Organisational Skills

Organisational, Professional and Academic Capability PDP3

Personal Development Plan for:- Elizabeth Croft

Tutor:- Aarti Vyas-Brannick Course:-BAAB

Date of Submission:- 14TH May 2007 Tutor Approved YES/NO/ (if no see attached sheet)

A. LEARNING CAPABILITY

The skill I developed most in the Learning Capability quadrant was my learning profile. Becoming more organised was an aspect of my personal development which I thought most important as a basis on which to grow and develop my professional capabilities.

What I did, was first start to tidy my belongings around me. This involved filling away all my clutter into a storage system of boxes under my desk and then started on organising all my lecture and tutorial notes. Using a large file with 30 compartments, I stored away all notes and booklets under different label headings for each subject. I also then went on to organise my bank details and pay slips and so on. What I now do differently as a result is spend less time trying to find things and more time on more important things, such as getting to university on time and having an easier focus to get down and start revising.

I found easy the buying of the file and actually organising it to start off with as this did not take much time at all. Also once I got into this organised state of mind I found it easy to adapt it to other parts of my life, such as organising event and socials, clothes and CD's, and generally keeping my room a bit tidier.

What I found difficult was actually keeping to it. I sometimes had a tendency to just chuck note and papers in my top draw instead of filling them straight away. This started to get in the way so I decided to use a magazine storage box to be able to chuck odd bits of paper in when in a rush and then file it away at a later date. This worked well and my desk was now still tidy and things are still organised.

This will benefit me in my second year of study because now having a tidy life has lead to having a tidy mind and now allowing me to focus on passing my exams to proceed into second year and onwards. This is something that can now carry me through into my professional career after my degree. All this now shows my desire to be super efficient and now aspiring to succeed through my degree and onward.

B. TOOLS FOR LEARNING

The skill I developed most in the Tools for Learning quadrant was my English language and grammar skills.

What I did, was start to realise where my falling points were in my English and grammar skills by reading through my past work. I discovered that my main problem is not reading through my work thoroughly after completion, checking for errors. Along with my spelling, I have now noticed that my general English and writing skills have been poor throughout my academic career. I have a tendency to use punctuation incorrectly, repeat words, and not using enough elaborate words to show the vocabulary for my age.

I set myself a target to write superior letters to any authorities and relatives. My target to begin with was to complete 5 letters by January, but unfortunately I have only had the opportunity to complete 3 letters from the whole year. One of these letters was to my granddad and two to T-mobile discussing my mobile contract. As a conscience of this goal now being completed I find that writing letters to authorities to get things done is now a much better way of not only getting things done quicker and more thoroughly but it also shows my maturity and a need to be dealt with seriously and effectively.

I found easy putting my thoughts and feelings down on paper; however finding more elaborate words to replace the ones I thought were ok and learning the use of punctuation quite difficult.

How this will benefit me in my second year of study:

C. BUSINESS SKILLS

The skill I developed most in the Business Skills quadrant was working well in a team.

What I did was start to get more involved in group tasks and conversations. I had started to notice at the beginning of the academic year, that I wasn't getting involved in group conversations thus hindering my success of gaining new friend. This may have been due to shyness however from realising this sooner rather than later then I was able to do something about it before it was too late.

I started to get more involved in group tasks in tutorial by gaining a role in the group, whether this was a team leader or a researcher, I managed to do this quite easily and soon enough I was creating some great relationships with my class mates which also spread to outside the tutorials.

What