Wednesday 23 November 2011

1.EFFECTIVE NOTE TAKING

The format my notes are taken down in resemble Cornel with part of the outline format and some of my own changes. I found that putting the date and the subject of the lecture at the top right corner of the page made finding the relevant notes easy for revision.

 I tend to use the Mind Mapping format when I am starting a new project or assignment, I find it very helpful with the layout of an assignment and I used one in planning the 'Reflective Writing Blog Assignment'.


We have to submit portfolios for both Plant Identification and Practical Horticulture, as part of the portfolios I have been taking photographs to support the written notes in the classes. In the Practical Horticulture class I have a small pocket notebook that I take with me and I take down any important Information in the class and photograph the work being done to add to the notes..


Some of the points on the 'Effective Note Taking' that I found helpful were; skimming notes on moodle before class was good preparation. Also that the lecture notes should not be the only notes you have,sometimes you need to look at a number of different sources to find good material. I filed my notes in file pockets inside a ring binder according to the subject.



Finally I noticed on page 5 of the moodle notes on 'Effective Note Taking' it says that 'Evidence exists which suggests that 30 minutes after a lecture - up to 50% of the content within may be forgotten', given that our Lectures are a full hour long and the classes are given concurrently I would suggest on reflection if the Classes were 50 minutes long it would give students 10 minutes between classes to organise their notes before the next Lecture.

Friday 18 November 2011

9.TEAM BUILDING

TEAM BUILDING



As part of our Personal & Professional Development class at itb we were given an assignment to carry out a literature review on the following statement 'Orgaisations today are demanding more from their workforce than ever before. They require individuals who are not just well qualified , but who are multi-skilled, diverse, flexible, team oriented and have an ability to communicate effectively.'
In researching for the Literary review I found evidence of how Team Work is valued in the workplace and how the kind of individual who is flexible and who works well in a team is a valued employee.

In our Business Administration class were divided into Teams for in-class assignments. We were given questions to answer and we had to present our answers on a power point presentation.First we had time to discuss the questions and when we agreed on our answers it was taken down and put into a power point.


In the Practical Horticulture class we are regularly working as a team. We are first given a demonstration and then we set about our task as a Team. I found this to be a very good way of getting everyone involved in the task and I have noticed on many occasions how people with more experience on a particular thing will help out  their classmate readily. During the practical class I have taken photographs to add to my diary.
'Teams naturally integrate performance and learning' (Katzenbach, J. and Smith, D. 2000).

Check out this short Video about Teams.