Week 11

So after a quite long time, it has come to this, the last entry of the blog. Before actually talking about the lecture, I would like to say that blogging (even if it was for an assignment) was something I had never done till now and I thoroughly enjoyed.

Now to the actual part, this week there was no actual lecture, but once more we had to present the 2^nd part of our group assignment. More specifically we had to present the web site we created as a team and also to discuss about the experience of us working as a group.

Everyone's performance this time (presentation-wise) has improved and each time performed really well.

I would like to close this last entry of the blog by saying that I learned a lot during this semester and that I can't wait to see what the future holds for me during the next semester.

So, until we meet again...

Take care.

G.

"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

- Douglas Adams

Week 10

This time the lecture was about cover letters and Cvs usage and importance. Before, explaining in details how the Cvs and cover letters work, it is essential to understand their importance. Cvs are the means that one must use when he is applying for a job position, in order to inform his employers about his academic education and his working experience.

The categories of Cvs are these:

• The Chronological Resume: In this type of CV, the applicant writes down his academic knowledge and experience in chronological order starting from the start of his career and ending with his most recent achievements.
• The Functional Resume: If the applicant chooses this type of CV to go with, he depicts his skills as he sees fit, however when it comes to past experience in working environment he goes more in depth and explains it in a more analytical way, same goes for his skills and abilities.
• Combinational Resume: This is probably the most “flexible” type of CV one might pick, since it is a combination of the Chronological Resume and of the Functional Resume.

Besides the categories mentioned above, during the lectures we were given visual examples of Cvs with the usage of powerpoint presentations and some additional tips for writing Cvs. These tips were things like giving emphasis to any accomplishments we had in any previous work instead of just mentioning that we worked there and to be extremely careful to avoid and grammatical or syntactical errors when writing the CV.

During the next part of the lecture we were taught about what the Cover letters are and of their necessity. First of all, a cover letter is important because it allows the applicant to express why he is interested for the specific job position in detail, you can go into details about your strong points and your achievements during the past workplaces, and last but not least, it allows the employer to get a first “look” of your personality and character before the actual interview happens.

This was probably the most important and interesting lecture I had till now, since I was completely unaware of the existence of cover letters until this part (actually covers letters where discussed during the previous lecture but I missed this part due to me being sick). However now I can say for sure, that I have one more asset to add when I apply for a job position in the future.

Week 9

Week 9

Finally, the Easter vacations were over and done with, and we were able to start with the 2^nd part of the autumn semester. Before the actual lecture there was some in class talk about the grades in general with the occasional mumblings and jokes like always. After this part, the professor explained that this weeks topic will be Cvs and cover letters.

However, what is actually a CV, or to be more precise what is a Curriculum Vitae? CV provides an overview of a person's life and qualifications, it is also the written form that a job applicant must use when he is interested in a specific job position. Also, Cvs are also used when someone is interested to apply for a masters degree educational program. After this part we talked in general, about the many templates used in general for Cvs and we looked through some examples in the interned in order to get a better understanding in what are Cvs and how they work.

After this part, unfortunately I missed the rest of the lecture, since I had to leave due to me being sick and getting worse. Hopefully though I can try and make up for it during the next lecture!

G.

Week 8

This was the last week before the break for the Easter vacations, also it was the week that we had to present the first part of our group assignment, meaning that there was no actual lecture this time.

During the group assignment a large variety of topics were presented by each team, each and every of them was equally interesting. The main themes of these assignments was pc gaming, Windows OS, Printers and Hard Drives.

It was interesting and fascinating at the same time, to watch different groups presenting with their own unique way their essays. Some students were nervous, others were more calm, others had more experience but things went smoothly in general and everyone performed more than decently. About myself, I was bit concerned about my performance before I started, however due to my experience in presentations I was able to pull it off and got the unofficial title of the best presenter.

In the very end, we gave our professor the url of our site for the group assignment and after some casual talk and wishes for pleasant vacations, we left the class and got ready to enjoy our vacations.

G.

Week 7

This week's lecture focus was about the infamous “Body language” and also about Interviewing skills, both topics were quite interesting and refreshing if I may add compared to some other topics.

Body language is a skill that is a skill that allows the user to be able to “manipulate” the feelings of other persons without actually speaking and at the same time to be able to understand another persons feelings and intentions without them talking about it, that's why Body Language can be considered also as a form of “mind reading technique”. This was also proven via some recent statistics that show that Body Language can influence communication by a way larger margin than the actual voice communication. To be more precise, according to the statistics, Body Language influences around 55% of the communication while voice around 38%.

Body language is divided in seven elements:

• Facial expressions: that can easily show the emotional status of another person, like happiness, anger or sorrow.
• Gaze: The movement of the eyes can show many hints about another persons thoughts, for example if his gaze isn't steady it might mean that the person doesn't feels certain about what he is talking about.
• Posture: how someone sits somewhere and the general stance of the body.
• Gestures: give additional information when used properly, a primary example of this is the way we wave our hands when we say goodbye to another person.
• Proximity: this refer to the distance we take when talking to someone. If we are in close proximity to another person that means that we feel safe and/or comfortable.
• Touch: this is used more often when we are familiar with another person, however it can be used on other occasions too like when meeting a person for the first time and we use a handshake.
• Appearance: is one of the most important parts since the way we look can greatly change a lot of factors in communication. Someone who is dressed properly depending on the occasion will get better communicative results than someone who is not.
  

There was also a talk during this lecture about Interviewing skills, interviews in general and how we should act during an interview (something that I was familiar with but many students were not). However, the discussion led to some useful knowledge and conclusions. Like the fact that during an interview, no matter how well prepared one might be, by far the most important thing is to be able to keep your calm in order to avoid being nervous.



In general this lecture was interesting since it allowed me to familiarise myself with the use of Body Language, a skill of extreme importance, and it was also a useful revision of things to look after during an interview.

G.

Week 5

The main focus of this week's lecture was Presentation as a skill and how it can be used properly. There was also some talk about the formation of the teams for the group assignment. I must add that I found this lecture extremely interesting since it worked in conjecture with the previous week's lecture ("Critical Thinking Presentation and Public Speaking Skills").

Presentation, as a skill, is composed of these seven elements.

• Tone: Defines how do we sound when we talk and also it varies depending on our emotional state.
• Emphasis: Just like the name implies, its all about emphasizing certain words in a sentence.
• Content: Is about the actual words and their meaning. It is also about the correct usage of words in order to avoid misunderstandings.
• Humour: Can be used to draw even more attention, but at the same time if it isn't used properly it can lead to credibility loss.
• Speed: It can be used to build momentum, add anticipation and/or highlight a specific point.
• Pronunciation and Pitch: The practice of using certain “difficult” words and the proper spelling of them. Pitch can be summarized as a combination of tone and amount of loudness.
• Visuals: Is the usage of different means (besides speech and the skills mentioned above) in order to gain the attention of the crowd, like eye contact with them, using simple but effective visual effects etc.

In addition, the Presentation itself is divided in three sections.

• Introduction: Just like the name implies, Introduction is all about welcoming the crowd, identifying yourself to them so that they become familiar with the person making the presentation, explaining the to pic of discussion in order for everyone in the crowd to grasp atleast the basics of the presentation and to state the objectives of the presentation, as well as giving a faint outline of what subjects will be covered.
• Developing your argument: This is all about proper management of your time mainly, due to the time limits of a presentation. It specifies that one must use properly and effectively the time he is given to present his points and to give additional info/rationale.
• Conclusion: Is the last part of the presentation after all points are made. It is a summary of everything being said/shown until this part. This is the time also when the speaker can answer any questions the crowd might have about the presentation. Finally, when all this is said and done, the speaker thanks properly the crowd for their attendance before leaving.

Lastly, there was some in-class talk about the group assignment, and my group decided for the topic of our assignment to be Hard Drives. I must say that I found this as a topic to be pretty interesting and at the same time a chance to improve my IT knowledge.

G.

Week 4

This week's lecture was about becoming familiar with some of the best skills one can get, these are Critical Thinking, Presentation and Public Speaking skills. In addition, there was the usual tutorial conversation after the main lecture part. This weeks tutorial was called “Psyching you out” but more on that later.

Critical Thinking (also known as Reflective Thinking) is a process where a person uses his Thinking Skills and takes a step “backward” and then judges the issue at hand in an objective and rational manner. The use of this skill can be extremely useful in many situations (not only academic-based ones mind you).

So in order to understand Critical Thinking, first one must become familiar with the Thinking Skills that are used. There are six such skills:

• Gaining Relevant Information: Its the basis of Critical Thinking since it is about recall certain facts, ideas or phenomena. To simplify it even more is all about answering questions like “Who ?, What ?, Where ?”
• Understanding: Is a term/skill without a specific definition, however it can be summarized as the ability to describe, compare, contrast and explain.
• Applying Knowledge and Understanding: This thinking skill is about the reconstruction of certain facts that are now understood, so that they can be used to reach meaningful conclusions.
• Analyzing: is about taking a specific fact or situation and breaking it down to its constituent parts.
• Synthesizing: Involves putting together individual components after the analyzing part and recreating it whole. Original thoughts can be developed during this stage.
• Evaluating: The last of the six skills, is about reaching a conclusion after synthesizing stage. Results in the ability to judge, appraise and decide.

Also, in the critical thinking area there is the quality of data which has to do with words that may not fit in the academic environment and also words that may be perceived differently from person to person.

There was also asked from us to write down the meaning of four words, respect, fear, arrogance and confidence. I found it quite interesting since I personally consider these words to be some of the reasons that shape a human mind.

The second part of the lecture was about Presentation and Public Speaking Skills. Public Speaking has to do with standing in front of an audience and trying to present your message to them in a way that you'll try to make them understand of what you want to say and also to be in the time limit that you most probably have.

I haven't ever considered public speaking and presentation as skills that can be learned, since when I was doing presentations back in the day when I was working in a Financial company, these two seemed more like a natural ability than a skill to be developed.

Finally about the article named “Psyching you out” as mentioned above. This article had to do with some tests that may a candidate have to complete in order to have the chance to take the job. The first is the aptitude tests: These kind of tests are more related to something like a test that we had to fill in school and is in relation to numeracy, and some other simple questions. The second is the personality questionnaires: These questionnaires have different questions that will have to do with how well you may be able to handle some situations, work with other people and basically it has to do with showing what you really are.

G.