Week 4

This week's lecture had to do with "Critical Thinking Presentation and Public Speaking Skills" and also the conversation in relation to the "Psyching you out" tutorial.

Critical thinking: it has to do with reaching a conclusion in relation to a topic, it is used in the academic environment and also outside of it. In critical thinking what you do is that you learn about something and then you try to keep a distance in order to think of it better and then you come back in order to reach the optimum solution (London Metropolitan University).

Which are the thinking skills? The thinking skills are six and they are the following ones:

-To gain relevant information: You try to gain information in relation to the question that you want to answer. This step is related to questions such as Who, what, where and when.

-Understanding: You search for information in relation to something and then you can apply what you have found and in other circumstances that may seem similar to the ones that you've been through.

-Applying knowledge and Understanding: When you have a question that you want to answer, you try to take a distance of it as it was mentioned in step 1, you think about it and then try to reach a good result. This particular step is related to step 1 and step 2 in the way that when you understand what is the problem and how to solve it you try to put the pieces in the way that can make the result better.

-Analyzing: Means to break the problem into smaller parts

-Synthesizing: It is related to the analyzing step in the way that when you have broken the problem into smaller parts then you try to find the meaning of it as a whole.

-Evaluation: When you have thought of the problem and you have found solutions of it then you try to see what solution is good and what is not

(London Metropolitan University)

Also, in the critical thinking area there is the quality of data which has to do with words that may not fit in the academic environment and also words that may be perceived differently from person to person (London Metropolitan University).

In this week we had also to write down about the meaning of four words which are : respect, fear, arrogance and confidence.

Respect: I perceive the word respect as you admire someone for something s/he has done or achieved.

Fear: This word sounds more to be like being afraid of something or maybe and someone. It's like someone's personality expels fear towards you.

Confidence: I could say that someone is confident when s/he is sure of himself or herself in the way that s/he has knowledge in relation to a topic and can support it with arguments.

Arrogance: Well, this one now doesn't sound to me like a positive word. It is when someone thinks a lot of himself or herself, when they feel like they are in a higher position and the other around them are inferiors.

Presentation Skills

In this week's lecture we also saw a video with a woman talking about a topic that someone told her and they way that she presented it. In the first part of the video that woman seemed afraid, not confident to what she was saying even though her speech was good enough but in the second part of the video she changed the way she presented that topic and she seemed more confident, she used eye contact and body language (London Metropolitan University).

Public Speaking has to do with standing in front of an audience and trying to present your message to them in a way that you'll try to make them understand of what you want to say and also to be in the time limit that you most probably have. (London Metropolitan University).

I remember the public speaking classes that i had to take during my previous studies and they were something that i always wanted to avoid. I couldn't help it being in this class and thinking that maybe today or tomorrow the instructor may ask me about a topic and that i have to face the whole class and be able to express my opinion on it. I still have the same feeling even though i have already acquired a degree and I am in my second one, i still feel sometimes afraid of talking in front of an audience and even if i know this audience for example classmates,instructors.

In this week we had to read an article with the title "Psyching you Out."

This article had to do with some tests that may a candidate have to complete in order to have the chance to take the job. The first is the aptitude tests: These kind of tests are more related to something like a test that we had to fill in school and is in relation to numeracy, and some other simple questions. The second is the personality questionnaires: These questionnaires have different questions that will have to do with how well you may be able to handle some situations, work with other people and basically it has to do with showing what you really are. (Bsc.org)

I have an experience towards the aptitude test when i had an appointment for a job. There was someone of that company who came to all the candidates and told us to answer some questions within the time that she specified. When i first saw the questions i was worried of what this might be because it wasn't something that i had faced other time in the past and it sounded a little bit of weird in the fact that the questions seemed out of the job's concept but at the same time i understood that this company wants to see its candidates how they perform in various situations and beyond what they may have said in a interview. I can say that the aptitude test was an interesting one even though it caught me off guard. Besides the aptitude test i've also experienced and personality questionnaires. From what i have experienced so far, not all companies ask their candidates to complete these questionnaires or tests in order to proceed to the next step of this job.