Week 8

This was the last week before the Easter Holidays. In this week each group presented its topic and therefore no academic lecture took place.

Different topics were presented such as pc games, printers, windows operation systems and hard disk drive (this was our topic).

All the topics were interesting ones and every group member tried to present in an effective way their research findings. This was the first time that we had to work in groups of four people and was an interesting experience and opportunity as there were more people to talk about the topic and reach the optimum results.

I think that the presentation time is the most stressful one as you may have created a speech or you may know what you want to present to your audience but sometimes when you stand up and face them, everything changes. In my opinion, every assignment that involves presentation teaches the students in relation to group working and also in relation to their (as individuals) weaknesses and strengths.

Last but not least, we had to give to our instructor the url of the website that we had to create concerning our assignment.

Until next time..... Happy Holidays!

Note: The picture is taken from the website: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/3423808185_dca4c8d293.jpg

Week 7

In week 7 we talked about "Body Language and Interviewing Skills" and we had a test.

Knowledge: at the time that you will be able to understand better yourself, your weakness, your strength, then you can be able to influence the others

Body language: as the presentation shows, we are able to understand whether two and more people are fighting, arguing, or acting normal to each other and even if we haven't heard any word of what they were saying. This could happen simply because of body language.

Some statistics show that the higher percentage that can influence communication is the body language which is 55%, then comes the voice with a 38% in which you either speak loud, fast, you show that you argue with something etc, and the last one is the words with a 7%.

(London Metropolitan University)

The body language is divided in seven (7) elements which are the following ones:

• Facial expressions: show if someone is happy, sad, angry etc
• Gaze: eyes can show what someone feels or why s/he acts in that way. for example there are times that someone looks down when talking or looks up or looks up and at the left side or right side, all these can be perceived with a different meaning.
• Posture: how someone sits somewhere, if he feels very relaxed or not etc
• Gestures: it can convey a sense of information for example when you want to show to someone that you are here and you want to talk to them or when you want to wave goodbye, it can also show that you feel anxious about something and as a result you "play" with what you feel as familiar to you.
• Proximity: this refer to how near or far you stand from someone when talking or even and when sitting or standing somewhere. there are different situations that you are comfortable sitting near to someone (like a friend etc), and situations when you want your space from the others. In every country this can be conveyed differently (it can be positive to be close to someone else or negative)
• Touch: it can be a handshake with someone else when you first see them or you greet the m goodbye or it can be something more when it is related to more personal situations
• Appearance: this has to do with how you appear to others meaning how you dress up and what this may show to someone else.

(London Metropolitan University)

In this lecture we talked also about Interviewing skills and we were given some questions in relation to this topic as to what a prospect interviewer could ask a candidate about.

I have a knowledge of job interviews as I had been in many and different of them in the past few years. An interview that i remember as afterwards i came to do my internship was the one in a newspaper. I felt nervous and I didn't also believe that I would get accepted there. At the time of the interview I had to talk to three different persons including the director of that newspaper. The questions that they asked me at that time where in relation to whether i have worked before, my university lessons' schedule (at that time i was a student in another field of study).

I have been also and to other job interviews which the interviewers asked various questions, for example: why did i choose to go to this job interview, why am i thinking of doing in the near future, describe my academic qualifications and many other.

Every interview shows something different since there are different persons and different questions can be posed and I think that this helped me to learn more of what to expect and be better prepared.

I think that this lesson was an important one since it focused also on interviewing which everyone sooner or later will face in their lives when searching for a job.

In the same lesson we also had to write a test which covered lectures from weeks one to six. The test had 10 questions from which some needed elaboration and others were of bullet type ones.

Week 6

This was the week six of the module "Personal Development for Computing" and in this week we talked about "Role Playing and Video Production", our previous semester's grades and also about our upcoming assignments.

Role playing has to do with performing a role; take a role and then try to follow some steps in order to reach the appropriate results. That does not mean that it is easy..... it takes time and effort to reach that appropriate result and also to act differently at that specific time. During this week's presentation it was also mentioned that it is good to practice, make rehearsals of your speech in order to feel more comfortable and confident with it. You can ask someone that you know to let's say "grade you" considering your presentation skills before you present it to the actual audience. You can also video-record yourself and see what was wrong during your speech rehearsals, what you need to eliminate or avoid and what is good for you to keep. It is also good if you show this video and to other people that you know so a second opinion can be heard! (London Metropolitan University)

Considering the rehearsal part of the presentation: In the past I was in the position of having to rehearse my speech many times before the actual day of the presentation. An example of a module that it was very important to be in the time frame limit was the one in relation to the speaking in front of an audience or else "public speaking". In this module we had to present individually speeches in relation to the topics that we decided to choose and also to present them in front of our tutor and classmates. We had also to use eye contact, body language, and to be in the time limits that our tutor had set at that time. In this module I tried to rehearse my speeches because due to my anxiety part I sometimes felt like I will not make it to the time limit and that I will finish earlier or that I may finish later than the time limit. At that time it was good to rehearse the speech and be able to spell better some words or to be able to remember better some things mentioned at the speech's paper in order to have more eye contact with the classmates/tutor. I can say that by rehearsing you may avoid certain difficulties that may come up at your actual speech day; no one knows what happens so if you are a little more prepared then you can be sure that something at least will come out in a better way!

For week six we had also to visit a website that was in relation to our previous week's lecture "Presentation." I can say that this site was an interesting one as with a combination with the powerpoint presentation of the previous week, someone could get better the presentation process and its parts. I think that i will definitely check up on that site in the near future in order to read again anything that is in relation to projects and its presentations or anything else that it may seem interesting to me.

In this week's blog listing we also have to write down an example of a role playing situation that we have been into. Personally I think that everyone everyday is playing a role( a role in a positive way not in a negative one) , because a person at this time can be a daughter, a niece, a grand daughter, a cousin, a sister/brother, a friend, a classmate etc I think also that in each of these situations every person reacts differently to each of the persons that s/he knows meaning that s/he will speak differently to a friend and to a classmate or to his/hers family. Sometimes we can say certain things and be more open to specific people and to other people we are not that opened or we just prefer not to talk to them about what for example worries us, our happiness, our fears etc

If I could say a personal example of a role playing would be that I have people that i feel as very close to me and that i can open up easier to them and other people that i talk to them but i don't feel so comfortable to say more and i prefer keeping the conversation in general talking rather than a personal one.

Last but not least we talked about the semester's grades and the upcoming assignments. The grades were very good and more than what i expected. The upcoming assignments as mentioned and in my previous blog listings will be in relation to a website creation, two presentations, and some word documents that we will have to upload at the intranet during the last week of the semester.

Week 5

In week five the topic of the lesson was in relation to Presentation and also about our group formation.

There are seven elements in relation to the Presentation and they are the following ones:

• Tone: While talking you can sound angry or calm

• Emphasis: This one is important because while talking you can emphasize certain words and differentiate your tone of voice to calm, angry etc
• Content: It focuses on what someone says and if what s/he says contains technical words or other words that may be misunderstood by the people around him/her.
• Humour: It is good to use it but without overdoing it because in the end your speech may be not that credible and may not deliver the message that you wanted it.
• Speed: Don't talk too fast so that your speech won't be understood by your audience and also if you have important points that you want to emphasize you can use pauses.
• Pronounciation and Pitch: Before presenting your speech you need to be sure of the meaning of the words that you read, how they are pronounced.
• Visuals: You can use different means in order to present your founding, your speech but you don't have to overdo it. It is also important that you maintain eye contact with your audience.

(London Metropolitan University)

The Presentation structure is divided in three sections:

Introduction: in this section you introduce yourself to the audience, you introduce your topic to them and state what you will talk about during your speech's duration.

Developing your argument: Be sure that you have a knowledge of the time limit of your speech and that sometimes you may have to explain some parts of your topic earlier.

Conclusion: In the last part of presentation, you summarize what has been said, you ask the audience if they have any question in relation to your presentation and you thank them for taking part.

Something that is important always in everything that someone chooses to do is practice. Practice helps you maintain what you have learned and also to expand this knowledge to a higher step

(London Metropolitan University)

I had the chance many times in the past, and also now, to present a topic in front of an audience which at that time was my classmates and instructors. It wasn't easy for me to stand in front of an audience and talk about a particular topic and even if i knew these people and my response to it was to get anxious (nowadays i still feel anxious but it has been minimized in relation to my very first presentations). A presentation of a topic is important because today it is a presentation in an academic level but tomorrow it may be in my future job so i feel like everytime i gain something from each presentation and what was wrong or right, what i need to eliminate or add.

Lastly, we talked again about our upcoming project and our group members. In this group project we'll be four people and we'll talk about "Hard Drives." It is an interesting topic and i hope to learn more about them.

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.

Week 3

In this week we talked about information gathering and the Green IT topic tutorial.

Well, information gathering, how important is this?We use information gathering when we want to apply for a job position and later on get interviewed for this position. It is important that the candidate has an understanding of what this company is about and what is this job about that he is planning to apply or applied or even being interviewed about.

We use also information gathering when we want to write about a specific topic for an assignment that we have to complete; we need at that time to have a topic that we want to search about and then search for it in books, journals, the Internet or any other mean that you think that can bring the optimum result.

(London Metropolitan University)

This information gathering process is divided in six steps which they basically have to do with: thinking in the beginning of what question you want to answer, the means that you will use in order to reach the best conclusions (books, journals etc), the collection of data, the analysis of all the information that you found and to decide whether something is irrelevant or not, to make a plan and then to reach the best answer. (London Metropolitan University)

The information is divided into two categories which are: a) primary information and b) secondary information

a) Primary information: This kind of information can be obtained by the writer the same and from what s/he experienced, knows. It can take part by using observation, experimentation, his/her experience and also the use of questionnaires.

b) Secondary information: Information that you gather from other people; other people have said something or written something and you either quote their words or paraphrase them.This type of information can has to do with: books, journals, newspapers, videos, tv, radio etc

In the third hour of the lesson we talked about the Green IT tutorial which we had to read, discuss it in class and answer questions which are relevant to this tutorial and questions which were general and had to do with our thoughts towards recycling. This tutorial was an interesting one as it showed how to save energy while using computers and other devices. Personally i don't leave any devices on while i am out of home (for example computers, mobile phones etc) as i am always worried if there will be any kind of problem while noone is at home. While also at home, i prefer to turn off any device that i no longer use as it was mentioned in the tutorial.

This week's lesson was an interesting one as we talked in depth about information gathering and all the stages and categories of it which it is important because while later on completing a project in university or in work, it is good to have the ability to search for information or better to say, to be able to know how to search for information.

Last but not least, it was also good that we had to answer a word document's question related to the Green IT tutorial and that we had to write down how long it took as to complete it. This was good as we see how long it takes us to answer something when we are under pressure whether in university or later on in job.

Week 2

This week was the second (2nd) lesson that took part of the module Personal Development For Computing due to the strikes that made the previous week's lesson unable to be conducted.

In this second lesson we talked about working in groups, pdp, an article that we had to read and discuss in-class and a personal test that took part in class.

Working in groups is important as in our life we will have to join different groups. Everyone is either in a "non-formal" group or in a more let's say formal one. The non-formal one can be the one of a family or of friends or of something that you find as interesting (for example a group in relation to painting or of music in which you can meet other people and express your inner self or any other thing that you enjoy) and the formal one can be the one of a company or of a university. In a company you need to be able to work with many people, under pressure and in different conditions each time so you need to understand that people are different and that you may have to work sometimes and with those that aren't that close to your own way of thinking.

In my opinion it is important that the university provides courses that help students understand better how it is to work with groups and meet deadlines because tomorrow the student will use what has been acquired from these courses, projects, in his/her future life in a higher or a lower degree. I believe that if you have worked in groups throughout your studies then you will be more familiar in the concept of group working while later on you decide to find a job or expand your horizons and go for a master's degree or who knows a phd maybe! Everyone would feel better if they didn't have someone else to work with and do their workload all alone without feeling anxious of how the other people may react or how long time they may take to do their task, but at the end i believe that you learn and it is good that you meet various people and personalities and see how you respond to each different situation that is on your way.

The good thing while working in a group is that in a possible failure you are all together and experience the same thing and then try to improve it but also and in a good result you are all together. While being in a group it is also good that if what someone has done in relation to that assignment has a weakness that the other members would say to this person about a possible improvement and they can help him/her if there is anything that may seem difficult to be grasped or understood(London Metropolitan University).

Personally, I have experienced group working in the past as i have already acquired a bachelors degree in the area of Communication from another university. In my four years there i had to form with other students groups in order to complete different projects that the instructors announced to us. Sometimes people responded in a good manner meaning that they were interested and they showed it in the whole length of our working together but i came in contact and with other people who were the ones that you have to call everytime and see if they did anything or if there is anything wrong. It was good that i could work with different people during my studies as i had to work later on during my internship with many people from various ages at this time.

This week we also talked about our experience in relation to the previous semester's group work which was in relation to the module "Study skills for Computing." In my opinion the project of this module could have been better if some people arranged their time accordingly.

The second part of the lecture was in relation to PDP. So what does pdp stand for you may be asking? well it stands for personal development planning or personal development portfolio(London Metropolitan University). Personally i see pdp as something that makes you evolve meaning that you start from step 0 and then you need to do something in order to go to step 1 and step 2 etc. The same thing happens and in university courses and also and in the working environment; you learn and then you try to put things in practice. The pdp in my opinion isn't something that you try to learn now and that's it, pdp exists in everything you want to do that requires learning something, gaining experience etc. Before this and the previous module took place i didn't think a lot of the pdp and in some cases i didn't have a plan on what to do next but since the start of the "study skills" module i want to improve myself in some areas, learn more and find my weaknesses and improve them. Something that i must change is the anxiety part which becomes more and more clear but sometimes is upon my powers as it happens unintentionally. Anyway, I am still trying to improve this part.

The third part of this week's lecture was in relation to an article that was about people with disabilities for example someone who can't see or can't walk etc I think that it is good that we had a conversation in relation to this and that there are companies who try to work with people who have disabilities because working with them improves some parts of the company in the fact that you will see what is missing from what has been created so far while if you work with a person with disabilities you will hear more of what they say as they are the main receivers of any particular change. I remember during my internship that there was a lady who had a problem with her foot and she had to use something in order to walk properly. The good thing was that there was an elevator to help her move up and down in different floors but in some places there wasn't an elevator and she couldn't go there without the help of her colleagues; that was bad and i think that someone who has a company needs to understand that there may be people who have any kind of disability.

In the end we did a personality test online in which my result was 50% and this referred to that the pdp will be useful for me and the site that had this test could help me learn more about pdp.