Sunday, September 14, 2008

Week 7 & 8 - Setting Personal Learning Goals

I notice that no work has occured in the Story of Stuff Google document. You may have set up another Google doc and forgotten to share it with me, but your Task 6, which was set last week is due at the end of this week. Please let me know ASAP if you have any queries.

The other task for this week and next week is to work your way through the learning module - Setting Personal learning goals, however you'll struggle to complete both of these tasks if you haven't yet started on Task 6. The setting personal learning goals module supports Task 7.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Week 7 - Academic writing & APA referencing

The other participant in Study Skills is falling behind. As a result, I've decided to split the class in two. This blog is now purely for your benefit Erna. :o)

The learning module for the week is


Task 6 (which was originally supposed to be due at the end of this week) was designed as a collaborative exercise, and this is no longer possible. As a result, I'm going to set you a new task 6.

Your task is to
  • Watch the Story of Stuff and take notes (if you haven't done this already).
  • Pick out one of the main points which the author makes which you're not 100% convinced by, and research this point using the internet. Find at least three reputable sources of information which relates to this point.
  • Either set up your own Google document (by logging into any Google service, then selecting Documents from the top left hand side of the screen) and Share it with me (by clicking on share once you're inside the document and adding in my email address as a collaborator). Or use the one which I've set up already.
  • Then write a short essay (1 page or so). In this essay you should
    1) Summarise the main points which the author makes in the video
    2) Include discussion on whether the point which you investigated is supported or not by the research which you've done, and on the quality of the sources of your information
    3) Reference information according to good APA style.
    4) Follow principles of good essay structure (Intro, body, conclusion | Write, then rewrite to improve linkages & flow)
The due date for this essay is the 19th of September.
As a result the due date for Task 7 will need to be extended to the 18th of October.