Academic_Skills_Essay_-_Skills_Needed_in_Order_to_Succeed_in_a_Degree

ACADEMIC SKILLS ESSAY ID – 09012847 Word limit - 1500 Word Count – 1242 Submission date - 14/12/09 “Good students are made, not born” (Burns, T. & Sinfield, S. (2008) Essential Study Skills) Everyone can learn to be a good student. Some people think it will come naturally, but the principles of using academic skills efficiently is what makes you a good or better student. In this assignment, we will contemplate the academic skills we need to develop in order to succeed in our degree and analyse which of these are particularly important in a group research project such as the one I have carried out lately. On an other hand, I will critically reflect on the various skills I have improved during my participation in this group project and make a summary of what I discovered about the particular issue I’ve been investigating. As I said above, “good students are made, not born”. Academic skills and practices can help us all to be an effective learner and develop the research skills that will help us to be more successful when studying. What do I want from academic skills is to be taught effective strategies, skills, and techniques to enable me to listen, note-take, read write and present concise assignments using the gathered information. Learning techniques require a person to follow steps of gathering information, recording them, organising them, making sense of them, remembering them and using them in presentation or essays etc. First of all, the first thing is to recognize our own motivation to learn. What is going to motivate me to succeed in my course ' How to Succeed at University’s booklet says that succeeding in high education also requires us to visualise ourselves in the future : it require us holding onto our dream. How to learn effectively is one of the main key to succeed on a course. Organisation is a skill which is very important according to White B (1991) Studying for Science. As for instance, when I arrived at university, I quickly noticed that I needed to be an independent learner as you are not as supervised as you were in high school. So I actually started to enjoy filing so it can help refreshing my memory about what I studied so I can be in order to complete assessments. Good noting making skills helps me organizing myself. Creativity is also essential : having resources to hand, be well organised, make time each day for study, and so forth. (Essential Study Skills, Burn & Sunfield). Making a personal development plan can be useful : by analysing my strengths and weaknesses, I will know what I’ll have to improve the most. Like for instance, I carried out my self-evaluation test, and the SWOT Analysis said that time management, get distracted, and prioritizing my work according to deadline are my weaknesses. Therefore, I actually had to manage my time during my group project : my colleagues and I planned several meetings and allocated tasks so we could get organised and work efficiently. Improving my communication skills is also essential to succeed in my degree. As a foreign student, I often go and ask for help at the Writing Centre of the university to develop my written communication skills in order to complete essays, reports and portfolios. Communication skills are also crucial for completing a group presentation and presenting it to an audience in a professional manner just as we did. By participating in the group research project, I improved my collaborativeness which is essential in order to work effectively with others to achieve common goals. It has also helped to improve my oral communication skills as I’m usually uncomfortable in speaking in public. I’ve been looking for tips and advices; for example, I made little notes about the different statements I had to present so I can build some self confidence. Self confidence is also important to succeed in university. What is defined by the Teaching, learning and study skills booklet as a “person’s belief in her own ability to accomplish a task” is something I needed to improve along my group project. Information and technologies skills are also required to succeed in university and especially in group research : using facilities like library, bookshop, getting logged on to the computer system, access online information. We are also require to use different software like Excel, Word Pro or in a case of our group project, Powerpoint. In a group research project, we can usually be confronted to many problems as some people pull their weight or one person who turns up leaving the others to complete tasks. That’s why my colleagues and I decided to allocated equally tasks but we had to do readjustments at the last minutes as one of our group member didn’t attend to the presentation. There are problems with time management as some people might not attend time set because of other commitment and lack of commitment towards the task resulting in people not doing what was given to them, this is a big de-motivation factor in group as it pulls the whole group down and effects work.  That’s why, my colleagues and I immediately planned several meetings on the first day and allocated tasks to work effiently without any pressure. During the first meeting, we instantly clarified our objectives and allocated tasks : we had to gather each information and analyse pros and cons of the “London Congestion Charge Scheme” which was our topic. This required us to use research & IT skills like sources from the Internet or references and bring it to the next meeting. Therefore, on the two following meetings, we’ve been evaluating information, comparing statements, analyzing and interpreting data. I had to improve my information seeking by digging deeper for information and also developed my conceptual thinking by making sense of those data especially about the Economics and Business Effects and the London Road Price Effects and Air Quality. In the 4th meeting, we’ve been focusing on constructing the Power Point presentation and made last adjustments on the structure. We produced graphs from qualified sources and analysed statistical data ; we used charts to illustrate the increase of traffic conditions and also to demonstrate the matter of air quality.  In addition, we set our specific points for each person to cover and dispatched the work into 4 parts so we could be able to revise our parts. On the final meeting, we agreed upon the final version and practise by presenting the topic. We gave inputs and tips to each other on what we could improve even further.  To finish, I would say that I discovered that group work requires different skills. As I’m usually not comfortable in making presentation, it helped me improving some self-confidence which will definitely help me to gain the skills needed to be effective in the work place. As I said above, it also requires competencies like conceptual thinking, collaborativeness and information seeking. Being good at making decisions is also very crucial in group works. This motivates other to decisions rather than leaving it to the end, as it helps set a goal to aim for. About our specific topic, I would conclude that the London Congestion Charge Scheme, should be abolished. Congestion and global warming, which are the main topics of the scheme, are real problems that require real solutions, not half baked schemes that just make matters worse as it has an negative impact on the economy. BIBLIOGRAPHY – REFERENCES * Burns, T. & Sinfield, S. (2008) Essential Study Skills, 2nd Edition * Smale, B. & Fowlie, J. (2009) How to Succeed at University : An Essential Guide to Academic Skills and Personal Developement * E.B, White (1990) Studying For Science: Guide To Information Communication And Study Techniques * Burns, T. & Sinfield, S. (2008) Teaching, learning and study skills: a guide for tutors * Web Learn Platform – Academic Skills * LearnHigher – Group Work : http://www.learnhighergroupwork.com * Academic Skills - University of Southampton : http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/ EC1H13N TEAM DIARY Sem: Autumn Academic session: 09/10 Seminar Group : No. 4 Team Project Topic : London Congestion Charge - Should it be abolished ' Team members Names & ID Numbers : Bianca Pamp : 09041661 Fatima Ez-Zahra Hicham : 09040052 Elise Boudjema : 09012847 Shane Dietz : 08051849 MEETINGS Where | Learning Development Unit, Tower Main Building, Holloway Road. | When- Date, start and finish time | 1) 20/11/2009 17:30- 19:002) 04/12/2009 13:00- 15:003) 07/12/2009 09:00- 11:304) 08/12/2009 17:00- 20:005) 09/12/2009 09:00- 11:00 | Those present | 1) Fati , Bianca;2) Bianca, Elise and Shane;3) Bianca, Elise and Fati;4) Bianca, Elise and Shane;5) Bianca, Elise and Shane; | Those absent | 1) Elise, Shane;2) Fati;( motivated absence)3) Shane;( motivated absence)4) Fati;5) Fati; | Issues discussedIssues discussed | 1) Clarified objectives, evaluated information, allocated tasks;2) Evaluated information, compared statements, sketched presentation’s structure and design, noted main content of different slides;3) Restructured and redesigned the original draft; compared information, evaluated statements;4) Used design techniques in constructing the Power Point presentation; produced graphs from qualified sources and analysed statistical data;5) Last minute adjustments on the presentation, agreed upon final draft. | Decisions made | 1)Agreed upon next meeting date;2)Agreed upon layout, structure and main content;3)Agreed upon redesigning and restructuring the presentation; 4)Agreed upon Power Point Design and upon Excel graphs;5)All agreed upon the final draft; | Contribution made by each memberRoles played by each member | Shane- Air Quality and Introductory Slides, conducted research on the matter, critically analysed data;Fati - Group project’s structure, evaluation and critical analysis of the subject in question;Elise - Economic and business effects- Rising Price Effects, analysis of different statements, reaching conclusion, research, Power Point slides design and structure;Bianca- Traffic conditions, CC Revenue and Cost, Political Conclusions; research, analysis, evaluation of data, Power Point design and structure;We all decided to equally allocate tasks to begin with, failed to decide on the matter of roles. | Date : 10th December 09