Introduction
Learning is an important thing in our life; certainly, we can learn a lot of skills in our lifelong experiences. So what is the “Learning” mean? Learning can be defined as an experiential process resulting in a relatively permanent change in behavior hat cannot be explained by temporary states, maturation, or innate response tendencies (Klein 1996, p.2).
Learning is not just about qualitications. The social, health and psychological benefits of developing leisure interests at all ages is now recognized and it provides the means of dealing with some of the uncertainties of the future such as new technologies, job change, domestic and family responsibilities The world is speeding toward of change, everything is developing. Everyone has to know how to gather knowledge, how to own and how to be seasoned with the change.
People spend most time in their life studying: therefore they should plan the learning. Learning is a lifetime process, not something that ends with graduation. Basing on this, and there is a concept of lifelong learning Lifelong learning can help to develop communities and support families and individuals throughout their Iives. There are hundreds of definitions of lifelong learning, and each is appropriate to its own environment It has social, political, personal and an educational meaning.
In the end, however, it is the individual who makes learning decisions and personal motivation on the part of many people is the only true stimulator of learning opportunities (Longworth & Davies, 1996, p.21). Skills that is transferable from one area to another. To exercise the fundamental right to freely acquire knowledge, from cradle to grave, individuals need to learn to act socially, within teams, within organizations and communities, and in modern society. “Learning how to learn” is fundamental. For example, people should turn the study skills into life SKills (Dunieavy 1986, p.166). The knowledge and skills people study in school are not enough and not fit for the social environment, we should consider the school as a large organisation and turn the study skill to another, such as learning how to use a computer for command the IT skill, use the classes to develop organising skill by manage Our time.
With this change comes a higher degree of personal responsibility and autonomy for the individual. A commitment to lifelong learning requires conscious choice and on-going motivation. As a Business Information Systems year one student, I have studied Developing Learning in Information Systems this in semester one and two; I have learned many skills which can be used in the future. It is not only a module but also a useful knowledge for my life. In this personal development report, I will provide some of my own experiences during my school days and my daily Iife to give an evaluation for my learning and development in these two semesters.
Main Body
Knowing where to find information and how to interpret and present it.
Information Technology Skills
The Information Technology has already changed our lives, we use the internet to communicate and study; we also use the software to help us do the works. Unlike computing or computer science, Information Technology (T) is primarily concerned with the use of computer applications rather than the development of computing technologies (www.leeds.ac.uk/acom/introit/intro_it_01-02lecti.pdf n.d.). The environment most of us have grown up in has included traditional information technologies for long enough that our culture and social systems have adapted to them, like TV, fax and so on. These have been around long enough that our culture has developed childhood and educational experiences that to a large extent provide basic awareness of their existence and basic skills for using them. We all encounter these technologies in many ways that are natural parts of our upbringing.
By the time we graduate from high school, most of us know what these are, can differentiate many subcategories, know what types of information appear in each, know where to find them and how to use them, but just ata basic level. For example, we all use the word to process the essay, playing the computer games and surfing the internet and e-mailing all our friends. I will introduce the IT skills that we should mastery. We must know how to use the Word processing, it is the basic one, and it can help us to write the prefect essay. Indeed, when we use word we should know how to open foreign files, save as to other formats, create more complex documents chapters, sections, multiple columns, form letters (merge), and so on. if we can not mastery of the word processing, our coursework is very hard to finish. E-mail is useful to contact with others, almost every one of us must need it. In addition, if we want to mastery of it, creating & using multiple mailboxes & folders, moving e-mail messages to word processor;, moving web URLs to Web browser, can backup e-mail files and attach files, find received attachments and reply a group are necessary.
Searching online is most important thing for us, the internet can link any website, and we can get the information we need online. Internet is the largest network, it can access anyime and anywhere, all of the information can share on that. Understanding URLS, how to open locations; create, use & manage bookmarks hierarchies; save pages as text files & import into word processor; backup bookmarks is let us use computer expertly in IT domain. Spreadsheets can help us to create simple lists and tables of alphabetic or numerical data and create and manipulate simple databases. When we do the Quantitative Methods international business’s course work in last semester, Spreadsheets software allowed us to establish the relationship between set of numerical data at first, and then it can apply arithmetic, mathematical or statistical functions to numerical datasets. For my personal experience, I think the IT skills are very useful for my life. As a student in this collage, Ido the assignments use computer almost al the times.
I use the Word to process the essay, use the Minitab to analysis the data and draw the figures. E-mail helps me to get the new information and ask the lecture questions easily, I can save a lot of time from it. I also use the internet to search the information in some search website such as Google, check the news and download lecture notes from the university homepage.
Taking Personal Responsibility For the Learning Process
Organisational Skills
In all the world time is probably our most important commodity. There is a set amount allotted to us each day and once we’ve spent it we cant get it bacK. IT there are two places we would like to be time forces us to choose Just one. But within certain limits we can control our allotment of time to maximize what we are able to do, extend the moments that give us pleasure and eliminate the ones that seek to rob us of our precious time. ne goal oT tume management can be summed up in one simple phrase: work smarter, not harder. There is an old rule of thumb called the 80:20 rule that says 80% of unfocused effort generates 20% of results.
The remaining 80% of the results are generated with only 20% of the effort. The skills that we will cover here will help us to Work smarter and get maximum results tor minimal efforts. we are going to cover tools to organizing our times and our lives, then we are going to move into ways of improving our perceptions of time itself, then we will round things off with some useful tips. Before do a work, we should study good organisitional skills. Organizing how and where we study can make study easier and faster. Follow these steps: The first step is use daily planner to schedule test dates, study time, appointments, etc. Bring it to every class and enter asignments as soon as you get them. we can buy a planner or make our own. The second is taking a break when we study for a long time, For example, we can have a snack, get up and stretch or take a short walk.
The third s examining how we spend our time – At the end of the week, we ask ourselves “what tasks doI spend the most time on? We are probably going to be surprised at much time we cannot account for which translates in some cases to how much time we have wasted. Make wise use of our time and we easily balance a rigorous academic timetable and have plenty of time for our outside interests. Organisation skills is very helpful for our study, I use it in these two semesters. At the beginning of the semester, Iestablished a planning to plan preview my textbook for each chapter to get an Idea about what I will be learning in the class, prior to reading each chapter, preview the chapter to gain an understanding of the topics that will be covered in the chapter and what I would be expected to learn from my reading of the chapter. Target of using the daily planner is use this planning steps to provide framework for understanding the details I would gain as I read the chapter. To improve this skill, I must insist on to accomplish the activities for the planning everyday.
Acquiring a Range of Ways in Which to Learn
Study Skills
Studying is an extremely vital part in doing well in school. All classes requite some degree of studying in order to succeed. P0or study habits can result in a poor academic achievement. some people do well, but cram everything last minute. I think everyone has done this at least once, and we all know it is no fun. A big problem is that some people think they are studying the right way, but realy aren’t. There is a lot of time required in studying the right way. Some helpful study habits to achieve the aim above are deciding what to study each night, likee setting goals. For example, we would tell ourselves that we would reviewa section each night, So by the time of the test you have reviewed each section individually and understood it fully. It is helpful to designate a specific area to study, like our bedrooms desk or the library. Study will not be successful if we have distractions. Study skills include so many skills; I just use note-taking, and examination techniques to do the explanations how can make these more effective. Note-taking is very important for us, note is a study guide for us, and it show us like a concentrated text book. Before the class, we need to preview text and ist questions to help focus our listening during lectures. During classes, Our lectures will talk about topics that we are studying. The information they provide will be important for us to know when we take tests. we must be able to take good written notes from what our lectures say.
After the class, we should rewrite our notes to make them more complete by changing condensed words into whole words, symbols into words, and shortened sentences into longer sentences, after that we need to Use our textbooks to obtain the information we need to answer our questions. Iif necessary, ask our lecture or other students for help to check whether leave out important information. As a foreign student, language is not easy to me, note-taking skill is very important to my study. Many umes can not tollow the lecture, therefore aliways write down tne important points, and then ask tne lectures to check. It is very userul tor me. Taking tests is one of the most sophisticated skills that we go through. Before the exam, we have to do daily and weekly reviews, and notice what topics are topics are emphasized in class; find out what the test will cover and what kind of test it will be, do some Practice answering essay questions before the test. During the test, everyone get to test room early and take a rest, when geting the test paper, read the question carefully. After start writing, we should do the easiest questions first and then give ourselves sometime to do the checking. After the test, if we get our papers back, go over them! Find out not only what we did wrong, but why.
A couple hours here can save a lot of grief in the future (both in terms of taking tests in general, and in future tests in the specific course (http://www.gcsu.edu/student_affairs/study_skills/exam.html n.d.). Before this semester phase test, I link the informationlalready know with new intormation. Creating associations also makes the information easier to learn and remember. Information is stored in our brains according to a scheme. Creating these associations helps to fit the new information into the schemes that already exist in my brain.
Working With Others to Achieve Goals
Social skills Social skills are arguably the most important set of abilities a person can have. Human beings are sOcial animals and a lack ot good social skills can lead to a lonely life, contributing to anxiety and depression. Great social skills help we meet interesting people, get that job we want, progress further in our careers and relationships. Luckily, we can learn this like other skills, it has strategies to learn.
Having good social skills can establish good working relationship and work eftectively with a range of people. when we meet the different ideas in our group work, we should respect the disagreeing and exchange our opinions. We nave better to ask Tor different opinions to start disagreements, for example we can ask why do you think thats best? whats your opinion? Using the opportune action can be improving the problems solving like body posture, eye contact, tone voice and so on. In this academic year, I have building a good relationship to my classmates. When we do the group project, social skills help me to save a lot of time to do the project, now we can catch on each one opinion successfully.
Demonstrating an Inquiring Mind
Creativity Skills
Creativity skills can be developed in much the same way as things like communication skills, influence and persuasion skills and so on can be, and most of us have a far greater ability to think creatively than we are aware o. Developing creativity skills will help our team become equipped to handle today’s changing environment in a positive, enthusiastic way. It will show them how to look at problems dynamically and develop and innovative solutions that could keep ourselves ahead of the competition (http://www.glasstap.com/brochures/createskills. pdf n.d.). Learning at its best is a creative, playful adventure, in vwhich the individual is constantly exploring new ways of doing things and pushing back the boundaries of what is possible. We should to explore the situation systematically and creative when we take particular thoughts and ideas and connect them together in a new way so as to produce something which is fresh, interesting and possibly valuable. I am not good in these kinds of skills, I think this is very important of me in the future, I try to change my way to thinking.
Actually I can not making the thing successfully is not I don not have ability but never try to do that. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, lifelong learning is in order to help me lean how to be successful, not only in school, but also throughout my life, the DLIS this course provide me with some basic life skills. In this report mention some skills that are very useful and important which I have used in my life. Things change taster, and less predictably. Today, there is an increasing emphasis on the tlexibility and adaptability of individuals. In the future, I will face the society, I think the ability to learn faster than others, whether applying for a job, or trying to attain leadership and so on, such as these skills may be the key to economic and social survival for both the individual and the organization. There are many skills I should improve in the lifelong learning. Improving the basic skills is very important, for example, a good language skill can help me to acquire good social skills and good skills, study Personal transferable skills and knowiledge should therefore be updated on a regular basis, and more in one manner. Many things are becoming more complex and knowledge intensive.
To be an able person, and to be an incompetent, I must not only be able to continuously improve and update my personal transferable skills, but I must also be able to apply me in a wider variety of context. Learning how to learn, therefore, is fundamental. 4.0 Recommendation The personal transferable skills that I need develop. I have already done a personal development plan and an activity plan from 2005 to 2006, it helps me to establish shout and medium term goals and long term goal, from thatI can get what action I need to do,I can improve my skills and achieve my goals easily. My short and medium goals are improving my language, expert at IT skills, making more friends. I will use the coercive way to achieve these goals, doing more exercises of reading. writing and contact more IT news Is necessary. But the most important is insisting on to accomplish the activities for the planning everyday.
References:
- Dunleavy, P. 1986, Study for a degree, First Edition, Macmillan press LTD, Malaysia. Klein, S.B. 1996, Learning principles and applications, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Longworth N. & Davies W. K. 1996, Lifelong Learning, First Edition, Kogan Page, London.
- Creativity Skills [Online], n.d.. Available: http://www.glasstap.com/brochures/createskills. pdf ACcessed 26 Apr. 2005].
- Introduction to IT skill [Online], n.d.. Available: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/acom/introit/intro_it_01- 02lectl.pdr |Accessed 26 Apr. 2005].
- Taking examinations [Online], 2001. Available:http://www.gcsu.edu/student _affairs/study_skills/exam.html [Accessed 26 Apr.2005].
