1. Introducing the Module
Explain the module’s aims and assessments
Identify personal targets
Reflect on previous experiences
Use appropriate digital resources
3100FNDLBS
Developing Skills for Business
2. Welcome and Well Done!
Aims of the module: for you to develop personal, academic and professional skills
that you can take into any future studies or employment.
These include how to find information, communicating and debating your ideas
about that information, using digital platforms and reflecting on your own progress.
Each week: two hour workshop – it’s not a lecture!
one hour of online activities
short homework tasks Any questions?
3. To get us started…
Think about something that you have been involved in that has either gone well or
not so well. For example, planning a night out that went disastrously wrong or solving
a problem at work.
In twos or threes, describe what
happened. Why do you think it turned
out that way? What did you learn from
it?
4. Reflection
• As well as us getting to know each other a bit better,
you have just been reflecting. Why?
• Reflection is a key skill we will focus on developing in this module
because it helps you to work out how to make progress, use
feedback and set goals.
• One way of thinking and writing reflectively is to think about
description, interpretation and outcome (DIO).
On your handout, you have an example of a student reflecting using the DIO
approach. Can you now write your own based on either the event you experienced
or one you have heard from the rest of the group?
5. Reflection is key to one of your assignments for the
module.
• You are to write a reflective online blog.
• Submit it Friday 10th January by 5pm
• Worth 75% of your module mark.
• Equivalent to 2,500 words
• Update it each week with your
thoughts and reflections on what you
have done and learnt during the week.
It is personal – be honest.
We want you to be reflective and
creative.
Think about how to communicate
clearly: good levels of English.
Use images, web links, videos,
recordings as much as you want as
long as the total at the end is about
2,500 words worth of writing.
6. While we’re talking about assignments:
The other 25%: two part portfolio of 1,000
words =
500 words on finding appropriate reading
material.
500 words comparing and contrasting two
pieces of reading.
Submit 22nd November by 5pm
We will spend time preparing for
this in our classes so you should
feel confident about it.
You will also submit a formative assignment (not formally graded) on Wednesday
23rd October. This is an opportunity for you to be given some feedback to help you
in the assessed assignments.
7. Before you go any further this year, one thing you need to do is start setting yourself
some goals. You will then reflect on whether you have achieved them.
8. What are your SMART goals?
You have your own SMART goal
template. Think about what
YOU want to achieve and why,
how you will achieve it, by
when and how you will know.
9. Online learning this week
• Scan and email your completed SMART goals sheets to me.
• On Canvas:
1. Complete the Getting to Know You
activity in Quizzes.
2. Set up your blog and send the link by midnight
next Thursday to your tutor by email
(follow the instructions).
3. Make your first blog entry. Think about
what you have done this week, how you
have felt, what you have learnt.
You can call your blog anything you want
(within reason).
10. And finally…your checklist
Make sure you know where to find my email
address
Read the module guide
Complete and email your SMART goal sheet
Complete the Getting to Know You activity
Set up you blog and complete your first entry
Submit the link to your blog by email by
midnight next Thursday
Editor's Notes
Just change the name and email address at the top.
5 minutes
This is an opportunity to immediately build up their confidence by congratulating them on being offered a place to study at LJMU. As university students, this is a great opportunity for them to develop their knowledge and skills so that when they start L4 next year, they are in an excellent position to succeed, and will probably be better equipped than many coming straight from school of college. Emphasise that it’s a workshop needing active engagement and learning rather than being being lectured to ( in fact will probably be telling them things more in this session than any other to come), so we expect plenty of talk from them and asking of questions. The online is a compulsory part of their learning hours. I thought if we just summarise the aims really briefly like this here, we can avoid going through the whole module guide with them. We will show them where that is later. This only needs to be pretty brief so that they get into an activity (next slide) very quickly.
15 minutes (20 mins max) including getting feedback from some of them. During the feedback, employ plenty of questioning to push them on the ‘why?’ and ‘what did you learn?’ elements so that you can start modelling reflection – also ask their partners for their thoughts on these questions so that the individual student doesn’t feel too in the spotlight being challenged (offering different perspectives too).
10 mins (15 max) Although they will be needing to develop more academic-style reflections for some assignments on their degree, with references to models and literature, the simple D,I,O is possibly better suited to their requirements now and we don’t want to overload them in week 1 so we’ll stick to this at the moment. They also don’t have to refer to theory in their reflective blog (although if they do that would be great – and there is a reflective writing book on their reading list, which they could choose to look at)
This could take up to 10 minutes of there are questions. Be explicit in the link between what they have just been doing, an aim of the module and this assignment (becoming a reflective and effective learner but also developing professional skills in terms of digital skills and that refection is often part of a job with, e.g., performance reviews) so that they can start to see the relevance of what they have been doing and feel a little more confident before they are introduced to the assignment – they will have a sense of what they need to do. Here we are saying they need good levels of English but as it is a blog, they don’t need t write it in a strictly academic style of writing so we don’t need to speak to them about that now (it will come in following weeks). As long as it is well-written English, that’s fine. We cab also reassure them that their writing will improve as they develop this semester and so not to worry too much about what they write early negatively affecting their mark, in fact we want to see a development in their writing as they add to the blog (and they can always go back and edit). Some of the things they may want to include are examples of work they have done in other modules, activity sheets or PowerPoint slides from other classes if they want to use them to show how they are developing or how they are using that material to think about their own learning. They can also add links to podcasts, TV programmes, music, links to library books, images from the web or even photographs they have taken (e.g. a photo of a group mind map from a class or a picture of themselves doing something)
5 mins. There are further instructions on Canvas if they want to look at them but emphasise that the first few weeks will all be building up to them being able to understand the instruction fully and complete it successfully, so no need to worry now. Emphasise the importance of the formative assignment as a safe place to make mistakes and to get some helpful advice before writing the portfolio.
5 mins including the video. To help them prepare for these assignments and their classes (as a link with the previous slide), they need to set goals. The use of the video is to break up the tutor-talk a bit.
10 mins. Ask for an example of one or two of them – open up a Q and A about the MART bit (and the S if it needs to be more specific) as a way of modelling for their own. If none are willing to offer and example, give one of your own and get them to do the MART bit through the discussion. They will then just take the sheet with them to do at home as they have to email it to us as part of their online learning this week. They could do it in class if there is time and you think they are wanting to do something written at this point – they could complete or develop it then at home.
10 minds. To scan and email, they are having to show they have found out how to scan a document and attach it to an email. Ask them where they would find help in the library to do this (at the Hub). It also checks that they have made a note of your email address. Their email etiquette as a further personal/professional skill can then also be assessed by you (but only mention this next week if some of them need a reminder of how they should write an email to their tutor – see what they are like without telling them what you expect/want). You then need to get Canvas up and show them the module and where they will find everything they need for these tasks. It could be worth opening up the e-portfolio to show them where it is but they need to follow the instructions on Canvas, and show them where they will submit the URL (in Asssignments). Instructions and links for these tasks are all in the resources for Week 1. You can then show them the other features on Canvas, e.g. the You and Your Studies and Module Guide tiles.
To finish – make sure they are all clear and ask if they have any questions. If anything comes to them during the week, they can just email.
The session is meant to finish quite early as there is a lot of information they need to take on board. Offer the final half hour or so as an opportunity for any students to stay and speak to you about the module, course or any issues they have (e.g. they may need to be referred to SAW and not sure where to go).
