenting your work. If you need to relate theory to practise in your job, you need to spend time understanding how theory can relate to practice, perhaps by reviewing and discussing case studies. This may seem obvious but people often make wrong choices out of habit. There is a natural tendency to use ways we feel most famili
3.4.1 Manage your time effectively The aim here is to develop good work habits and time-management practices. These are often a matter of developing the right attitudes towards your work and towards your time. Here are 10 tips to help you look at your time management: establish goals and targets; work smarter, not harder; value your time; avoid attempting too much; carefully schedule activities, allowing time for emergencies, min
3.4 Monitoring progress Monitoring progress is about keeping track of what you are doing and how well you are doing it as you work towards your targets. It is about being able to make an assessment about yourself and being ‘self aware’ about your own capabilities, how you learn best, things that have helped you and so on. One problem in becoming more aware of yourself and making a self-assessment is that you may not know enough terms to describe yourself. Think of the first time you were asked to describe a pain
3.2.6 Achieving your goals Now that you have established what you intend to do and identified specific targets to achieve them, think about how you can meet your targets, taking into account what you are trying to do and looking carefully at the most effective way to do it. This might be by attending a training course or skills workshop, prioritising your time differently, taking an active part in e-tutorials, or checking out resources and giving yourself time to practise new ways of working. Take into account th
3.1 Introduction to improving own learning and performance This key skill is about helping you understand how you learn; think about how you can improve your own learning and performance, and consider how you might generalise the principles and processes for future learning. You saw in our discussion of ‘A framework for learning’, improving your learning and performance could be considered to be a ‘meta-skill’, that is the skill of learning how to learn. This section, then, is a little different from the other skills sections because im
2.8 Making the framework your own If there was a simple way to improve our own learning, we would all be geniuses by now. What this key skills approach tries to show is that learning is a complex process that draws on many skills and can be made more effective by becoming aware of what you are doing, how you are doing it and how well you are doing it. Once you are aware of what's going on, you can start to change things to suit your own learning style and the demands of the task or assignment you have to tackle. The nex
2.4.1 Keeping a Skills File As you work on your skills development, you are likely to find that you'll need several skill files so that you can keep a helpful frequent record or log of your learning. In this unit such a record is called a Skills File. Building up a Skills File as you go along will help you identify the skills you are using and how you are applying them to different tasks. You can also include your own reflective comments on how you think your work is progressing. The activities associated with each key
2.3.3 Evaluating your strategy and presenting outcomes This stage is about evaluating your strategy – what you've achieved and judging how well you achieved it-and presenting your work. An evaluation requires you to assess your overall strategy and work in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. Evaluating your strategy, however, is not simply describing what you have done, listing your successes, or even blaming yourself or others for things that didn't go according to plan. Evaluation is about considering how successful were the methods
2.3.2 Monitoring progress As the focus moves from preparation to action it is important to keep a check on what you are doing and how well you are doing it. Use your plan to help you review your progress, noting your successes and achievements as well as whether you met your deadlines and targets. Often, learning involves bringing together different activities, ways of studying and approaches to the subject. Consciously draw these different strands together, and don't be afraid to make changes where necessary to help
2.3.1 Developing a strategy A common feature of how effective people work is that they take time to prepare well. They know which aspects they are competent to do and those that they need to work on, plan carefully and identify possible sources of information and support. In other words they develop a strategy. A strategy is a plan for taking you towards and achieving a goal. The purpose of planning is to anticipate opportunities to learn that will improve your performance and develop your capabilities. A strategy
2.3 The key skills framework In this unit each key skill section uses a common three-stage framework to help you develop your skills. The stages of this framework are:
developing a strategy for how you are going to tackle the key skill;
monitoring your progress as you develop your skills;
evaluating the strategy you have used and presenting outcomes of your work. But working on your skills and techniques i
1.4 Using this unit There is no single way to use this unit and no single way to develop your key skills. The unit is designed so that you can use it flexibly, moving around the sections to suit yourself. You can also choose when to use the unit, but remember that skills development does not happen in isolation – it requires ‘content’. Therefore, you will find it helpful to use the unit alongside a course or a specific project so that it provides you with opportunities to develop, practise and get feedbac
Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. MC Masterchef by Colin Cookman All other materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University.
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7.4 Evaluating your strategy and assessing your work Present a reflective summary that includes: Those factors that worked well to help you improve and those that have worked less well. Which factors had the greatest effect on your achievement of what you set out to do? A judgement of your own progress and performance in those skills you set out to improve, including an assessment of where you feel you have made the greatest progress. Discuss your use of criteria and feedback comments t
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:<
6 What you should present This assessment unit has two parts. Part A requires you to show what you did to plan, monitor, evaluate and reflect upon your skills. Part B requires you to select examples of your work that demonstrate you can use and improve your skills in working with others. Together the two parts form a portfolio of your achievements. You can use the guidance, bookmarks and skills sheets included in the OpenLearn Unit Author(s):
5 Becoming an effective team member The purpose of this assessment unit is for you to create a portfolio of your work to represent you as an effective team member within your study or work activities. This will involve using criteria to help you select examples of your work that clearly show you can use and improve your skills in working with others. However, by far the most important aim is that you can use this assessment process to support your learning and improve your performance in working with others. Very few peop
