Class 15, 18/04/2012


Research 


In this current developing world there are many sources of obtaining information to overcome your curiosity, but it is very essential to be cautious about their accuracy as most of them are unreliable sources which could lead people to misunderstandings. Thus we were advised to view journals as much as we can, because journals provide latest information which goes in parallel with the world's development, where as books shows us information which date backs about 2 years.

Hence it is very important to view authentic websites when reading journals, the gist of the today's class was how to identify authentic websites which provides us with journals which are accurate and true. Thus following
websites are authentic and provide accurate information which will help in research,

• Harvard Business Review
• IEEE
• Association for Comtrputing Machinery
• Springer Link
• Science Direct
• Emerald Insight 
• My athens

It is very important that you run through the abstract before selecting a research paper.

Online Search

In online research the it uses the system called crawlers which is more like a spider, when we input the key words that needs to be viewed the system uses the "AND" operator, thus search will show all the pages and articles that includes the keywords that we entered. 

for example when we enter apple fruit, the search will grasp the input as apple+fruit, hence the two key words will be apple and fruit therefore search ends up showing all the articles and pages which includes those two keywords.

Barriers of E-commerce in Sri Lanka

Using the above topic it was shown that a good research paper can be derived using the key points and the subject matter. We were given 3 types of graphs on the board regarding barriers of e-commerce in Sri Lanka and were told to write up the problem that we see in the 3 graphs. Following shows the authors answer,

Though the use of internet, payment capacity and language are high still the e0commerce graph is lower.

Following shows 10 important points that should be kept in mind when doing a research,

1. Concept 
2. Problem analysis
3. Problem statement
4. Research question
5. Literature survey
6. Research methodology
7. Data collection
8. Data analysis
9. Conclusion
10. Recommendation  

Class 14, 17/04/2012


According to USG (2012) Research means "Research is a process of investigation. An examination of a subject from different points of view. It’s not just a trip to the library to pick up a stack of materials, or picking the first five hits from a computer search. Research is a hunt for the truth. It is getting to know a subject by reading up on it, reflecting, playing with the ideas, choosing the areas that interest you and following up on them. Research is the way you educate yourself."

Research:   Literature Survey(L1)- Documentation and summary
                  Literature review (L2,L3,Past)- Critical evaluation analysis, conclusions, recommendations

Sir taught us how to divide the topic into a 3d diagram which will make it easier for us to do our research.
The following 3D diagram is on the topic of Techno stress which is one of the topics that comes under the LFS assignment,

References

USG (2012) Whats is Research?. [online] Available at: http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit01/infoage01_03.phtml [Accessed: 06/05/2012].

Class 13, 04/04/2012


Following is the link of my 123 test, according to the 123test(2012) according my characteristics its states that I should be assigned as an executive in a teams.
http://www.123test.com/id=97074d584f7401c4c

Executive
The executive is sometimes also referred to as the organizer. The executive is generally disciplined and eager to get the job done. He or she is efficient, practical, and systematic. Executives are well organized and diligent, and quickly turn the ideas of a team into concrete actions and practical plans.
test123(2012)

Class 12, 03/04/2012

The class was based on time management skills, we were given a handout consisting of certain statements which described daily tasks we do and were told to select the true statements and calculate the total you get.
 Followings shows the tasks what I do daily,

1. I like my watch to be set exactly at the correct time
1.I tend to arrive at most functions exactly on time
1.In the course of my daily activities I tend to walk and talk quite fast
2. In high school I usually completed my daily assignments
3.I often spend more than 15 minutes at a time on the telephone
2. I like to finish my assignments and reports exactly on their due date
1. I rarely spend more than an hour eating a meal
2. I sometimes watch more than 1 1/2 hours of TV a on a weeknight
2.I sometimes spend more than an hour surfing the web or taking on a chat line at one time

with all the above statements I managed to 15 in total. And sir analyzed and differentiated what are controllable and uncontrollable.

Class 9, 27/03/2012


The class was based on note taking methods and easy learning.
The main key words were,
SQ4R
Cornell
Note taking
Active listing
Cue words

During a lecture its very important to follow cue words which helps to grasp the gist of the lecture. Thus cue words occurs in following instances.

• For examples: for instance, to illustrate
• For organization or chronological order: To say the steps  use next, finally first,  secondly, third like wise can use For additional points: Furthermore, in addition, also, moreover
• For opposing ideas: On the other hand, in contrast, although, however
• For similar ideas: Likewise, similarly, in comparison 
• For exceptions: However, nevertheless, but, yet, still  
• For emphasis:  Above all, finally, more importantly
• For understanding: In other words, in essence, briefly 
• For summarizing:  In conclusion, to sum up, for these reasons, in a nutshell 
• For exams:  Remember this, this is important, this could be on the test   

We were taught how to take down notes according to the SQ4R method.
SQ4R means,


S  =  Survey
Q  =  Question
R  =  Read        
R  =  Recite        
R  =  Rite  


We tried the Cornell note taking system and were told to write up the notes according to the Cornell system.
Following shows a Cornell note taking template,

Class 10, 28/03/2012


It was pretty heated debating day. The topic was "Teachers ruin creativity". I was supporting the topic and my group comprised of Mudassir Jabbir, Hussein Wahid and Dilshan Thiserra. Though the topic was about creativity all of us were running around the bush talking about the logic of 2+2=4. Our team members pulled up the point saying its because of poor teaching skills of our primary education, and the opposing team was trying to prove that its not.


Somehow at the end of the debate we as a whole ended up understanding that creativity is not ruined by teachers but by our own selves. Actually teachers are the people who try to help the small kid to enlighten their hidden talents, but if the kids are not willing to do so they end up ruining their creativity. But a certain percentage of teachers fail to achieve the task of enlightening the kids creativity.

Finally the group who supported the topic ended up winning the debate, we got honest and unbiased comments from Ms. Manesha who was in the judge panel, and i would like to thank Mr.Syed Rehan for giving us a chance to talk in class and express our views and ideas.

Class 8, 22/03,2012

Fig.1 Class.gmu.edu (2011)

The class was about how note taking is important during lectures. Thus he started off by explaining about Blooms Taxonomy, on the left shows the Blooms Pyramid. 


He explained each stage of this pyramid and how important it is in the higher education carrier.














He explained about note taking strategies and the key terms used during the lecture, the key terms are as follows,

•Note Taking

•Active Listening

•Cue Words

•SQ4R

•Cornell System

References

Major categories in the cognitive domain of the taxonomy of educational objectives (1956) Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain. [image online] Available at: http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/Resources2/bloomstax.htm [Accessed: 2011].

Class 7,21/03/2012


We were given the task of evaluating our selves using the handout what he provides, we had to fill the tables, where it shows certain tasks that we need in life to succeed. Thus we had to state whether its needed and rate the task on a scale of 6 to 10. Personally I think that its one of the best self evaluations I've done in my whole academic carrier. 








  Then he taught us how to write a personal portfolio using the self evaluation what we completed, a personal portfolio is one of the major components checked when applying for a job, thus it should include all your personal achievements and your academic achievements as well.                                                     

Class 6,20/03/2012


Sir started off the class on entertainment note by checking the creative models that we were told to make. Most of the students made models using recycled material and things that are not in use.  

The picture on the right shows what I did to show what my creativity is .














Throughout the class he checked all the models and reviewed it and taught us how to make it a commercial product by adding simple things to it and how to add more value to the product by add ons. Actually from this class the idea what most people had that they are not creative got outta their mins in a snap.

Class 5,15/03/2012

Sir started the class by explaining the slides on self evaluation. It was mainly on skill development of an individual, the key terms were,

•Study Skills

•Soft Skills

•Transferable Skills

•Profile

•Portfolio

•Self Evaluation

We were given an exercise to write up about our skills on any of the activity we did in our life and how we developed our skills in achieving higher standards during the process. Thus i would like to share with everyone how I managed to achieve the ultimate goal in my life during the school sports carrier.

Rowing one of the world renowned sports, it originated from Great Britain and the oldest regatta in the world is the Oxford-Cambridge race. I started of my rowing carrier at the age of 15, before that I engaged almost in 6 sports but I never succeeded in those, thus I chose rowing as my last resort and started it off with the soul purpose of achieving high level of sportsmanship in my school carrier. After sometime I realized that my fitness levels are not enough to compete with the ongoing performance levels.
Hence I had this 5 year long term plan of achieving the best school boy sculler (single boat event). With that goal I ended up being the skipper for 2010/2011 year. I had start getting used to so many leadership qualities, how to deal with problems spontaneously, dealing with various types off people from different kinds of backgrounds etc.
In 2011 I started training more and more in fitness and technique aspects, experimented various new things, and ultimately I'm proud to say that I'm the best school boy sculler for the year of 2011.
Currently my goal is to achieve in the open categories and perform in the up coming National regatta. 

Class 4, 14/03/2012


The class was based on mainly self evaluation, where we were given hand outs to identify our plus and negative points respectively and several aspects. Actually that handout helped me a lot in identifying my hidden abilities that I had no idea of.
Next half the class was divided into two groups under the category, people who think that they are creative and not creative. Hence there were few heated up debates on why they think they are creative and why others don't. Actually it came out really good so many people realized their hidden talents and changed their sides. 
Sir gave us a brief description on SWOT analysis and we were told to do one for our self.


S- Strength
W- Weakness
O-  Opportunity 
T- Threats

Class 3,13/03/2012


The gist of the 3rd class for the 3rd semester was how imperfection and perfection go against each other to make a perfect role model for the society. 
This was one of the best class we ever had for this semester with Mr.Syed Rehan as it was mainly on practical learning. Thus he got us to make paper rockets and do this game where we had to fly the rockets to the white board from a certain distance, hence the person who reached the board was named to be perfect, ultimately everyone failed.
His whole idea on this exercise was to show how imperfection can be made perfect, thus he explained about the law of attractions when teaching how imperfection can make perfect. 
End of the class he got all the students to project their own idea on it and come to a certain conclusion but no one couldn't arrive on it, there were couple of heated up debates on it which made the class much interesting. 
Class was given a end note with a curiosity on can a imperfection make a perfect and was told to write up on it.    

Class 2, 08/03/2012

We had a quite a good session with sir for my first class for semester 2 in learning for success. He explained the core of it and handed out the assignment material for the module. 

There were 6 topics in the assignment, the whole class was suppose to choose 1 out of it and send it to his mail account, the topics were given under the first come first serve basis, the set of group who sent the mail early go the topic, the upper limit for each topic was 7 students. 

He wrapped up the class after cracking some jokes. 

Class 1 , 06/03/2012

I couldn't make up for the lecture due to a medical appointment.

But I got updated from one of my colleagues on what should be done, hence i managed to create a blog on reflective blogs and mails the URL to our lecturer (Mr.Syed Rehan).