Posts Tagged ‘Week 1’

  • Planning your approach to study

    Date: 2009.10.07 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Learning Skills Exercise
    Unit:     SSK12
    Week: 1 (in Week 6)
    Date: 07 October 2009
    Exercise: Exercise 3 – Planning your approach to study

    Activity 1: Previous formal learning experiences
    It is difficult for me to think back and remember any skills that I might have developed while I was in school. I spent the nearly the entirety of high school mucking up or simply sitting in class to pass the time. There was no where else to go. I could have done an apprenticeship, but at the time I didn’t want to work. It was easy to stay at school and play the fool. I must have used some skills. What I remember of elementary and secondary school is that the curriculum is taught at you. The teacher teaches you directly; you are lead by hand. Thinking critically about what you are taught is less important than writing what has been written on the board. Well, at least that is how it was in my classes. Maybe that is why I never really enjoyed school. Only partly, I was still lazy and teaching methods probably wouldn’t have changed that. Upon deeper reflection I am still struggling to thinking of any skills that I should have been doing that I was any good at. I used to write notes verbatim and I was too slow to write it from the board, so I used to copy the guy next to me. I wasn’t a strong reader. My essay skills were lacking. I never completed my assignments, I didn’t even hand them in late, I just didn’t do them.

    Activity 2: Preview your unit study guide
    The expectations of this unit is that by the end I will have identified myself as an independent learner, I will have learnt to situate that independent learner in the university culture and in the process I will have developed fundamental learning skills, like effective reading, essay writing, efficient note taking, how to learning from discussions, etc.

    Activity 3: What is expected in your unit

    No written entry required.

    Activity 4: Skills you need for effective learning
    University learning is vastly different from learning in high school. The responsibility to learn is place squarely on the learner. The lecturers and tutors are provided by the university to guide and teach, but not by the hand, not spoon-feed. The learner will truly only get out of it what they put into it and through determined application. Skills that will be important for effective learner will include reading at rates that are appropriate for the application, taking relevant notes in lectures, learning from group discussion, knowing where to research to gain information on a topic, etc.

    Activity 5: Planning your study for the next few weeks

    No written entry required.

    Activity 6: Questions for your tutor
    The focus of this unit is me and the other students. Much of the first module is about our respective worldviews and how they affect the way we understand and value education and learning. I am interested to know what my tutor’s worldview is and how she understands the world and the self?

    Reflection
    It was extremely difficult for me to find anything useful to write about my early schooling. Despite being relatively self-aware I find it quite difficult to write about myself. I can write at length about others, but I hit a road block when it come to writing about my own issues, desires, shortcomings and strengths. I can see that this is going to make things a little more difficult in this unit.

  • Previewing edited books

    Date: 2009.10.07 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Learning Skills Exercise
    Unit:     SSK12
    Week: 1 (in Week 6)
    Date: 07 October 2009
    Exercise: Exercise 16 – Previewing edited books

    Activity 1: Previewing the edited book
    The title of the edited book:
    A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life
    The book is clearly about worldviews. The word spectator suggests that it is an overview of ten different worldviews by which we might understand the world and life.
    What might those ten worldviews be? And how does seeing world through their respective lenses change our understanding of life?

    The editor:
    Simon Smart
    The editor is unknown to me from the front cover. He is not someone I have come across before.
    From the about the authors section (Smart 2007, 253) we learn that “Simon Smart taught History and English for ten years before moving to Vancouver for theological study. He is a full-time writer for Anglican Youthworks…”

    The date:
    Published 2007
    This is important because it shows how up to date the content should be. It also helps us contextualise its authors to what time and place they are writing from.

    Table of contents:
    There is a table of contents, which indicates a very structured book, clearly laying out the ten themes (or worldviews) that are detailed by the various authors. Unfortunately all of the authors are unknown to me. It appears that all chapters have been compiled and published together.

    Preface, foreword or introduction:
    There is an introduction written by the editor. Smart (2007, 5-17) details what a worldview is; briefly covers how they shape our understanding of life; provides a history of worldviews; and explains why he thinks it is important to think about worldviews, which indicates the purpose of the book. Another important feature of the book which contextualises its content is that it is written for a Christian audience and all its authors are Christian.

    Section or parts:
    There is an introduction to each chapter, while there is no conclusion as such, each chapter is concluded by a small section subtitled “Contact and departure from Christianity”. Each chapter is accompanied by a selection of thought provoking questions.

    Conclusion:
    There is no conclusion in the strictest sense of the word. The book is wrapped by an introducing narrative and a concluding narrative.

    Index:
    There is no index for this book.

    The readings:
    The readings have been put together especially for this publication. They are clearly targeted at a Christian audience. They have been written in a Basic English and an easy to understand style.

    Activity 2: An interesting reading
    Utilitarianism
    I chose this reading as my interesting reading because I know very little about it and so it interests me to find out more.
    The essence of utilitarianism is expressed in the idea (Cameron 2007, 86), “I’ll do whatever it takes to make more happiness in the world”.
    The utilitarian weighs the consequences of their decisions to determine what is right in that moment. What is right is what will produce happiness for the greatest number of people when all is weighed up.

    Activity 3: A familiar reading
    The Christian worldview
    I have selected this as my familiar reading because I am most intimate with this worldview. I was a Christian from the age of 13 years through to 28 years (it’s hard to say when period ended because it was a gradual process of dissolution and deconstruction). For many of my post high school years I have read many books of this type from a Christian perspective. Even one of my favourite philosophers, James Sire, is a Christian.

    Activity 4: A difficult reading
    Feminism
    Although I grew up in a family with 5 sisters and raised by my mother, who for most of my life was a single parent, and in a world that had already triumphantly overcome many of the birth pangs of the Women’s Liberation Movement, and although my own worldview is greatly influenced by many elements of the feminist movement. I chose this reading as a difficult reading because despite all that is written above I am not a woman and therefore I feel I am unable to wholly identify.
    Feminism had two major waves. The first wave, which is considered a retroactive term, was just prior and leading up to WW1, its central campaign was female suffrage. The second wave came in the 1960’s, also known as the women’s liberation movement, the one I am more familiar with, “placed issues around sex, pregnancy and childbirth as crucial to the welfare of women. These issues were seen as important as the fight for equal rights and opportunities in the workforce” (Fisher and Smart 2007, 154-155).

    Activity 5: Reflection
    I believe previewing books (especially ones required for study) is an extremely beneficial practice. I must admit I haven’t done much of this in the past, mostly I would read the back cover, flick through the pages and maybe reading some of its contents. It is rewarding and insightful to systematically preview the contents of a book. It gives you a far better understanding of the value of the book and it helps you to understand where to look in the book when you need to look something up.

    Smart, Simon. ed. 2007. A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

    Cameron, Andrew. 2007. Whatever it takes: Utilitarianism. In A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. ed. Simon Smart, 86. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

    Fisher, Mary and Michele Smart. 2007. Sleeping with the enemy: Feminism. In A spectator’s guide to worldviews: Ten ways of understanding life. ed. Simon Smart, 154-155. South Sydney: Blue Bottle Books.

  • Transferring learning strengths…

    Date: 2009.10.06 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Learning Skills Exercise
    Unit:     SSK12
    Week: 1 (in Week 6)
    Date: 06 October 2009
    Exercise: Exercise 2 – Transferring learning strengths into university study

    Activity 1: Previous learning experiences
    I spend approximately 1/3 of my day at work so it should not be surprising that a lot of my learning is as a consequence of my employment. Since I started in I.T. and more recently in Project Management I have learnt a great deal. When I worked in Application Delivery (which is a team that repackages software for the company’s desktops) I developed the skill of fault diagnosis and resolution. This has given me a strong problem solving ability. My ability to be analytical and my attention to detail nicely to my work as a project consultant. In project management I have learnt how to plan, how to manage people and the situation at hand. I need to take information in; process it; determine the objectives and deliverables; set milestones; and establish any risks, their mitigants, and finally call out any risks to those who need to know.

    Activity 2: Conditions that enhance your learning
    My personal experience is that I learn best in a positive environment where guidance is provided and I am surrounded by intelligent and experienced people to draw knowledge from.

    Activity 3: Your learning strengths

    <Activity 3 summary goes here>

    Activity 4: Gaps in your learning

    Activity 5: Lifelong learning

    Activity 6: Transferring reading skills

    Reflection
    It was good to do the quick preview exercise at the start of this exercise. It reinforced to me the importance of previewing text, especially in the context of tertiary study. Although it is not uncommon for me to preview my books by reading the back cover and index, I am reminded of the value of thoroughly reading the introduction in order to get a big picture understanding to the book.

    I never was a strong reader and even now, although I tend to read a lot of books, I don’t read them very fast. One of my biggest challenges is going to be whether I am able to improve my reading ability, especially in the area of reading rate variation. I may find it difficult to learn to read at any other rate than the snail’s pace I am used to.

    <Write more…>

  • Meta-

    Date: 2009.09.07 | Category: Study Reflections, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Reflection
    Unit: SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 07 September 2009

    Lorraine Marshall references the text in the Unit Reader as follows:
    Hobson, J. 1996. Concepts of the self: Different ways of knowing about the self. SSK12 lecture transcript. ed. Marshall, L. Perth: Murdoch University

    At the risk of looking silly, I’m wondering if the following full reference is also valid, if not more so:
    Hobson, J. 1996. Concepts of the self: Different ways of knowing about the self. SSK12 lecture transcript. ed. Marshall, L. Reprinted in SSK12 Introduction to University Learning Reader 2008, 27-36. Perth: Murdoch University

    When did we find the lovely word ‘metacognition’ and where is the Glossary thread? Have I missed something?

    The Oxford Dictionary of English (2005) defines ‘meta-‘ a combining form (or prefix) 1. denoting a change of position or condition: metamorphosis, 2. denoting position behind, after, or beyond: metacarpus, 3. denoting something of a higher or second-order kind: metalanguage.

    Upon cross-referencing ‘metalanguage’ from the definition above you find it is “a form of language or set of terms used for the description or analysis of another language” (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005) and if you were to look up ‘metacognition’ you would find that it is an “awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes” (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005).

    In both these cases (and many others pertaining to philosophy and psychology) when we apply the prefix ‘Meta-‘ to the original subject or word stem, the new word represents a subject or topic about the original subject. In other words, metalanguage is a language used to describe language and metacognition is thinking about thinking or in Hobson’s (1996) case, “contextualis[ing] the context”.

    In summary, to answer Koral’s question, in this case I believe ‘meta’ to mean something above and beyond the subject we are applying it to in order to better understand that subject. (I hope that made sense) 🙂

    More on the context that defines me and the questions that may raise after I’ve actually read the text. 🙂

    References
    “meta- combining form” The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Murdoch University. 6 September 2009 <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e47936>

    “metalanguage noun” The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Murdoch University. 6 September 2009 <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e47953>

    “metacognition noun” The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Murdoch University. 6 September 2009 <http://0-www.oxfordreference.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e47945>

  • Previewing a book

    Date: 2009.09.06 | Category: Learning Skills Exercises, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Learning Skills Exercise
    Unit:     SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 06 September 2009
    Exercise: Exercise 15 – Previewing a book

    Activity 1: Finding out what books are about
    A Guide to Learning Independently
    This book is design to help the student adjust to university learning. It gives technique that the student can you to be a successful independent leaner. Skills such as: reading; writing, including essay writing, learning by evaluation; etc…. The authors claim that the book isn’t just a collection of techniques, but rather the book helps the student discover who they are as a learner and encourages the readers to learn how the techniques can work for them.

    Marshall, L. & F. Rowland. 2006. A Guide To Learning Independently. 4th ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education Australia

    A Learning Companion
    A Learning Companion is a learning guide design to help the student develop effective and efficient learning skills. It is a collection of exercises that the student can complete in order to foster life long learning skills that can hopefully used for the duration of their studies. Exercises cover such topics as: Learning how to learn; reading; and writing essays, amongst others. The book’s hope is to be a learners’ companion.

    Marshall, L. 2006. A Learning Companion: Your Guide To Practising Independent Learning. 4th ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education Australia

    In my attempt to get to know the two unit texts I read the back cover first, then I overviewed the table of contents, before quickly reading over the Preface or the Introduction. I found the back cover to summarise the book’s contents clearly and concisely. The table of contents also gives an excellent overall understanding of the information covered. If I had more time than 5 minutes to preview the books, the introduction would be the best part of the book to find the most information.

    Activity 2: Previewing a book

    No written entry required

    Activity 3:

    <Activity 3 summary goes here>

    Activity 4: Reflection
    It was good to do the quick preview exercise at the start of this exercise. It reinforced to me the importance of previewing text, especially in the context of tertiary study. Although it is not uncommon for me to preview my books by reading the back cover and index, I am reminded of the value of thoroughly reading the introduction in order to get a big picture understanding to the book.

    I never was a strong reader and even now, although I tend to read a lot of books, I don’t read them very fast. One of my biggest challenges is going to be whether I am able to improve my reading ability, especially in the area of reading rate variation. I may find it difficult to learn to read at any other rate than the snail’s pace I am used to.

    <Write more…>

  • Pedagogue

    Date: 2009.09.06 | Category: Glossary, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Glossary
    Unit: SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 06 September 2009 (Updated: 06 October 2009)

    Word: pedagogy n. pedagogically adv. pedagogue n. archaic.
    Context: Pedagogy and pedagogically appear on pages 10 and 11 of SSK12 Reader, within Krause’s (2005) essay, The changing face of the first year: Challenges for policy and practice in research led universities. Krause uses these two words in respect to building community within the research-led university.
    Definition: The Australian Oxford Dictionary (2004) defines pedagogy as “the science of teaching” derived from pedagogue which is simply defined as teacher or schoolmaster. The Queensland Government (2006) provides a succinct expansion of the word pedagogy on their Department of Education and Training website. The site defines pedagogy as “the art of teaching” and goes on to explain that effective pedagogy, or in my words, artful teaching, employs many and varied teaching methods and strategies in order to connect with a wider student audience as there is no universal method that suits every student. Pedagogically is simply an adverb used for something relating to a pedagogue or pedagogy.
    Word in Use: Through more productive pedagogy Australian governments hope to reach a broader range of students than can be achieved by a single method of teaching.

    Krause, Kerri-Lee. 2005. The changing face of the first year: Challenges for policy and practice in research led universities. First year experience workshop. Brisbane: University of Queensland.

    The Australian Oxford Dictionary. 2004. 2nd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Queensland. Department of Education and Training. 2006. Pedagogy. http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/learning/teaching/technology/pedagogy/index.html (accessed September 06, 2009).

  • I have completed LITE!

    Date: 2009.09.05 | Category: Study Reflections, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Reflection
    Unit: SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 05 September 2009

    Hooray!

    I am delight to write this SLog entry, for I have just completed my first assessment. Not only am I please to have achieved this milestone (no matter how small), but I am also relieved because now there is one less thing to worry about for next week. Once the QSK Worksheet is complete I will truly relax ( that’s assuming of course I have got myself up to date and don’t allow myself to fall behind).

    I genuinely believe that LITE was a great benefit to me. This was not just something that I completed for the sake of ticking boxes. I have learnt to cite and reference works from other people correctly. This is something I did not know how to do previously. Sure, I have seen plenty of it in the books I read, but I didn’t know the conventions to be followed, especially for referencing journals, newspapers and websites.

    I think I can say with some confidence that I know how to search the web and by extension databases and catalogues, but the lessons for searching were an excellent refresher and I believe after having done them my searches will be much more effective and efficient. I had also learnt about boolean operators before, but it was useful to refresh that knowledge as well and admittedly I had never considered the power of boolean searches when the right combinations are used.

    The LITE exercises refined my understanding of where I should be looking for information, such as books for thorough and systematic treatment of a topic, journals and newspapers for the latest and up to date information, and reference materials like dictionaries and encyclopedias for overviews, definitions, and background or introductory information.

    For completing this assessment I have rewarded myself with a new Filofax to organise my life and my study.

  • My brain hurts

    Date: 2009.09.05 | Category: Study Reflections, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Reflection
    Unit: SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 05 September 2009

    It’s Saturday and I’ve been studying all day. Slowly the course work is coming together, but I still feel well behind. I am catching up on some of the discussions in the Online tutorial.

    I have completed the LITE assessment and I have found the LITE lessons quite informative. I can see that the items I am learning during the lessons are going to be a huge help in the future when I am trying to track down some information for an assignment. I can see that despite the fact that I am already quite savvy at searching, there are items I have learnt that will make my searches even in the work place far more efficient. I was a little disappointed that I got 4 out of 5 in two of the Module Quizzes, but in reality it’s not that bad, as long as I learn from the lessons. The overall percentage in relation to my final results is quite low so as not to affect them too much. I guess it’s just the perfectionist in me and my desire to do the best I can. Sometimes it is frustrating knowing you could have done better.

    I only just started the QSK Worksheet today. It’s going to take me a lifetime to write each of these answers. I’m still on the first question, I’ve already written over half a page and I’m only half way done.

    I’m falling behind on the Exercises and readings too. I’ve only read half of Chapter 3 of A Guide to learning Independently. I haven’t completed the reading by Krause, Kerri-Lee. (2005). ‘The changing face of the first year…’ and I haven’t even started the reading, Vivekananda and Shores (1996).

    Additionally, I’m still yet to start and complete the Exercises from Chapters 15 & 16 in A Learning Companion.

    In summary, I need to complete the follow:

    • Exercise 1: Keeping a learning log (Optional)
    • Exercise 15: Previewing a book
    • Exercise 16: Previewing edited books
    • Exercise 2: Transferring your learning strengths
    • Exercise 3: Planning your approach to study
    • Read: Vivekananda and Shores (1996).
    • Read: Chapter 3, ‘Becoming an independent student’ of A Guide to Learning Independently
    • Submit: QSK Woksheet (Due 11 September 2009, 4 pm AWST)

  • Hello world!

    Date: 2009.09.03 | Category: Study Reflections, Unit SSK12 | Response: 0

    Reflection
    Unit: SSK12
    Week: 1
    Date: 03 September 2009

    This is my first journal entry.

    Week 1: What can I say about Week 1?

    After I discovered the Discussion Board it became apparent very quickly that I had a lot of catching up to do. The other students had gone wild and some of the threads were already 50 messages deep. There is considerable time spent reading threads on the message board and for the first few nights I have found myself reading through many of them, too many of them. It has become routine to sit down in front of the television — my arch nemesis — and trawl through the myriad discussion threads. It hasn’t taken me long to discover that this is a time waster and I need to develop a strategy to avoid wasting my valuable study time reading message in the Student Café. I’ve already started. My current strategy is to mark ‘Read’ on all the threads that aren’t relevant to me, such as ones that refer to other localities like Brisbane or the Northern Beaches, etc….

    Much to my surprise I found that many of the students were nervous about starting their studies at university. I found this strange because I was not nervous in the slightest. I have wondered whether I am just being complacent or if I have good reason to feel confident about my attempt at doing this course. It has made me think should I be nervous or am I entitled to feel comfortable at this point and see how it all pans out?

    On the weekend proceeding Week 1 I started the Quick Skills modules, unfortunately, so far I have only completed the Introduction course (QSK100). The rest of the week has been slow also. I started off by thoroughly reading the SSK12 Unit Information booklet. Then on Wednesday and Thursday I read Chapter 12 of A Guide to Learning Independently on the train and this evening I read through the first exercise of A Learning Companion while I was in the bath. Now I am writing this log entry, after which, I am going to complete Exercise 1 and write another log entry.

    Also this week, a few of the students that are living in the Sydney area have proposed the idea of forming a study group. I think this is a fantastic idea and I look forward to meeting my fellow students. I’m excited to see how the group will develop and how the dynamics of the different personalities will evolve. So far we have nailed down Thursday evenings after work somewhere in the city as our preferred time and place. The group started with a core of 4 people: Jarrod Wade, Pascal Mattar, Taryn Mielekamp and myself, all of us are doing the Bachelor of Business Studies through Monash University via OUA. This group quickly grew from 4 to 5 when we were joined by Nicole Amato and now there is also Cara Taylor, Melanie Beer, Sheree Brugel, Debra Gourlay, Simone Hrncir and Amanda-Lee Rinkin. Personally, I hope that the original four listed above can stay together as a study group for a good portion of the Business degree; I think 4 is a good number.