Final review for reading

To summary my reading in this year, I think one way is to compare it with my previous reading.

There were fixed self-study periods in my previous school which allows me to calm down and read. In contrast, there is more freedom in university, but it seems harder for me to sit at the desk and read.

Another difference is that now I mainly read books in English. Some of them are hard and some are easy. But the problem is that I cannot read them as natural and comfortable as I read books in Chinese. This has nothing to do with the content of books. It is just because I have not get used to English.

In conlusion, I mustn't rush into reading but I should keep myself in a state of reading and continue to self-motivate,

Jianjun Zhao : 23 Jun 2010 15:37 |  Tags: P6 Portfolio |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Final review action plan for making notes

Three final and important points about making notes:

1. Margins allows additional information and comments.

2. Following lecturers' steps to think is more important than making notes, because most of the lecture notes are available online.

3. Key words should be used as reminders and indicate where detailed explanation is. 

Jianjun Zhao : 23 Jun 2010 13:06 |  Tags: A1 Portfolio |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Final review for team role

Generally, I do not have many chances to work in a team due to my course, at least for this first year. However, through the two cases I encountered in my previous reviews, i.e. finding a suitable house and working in Bridge society, I find that I did learn something about how a team work and how to work in a team.

I think that working in a team not only requires you to finish the work allocated to you, but also need you to have a general idea about the whole task. And the communication within a team is extremely important. This is because that someone's work may require your work done. And there are potential conflicts in a team, so to keep a team working efficiently, sufficient communication is very necessary.

In addition, I got an idea that how different type of people may have a different work style, e.g the Doing type of people.

Jianjun Zhao : 23 Jun 2010 00:15 |  Tags: P3 Portfolio |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Final Review for assertive behaviour

In summary, there are two important aspects that I learned from this workshop about assertive behaviours.

The first one is an internal one, i.e. how I think and prepare to deal with different situations I may meet. In addition, I should identify my need and choose the option which is reasonable and rational for myself. 

On the other hand, for the external aspect, I understand that if I want to make others feel that I am assertive then I should behave assertively. Moreover, my intonation and voice plays an important role, even indirectly.

Jianjun Zhao : 22 Jun 2010 23:04 |  Tags: P2 Portfolio |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Final review for effective learning and revision

I would like to summary my learning in the whole first year and my revision for the exams.

The most effective way to learn, I think, is still calming down and concentrating on the study material. A combination of strategies is more suitable for me. They are attendances to lectures to get general ideas and directions and texts or a secondary resource, e.g. video, to understand subtlety of the contents.

Lecture notes and basic concepts are the most important conponents for revision. Past papers are important for exams but it is better to do past paper after reading through notes, because they may misguide the direction of revision.

Jianjun Zhao : 22 Jun 2010 18:13 |  Tags: A4 Portfolio |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Second Review for assertive behaviour

1. After reading Beverley's comment on my last review, I address the situation during the meeting again. I find that I could not keep a natural and comfortable posture, partly because I sat a little far from the crowd. Therefore, I needed to sit forward in order to listen to others clearly. Next time I will try to find a nice seat at first or adjust it to avoid the inconvenience later on.

2. I was afraid to have a hair cut because I was worried to explain what kind of hair style I want wrongly. Therefore, I kept delaying that necessary work until yesterday. Before entering the barbershop, I found that "clipped work" on the table was most likely what I wanted. So I went in and asked about the "clipped work" to make sure. Fortunately, there was someone who just had such a hair cut. So the staff explained with him as a template, then I confirmed that was what I wanted. After adjusting my requirement, I had a nice and short haircut.

During the converstion, I think I applied some assertive behaviours. For example, I identified my need, communicate with the staff through questions and negotiate until both of us were satisfied.

Jianjun Zhao : 14 Apr 2010 12:37 |  Tags: P2 Portfolio |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Third review for effective learning and revision

1. I have finished half of Project 3 of MA117 with the help of Java Concept. There are still a few mistakes, bugs and problems I cannot understand, but generally I catched the main idea of this project. As the formulation sheet says, the project is complex but it is easy if you focus on one of its components each time.

2. My personal tutor told me that there could be some amazing findings when you learn something through a different source or text. Through my Linear Algebra learning, I do find that the second source helps a lot. Maybe some of the material is already known by me, but some gives a more detailed picture about the material.

3. I read some economics blogs, but they are all in Chinese. I think I will add some English blogs as well. Since the  blogs are updated regularly, they reflect the opinions of economists about present economy. Their analysis are often based on data but they may have different judgements, explanations and predictions on the same economic phenomenon. I think this is a quite interesting point. 

Jianjun Zhao : 14 Apr 2010 11:42 |  Tags: A4 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

first Review for assertive behaviour

1. I applied an assertive posture during the meeting of bridge. It was fine at the beginning, but as the meeting continued, such a posture is hard to maintain.

2. I do manage to speak in a louder voice when communicating with my flat mates.

3. The tail-drop intonation may be applied when talking to some staffs, such as librarian, but without intentions.

Jianjun Zhao : 01 Apr 2010 17:50 |  Tags: P2 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Second review for effective learning and revision

1. Project 1 contains some tiny mistakes, so I did not get a high mark on it. But I am reading a recommended textbook, Java Concept, to prepare for Project 3. And the textbook also makes some basic previous concepts clear to me.

2. I did read some books for Analysis and they helped me to understand the content of the lectures. I am now watching MIT lecture video on Linear Algebra, which helps me revise.

3. It is a shame that I did not read some Economics newspaper or blogs. 

Jianjun Zhao : 01 Apr 2010 16:50 |  Tags: A4 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Third review for team role

The meeting on that day gave me an internal view about how a society runs. Following the discussion about this year activities and plans for next year, I got a general idea about the big events of the bridge society.

Although I have played with most of the execs (both old and new) in previous sessions, I did not have many conversations with them. This let me be able to listen to them and exchange ideas with them.

For my position, Web Chimp, I do not find much thing to do so far. But I have tried to be familiar with the software and log in to have a look. Maybe I can take more regular responsibilities on attending sessions to help fresh players. In order to do that, to know more about the bridge playing, esp bidding (new president sent us a web), is quite important. So I plan to spend some time in reading about bridge in this Easter holidays. 

I am looking forward the events in last term.

Jianjun Zhao : 01 Apr 2010 16:14 |  Tags: P3 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem