Finished

I have now finished my resit for the ICT assignment. I really hope i have improved from lasgt time. I feel that there is a massive difference from before, as now i really understood the term, sense of place. I did the majority of my work this time on the computer, which improved the standard a lot. I also think my final piece is much better having it being 3D and much more creative than the one i did before. I now just have to wait 3 days till i hand it in, and im sure i will be nervous waiting for the results.

Resit Assignment

I have to resit the visual communication assignment. I'm a bit disappointed as I thought I had done quite well. My feedback suggested that my project lacked colour and appeal. By comparing my project to others, I realised this was true. I was told that the ideas I had were good, however they were in appealing so therefore some ideas went unread. In order to make my work appealing, I had to use borders, colour, different text and sizes, back grounds and pictures.

I am in the middle of completing my resit. I have decided to change the theme of my project. Before my sense of place was my home. However I have changed it now to my worth in the world. I have done this by setting some questions such as who am I?, where am I going? Etc.

IT Project 3

Tomorrow is the day the project has to be in. Overall i am pleased with my work and hopefully, the enjoyment of completing it, will show in my results. The most challenging part of the project was thinking of the final piece. I reaaly wanted it to represent me well, as well as putting everything that means something to me, in a picture. Even though the scrapbook was very time consuming, the final piece was still the most challenging.

What is ed? (Graham Allan)

On 21/02/2012 Graham Allan (Enviromental manager of Swansea Met Uni)

Educational for sustainable development

“Our buggest challenge is this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract”

·         Bruntland definition

·         Principle 21, Agenda 21, 1992.

“Education…should be recognised as a process by which human beings…”

1.       Clarify and extend the ability of students to think for themselves

2.       Encourage to reflect and debate

3.       Foster learning

·         Corporate responsibility

The Elements:

-          Corporate strategy – Values etc

-          Integration – Principles etc

-          Management – key issues etc

-          Performance and impact

-          Community

-          Environment

-          Market place

-          Workplace

Digression: The benefits of growth

-          Creates employment

-          Higher incomes

-          Decreases poverty

-          Improves the standard of living

-          Means economic stability

-          Means creativity and innovation

ALTERNATIVE: Stagnation? Decline?

-          A steady economic state

GDP

G.I.A.B.C

Suzie's sessions

Overall, i have enjoyed the sessions with Suzie, as each time we did something new and interesting. The main aspect of the sessions were creativity, which is something that i have developed from these sessions. I didn't regard myself as creative, however, after the sessions with Suzie, I have become much more creative with my work. I can also now look at something that first doesn't appear to be appealing, and take it to a new level. i have learnt that there is no right or wrong whren being creative. this has again helped me to develop my skills as i have become more confident in my opinion.

Throughout the sessions, we always did something different. We were often on computers which i enjoy doing. Computers i find easy to work with. It is also much better than writing on paper, as you do most of the time in education. Without these sessions, i think that i would have found my assignment much more difficult. The 'sense of place' assignment required the skills which were developed in these sessions. These skills included computer, visual communication and creativity.

IT project 2

Finally finished my sketch book and final piece. Quite pleased with the outcome. I can honestly say I worked hard and tried my best. That is all that I ask of myself! Now a 100 word essay to go! Slowly getting there.

IT project

This assignment is like no other that's for sure. It must be the only assignment that I've actually enjoyed completing. I'm still in the middle of doing my sketch book. I've said that my sense of place is my home. This has led me to talk about my family, area, passions etc. I hope the enjoyment of this assignment will prove dividend in my end product. It is taking a very long to complete but I'm slowly getting there.

As soon as my sketch book is completed I need to think of a final piece as well as writing an essay.

What is Ed? (Russell Grigg)

On 16/01/12, our guest speaker was Dr Russell Grigg. The session was all about Estyn and the type of things they did. It was interesting as he told us some facts that were surprising. The role of Estyn is to expect the standards of education in Wales. They also provide advice to the Welsh assembly government, about the quality of education and the training given. This lecture overall was very good as it was reassuring to know all of the jobs within education.

What is Ed? (Steve Gullick 2)

On 7/12/12, Steve Gullick gave another session on the Health and safety responsibilities of a governor. He did this by giving is all the same scenario which was that we were governors eno had to come up with a list of things that are essential for an overnight school trip to take place. These things included a register, consent forms, CRB checks, an appropriate adult child ratio, an emergency phone number, a itinuary and a risk assessment. Steve then went over all the correct things that need to take place. He was impressed as we said the majority of the answers. I really enjoyed this as I learned a lot.
After this, Steve gave us a different scenario which was that we were the chair of the governing body. We had to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning. I did not enjoy this as much but overall this session was very rewarding.

What is Ed? (Steve Gullick)

On 23/01/12, Steve Gullick gave a session on the roles and responsibilities of a governor within a education institution. The role of a governing body includes managing their financial aspects such as their budget of spending. It is also to promote high educational achievements, make decisions concerning staff salary, as well as any other problems in the school such as the curriculum. They have a important role during the process of hiring a new head teacher or any other new members of staff. Overll this session was very interesting as I had always wondered what they did.

Easter Holiday

Haven broken up for 3 weeks, I should feel happy and exited. However, the dreading thought of 6 assignments which have to be completed in a month overtakes my positivity. I am hoping during my time off that I will get a lot of work done. It's just that first day to get going becomes harder and harder the longer you leave it.

What is Ed? (Mike Day)

On 28th February, we had another guest speaker. This time it was Mike Day, chairman of the Education committee and senior cabinet member of city and council of Swansea. He firstly discussed how policy and politics come into our everyday life both at home and at work. It was interesting to be told that policy and politics is down to the practitioners such as your teachers, politicians and local education authorities. He said that education policy is used to create a workforce while producing rounded individusls. Policy in education provides guidelines however this can be a negative output as it may cause such strictness, that you might not be able to do what you think is right. It was also interesting to learn what the Welsh goverment cannot control. These include teachers salary and the compulsory school age. They can however control the foundation phase and the welsh medium. Overall this lecture was interesting as Mike engages us learners in the presentation.

What is Ed? (Olive Hopker)

On 14th February, we had a guest speaker called Olive Hopker who was head of planning and development at Swansea Met. Looking back at my notes from this lecture, I realised that I did not enjoy nor understand this lecture. I also remember that it was noisy in the lecture room which may have added to my frustration and caused a lack of concentration on my self and many others. However I do remember that Olive talked about collaboration vs competition and the way it is developed in terms of education and contexts of learning. Overall I did not enjoy this lecture as it was hard topic to understand which was reinforced by a noisy environment,

What is Ed (David Warner)

On 27/03/12 Vice Chansellor David Warner gave a lecture. He firstly talked about how university develops many transferable skills which are vital in the world of work. These skills include working within a group, arguing skills, writing skills, the ability to problem solve, research skills and working on your own initiative.

He then gave us a task to think of which put of a list of universities was the oldest. The list included:
Chester
Bath
Kent of Canterbury
Aberdeen
Trinity
Newcastle

By looking at the list, I thought that Kent of Cantebury was going to be the oldest. This is because the name of the university sounded historical whereas the other seemed modern and new.
However I was wrong as the oldest university out of the list was Aberdeen.

He then went on to talk about Higher Education. He gave two definitions of higher education: "the level of work you can do" and "who pays you".

David Warner also gave a brief overview of the history of universities in the U.K. The first universities came in the middle ages. These are uni's such as Oxford and Aberdeen.
In 1918 there were 22 university's. 1980 there were 47. 1992 there were over 100 universities.

Another topic he discussed was diversity of the U.K higher education system.

1- Charted university
. Ancient universities
. Civics
. Plate glass

2- Statuary university
. Created by an act of parliament

3- Higher education institute
. General colleges

4- Higher education in further education

5- Growth of the private sector

6- The situation in Wales

The purpose of higher education:
. Enable people to develop their capability and fulfil their potential both personally and at work
. Contribute to an economically and culturally diverse nation
. Social justice
. Contribute to regional prosperity both through technology transfer and direct contribution

Trends in the U.K
1) Elite to mass system
2) Female student increase
3) post graduate fluctuations
4) Part time decrease
5) Growth of international students
6) Balance of funding

Research week

When a lecturer first tells you that your you have research week, it's like Christmas has come early ! However during that week, you can't help your head from thinking whether you should actually do some work like a responsible student would do, or whether to enjoy the rest of the precious week off. I'm somewhere in between, as I enjoy my week from Monday to Saturday, then feel guilty and do some work on the Sunday. Today is that Sunday where I am determined to research lots of information in order for me to complete my presentations which have to be done this month. O the joy!! Google.... Watch out!!

Quotes

I have some faviourite quotes which mean a lot to me for difference reasons. Whether it is a world famous person who said them, a family member or something I heard on the bus to town, they all have their different reasons of importance. Here are some of my faviourite which when In need of some motivation and inspiration, I read.

1. The only problem you will have in life is when your heart stops... Everything else is a Challenge !!

2. If we all threw our problems in a pile... Most of us would grab ours back !!

3. We can't all be great at Sport.. But sport can make us all great !!

Maths

Maths... The subject everyone hates, however, I happen to quite like it. I'm not saying I'm good at it, but the enjoyment of problem solving using numbers rather than the ordinary reading and writing. During the first couple of months of my coarse, we had a section on maths. I had my results back the other day and was fairly pleased. I had 55% which included both a exam and presentation. It may not sound the best result to some people, but I know that it was close to my best and that's all I ask from my self.

Assignments

The life of a student is not as glam as people may think. The 2ft tower of assignments on your desk proves it. As much fun living the Uni life can be, at times the thought of completing all the work fills me with me with terror. However, I'm sure in years to come I will be looking back at this post, laughing to my self, as it was all worth it !!

Graffiti

Tagxedo

After a discussion in class, about creative writing and how pictures can represent words, i have created a picture with the name of my blog. Tagxedo is a popular site to be creative and allows you to design pictures into words.