REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT 2

   Throughout this one whole week of MPU 2 that was carried out from the 24th of November until the 28th of November 2014, I have learnt many interesting things about myself as I have discovered certain things from the task given and hence, would definitely help me on improving myself in the future.

 

   Firstly, I have learnt how to create a blog for the very first time for my E-Portfolio. Hence, the blog should be updated daily throughout that one whole week regarding the things learnt. Not only that, I have now know how to use a blog and I would continue writing on this blog even after I have ended this MPU 2 as I would be able to express myself and tell on what I have been doing daily.

 

   Group work was carried out as well during this MPU classes where we had to do a short play about the SWOT analysis task. I must say that my group members cooperated well together and all members participated in the play. All in all it was a great teamwork and the play that was conducted went on smoothly. I was really satisfied with the outcome!

 

   Besides, I have learnt a few key skills throughout this whole week. From the SWOT Analysis, I have identified what my weaknesses were and realized that I should try to overcome all of my weaknesses. For my strengths, I hope it would help me into entering my dream university as well as my dream course that is medicine.

 

   Going back to my SMART goals, I have identified one of my weaknesses and hence I'm setting a goal to overcome it. My goal is to overcome my laziness during my leisure time that I currently have now since my final exams are over and to use the time reading different types of beneficial reading materials. This plan is carried out so that I would pass my interview and selection process into the university of my choice and handle the process calmly and with ease. There is a high competition and limited seats are available in universities, therefore I should work really hard in reading all the reading materials regarding current issues happening worldwide and stuffs related to medicine so that I get a better view and perception about it as questions related to this is frequently asked during the interview process. Therefore, I should world extremely hard and have full dedication so that I could achieve my goal.

  
   Hence, I must not only say, but also provide action to achieve my goal. Thus, action plan was carried on based on my SMART goal. Action plan is a step-by-step plan based on my goal. It definitely helps me in planning what I should do to overcome my weakness and stay on the right track towards achieving my goal.

 

 

 

   I have definitely gained a lot  and understand more about my personal development. The activities and task conducted have opened my eye in realizing what I want in life and what I must do in order to achieve it.

 

 

 

ACTION PLAN

   My goal that I want to focus on  right now is to overcome my laziness during my leisure time and use that time wisely.

   I would be able to overcome my laziness by doing beneficial things during my leisure time such as   reading different types of reading materials such as reading the newspapers, magazines, articles   regarding the current issues occurring in the world and reading materials about the medicine programme so that I could be able to increase my general knowledge and get a better view on what medicine is all about.

   The difficult things that might possibly happen if I work towards this goal is that I might find it boring when reading all these beneficial reading materials. Hence, I would give up half way and eventually not continue to reading all these reading materials, thus I would have problems answering the questions asked during the interview or selection process at the university of my choice.

   I should at least spend 2 hours daily to read the different types of reading materials at home or even at the nearby public libraries where there are many sources available there that could help me broaden my knowledge on the current issues and other things from the beginning of December 2014 to the end of February 2015.

  My support network that could help me in achieving my goal are my parents (motivating factor), the internet, teachers and books.

  The obstacles that would prevent me from achieving this goal are the distractions at home, the social media and hanging out too much time with my friends during my free time instead of using the time doing beneficial things that could help me overcome my laziness.

  Hence, to stay on the path of my goal, I should stay focus and put up a reminder in my room so that I would be able to motivate myself to work hard in overcoming my laziness during my leisure time and use that time well to prepare myself for the interview and selection process to the university of my choice.

SMART GOALS

My goal is to overcome my laziness during my leisure time so that I could use the time well with beneficial things which could help me in my interview process to get into the university of choice to pursue with the medicine programme.

SPECIFIC:

I must do something that is beneficial during my free time such as reading the newspapers and browsing through the internet on world news and current problems revolving the countries and also read reading materials that could give me information about what is medicine all about. Reading all these reading materials would definitely help me  during my interview and selection process to the university of my choice.

MEASURABLE:

I want to improve my general knowledge skills by taking an initiative to read all different types of reading materials and hence, I should read up at least 2 or 3 different types of reading materials daily.

ATTAINABLE:

I believe if I put 100% effort in using my leisure time doing and reading beneficial reading materials, I would be able to pass my interview and selection process into the university of my choice with ease and thus,I would succeed to pursue my medical degree programme that I have been dreaming since I was young. All I have to do is to kick out my lazy attitude.

RELEVANT:

My goal is to pass my interview and selection process at my dream university and to be able to do so I should use my free time that I have now to increase my general knowledge.

TIME-BOUND:

I should take the chance I have now during my past-time to diligently read all different types of reading materials and spent at least 2 hours daily from early of December 2014 to the end of February 2015 to broaden my knowledge on current issues as the interview and selection process would be conducted at the end of February 2015 onwards.

SWOT

STRENGTHS

• Hardworking
• Have good communication skills
• Quick learner
• I don;t give up easily
• Good in memorizing things
• Diligent
• Able to work as a team

WEAKNESS 

• Lazy
• Get distracted very fast
• Cannot multi-task

OPPORTUNITIES

•  Lots of places available in the university of my choice
• Scholarships available
• Placement center
• Workshops available

THREATS

• Highly expensive
• Many other students with excellent results out there

REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT 1

  Communication Skills

   Based on the Taylor's Graduate Capabilities (TGC), we have learnt to have good communication skills. We have developed communication skills by being more confident while presenting our work. We have increased our communication skills especially in ESL, where we had to conduct our Oral Test, where it is a 'one-to-one' session with our lecturer about our topic chosen and also group presentation, where we had to talk about another topic chosen . In the group presentation, we used this communication skills when we had to discuss with our group members in regard to the topic chosen. 

   The activity that was conducted, successfully helped us to develop this TGC. The TGC developed is communication skills which helped us to complete this reflective assignment 1.

   This skill will definitely help us in our university admission, future profession and life. This is said because, with this skill, we can communicate better and fluently especially during our interview session to be able to get a place into the university of our choice. Not only that, it would also help us in communicating with people in our profession, especially if were were to take up law, medicine and so on.

   When we found it difficult, we should learn to communicate more with our close friends to build up confidence. In the future, if we were to take up another foreign language, we should take initiative to enroll into classes that teach that language and make a commitment to attend it. Thus, our communication skills could be increased.

 Thinking & Problem Solving Skills

   Based on the Taylor's Graduate Capabilities, we have developed our thinking and problem solving skills based on the subjects we took mainly in physics, chemistry, and biology. There were many experiments, assignments and practical write ups. In Chemistry, we have an assignment where we had to think of our own topic to research on which has to be related to chemistry. We also had to do an i depth research on the topic we chose. Other than that, in Physics, during experiments, we need to think of physics concepts to be applied in the experiment better. In Biology, there were many practical write ups where we needed to think and reflect back on the experiment we conducted and process a report on it.

   The activities mentioned above helped us to develop our thinking and problem solving skills. It made us think more on how to reflect with the experiments we have done. It has also improved us on our problem solving skills.

   In university admission and for future profession, there will be interview conducted. this can be easy as we have developed a better thinking and problem solving skills. We have to think of ways to answer in the interview. Other than that in university we have an in depth thinking skills to find out information on our researchers. In life, we are able to use this skill to solve our daily life problems.

   At first, we found it difficult but eventually after lots of assignments, lab reports and research that have to be done in limited time given, however have made us get used to challenging problems and made us think critically. We should apply this skill in real life and try to improvise ourselves by involving in clubs or societies to widen our thinking skills and experience.

Digital Literacy

  Throughout our SAM programme, we managed to develop digital literacy skills. During our ESL presentation, we were supposed to prepare our own slides according to the topics we have chosen. We used turn-it-in to check our plagiarism in our work. We also obtained latest updates about the programmes and subjects through Edmodo and Taylor's Student Portal. Developing digital literacy benefited us a lot as we were able to review our lesson via Educreations.

   The activities conducted was a great help as it helped us to think critically to avoid any similarities between our assignments. Besides, we managed to perform our tasks systematically. developing digital literacy skills enabled us to gain access to our lecturers even after classes. We also managed to browse through Taylors Library via online to find sources in order to complete our assignments where we found many useful journals, ebooks and articles regarding our topics.

 Digital literacy skills help us to work out our projects and assignments consistently in university life. We are able to use ICT effectively and use related technologies in our future profession. Using technologies makes things easier and it is convenient in our future life.

   Since we joined the fast track of SAM programme, we were given a short span of time to finish our assignments. With digital literacy, we were able to finish our tasks more faster in the time given.   

MY GOALS (DREAM UNIVERSITY)

Since I have not decided where I would want to continue my studies after SAM, here are the list of universities that could possibly be the one....

• Melaka Manipal Medical College

          Course: MBBS
           
          Requirements: An ATAR of at least 80 with minumum B's for
 
                                 the three science subjects

• Monash University

          Course: MBBS

           
          Requirements: An ATAR of at least 90 



    

MY INSPIRATION

Often when I meet people I get the question "Who Inspires You" 

I have contemplated this many times and since I believe it is consequential to tell people about things that drives you, so below is the most extraordinary and amazing person who I inspire and look up to....

  Nick Vujicic

    "If you can't get a miracle, become one"

I first found out about Nick Vujicic was through one of his sensational YouTube videos. The clip was about his motivational talks to people especially to the younger generations out there. Not only that, his videos also showcase his hobbies such as playing golf and soccer, empyrean diving, surfing. All these things you would expect from an ‘able’ person was being performed by a ‘disable’ person. The story of Nick Vujicic is the most emotional story I have ever heard. Nick was born without any limbs! He is a victim of a rare disease, Tetra-Amelia Syndrome which is characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Thus, he has no arms and legs. He experienced an emotional and unstable childhood but he finally accepted the fact that he was never going to ambulate or even catch a ball in his life. Although Nick is handicap, he could still do unbelievable things.

Throughout his childhood, he struggled a lot to overcome the sick mentality of society. Nick started his journey as a motivational speaker and travels around the world to inspire people to live a happy life. Here is a video of one of Nick's motivational talks and let him speak for himself.

                           

So why do I inspire Nick Vujicic? 

This is why....

Many obstructions came Nick Vujicic's way as he progressed through a path towards his goal, but he never let these obstructions push him down. His sedulous assiduousness surmounted all the obstacles that endeavored to occlude the path towards his goal. In one of his talks, he explained that how fear could dull one's view of his/her dreams, causing his/her to fall into a dark void of failure, never to get back up again. He also said said that FEAR is the only thing that puts a limit to our dream. Therefore, from Nick's motivational talks and life story, I have learnt that if I fail in something, I should never give up and I have to keep trying again and again until I succeed. If I don't do so, it will only prevents me from chasing my dream and goals in life. The fear of another failure can lead to the loss of wanting to endeavor again and hence, you wouldn't be able to succeed in life. One of his advice to the younger generations were, 'It is our choice where to give up and be a failure forever or to get back up again to spark the chance of prosperity'.

Many of us take things in our life for granted. The forgetfulness is authentic and insidious in which we facilely lose our perspective of what is really important in our lives and we can actually see this in our society itself. Learning of Nick Vujicic has helped me to appreciate what I have instead of complaining about what I lack. Nick early on his life achieved the seemingly impossible. He has learnt to be independent and take care of all his personal needs. So why must we constantly complain that we cannot be independent and must always depend on others?

During his youth, he faced and overcome serious depression. He began reaching out to others facing tough, difficult and hopeless circumstances and helped them find hope, optimism and anticipation for the future. His own sense of purpose grew stronger as he became familiar with people all over the world that needed someone to encourage them not to give up on their dreams. He let himself be an example to persuade  people that there are no limits in life, one can achieve of highest order if he/she has the will, courage and bravery to do so to live their dream.

So what is your excuse to be negative and hate your life? It is about having a supportive and positive mindset. Next time you feel sad about your situation I want you to ask yourself: “Do I have both arms? Yes. Do I have both legs? Yes. Get over it. Move on!

Well that's all about it!