academicscoulson

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Week 13 ‘Future Strategies’

Knowledge

I was surprised by my results of assignments. This is due to not having been in a school environment in 4 years. I found it surprisingly easy to get back into the flow of writing assignments.

I found that it helped with my research of assignments by already having an extensive knowledge on AFL and cricket.

My sport knowledge outside of AFL and cricket was very limited. I found this a disadvantage when classmates would talk about these different sports and how they can use them for their assignments, while I could only talk confidently about my two sports.

I have been able to expand my knowledge very well due to my ability to find multiple academic articles on related content.

Skills

I am surprised by how organised I have been and the manner I have went about my assessments and their due dates. I have always had a decent work ethic when it came to working but with school related work, I have always found it hard to engage.

My organisational skills helped me tremendously with making sure I got assignments in before the due date. This also helped me with being able to find plenty of related academic articles which expanded my knowledge.

My note taking skills need improvement. I need to work on talking more notes, which will further help when working on assignments.

My skills in organisation have flourished this semester. I started with just working on any assignment for any amount of time to working out when each assignment was due and writing a schedule for when I needed to work on each assignment to complete it all by the due date and not leave too little amount of time before the next one was due.

Attitudes/behaviours

My engagement in assessments has been extensive and I have thoroughly enjoyed them. I have also been surprised by my writing skills, as I was predominantly interested in video content originally. I thoroughly enjoy writing now.

My attitude towards studying has become a lot better since my schooling days. I believe that this may be due to my intense interest in sport and the sporting industry.

I need to work on making sure that I plan my mornings better and to remember to account for the time it takes to find a park and walk to the classroom. I have found this semester that I forgot about this every week and would only plan to make sure that I was at university just before 9am. This resulted on me missing out on the first few minutes of the lecture.

I have become very focused on getting my work done and making sure that I understand all the content.

References

picture: Assessment 1 feedback (S. Coulson, personal communication, May 24, 2021)

            Assessment 2 feedback (S. Coulson, personal communication, May 24, 2021)

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Week 11 ‘Managing Assessments’

I have not asked for an extension; this is something I am happy about as I spend a lot of time working on my assessments after classes. I have been extensive with my research and have had no issues in finding academic articles. I have also read academic articles thoroughly to find accurate, correct, and relevant information. I have been very happy with my presentation skills and the confidence I have approached them with.

I should be engaging in more proofreading before submission, as Anderson states that “the real secret to proofreading your own copy is reading it slowly and critically as though someone else had written it”. This is critical as some of my assessments could have been completed with a better introduction and further explanation of the topic in my essay. Proofreading would have eliminated these issues.

I am satisfied with my assessments as there is only my two ePortfolios due. I have only submitted one assessment late, 3 minutes late, and that was due to technical difficulties.

References

Anderson, L. K. (1938). Handbook for proofreading. NTC Business Books. https://pdfcoffee.com/anderson-laura-killen-handbook-for-proofreading-pdf-free.html

Inklyo. (2016, September 21). 9 Proofreading Tips for Revising Your Essay at the Last Minute. Slideshare. https://www.slideshare.net/Inklyo/9-proofreading-tips-for-revising-your-essay-at-the-last-minute

picture: Proofreading tips (Inklyo, 2016)

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Week 9 ‘Understanding and Utilising Feedback’

I received feedback from Mark Woods (2021) stating that I need to look at shortening sentences as “they’re too wordy”, as shown in the image. This was timely feedback as I was 200 words over for another assignment. I am looking at focusing more on shortening sentences to meet word limit requirements.

I also received feedback from Sharyn after my group oral presentation. Sharyn recommended that I keep my voice projection to a higher sound and with a continuous speed, as towards the end I was speaking too fast. I always have considered myself a confident speaker and this was helpful to know as I now feature on a video podcast with some friends, where we talk about Carlton. I have kept this in mind also in my most recent presentations and have also made my notes smaller to better engage with the audience.

Receiving feedback from peers is vital with Jones (2018) stating “feedback is a gift. Do your best to keep an open mind and receive it graciously.” We need to sincerely listen to feedback and take on board what the person is saying (Jones, 2018).

References

Jones, L. L. (2018). Receiving constructive feedback constructively. Nursing 2018, 48(7), 6. DOI-10.1097/01.NURSE.0000534098.79486.a4

picture: ePortfolio progress report (Woods, 2021)

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Week 7 ‘Self-management: Motivation and Resilience’

I have used my time management skills to combat working and my studies. For the most part I prioritise university over everything else and attend all my classes. It has not been easy juggling class and work, but I am happy with my decision to prioritise my studies over work. I also allow a few hours most nights to study and have written down my due dates on a calendar and what I want done by certain stages up to the due date of the assignment, aiming for submission the night before so if I go over, I still have a full day to work on it.

I have remained motivated by thinking of my long-term goals, which is working in the sports media industry. Everything I learn in class expands my knowledge and I find it very interesting. If I do not understand something then I clarify with my lecturers, who are always happy to help. I also re-read my lectures to grasp a greater knowledge on the topic, taking notes if I have not already taken them in class. In the future I would like to become better at referencing, I do not want to have to check libguides or any resource at all, I want to be able to reference everything with just my own knowledge.    

I found an interesting academic article which explains the importance of effective time management and research. Time management helps us to focus on our work and helps with research. Improving time management skills is crucial to completing research, university work and anything in life that requires your attention (Chase et al., 2013). The academic article provided helpful strategies to help students and researchers better focus on their work and block out external distractions.

References

Chase, J. D., Topp, R., Smith, C. E., Cohen, M. Z., Fahrenwald, N., Zerwic, J. J., Benefield, L. E., Anderson, C. M., & Conn, V. S. (2013). Time management strategies for research productivity. Western Journal of Nursing Research 35(2) 155–176. DOI: 10.1177/0193945912451163

pictures: Time management strategies (Chase et al., 2013)

               Strategies to decline requests that would diminish scholarship productivity (Chase et al., 2013)

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Week 5 ‘Teamwork’

For Assessment 2, Mark, Aiden, Mitch, and I completed our presentation on the Culture of Australian Cricket, more specifically focusing on the sandpaper gate incident that shocked the cricketing world.

Aiden and Mitch worked on the internal culture of Australian Cricket, whilst Mark and I focused on the external culture. There were setbacks, illness, all-nighters, and a lot of research, it was hard work but also a great challenge. With the delegation of roles brought a planned structure of our presentation with everyone knowing what they needed to complete.

I believe the roles we had were very beneficial to completing the presentation as it was something we already had great knowledge in, as mentioned in Luke’s review of our presentation where he said “knowledge on the topic” (S. Coulson, personal communication, March 24, 2021). We created a group chat on messenger to ask any questions or add any information that was needed.

I agree with everything in the teamwork survey, I knew I could ask for help off my team members if needed and they could also ask me if they needed any help. I knew what my role was and was very satisfied with the team’s effort. Special mention to Mark for completing his group presentation in the study hour also.

The day before the presentation, Mark was ill and unfortunately missed out on the presentation. We broke up Mark’s parts of the presentation and delegated them among ourselves, which left us minimal time to prepare for our own slides. This was a major setback and we needed to regroup and assess what we were going to do to overcome this as a team. The morning of, Aiden, Mitch and myself regrouped and rehearsed our presentation. I believe if it were not for our extensive communication there would have been issues and we would not have been as organised as we were. Being on the same page and communicating frequently is the key to a successful group presentation and I believe we did this well.

We are all good mates, which made working together easier and we motivated each other. Motivating your group/team members is incredibly important. Team empowerment is important to building an effective team (Hu & Liden, 2015).

Overall, I was very happy with our peer feedback, we received 8 5/5’s and 4 4/5’s. Each 4/5’s was for different things which shows that the improvement could be made across all areas. Our feedback shows that we can undergo more research and speak better. In week 3, there is a link to a Ted talk, TEDs secret to great public speaking, which I found very interesting. I will reflect on the feedback constantly and I will work on improving the areas that my peers believe need work.

 References

Hu, J., & Liden, R. C. (2015). Making a difference in the teamwork: linking team prosocial motivation to team processes and effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1102-1127. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.1142

pictures: Peer review (S. Coulson, personal communication, March 24, 2021)

              Teamwork survey (S. Coulson, personal communication, April 21, 2021)

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Week 2 ‘Starting Out’

On Monday 22nd February I found myself sitting listening to Sam Duncan explain the course I enrolled in. It was great meeting Sharyn, Simone, and Sam, and listening to Holmesglen alumni and guest speakers during the welcome program. I was excited but also a little nervous, after all I had not been in a classroom environment since 2016.  

On Monday 1st March, it was my first official day. I received a 500-word essay straight up. It really sunk in then, I am at university and this is not going to be easy. I dropped out of grade 10 with good marks but a terrible attitude, I lacked any real interest. After working 3 years full time, I thought I need a change and that is when I saw this course. I was nervous at first but nevertheless I was very excited and had a great first week, meeting great people and making many new mates.

I also found out about the services ran here at Holmesglen, from student services to the skills and jobs centre, along with online forums, websites targeted at bringing students of Holmesglen together as well as events ran regularly. They also have a wide range of academic support networks such as the library, library chat and IT help.

I was given an assessment planner from Sharyn and plan to use this for all my assessments to ensure they are all submitted on time. To further help my preparation I have also created a calendar with what portion of my assessment I want done by certain stages. This is planned out by the RMIT assignment planner.

References

Meade, S. (2021). Assignment planner [Screenshot]. https://holmesglen.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/314396/viewContent/2246152/View

picture:  Assignment planner (Meade, 2021)